Dragonriders of Pern on the Commodore 64 is a strategy game with light action elements based on Anne McCaffrey’s novels, casting you as a Weyrleader on the planet Pern trying to forge alliances and fight the deadly “Thread.” Most of the game plays out on diplomatic and strategic screens where you negotiate with Lords Holder and Craftmasters, build political support, and decide when and where to send your dragonriders as Thread falls over the map. When you commit wings to a fall, the view switches to an arcade-style sequence where you directly control a dragon, dodging and flaming streaks of Thread across multiple “depths” of the sky, with success or failure affecting how much the Holds trust you. Scoring is based on alliances made and Thread fought over a configurable number of in-game years, making it an unusual mix of diplomacy sim and arcade shoot-’em-up for the C64.