Dorateen
Arcane
In June of 1988, was released one of the most important and influential computer role-playing games in the history of the hobby, SSI's Pool of Radiance. While Wizardry had given us unparalleled maze-like dungeon design, and Might & Magic delivered breathtaking overworld exploration, it was Pool of Radiance that brought to the platform top down tactical combat using the official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rule-set. This, against the adventure backdrop of drawing players into the Moonsea region of the Forgotten Realms setting.
When people talk about the lineage of computer role-playing games and their pen and paper heritage, Pool of Radiance is emblematic of this principle. One needs no further evidence than to examine the hardbound AD&D table top resources such as the Monster Manual, where the game's artwork faithfully reproduced those images for the encounter events. It was the aspiration of the computer adaptation to accurately represent details governing every aspect of gameplay including spell-casting, hours needed for rest and recovery, level advancement tables, and even how experience was awarded through treasures found. Playing along Pool of Radiance with the table top rulebooks close at hand would be conceivable and not at all out of place.
However, Pool of Radiance was more than an AD&D combat simulation, much more. Exploring the city locations and dungeon environments of the game world was accomplished in a first person perspective, with the hallmarks of classic level construction that include illusory walls, secret passages, and teleportation puzzles. Once venturing into the outdoors, the player is presented with overland maps of multiple wilderness areas packed with monster lairs and random encounters. Throughout the unfolding nonlinear progression, reference is made to the Adventurers Journal, which shipped with the game, for much of the story's exposition text and interaction with NPCs, as well as numerous tavern rumors that can be overheard. The journal itself opens with pages of lore: "A Discourse on This Area and its Problems" written by Jeff Grubb, recording the history of the Dalelands, the Flight of the Dragons, and events concerning the city of Phlan. Complementing the open-ended design of the game, encounters are approached with a variety of choices to resolve them, and most missions have alternate solutions available to the player.
The lasting testimony of Pool of Radiance is the prolific series of Gold Box titles that it launched, taking the game to other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons settings such as Dragonlance or the Savage Frontier. There were an additional two Gold Box volumes tailored for science fiction developed under the Buck Rogers universe. The engine itself would be made available as a construction kit for user-made modules in the Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures release. Predating Neverwinter Nights (a name the Gold Box line also was the first to use for its AOL multiplayer version) by almost ten years. Beyond these innovative projects, SSI would find further recognition with the AD&D license eventually branching out to Dark Sun and Ravenloft and Eye of the Beholder series.
In an age of charlatan developers and action orientated titles masquerading as role-playing games, let us instead hail this towering mountain of the genre: the original Pool of Radiance.
When people talk about the lineage of computer role-playing games and their pen and paper heritage, Pool of Radiance is emblematic of this principle. One needs no further evidence than to examine the hardbound AD&D table top resources such as the Monster Manual, where the game's artwork faithfully reproduced those images for the encounter events. It was the aspiration of the computer adaptation to accurately represent details governing every aspect of gameplay including spell-casting, hours needed for rest and recovery, level advancement tables, and even how experience was awarded through treasures found. Playing along Pool of Radiance with the table top rulebooks close at hand would be conceivable and not at all out of place.
However, Pool of Radiance was more than an AD&D combat simulation, much more. Exploring the city locations and dungeon environments of the game world was accomplished in a first person perspective, with the hallmarks of classic level construction that include illusory walls, secret passages, and teleportation puzzles. Once venturing into the outdoors, the player is presented with overland maps of multiple wilderness areas packed with monster lairs and random encounters. Throughout the unfolding nonlinear progression, reference is made to the Adventurers Journal, which shipped with the game, for much of the story's exposition text and interaction with NPCs, as well as numerous tavern rumors that can be overheard. The journal itself opens with pages of lore: "A Discourse on This Area and its Problems" written by Jeff Grubb, recording the history of the Dalelands, the Flight of the Dragons, and events concerning the city of Phlan. Complementing the open-ended design of the game, encounters are approached with a variety of choices to resolve them, and most missions have alternate solutions available to the player.
The lasting testimony of Pool of Radiance is the prolific series of Gold Box titles that it launched, taking the game to other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons settings such as Dragonlance or the Savage Frontier. There were an additional two Gold Box volumes tailored for science fiction developed under the Buck Rogers universe. The engine itself would be made available as a construction kit for user-made modules in the Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures release. Predating Neverwinter Nights (a name the Gold Box line also was the first to use for its AOL multiplayer version) by almost ten years. Beyond these innovative projects, SSI would find further recognition with the AD&D license eventually branching out to Dark Sun and Ravenloft and Eye of the Beholder series.
In an age of charlatan developers and action orientated titles masquerading as role-playing games, let us instead hail this towering mountain of the genre: the original Pool of Radiance.
