Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures (FRUA) thread

[eXalted]

GBC worked fine for character data but the maps weren't working properly. After some time messing about mapping 1.5 floors I decided to grab Grid Cartographer. Well worth the cash if you plan to play multiple games which require manual mapping.

Other modules work fine.

I've been looking at Grid Cartographer. Seems sleek!

Which other modules? Unhacked ones I suppose?

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

I say that arbitrarily. From memory, module 39 (Pool of Radiance) works OK I believe. I haven't played enough modules to comment on general compatibility.

 

[ProphetSword]

I was thinking that the city streets should look cleaner. Something like this:

The maps are working as intended. The issue is not with the GBC maps. Rather, the issue is that the module designer of that particular module used wall slots to create a "crowd," and because the player needs to walk through the crowd, he used "door" slots to accomplish it. GBC has no idea what artwork is used in those slots, and is showing them as doors because that's what they are. So, it's definitely right in that regard. If you use the "Area" view in the game itself, you will see doors there as well.

This happens sometimes in hacked FRUA modules when the designer needs to create a certain visual look (like debris or people or trees you can walk through). It's a limitation of the system. It isn't always used as much as it seems to be on that map, but then again, outside mapping tools didn't exist when that module was made, so he likely didn't know it would be a problem.

 

[eXalted]

Interesting, that explains a lot. I will just play the game then, now when this is mad clear.

Any general tips when playing Game 05 - B6 The Veiled Society?

As far as I understand, in the beggining you have to stroll around in the city untill it is night so that you can find a room in a tavern? Other ways to pass the time?

I then find my party killed in seconds by the first zombies that I stumble on when doing the first quest (A woman comes into the tavern and wants me to explore her basement).

 

[Jaesun]

 

[Iskandryu]

Hello guys.

I'm trying to play Pool of Radiance in FRUA, and it's been great so far, except one huge (imo) problem: The random encounters never seem to stop... I'm in the slums, and must have done about 50 of them, and it's really annoying seeing how i can't get anywhere easily since every other step is a random encounter. Does anyone know anything about this? I know that in the original PoR the random encounters in the Slums stopped after you beat 15 of them, and that was ok, because it allowed you to easily move between the town and the different areas.

So is this normal? do the random encounters ever stop in this remake? Is it by design, or is there a bug on my side that prevents that script from stoppin, or what?

 

[ProphetSword]

Hello guys.

I'm trying to play Pool of Radiance in FRUA, and it's been great so far, except one huge (imo) problem: The random encounters never seem to stop... I'm in the slums, and must have done about 50 of them, and it's really annoying seeing how i can't get anywhere easily since every other step is a random encounter. Does anyone know anything about this? I know that in the original PoR the random encounters in the Slums stopped after you beat 15 of them, and that was ok, because it allowed you to easily move between the town and the different areas.

So is this normal? do the random encounters ever stop in this remake? Is it by design, or is there a bug on my side that prevents that script from stoppin, or what?

I'll ask the mod designer on the FRUA forums and get back to you with an answer.

 

[Elwro]

Well, just off the top of my head, isn't it so that there are more encounters if you have edited stats by hand?

 

[Iskandryu]

Thanks, ProphetSword. I tried on those forums too, but it seems to take forever for the admins to accept my submission.

Elwro. I'm pretty sure that's not the case. As far as i know, that only happens when you've maxed out all your stats.. and i havent. Also, i believe it affects the number of monsters in each encounter, not the actual number of encounters.
Also, i'm wondering if the encounters are infinite, how do i actually clear an area? This was quite an important part of PoR. If you can't ever clear areas in the remake, i think i'm gonna gonna go back to playing the original.. in spite of the crappy graphics and primitive mechanics

 

[ProphetSword]

No, he's right. The encounters in the original game cleared out after 15 random combats, and the block was considered "clear," though the set encounters would still fire.

 

[Jaesun]

I would assume Ray would have a quest that is counting the number of random encounters, but perhaps the check is bugging out?

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Do you have the quest to clear the slums? Perhaps they go on forever if you don't have the quest.

 

[Iskandryu]

Hmm, that could have been something. But i'm not sure it was that. The thing is, after some point, the random encounters stopped. As i was on my way to the city hall to get the quest, i encounters no resistance. The Rope guild, though (the house with the trolls) was still full with encounters. Even though the slums proper were free of them. So i'm guessing that Ray did some further zoning of the levels, and separated the Rope guild area from the rest of the map. So yeah, even after i killed the trolls, even though the city hall clerk gave me the reward for clearing the slums, the Rope Guild is still full of monsters. But that's not really an issue, since i don't have any further business in there. So i guess that if you don't count the Rope Guild, you still have about 15-20 (they still seemed to be more, but i wasn't really paying attention) in the Slums, before it's cleared.

Weird about the rope guild though. From a story perspective, too. Because i always had the feeling that after you clear an area, the population goes and settles it. Which would be quite hard seeing that one of the largest houses there is still swarming with monsters )

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

OK that makes sense. The randoms ended for me once I had enough to finish the assigned quest.

