Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Deuce Traveler]

Just finished Buck rogers : Matrix Cubed, or I assume I did, since it finished with a fucking CRASH.

Is there anything after

Spoiler

Buck Rogers comes to Jupiter, everyone congratulates you and he says "Let's go back to earth."

?

No, there is not:

I also agree the first one is better in some ways.

 

[Servo]

Question for the PoR experts: according to OSRIC, the only difference between a composite long bow and composite short bow is the composite long bow shoots 10 ft farther (for 60 ft total). However it also says a normal (non-composite) long bow does the same amount of damage as a composite long bow and shoots 10 ft farther still (for 70 ft total), even though it costs about half as much.

Is this accurate for PoR? And if so is there any reason to spring extra money for a composite bow?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I am not sure about Pool of Radiance, but to my understanding of some older Dungeons and Dragon editions was that the Composite bows allowed for strength bonuses to be added to regular arrow damage. So if you had a 16 strength and fired a longbow you would do 1d6 points of damage, but if you fired a composite longbow you would do 1d6+2 points of damage.

 

[Servo]

I am not sure about Pool of Radiance, but to my understanding of some older Dungeons and Dragon editions was that the Composite bows allowed for strength bonuses to be added to regular arrow damage. So if you had a 16 strength and fired a longbow you would do 1d6 points of damage, but if you fired a composite longbow you would do 1d6+2 points of damage.

The OSRIC mentions the strength bonus as a side note, saying it's up to the DM's discretion. Would be nice to know how PoR works though.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

It's only "Fine" Bows that add the Strength bonus to their damage rolls in Gold Box games. They're the bows that are outrageously expensive and scarcely better than +1/+2 bows of any other sort for characters that don't have 18+ Strength (naturally or through buffs).

 

[Malignant Manor]

I think so too. The fine composite longbow costs 25,000 gold. It gives the strength bonus to damage and THAC0.

 

[Servo]

What do you do with all the extra coins you accumulate? Shit overburdens pretty quick.

 

[Comte]

What do you do with all the extra coins you accumulate? Shit overburdens pretty quick.

Drop coins and keep gems and jewelry for backup cash.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Should have created a stronghold like in P&P. That shit was expensive as fuck, plus hiring henchmen to run it while you were away to save the world.

 

[Null Null]

What do you do with all the extra coins you accumulate? Shit overburdens pretty quick.

The most you can do is buy Fine Composite Long Bows for each member of your party capable of using them. That's about as far as you can go in Pool.

The later games gave you opportunities to splurge on magic items--ironically, the best way to have arrows +1 to use on the Dark Wizards in Dark Queen of Krynn with Protection from Normal Missiles spells precast is to bring them in from Champions of Krynn!

 

[AetherVagrant]

I cant vote because mine would be Dark Sun, both games. then maybe Unlimited Adventures but only because it was my first exposure to scenario building and modding.
edit: apparently Dark Sun isn't always considered gold box despite the [gold box] because it changed the engine?
if thats the case then : Spelljammer. Just because fuck you, if anything can happen then why not let it?

One more edit: I wish I could have played this game. dayum
http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/15/the-game-archaeologist-dark-sun-online/

 

[ProphetSword]

Spelljammer != Gold Box Game

GameProcessingError in Message.RPGCodex.GoldBoxGames thread -> Line 5 -> "because fuck you"
Missing variable: "AetherVagrant = dumbfuck"

 

[AetherVagrant]

When I was a kid I didn't consider gold box games as the ones that all used the same engine, i considered them anything dnd based that ssi put in a gold box. but whatevs i was like 9 at the time. just today i researched that most fuddie duddies only count the one engine and about 7 games as actual "gold box"

 

[GarfunkeL]

Dark Sun games weren't in a golden box - they were in silver/black boxes over in snowlandia at least. Same as was Menzoberranzan.

 

[AetherVagrant]

sorry, some of the Dark sun boxes were only 50% gold colored instead of 80% with a few tiny images. But if do then edit everything else to say : no gold box games then. Dark sun was the first dnd game with a compelling enough story to make me want to keep slogging through its methuselan mechanics.

