Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor in 2018

[Morblot]

What's the included novel? I hope for your sake it's not the 1989 one by James Ward & Jane Hong, because that is the purest dogshit. I don't think I made it much past page 20, and I've managed to finish several of Ed Greenwood's Elminster novels.

 

[smileyninja]

Checked out a video of the Collector's Edition and noticed it had multiplayer. Then I read the manual and it looks like some kind of procedural generation was done on the underground dungeon levels because they can change. Might be why the underground levels were so horrendous in the single player game- developers probably generated a dungeon and tweaked it slightly.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

I love that game, I finished it 3 or 4 times, but it's clearly not for everyone. This being said :

I've completed Wizardry 8 three times without using a speed patch.

I think you're good to go.

As for mods, official patching is enough but I also used a character editor in my latest runs, to choose my own feats.

 

[Filthy Sauce]

so this year I've asked Santa for Ruins of Myth Drannor and it seems like I've been a good boy, because I've already spotted the Collector's Edition in a "hidden" place

Someone dug through my trash bin last night... Was going to blame the racoons.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

What's the included novel? I hope for your sake it's not the 1989 one by James Ward & Jane Hong, because that is the purest dogshit. I don't think I made it much past page 20, and I've managed to finish several of Ed Greenwood's Elminster novels.

Pool of Radiance - Ruins of Myth Drannor

And here is the PNP module.

Pool of Radiance - Assault on Myth Drannor D&D 3.5

Obviously you know about the computer game:

POR - Ruins of Myth Drannor

You can still buy the pdf for $7.

 

[Modron]

Yeah I remember playing this and leveling up and not being able to chose my feats and quitting right there.

 

[DemonKing]

Yeah I remember playing this and leveling up and not being able to chose my feats and quitting right there.

One of the main problems.

The outdoor areas actually looked pretty good, but most of the game is set underground with the same tileset and monsters repeated over and over (and over) again. I remember emerging from one of those endless dungeons back into a bright outdoor area and it really felt like I'd just emerged from an endless tunnel of darkness into the light...

I wouldn't recommend it - there are far better timesinks than this game around. The payoff is not worth the drudge.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I’m looking at my assault on Myth Drannor pdf and I’m not seeing a lot for maps.

Prima’s guide is ok (I think my pdf copy is a poor scan). I usually look at back to back to back CRPG/novel/pnp as an idea to piece together more for a pnp campaign. The original pools this worked ok (though the novel references and actual novel was kind of bleak).

I thought the old WOTC archives had some extra maps and side quests but I don’t think so. Maybe there’s a decent walkthrough site. I never looked since I long lost a machine to play it on. (Doubt my win10 lap top would work easily).

I find Myth Drannor to be lacking in maps (as I don’t own every product).

 

[Micormic]

Jeez that's a strange game to ask for, for christmas. lol.

 

[Martyr]

By the way, maybe i'm wrong but now i think of it, i think one issue with secret doors was the game tried to detect them ONCE and if you failed, you were screwed.

I demand a Beamdog "remaster" so we can highlight secret doors !!

as slow as Wiz8 or even slower?

Ummm, that's an interesting question really. I think individual battles in late Wiz8 would be slower, but it has smaller and more variable areas, so it feels less monotonous.

all is well as long as enemies don't start approaching from 1 mile away :D

Dude, playing a game fixed with patches provided by the dev of this game is still vanilla.

Propably your collectors edition is already prepatched, but if not, you really should apply those fixes. Don't be a retard who plays unfinished shit.

that's just my individual form of autism: I feel like I have to play games in the exact state they were in as they were released. gog only offering Gothic 3 with the Community Patch or KotoR 2 with Restored Content Mod breaks my heart.
ideally I would have played the game way back in 2001 but I was too young then and only played the mainstream RPGs like Icewind Dale, Fallout and Baldur's Gate.