 

[ProphetSword]

Hello guys.

I'm trying to play Pool of Radiance in FRUA, and it's been great so far, except one huge (imo) problem: The random encounters never seem to stop... I'm in the slums, and must have done about 50 of them, and it's really annoying seeing how i can't get anywhere easily since every other step is a random encounter. Does anyone know anything about this? I know that in the original PoR the random encounters in the Slums stopped after you beat 15 of them, and that was ok, because it allowed you to easily move between the town and the different areas.

So is this normal? do the random encounters ever stop in this remake? Is it by design, or is there a bug on my side that prevents that script from stoppin, or what?

We got a response from the mod author on this. Its a bug:

That's a problem that has surfaced at least one other time, and I haven't been able to figure out why.

The wandering encounters in the Slums are supposed to stop after (I think) 15. But when this happens, the quest variables never tally to the right number (or, more likely, they somehow skip the series of events that are keyed to complete the quest after 15), and that causes the wretched things to go on forever.

I can't recall which quest governs those random encounters after all these years, but this is solved by entering the editor and completing that specific quest.

Thanks, ProphetSword. I tried on those forums too, but it seems to take forever for the admins to accept my submission.

Actually, I'm one of the admins there. There are two of us that generally handle new submissions, and I tend to hit the boards several times per day to make sure that new users get onto the boards fairly quickly.

However, sometimes we have an issue where a user might get lost. I've heard from users that they have signed up, but we never see the submission. I'm not sure why...could be a bug in the forum software. Usually, I tell them to sign up again using either the same or a different user name (and to tell me what it will be so I can look for it). If I see it, I make sure they get pushed through, and if I don't, I let them know...though, usually it doesn't happen more than once.

So, let me know if you still want to join.

 

[Iskandryu]

Thanks for the info.

Yeah, there's definitely a bug with the random encounters in that game. As i said, half of the slums eventually cleared itself. Only the Rope guild part of it remained full with monsters. And the thing is that the mod creator made the Rope Guild a separate map for some reason, named Slums II. That's what the Gold Box Companion automap showed me. So the problem with the unlimited encounters is only there. But anyway I did manage to advance quite a lot in the game, and for the most part it works well, although there are definitely more random encounters than in the vanilla game. Still, that's not a problem, since that was actually the norm for CRPG's at the time. The original Pool of Radiance, when it came out was actually quite an anomaly, with random encounters actually stopping )

Also, i tried to log in the UA forums today, and it somehow worked, even though i never got the confirmation Email, and never clicked on the confirmation link. So that's apparently solved, too.

 

[Jaesun]

Sometimes, a quest check in FRUA can fail (bug), if it is part of a complex series of events. It sadly happens in Ray's conversion of B11-12, King's Festival/Queen's Harvest (if you happen to have the 2 girls with you when you finally are trying to leave). Ray does everything correct in the series of events, but for some reason the quest check completely fails, even when it IS set to the correct value. I have been meaning to fix this for Ray one day, as that conversion module is actually quite a lot of fun.

I wonder if this is also another one of those FRUA bugs.

 

[ProphetSword]

Thanks for the info.
Also, i tried to log in the UA forums today, and it somehow worked, even though i never got the confirmation Email, and never clicked on the confirmation link. So that's apparently solved, too.

I'll check with the other admins to make sure they're sending out the emails. They might have just accepted you as a new user without doing so. I know I always send out the confirmation email so that people know they've been accepted. Sorry for the mix-up.

The only reason we have to do it in the first place is because of spammers. If not for that, we wouldn't need people to jump through hoops.

 

[ProphetSword]

Sometimes, a quest check in FRUA can fail (bug), if it is part of a complex series of events. It sadly happens in Ray's conversion of B11-12, King's Festival/Queen's Harvest (if you happen to have the 2 girls with you when you finally are trying to leave). Ray does everything correct in the series of events, but for some reason the quest check completely fails, even when it IS set to the correct value. I have been meaning to fix this for Ray one day, as that conversion module is actually quite a lot of fun.

I wonder if this is also another one of those FRUA bugs.

FRUA can be weird sometimes. One of my own modules "AT1: Dark Alliances" suffered from a strange bug that would, on rare occasions, stop the main quest from firing. It took 18 years to finally uncover why the bug was happening in order for me to update it last year. Luckily, the game was playable to 98% of the people who played it.

Most bugs of this nature, I believe, are caused by the use of hacks (I can't prove it, but these things never happen in unhacked modules). It's a small price to pay for increased functionality, though. But, adding extra walls, for example, will sometimes cut into the memory areas used for events and has been known to wipe out whole events after they were written. You have to be really careful that you don't screw things up.

 

[Iskandryu]

Oh btw, since you brought up the other modules that Ray made. I'm actually interested in The Realm series. They seem to get much praise, but checking the forums i've only found people that are really INTO D&D for a long time, and play those modules out of some sort of nostalgia. How do they stack up for someone who hasn't grown up playing pen and paper D&D? Of course, this is actually my first time playing a Gold Box game, and so far i found Pool of Radiance to be very enjoyable. But how much would investing the time in those modules be worth for someone who just wants to play good games, with good mechanics, and a good story? As opposed to someone being a D&D nerd?

