I just sued a ghost.

Perhaps not my greatest achievement as unseen ruler and guiding hand of the Anmangarni clan, but certainly one of the most interesting and unusual. A rowdy poltergeist had decided to set up shop in one of my loyal farmers huts, and was amusing itself by throwing their hard-earned belongings at walls, burning their dinners and scaring the kids.

Not knowing the slightest thing about ghosts, I consulted the clan ring – a circle of advisors and go-to folks who know the score. The warriors didn’t have a clue, and the spiritualists wanted me to exorcise the spirit or commune with the ancestors for guidance. Inspiration, however, came from my Lawspeaker – a devout follower of Lhankor Mhy, god of law and knowledge (to whom we had a small shrine dedicated, kept fresh with regular sacrifices of livestock and goods). He suggested that we do this by the book. After all, if there’s a god of law, then shouldn’t such things bind ghosts as well?

I cannot believe that worked. Score one for the legal system!

So we took it to court. And won. I’m fairly sure this is the first spiritual eviction notice I’ve served. And this was just one of a dozen decisions I’ve made in the past half hour of play. King of Dragon Pass is nothing if not packed with decisions. Some small, some large, some of hidden importance and some that’ll come back to bite you on the rear years later.

Originally released in 1999 for the PC and Mac, in an age before digital distribution, King of Dragon Pass was unique. As far as I’m aware, it remains unique to this day. A complex, multi-layered strategy/management game about ruling over a bronze-age-esque barbarian tribe in the mystical world of Glorantha, setting of a critically acclaimed pen-and-paper RPG as well. Despite the underlying genre mechanics, KoDP is primarily presented as a Choose Your Own Adventure story. Initially simple and accessible due to the CYOA-style presentation (although the tl;dr crowd aren’t invited), but with mountainous depth and complexity for those wanting to dig a little deeper, and a fairly stern challenge for those wanting to become the true, unquestioned monarch of the titular Dragon Pass.

Family dramas can expand into diplomatic incidents. Choose wisely.

Due to the straightforward presentation of the original KoDP (beautiful illustrations, memorable medieval music and well written prose don’t age like unfiltered textures and blocky polygons, and have all transferred well to the small screen), it has retained a reputation as a timeless – if rather obscure – classic. The iOS version (iPhone native only, although it should work fine on iPads and other such devices) , released today, is Version 2.0 of the game. A refined UI, bugs fixed, some content added and gameplay tuned. Seemingly the only sacrifice made in the move to a small, handheld touch-screen is the loss of the end-of-year visual overview of your village.

Humans aren't the only race in Dragon Pass. Elves, Trolls & Ducks abound.

Gameplay flow is fairly simple. Each year is broken up into five seasons, and each season you’ll have the option of performing one major action, such as recruiting new farmers or warriors, sending out a trade caravan or diplomatic emissaries or raiding a rival clan in an attempt to take goods, cattle, land or just lives. In addition to the variety of options you have to choose from via the simple-yet-dense menu structure of the main clan screen, you have regular narrative events that pop up, demanding your attention. Aformentioned ghostly legalities are just one of hundreds of such things that can happen, and you’ll be called on to decide how to act, if at all. Sometimes, it’s best to just leave things be, and sometimes you need to prove your clans worth with actions. You have a circle of advisors willing to give you their thoughts and advice, although they often disagree with each other. There is very seldom one ‘right’ answer, and sometimes even a seemingly successful outcome can turn sour further down the line.

There's a lot of depth to managing your clan, and no shortage of options.

While the interface is simplistic, managing your clan isn’t quite as simple as it might sound. The Orlanthi (your people, followers of the storm-god Orlanth, King of the Gods and husband to Ernalda, Queen of the Earth) have their own strong belief systems, their own laws, ancestral spirits that they must appease or risk losing access to magical aid, and their own morality. Depending on what decisions you make about your clans origins, they could be anything from a dragon-worshipping bunch of slave-taking warriors, to a peaceful band of diplomats and traders, known for their hospitality willingness to adopt strangers into their midst. Trying to diverge strongly from the history you yourself have established for your clan can have repercussions, with ancestral spirits, gods and your own people frowning on certain acts.

