Pool of Radiance (PoR), released in 1990, was the first in the Gold Box series of games from Strategic Simulations', Inc. (SSI). The Gold Box line was the inaugural effort to bring TSR-licensed Dungeons & Dragons action to the personal computer. PoR was followed by Curse of the Azure Bonds and Secret of the Silver Blades, each of which used essentially the same gameplay mechanics to allow players to move a party of characters through adventures in the Forgotten Realms D&D setting. The popularity of the PoR campaign was highlighted by the 2001 release of Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, an attempt to update the essential Gold Box experience with new 3D graphics and animation. Although technologically enhanced, this updated game lacked the same atmosphere as the original game, and failed to create the same level of loyalty and nostalgia in its players.
Storyline[]
Pool of Radiance introduced players to the port city of Phlan, on the New Sea of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Phlan was a frontier town hoping to carve a space for itself in this rugged and monster-infested region. In order to do this, the city council had decided to advertise in other cities in the Realms in an effort to attract adventurers who could clean out the monster menace and then act as settlers or pioneers in the founding of the city. The game begins with the player's party standing on the docks of the city, having responded to one such advertisement.
To progress through the game, the party was expected to cleanse the city of its unsavory inhabitants, block by block. This began with the lowly slums to the west of the docks (inhabited by mere hobgoblins and kobolds,) to the eventual showdown with Tyranthraxus, master of the powerful Pool of Radiance. In later Realms lore, the Pool would be revealed as a Mythal, a type of magical depository/security system first developed by the elves of Myth Drannor in their efforts to survive the demonic incursions into their homeland.
Gameplay[]
While primitive by today's standards, PoR was an instant classic for the legions of D&D fans who had longed for the opportunity to practice their obsession on the emerging PC platform. Although other fantasy worlds had already made their way to the computer (notably The Bard's Tale series), the marriage of "high tech" with D&D credentials was a sure-fire success. PoR essentially allowed the player to experience something similar to tabletop miniature gaming while ridding him of troublesome baggage such as dice, rule books, and Dungeon Masters. The use of the computer's rule-crunching efficiency was much-appreciated in those days when gamers played (first edition) Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. By transferring the game to a computer, an individual gamer could play any time they wanted and did not need to find a group of like-minded individuals to play with.
Summary[]
There is something satisfyingly "unflashy" about PoR that speaks to the gamer's soul. The satisfaction one gets from clearing out a block of the city of Phlan and then returning to the docks area for that reward is hard to explain — maybe impossible to understand by those who have been raised on high-tech computer gaming and never spent a long night with a group of friends trying to decide what toppings to get on the pizza while the thief (predecessor of rogue) was rolling percentile dice to check every door, floor, wall, and ceiling for traps.