Of course, the main reason i want to play that series, is because i like the Forgotten Realms setting, it's lore and stories. I got into D&D through the Infinity Engine games, I read a few of he FR novels, and some source and lore books, so i'd like to experience new stories set in that world. Is The Realm set in the Forgotten Realms as well? Do those stories expand or use that universe in any way? Or they could just as well be set in Skyrim, because the setting doesn't matter at all?

 

[Jaesun]

Iskandryu what Ray does is conversions of actual D&D PnP Modules, and fits them within the (VERY limited) FRUA engine. He is also very knowledgeable on the use of FRUA, and I personally feel he fits as much of the module as possible in each game.

I would recommend you give his B8 Journey to the Rock a try (get the special edition one, as someone re-did the module with much better art) http://frua.rosedragon.org/pc/modules/g/game06se.zip and make up your own mind. If you have fun with that, you can continue on with his recommended campaigns. Even if you are not even familiar with PnP, you will find them enjoyable. The stories all adhere to the modules setting and characters as well as story (some are pretty meh, come are pretty cool though). Also most of the modules are not that long to finish.

Also ProphetSword's AT1: Dark Alliances is fantastic. It is very large in scope like Pool of Radiance.

Now if only we could convince him to do part 2 of it (he had a nasty HD crash and lost most all of the work done on it IIRC).

Also read the OP of this thread for more specific info.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Oh btw, since you brought up the other modules that Ray made. I'm actually interested in The Realm series. They seem to get much praise, but checking the forums i've only found people that are really INTO D&D for a long time, and play those modules out of some sort of nostalgia. How do they stack up for someone who hasn't grown up playing pen and paper D&D? Of course, this is actually my first time playing a Gold Box game, and so far i found Pool of Radiance to be very enjoyable. But how much would investing the time in those modules be worth for someone who just wants to play good games, with good mechanics, and a good story? As opposed to someone being a D&D nerd?

Of course, the main reason i want to play that series, is because i like the Forgotten Realms setting, it's lore and stories. I got into D&D through the Infinity Engine games, I read a few of he FR novels, and some source and lore books, so i'd like to experience new stories set in that world. Is The Realm set in the Forgotten Realms as well? Do those stories expand or use that universe in any way? Or they could just as well be set in Skyrim, because the setting doesn't matter at all?

Many of the Realms dungeon modules are actually not from Forgotten Realms. Ray named the location the Realms I think just to give it a generic name. For the most part, the Realms adventures take place in the BECMI D&D setting of Mystara, though they use the 2nd Edition AD&D ruleset. They are written to be campaign-neutral, however, and so you do not need an understanding of Forgotten Realms or Mystara campaign lore or history to enjoy them. This is welcome for me, too, since I grew up with BECMI D&D rules and the Mystara campaign world, so small references I pick up on and enjoy.

 

[eXalted]

Time for my second try with the Goldbox series. As someone who has never played AD&D game before (and I'm fairly new to D&D 3, ,mainly NWN modules), I find it hard to pick class combinations and very hard to pick weapons for them.

When in combat, I don't even know how to cast a spell (yeah yeah, retarded and butthurt). Is there a guide/tutorial something that will get me into the game and lower the learning curve?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Time for my second try with the Goldbox series. As someone who has never played AD&D game before (and I'm fairly new to D&D 3, NWN modules mainly), I find it hard to pick class combinations and very hard to pick weapons for them.

When in combat, I don't know how to even cast a spell (yeah yeah, retarded and butthurt). Is there a guide/tutorial something that will get me into the game and lower the learning curve?

You can download manuals and supporting documents from abandonia.com. Walkthroughs online often talk about tactics and party composition. Jaerun has an awesome FRUA guide on this site. In the first Pools game, having an all demi-human party that can wear armor and cast priest or magic-user spells makes the game pretty easy since the first level sleep spell is effective through the end battle, but that party will be greatly underpowered in later games if you transfer them due to lower hit points and level limits. Later you will want to play humans with at least two mages, three front line warriors, and a cleric. If one of your front line warriors is a paladin, he can back up the cleric with divine magic.

 

[eXalted]

Thank you for the feedback. I started playing The Veiled Society with Goldbox Companion. It makes the game A LOT more approachable for some like me ( ) who hasn't grown up with games like those. Yes, it is A noobish tool but it is giving me enjoyment and that is what matters at the end.

Is there a way to see item stats before I buy them. I am at a shop which sells Knife, Whip and a Rapier. None of them is mentioned in the FRUA Manual (Weapons Table) so I guess they are module specific items. Bought the rapier, it does 1d8+4 DMG which I think is a fairly good for level 1 but is there a way to see dmg before I buy it?

Goldbox Companion shows that the character has Gaze Resistance item instead of Rapier:

Spoiler