Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor Preview

Once upon a time...

It all started in the, now distant, 1969, when under the name of Chainmail, a set of rules were released for playing campaigns with tin soldiers. The work was done by a couple of oddballs-Gary E. Gygax and Dave Arneson. The battles they played with a group of devotees gained a fantasy tone over time as many of the players where great fans of Tolkien's, as well as other fantasy works. That's how the first rudimentary "Heroes" and "Wizards" started appearing in the battles. But the game has developed enormously since. With time and in combination with some board-games elements, the players started assuming roles as sovereigns of imaginary states, sending armies off to war, while at the same time being involved in shady mutual intrigues and diplomacy. The "Heroes" and "Wizards" were sent by their kings into quests for treasure and other individual missions of epic proportion. The players would then take their roles, and soon Gygax and Anerson realized that leading one character was as fun as leading whole armies.

RPG was born...

From these basic rules comes the first FRP (and RPG) system with a very original name-The Fantasy Game. Unfortunately, Gygax and Anerson's idea wasn't really appreciated with the publishers, so in 1973, with two of their other friends, they started their own company called, Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), and published their own book under a pseudonym. The little book is now known as Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and it became a synonym for just about every RPG in existence. D&D was sold out, and started to expand. Soon, new rule books were published, Gygax and Anerson released stuff they came-up with while playing-it was the basis on which the first AD&D settings going by the name of Greyhawk were later formed. A short while after, the first written adventure was released with a funny name, The Temple of the Frog; magazines were published-The Strategic Review (note the abbreviation) and The Dragon (later just Dragon). In 1975, Gygax and Anerson parted, and Gygax founded a new company called TSR Hobbies Inc. At that particular moment there were numerous rules for D&D scattered in various books and magazines, and a lot of people home-baked some of their own, including stuff that couldn't be found in any of the books. The need for compilation, standardization and revision of the rules became apparent. So, in 1977, Gygax released Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) on the market. The system achieved enormous success, and TSR started publishing books by the lot. New rules for new character class, Greyhawk books, numerous written adventures, and later new worlds (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms), and of course new systems.

In those days, RPGs were played as adventures that consisted of descending into an underground labyrinth (dungeon) that was crammed with monsters, traps and treasure, literally Dungeons & Dragons! The adventure started with a stairway that descended into the dark, and the adventure ended with the bright light of the day until the next adventure. But somebody came up with the idea that these dungeons have to be in some space and time, and you have to cross somehow the distance between them, and voila, you had new world popping up everywhere...

...and the Computer

The history of computer adventures relies on a specific system that has some 35 (and rising) different games of the FRP genre. The AD&D system is the most popular and easiest to "computerize", although the first computer system that complied with all AD&D original concepts and rules was introduced with Baldur's Gate. The computer AD&D has lingered on the market for more than a decade, providing a hefty legacy for the games to come.

The first game that came out in the AD&D setting (or more popular-"world") of the Forgotten Realms is the Pool of Radiance in 1988. With the second edition of the rules for AD&D, TSR granted the licence for computer games to SSI. In the next five years SSI released a large number of games, and they found the way to milk the cash cow. After the big success of the Pool of Radiance came the sequels: Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades and finally, Pool of Darkness. The serial became insanelly popular, fast becoming SSI's little gold mine. The player would lead four characters with the possibility of adding two NPCs to the group. The plot was staged in the vicinity of the city called Phlan and consisted of classic FRP quests: dungeons, caves, single NPC quests and the main mission of the game. The classes were, in the first part, reduced to a minimum (four), whereas in the last sequel their number was six. The characters could advance up to the ninth level, but through the sequels their number rose to 20, which enabled the characters to access many interesting spells and combat techniques, along with the horde of unusual creatures from the Forgotten Realms world.

Reality Check...

During the mid-nineties a large financial crisis hit the TSR circles, and the computer games didn't fare better. When SSI lost its licence during the 1995, it looked like the end has come for the AD&D computer systems. TSR was bought by Wizards of the Coast company (which many blame for the TSR failure), and the licence for computer games was granted to Interplay. Encouraged by the new licence, the developers released in the following year (1996) a trendy game that was supposed to top that year's mega hit -- Warcraft. The game was named Blood & Magic, and it unfortunately became a synonym for a project gone bad. To Interplays great dismay, during 1997 another absolute failure was released under the name of Descent to the Undermuntain...

Things couldn't have stayed so terrible for long though. After rain must come sunshine. Two years ago the renaissance of the computer FRP began, and the RPG's in general, with the release of Forgotten Realms campaign Baldur's Gate. It set new standards, and AD&D was re-introduced to the PC players. Starting this year, the licence was divided among Interplay and SSI, meaning, some truly great releases are expected. Interplay plans on developing two games: Neverwinter Nights, which will provide for an online clash of adventurers, and the sequel to Baldur's Gate entitled Shadows of Amn. To honor the 25th anniversary of AD&D, SSI will develop Pool of Radiance II with the third edition of AD&D rules...