Let's Play: Pool of Radiance.

[Jenner]

Ah yes, the old Gold Box Dungeons and Dragons games from Wizardworks. Is there anyone old enough here to recall them?

Coming soon to an Off-Topic forum near you, Jenner will be doing her first ever Let's Play. The game will be, obviously, Pool of Radiance

this will be followed by the PoR characters being ported over to Curse of the Azure Bonds. Those characters will then be ported into Secret of the Silver Blades.

Join me, in a month or so, for HIGH ADVENTURE.

An Introduction

I began playing Dungeons & Dragons in 1991 at the tender age of nine. My elder brother needed a cleric for his campaign and handed me a character sheet. It was love at first dice roll. Back then D&D was Second Edition and life was good. When I started playing Wizardry and Nethack and generally had a love of dungeon crawling games. I bought the Gold Box when it came out originally, and am still using my original CD from that era.

the Gold Box games take place in Ed Greenwood's fantasy world of Faerun. I'm not a major fan, but a big enough one to have some familiarity with the concept of the world and the Mary Sues that inhabit it.

The games do not really go into great detail about how your characters form up or how they know each other, so I will also be introducing my own lame fan-fictionesque side story with the 6 PCs into the story. The characters will be dynamic (I hope) with realistic fears and motivations.

I hope you guys enjoy, if I'm good at it, I'll do more.

Keep an eye on this thread for further developments. I'll be posting up profiles of each of the character, etc. AS SOON AS I FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE DOSBOX COOPERATE WITH ME. (>.> If anyone wants to help with that, me love you long time.)

[Archaon]

All I can say is "I hope this isn't a screenshot LP", because otherwise you're going to be sorely disappointed when you discover that this forum only allows a maximum of four images per post.

[The Coop]

Not only do I remember it, but I remember the stupid amount of floppy disk swapping that had to be done... a trait shared by many (all?) of the D&D games on the old C64. And God help you if one of the disks got fubar. Eight disks and it's just one of them that keeps you from being able to play.

[Jenner]

Not only do I remember it, but I remember the stupid amount of floppy disk swapping that had to be done... a trait shared by many (all?) of the D&D games on the old C64. And God help you if one of the disks got fubar. Eight disks and it's just one of them that keeps you from being able to play.

I have the CD, and I did a test run a few weeks back and it all seemed to roll pretty damn smoothly! :}

Now I just need to remember how I got DosBox to submit to my whims.

All I can say is "I hope this isn't a screenshot LP", because otherwise you're going to be sorely disappointed when you discover that this forum only allows a maximum of four images per post.

This will be a Video LP, Archy. (Due to popular demand) There will be screenshots in the Bio post so everyone can familarize themselves with the unique characters I am generating. Comments will be welcome and appreciated as I continue on.

Things to do:

1. Beat DosBox into submission or drag my old Windows 98 machine out of hibernation.

2. Find Voice Altering Software so I can give each character a unique voice to speak with so I do not have to keep identifying which character is speaking. (I may just make silly voices but I do want people to take me seriously)

3. Stop being cheap and Register Fraps.

4. Learn how to edit videos.

I'm doing PoR first because this is my first LP, I'm really familiar with the games, and I need to master my video editing/sound meddling skills.

[The Coop]

I have the CD, and I did a test run a few weeks back and it all seemed to roll pretty damn smoothly! :}

Now I just need to remember how I got DosBox to submit to my whims.

Well then it's just not the same without the "Insert disc 5," followed by "Insert disk 3" ten minutes later

As for DOSBox...

http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4911

[LuketheXjesse]

high adventure

ARRRRRRRRRRR AVAST YE MATEYSb

[Skrypnyk]

Not only do I remember it, but I remember the stupid amount of floppy disk swapping that had to be done... a trait shared by many (all?) of the D&D games on the old C64. And God help you if one of the disks got fubar. Eight disks and it's just one of them that keeps you from being able to play.

this post brought sooooooooo many memories back

[Jenner]

this post brought sooooooooo many memories back

Wait until I get started! Going over Coop's DosBox post now. My final final is tomorrow and then I'm gonna get started on this

[Broadcast Bowsette]

I have Pools of Radiance installed on my PC right now actually.

[Pyrion]

It's alright so long as you don't play Ruins of Myth Drannor. Or if you do, don't try to uninstall it until after you've patched the uninstaller. Fair warning here.

[Jenner]

I am still unable to get Pools of Radiance to cooperate with my computer. However, I'm over at Kizyr's right now and I CAN make it work on his Laptop.

So, for right now (very briefly) I shall take this moment to introduce you to our player characters.

You may be thinking to yourself, "This is Dungeons and Dragons! That means its time for the multi-racial super friends!" But, you would be wrong. Early day Dungeons and Dragons is racist AND sexist. Women have lower max stats in many important stats than men, (for example, a female human fighter can only have 18(50) strength, compared to 18(00) for men) and certain races can only reach certain levels in certain classes. However, I will bypass D&D's rampant racism the best way possible. With BLACK PEOPLE.

The next couple posts (since this forum limits pictures to 3 per thread) will have short bios.

Rook Me'tsa is the elder of two Calishite (Human) brothers who set off from somewhere in the Border Kingdoms. Rook adores his younger brother, and the two are inseparable. Rook is Chaotic-Good and a straight class fighter (eventually Ranger, they don't exist in PoR.) He is always tending his looks as he worships Sune who puts beauty above all else. He seeks the typical glory, riches, and fame.

