Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Fatty]

OK I'm finally getting around to giving these games a whirl. Building a party for a Pools to Pools run using Gold Box Companion. Been reviewing a bunch of threads and I have a few questions.

Dwarf F/T *
Ranger > Mage
Elf F/M - replace with Ranger > Mage in Curse
Half Elf C/M replace with Paladin in Curse
Mage **
Cleric **

* is there a reason I see Dwarf F/T mentioned so much more than Elf F/M/T?
** any reason not to start the Cleric and Mage as fighters and duel them at 3 or 6?

 

[octavius]

**

* is there a reason I see Dwarf F/T mentioned so much more than Elf F/M/T?

Personal preference, I guess.
An Elf would would need to be male with max STR to get 1.5 APR. A Dwarf will get better THAC0 and usually better HP. So if you value a good backstabber more than a support mage, than a Dwarf is better. A support mage is better in the first and last game, while a backstabber is more useful in the second and third game.
Also, Elves can't be Raised from the dead.
It also depends on playing style, like how much you reload and rest spam. I prefer no rest spam and playing Iron Manlet, so I rely more on might than magic.

** any reason not to start the Cleric and Mage as fighters and duel them at 3 or 6?

Not much benefit for the Cleric, I think. The Mage will get better HP and be able to use missile weapons and shields, but unlike a Ranger/Mage will not be able to cast spells while wearing armour. Level 7 is a more natural dualing point, due to the 1.5 APR.

 

[Null Null]

*Elf F/M/Ts are limited to 11 as magic-users so they are less useful in Pools of Darkness (and the end of Secret to a lesser extent). Also as Octavius says they can't be raised from the dead and a dwarf F/T especially with a 19 CON will have slightly better HP (though that's mostly due to the F/T reaching 9th level as an F and not having to divide HP with the low-HP M class), so you wind up in trouble in Pools of Darkness with its high lethality. I played the game to the end with one--the F/M/T is still a useful source of buffs and can toss a few Hold Monsters off--but there is some reloading.

**Pool of Radiance can't dual-class characters--it was developed in Curse. You could do something like that in Curse but there will be more grinding to make it up.

You also can't make a ranger in Pool of Radiance (though I think now the Gold Box Companion has a workaround).

My four-game run party was fighter, fighter, fighter, elf fighter/mage/thief, human cleric, human mage, dual fighter 1 to mage in Secret at level 13 and dual fighter 2 to cleric in Pools at 17. But I was being a purist and avoiding character replacement.

You can actually get away with relatively few or even no mages in Pool of Radiance, which adjusts random encounter sizes, though it's harder. (I once beat the game with six fighters as a joke.)

 

[Butter]

How do I turn the sound off in Pools of Darkness?

 

[octavius]

How do I turn the sound off in Pools of Darkness?

Mute DosBox sound with Windows program Volume Mixer.
Run Setup and choose no sound.
Unplug headphones or loudspeakers.
Use scissors on headphones or loudspeaker cables.

It's easy to be paralyzed by choice overload.

 

[Butter]

How do I turn the sound off in Pools of Darkness?

Mute DosBox sound with Windows program Volume Mixer.
Run Setup and choose no sound.
Unplug headphones or loudspeakers.
Use scissors on headphones or loudspeaker cables.

It's easy to be paralyzed by choice overload.

I did all of the above just to be safe.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

*KSH*

*WAAAAAAAAAAAH*

 

[ProphetSword]

How do I turn the sound off in Pools of Darkness?

What kind of monster would do such a thing?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Hmmmm..... why isn't there a downloadable catalog of every sound effect and music from all the good box games? There were plenty of pix floating around.

 

[Erebus]

I'm finally giving Gateway to the Savage Frontier a try.

I discovered Gold Box games with the Krynn series, in which racial level caps were a lot more reasonable. Elves could reach any level as clerics, wizards and rangers, for instance.

In GtSF, the only non-humans that can be clerics are half-elves and they're limited to level 5, because fuck you. That's fairly annoying, as I prefer multi-classed clerics to single-classed ones.

I think that Gold Box Companion allows you to ignore racial caps when leveling up your PCs, but I'm not completely sure.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Looks like this thread has a case of the is haunted by the codex thread poltergeist!

