Dragon Wars

Lore & Background

To defend against piracy, Dragon Wars included numbered paragraphs in its manual; players had to read a specific paragraph when prompted in-game, making the game difficult to play without the manual. A sequel, Dragon Wars 2, was in concept development around the mid-1990s but was cancelled due to the original's tepid sales and RPGs being out of style at the time.

Reader's Guide

Dragon Wars holds significance as a transitional title in late-1980s computer role-playing games, bridging the Bard's Tale series with design innovations from Wasteland. Its development history—starting as Bard's Tale IV and being renamed—illustrates the shifting publisher relationships of the era. The game received strong critical reception, earning 5 out of 5 stars in Dragon #152 and a positive review from Scorpia in Computer Gaming World, who praised its tighter design, balanced combat, and careful plotline. Despite selling well, according to Heineman, the game faced two obstacles: being a blobber RPG and lacking the Bard's Tale name. It eventually broke even. The game was later included in Interplay's 10 Year Anthology Classic Collection in 1993. Its legacy is that of a well-crafted but commercially underperforming RPG that remains playable today via browser emulation at the Internet Archive.

Did You Know?

• Dragon Wars was originally conceived as Bard's Tale IV but was renamed because Electronic Arts held the rights to that title.
• The game's chief villain, Namtar, was derived from Sumerian legends of Gilgamesh.
• The game used a copy protection system requiring players to read numbered paragraphs from the manual when prompted in-game.
• A sequel, Dragon Wars 2, was in concept development in the mid-1990s but was cancelled due to tepid sales of the original.