Dero Me'tsa is Rook's younger brother. He is Lawful-Good and, In Pools of Radiance, will be a dual class Cleric/Fighter because Paladins do not exist yet. (Much like how Rook will become a Ranger, Dero will be converted to a Paladin in Curse of the Azure Bonds.) Dero worships the God Torm. He and seeks to rout out the evil that lurks in Phlan.

Sebastain has the longest name, and so he has the biggest thumbnail. This does not make him the main character you genre savvy fucks. Sebastian is a Chondathan Human who claims to come from the regions around Hlondeth. Neutral-Good and a Cleric who worships Ilmater (my favorite fictional deity) He was sent here by the Church of Ilmater to check in on his brethren in a temple that was active in the area as correspondence has ceased. He joined the two brothers to assist them in their journey since they were going the same way.

[Jenner]

Vryn Doomwander is a female Shield Dwarf Fighter/Thief she is Neutral-Good and worships the dwarven deity Marthammor Duin, the god of exploration. She only desires adventure, and to see the world and all its wonders.The group will find her within the the city ruins themselves mapping out the dungeon. They bring her along as navigator.

Miria Threspiel offered to accompany the group for a share of the treasure and for her own reasons at the same time the brothers recruited Sebastian. Miria does not reveal anything about herself beyond the fact that she is a Magic-User. She is Chaotic-Neutral and she worships the goddess Beshaba.

Kendris is a male elven Fighter/Magic-User, he is Chaotic-Good and worships Corellon Larethian. (He's probably a moon elf, but I'm not committed to that because I hate elves. I would have made him black too but then he'd be a Drow and Drow are the suckiest of suckness.) Typical of elves, he is very pretty and uses a bow. He was recruited by the brothers in town. He really just came here to kill orcs and claim treasure so he can pay the dowry for some woman his father set him up with.

[The Coop]

I am still unable to get Pools of Radiance to cooperate with my computer. However, I'm over at Kizyr's right now and I CAN make it work on his Laptop.

I have no idea why that game won't run in DOSBox for you. I have the Gamefest Forgotten Realms collection with that and twelve other old D&D games, and they all run fine in DOSBox.

If all else fails, you could just find it at an abandonware site and drop the unzipped folder into the proper place ("DOSGames" if you used my guide). That'll likely be a different version than the one you're trying to use.

[Jenner]

Hey guys! I figured out how to get Pools of Radiance running... one problem.

It runs it with shitty graphics and every time I go in to change it, so ALTER the graphics to the higher graphics setting it gives me that goddamn "insert save disk" error. So, I can either run it with shittier graphics or no. Anyone know how I can force the goddamn thing to run at the highest graphics setting by default. Here are a few screenshots.

Here's what my pools file looks like. Running it with the backslashes makes it work but, as you can see, it runs it with the shitty graphics.

I try to go through the reconfigure to run it with the better graphics setting, when it gets to the save field I put it in like this? (Should I type it in a different way?)

After going through the reconfigure it doesn't go to the character but asks me to put in the disk again (shown)

AND when I reopen my pools.cfg it's REMOVED the \ behind poolrad in the first line.

Thoughts? Troubleshooting?

Should I just shut up and run it with shitty graphics?

[DarkeSword]

Threads about video games belong in Community, not Off-Topic.

[OceansAndrew]

I don't have any tech support advice for you, but I can offer encouragement. I really hope you can get things working so I can see this. Voicing your characters is an awesome idea that makes it extra unique.

[The Coop]

Check your PM box Jenner, if you haven't already.

[zircon]

Oh man, good times. When I was a kid I had all of those early D&D games; Pool of Radiance, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, that kind of stuff.

One of my fondest memories is looking at an ad for the ORIGINAL Neverwinter Nights, which had this kind of graphical style. I believe NWN was one of the first online multiplayer RPGs, and boy did I want it. But my parents weren't quite ready to pay the fee, which was something like $6/hour, on top of your normal dialup charges (which were also hourly.) Kinda makes WoW look cheap in comparison. The best part of the ad, however, was the coupon at the end which advertised a "blazing" 2400 baud modem for "only $200".

[Kizyr]

Hey Jenner. You'll need to change your config file to be:

E
P
C:\WIZWORX\POOLRAD
\WIZWORX\POOLRAD\SAVE
F

(include an extra line at the end)

The first two lines, "E" and "P" indicate you'll run EGA graphics and PC sound. Your file, "C" and "T", tell it to run CGA graphics and Tandy sound. Try changing it to that and see if it works. Also change the line beginning with \WIZWORX just to be sure, so it saves correctly. (EDIT: Oh, and when you start it, hit ENTER to accept the current configuration, meaning what you have specified in the conf file above). KF

[Jenner]

Good news everyone! It's working now!

Thanks to everyone, and I hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfe598kXkI0 Video 1. Wow, I sound stupid... REGRETS, I HAS THEM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAhc-_PQjUo Video 2... oy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdvx7E0Yj-o Video 3, obvious edits are obvious. Pretend you don't notice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMmrBpT5BHs Video 4 the madness continues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWPy6-UAGXs Video 5 wherein the shitty music begins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d--qO3l7Acc Video 6 Ohlo, and the end of The Slums.

[Jenner]

New Goal, make the worst Let's Play ever to see the side of YouTube...

Bear with me as I display my terrible to the world.

Videos are added as links in the previous page post... :/