Keep your snatch in the Perilous Realms thread.

Spoiler

standard bandersnatch ratings of my posts... maybe i should ignore it... trolls and postergeists get more power the more you pay attention to them. God forbid it is able to post again. I'd have to look up a banishment and clensing ritual.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I'm finally giving Gateway to the Savage Frontier a try.

I discovered Gold Box games with the Krynn series, in which racial level caps were a lot more reasonable. Elves could reach any level as clerics, wizards and rangers, for instance.

In GtSF, the only non-humans that can be clerics are half-elves and they're limited to level 5, because fuck you. That's fairly annoying, as I prefer multi-classed clerics to single-classed ones.

I think that Gold Box Companion allows you to ignore racial caps when leveling up your PCs, but I'm not completely sure.

I think with Gateway they wanted to try and recapture the elements of POR. Oh man, that last battle is awesome. I fucking loved this game. The sequel was ... ok. Nothing fantastic except a few new features.

I originally finished the game on a Amiga500 but DOS is good too. I went to this game after I finished EOB. After thus EOBII. Switch it up a little. As usual, I bought these games later when discounted.

 

[ProphetSword]

With the Gold-Box games having been released on Steam, I just wanted to point out that anyone who might be interested in the Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (FRUA for short) toolset will find hundreds of games over at the official FRUA forums, located here: http://ua.reonis.com/

Not only will you find hundreds of adventures, you will also find a community devoted to the creation of AD&D style Gold-Box games. Whether you just want to play around in the toolset or write a Gold-Box epic, the folks on the forums are happy to help.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

(Not at proper resolutions, I didn't take these screenshots)

Apple II

Commodore 64

DOS

Amiga

Macintosh

Which orc is the best?
DISCUSS!

Spoiler

couldn't find a pc-98 screenshot and the NES one looks like a jrpg

 

[Morblot]

In this case I'm fond of the C64 art. Looks pig-like enough and the yellow eyes and big grin lend him a proper evil air.

The Amiga and Mac ones don't even look like orcs in my opinion.

 

[ProphetSword]

The DOS version is my favorite, while the C64 version is a close second. Don’t know what is happening on the Amiga. Is that thing on the Mac even an Orc?

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

The Macintosh image is a digitization of the Jim Holloway artwork from the AD&D 2nd edition Monstrous Compendium in 1989:

The Amiga version would be the best, except that, as with the Macintosh version, the orc is lacking a proper pig-face.

 

[Butter]

The Mac one is clearly the highest quality, except that it looks like a goblin more than an orc. As always, the Apple II one looks the worst. DOS and C64 are the best if you only count the ones that resemble orcs.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Goblin looks a bit uh....

Kobolds

Ugh... gotta boot up the game for orc pics.
Nes now

 

[Morblot]

The NES has proper pig orcs AND they also mastered the art of lowercase letters? Unexpected incline.

Lovin' the happy goblin, btw. That's the PC-98 I assume?

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

The Japanese takes on the monsters seem to be a lot more friendly looking than the original takes. I wonder if that extends to all Japanese versions. There's a Sharp X1 version, but it hasn't been dumped anywhere to my knowledge.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I generally see the Sharp X1, 68000, pc-88, and pc-98 all relatively close. If you notice the music in the pc98 version is very similar to the NES music. Why on earth there is music is beyond me. Seems the japanese games like having a lot of music and it is usually terrible. Now, the Ultima 1-3 compilation for FM-Towns had excellent music. ON THE CD ONLY. IN game it was shit and annoying. I did like the sound effects though. They rocked. I would have disabled the music if I could.

 

[mindx2]

Goblin looks a bit uh....

Kobolds

Pigs in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!

Spoiler

I know I'm dating myself but I loved The Muppet Show when I was growing up and that's the 1st thing I thought of seeing these.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Why kill frenz?!?

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Goblin looks a bit uh....

Kobolds

Trampier's goblin and Sutherland's kobold from the AD&D Monster Manual in 1977. The Japanese made the kobold more obviously dog-like wth hair rather than a scaly-appearing hide. However, they rather butchered the goblin.