Chaos Beasts are just about the worst thing you can find in your fields.

Expect to do a lot of reading, too, and learning about the setting of the game. There’s an extensive in-game manual that explains most of the finer points, but the bulk of the text you’re likely going to be studying is the creation myths and grand legends of the Orlanthi people. To gain the greatest powers in the game, you must send members of your clan on Hero Quests. Part costumed recreation of mythical events, part physical and spiritual journey into the realm of the gods. On these quests, while nothing is set in stone, your chance of success is vastly increased if you correctly recount the actions of the deity that you’re following in the steps of. This requires genuinely reading and learning the various myths and legends of Glorantha, and while you can occasionally call on hints if you’ve forgotten part of the story, they won’t last you the whole way through. While initially heavy going, having to immerse yourself in these stories really makes you feel invested in the world.

It's not all text. Dragon Pass is huge, and needs to be explored.

Being largely focused on storytelling, rather than micromanagement, there’s very few stats on display in KoDP. Other than basic knowledge that would be visible to the village managers (how many bushels of food there are in stock, how large your herds are, and the population of the town), you really don’t have much solid information to go on with regards to the multitude of randomly chosen events that you can encounter. You’re occasionally told by your advisors that the omens are good, or that they don’t think something will work, but the actual percentage chance of succeeding at an action (and even unlikely choices can sometimes turn out well) is always a mystery. While this might infuriate number-crunchers, it works well in the context of the game. You’re making judgement calls, and if they don’t work out in your favor, then you’ve just got to roll with the punches and weather the storms.

And of course, it’s not just day-to-day management that you need to concern yourself with. Depending on whether you choose to play a truncated short campaign, or an extended long one, you’ve got to keep the big picture in mind. In the short campaign, your ultimate goal is to form a tribal alliance of neighboring clans, then install a member of your own clan as king (or queen – Orlanthi women can be warriors and leaders as well) for ten years, and in the long version you need to become unquestioned ruler of all of Dragon Pass, which is a much taller order. Each phase of the game (building a clan, a tribe and then a kingdom) brings a few new gameplay mechanics and sets of events to encounter as well, keeping things fresh even if you’re in for the long haul.

Just because they're short and cute doesn't mean they can't kill you.

While such a grand undertaking might sound like it wouldn’t work well on a handheld system, the moment-to-moment game flow is actually very conducive to mobile play. A single decision takes all of a few seconds to make, and a year in your clans history is usually only a few minutes of play. The game continually autosaves after each and every decision so you can’t undo mistakes (fail at something, and you just have to live with the consequences, and you can’t load a save and undo it), and tracks everything you’ve done in your personal clan saga, allowing you to go back and read the full, unabridged history of your people at any time. You can sink hours into this game, or play it in five-minute bursts equally well. My only real gripe is that there’s just the one save slot – if you want to start a new game, you can’t run it in parallel to your current game. It has to overwrite it.

That really is the largest complaint I can level at this game, aside from the loss of the visual town overview. Beyond those fleeting quibbles, this is one of the best games I’ve had the pleasure of playing on my iPhone, and somehow it feels even more at home on a handheld device than a desktop system. The illustrations are beautiful and sharp, the music is memorable, the writing is consistently good and the amount of choice available to the player is huge, making you feel like you’re genuinely guiding your clan through the ages. It’s a massive, complex, deep and replayable game that is accessible enough to be enjoyed by anyone. As a huge number of events are random, you might end up going an entirely different route each time you play.

Even your trusted advisors can actively sabotage your efforts sometimes.

King of Dragon Pass is available from the iTunes app store now for $10. A steep price by iOS standards, but cheap compared to any other platform. This is easily one of the best and most unique games on the platform, so if you’re interested in something a little more literary and in-depth than a single button platformer, it’s an essential purchase.