 

[ProphetSword]

Gold Box refers to the engine used. There were 13 titles released that used the engine. None of them were Dark Sun.

 

[AetherVagrant]

you win. hence the explanation. magazines at the time didnt always refer to to the engine, and dark sun was described as the new "gold box game" despite using a new engine. other non gold box games by ssi came in gold boxes. didnt fact check thoroughly before posting

 

[Luzur]

Gold Box refers to the engine used. There were 13 titles released that used the engine. None of them were Dark Sun.

It was kinda both ways actually, since as Vagrant says everyone used "Gold Box" as a name for the series by box and by game style.

But i never heard of Dark Sun being put together with the Gold Box team.

 

[Null Null]

Usually everyone uses 'Gold Box' to mean the 12 games with the same engine; it's a convention.

I can see why people would group D&D games of a slightly different era, also made by SSI, in with them, but those don't have quite as many fans. It's more of a convention than anything else.

 

[ProphetSword]

The Gold-Box games definitely refer to the games that used that specific engine and came in the gold-colored boxes (which is why they are called "Gold-Box" games to begin with) that look like this:

None of the other D&D games from that era (including Spelljammer and the Dark Sun games) came in gold-colored boxes. They certainly didn't use the same engine.

Also, as a minor nitpick, Null Null, there were 13 games that used the Gold-Box engine, but only 12 that used the gold-colored box scheme.

Pool of Radiance
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Secret of the Silver Blades
Pools of Darkness
Champions of Krynn
Death Knights of Krynn
Dark Queen of Krynn
Gateway to the Savage Frontier
Treasures of the Savage Frontier
Neverwinter Nights
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday
Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed
Heirs to Skull Crag (Unlimited Adventures) - (Did not use the gold-colored box)

 

[rezaf]

I've been playing around with the PC98 version of Pool of Radiance for a bit since I never knew much about it and noticed a funny little detail: the ettin icon it uses.

Now, what does that remind me of...

Spoiler

Or am the only one seeing similarities there?

 

[Ladonna]

Hmm, an RPG codex adventure module? Those ettins actually look like trannies, which is the first thing I thought you meant until I looked up at the heads...

 

[Null Null]

I've been playing around with the PC98 version of Pool of Radiance for a bit since I never knew much about it and noticed a funny little detail: the ettin icon it uses.

Now, what does that remind me of...

Spoiler

Or am the only one seeing similarities there?

Cute. Where'd you get the PC-98 versions? I'd love to see the anime versions of the characters...

 

[ProphetSword]

You mean like this:

Or the final battle against Tyranthraxus:

 

[rezaf]

Cute. Where'd you get the PC-98 versions? I'd love to see the anime versions of the characters...

There's a collection of PC98 games somewhere on archive.org. They were a bit of a bitch to find because I don't know ANY japanese and couldn't tell what a file contained beforehand, but in the end I found PoR.
I'll check if I still have the link someplace.

There's little in terms of anime in the game's artwork, though. There are some notable diversions from the "classic" style here and there - most other versions are clearly copies of each other limited by the technical limitations of the respective platform - but whilst the PC98 version contains a lot of original artwork, it's usually in the spirit of D&D, so to speak.
As I understand it, the PC98 had a very impressive resolution for it's time, but only allowed a very small number of colors. Thus, the art all looks more "hi-res" than even that of the Amiga version with all it's glorious colors, but
it's evident much less in terms of colors was used.
Some monsters look a bit weird, for example Goblins, while others look virtually identical to their western counterparts - Kobolds come to mind.
In a small number of smallpics, you can see "asian influences". The default main head looks a little bit japanese, imo, and the "Barbarian head" looks a wee bit Mongol. One of the thieves looks a bit like a Yakuza.
But that's about it.

A number of pictures look remarkably similar across the board in all versions.

(PC98)

(Amiga)

(C64)