It's by no means a good game, rather pretty mediocre and for large stretches quite bland.
I guess it's possible to get some enjoyment out of it if one is patient, doesn't mind repetition too much and is desperately looking for some (or any) fix of a DnD cRPG.
It also gets a bit better after the first (huge) dungeon, otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to finish it.
In the end, if you anyway already have it, you can as well play it and see whether you enjoy it or not...

games that were mediocre in the past have become shining masterpieces in the present day of cutscene-heavy action "RPGs".
and you did finish it, so it can't be as bad as people always say it is.

Can't say anything really about encounter design but it can't be worse than ToEE bugbear nation. I disliked the game because the 3rd edition rules where completely dumped down (you can't choose your feats) and you couldn't split your party or let your rogue scout ahead and sneaking. Otherwise I would have liked a good 3rd edition dungeoncrawl.

I guess Troika learned from Myth Drannor. from what little I've seen of Myth Drannor, it looks pretty similar to ToEE, so I wouldn't be surprised if Troika wanted to make a better 3rd edition D&D game in the same style as MD.

What's the included novel? I hope for your sake it's not the 1989 one by James Ward & Jane Hong, because that is the purest dogshit. I don't think I made it much past page 20, and I've managed to finish several of Ed Greenwood's Elminster novels.

I'm actually interested in the first PoR novel as well, but that one isn't easily available in germany. would also love to read the Thunderscape books, because I really liked Thunderscape's setting and atmosphere.

I love that game, I finished it 3 or 4 times, but it's clearly not for everyone. This being said :

I've completed Wizardry 8 three times without using a speed patch.

I think you're good to go.

As for mods, official patching is enough but I also used a character editor in my latest runs, to choose my own feats.

seems like this game is an acquired taste. from now on until christmas I'm going to play Bard's Tale 4, PoE 2 and Pathfinder: Kingmaker, and I think these games will help me appreciate Myth Drannor more, if you know what I mean.

so this year I've asked Santa for Ruins of Myth Drannor and it seems like I've been a good boy, because I've already spotted the Collector's Edition in a "hidden" place

Someone dug through my trash bin last night... Was going to blame the racoons.

to be fair I was wearing my racoon costume, so technically you would be right ... #FurryPride

I remember emerging from one of those endless dungeons back into a bright outdoor area and it really felt like I'd just emerged from an endless tunnel of darkness into the light...

sounds pretty immersive

Doubt my win10 lap top would work easily.

I was planning on playing this game mostly on my Win10 laptop

Jeez that's a strange game to ask for, for christmas. lol.

asked for another strange game, or games. the Rhem Quadrology, a series of hardcore Myst-clones
sure, I could have asked for Dishonored 2 or Pillars 2: Deadfire, but I'm sick and tired of having these empty DVD-boxes with a steam-code in them, I wanted an old-school multi-CD game with a printed manual to read before playing.

 

[Morblot]

I'm actually interested in the first PoR novel as well, but that one isn't easily available in germany.

You can get it from https://www.abebooks.co.uk/ quite easily. Seems there are now 7 copies available for under £3, e.g. https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30100975215

 

[Micormic]

That part I get, I just think there's better choices then ROMD.


If I still had my box box of it I would of mailed it to you for free. Don't remember if I sold it on ebay or chucked it.

sure, I could have asked for Dishonored 2 or Pillars 2: Deadfire, but I'm sick and tired of having these empty DVD-boxes with a steam-code in them, I wanted an old-school multi-CD game with a printed manual to read before playing.

 

[Martyr]

I'm actually interested in the first PoR novel as well, but that one isn't easily available in germany.

You can get it from https://www.abebooks.co.uk/ quite easily. Seems there are now 7 copies available for under £3, e.g. https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30100975215

thanks for the link, they've also got the Thunderscape novel !

That part I get, I just think there's better choices then ROMD.


If I still had my box box of it I would of mailed it to you for free. Don't remember if I sold it on ebay or chucked it.

I don't think I have that many RPGs left to play, because I've played most of the older RPGs on CD/DVD, gog/steam and abandonware sites. I know Ruins of Myth Drannor is also available on myabandonware but I've always wanted the CE since I've seen the unboxing video of that shithead in the forest.
and hopefully you sold your copy

 

[Gord]

games that were mediocre in the past have become shining masterpieces in the present day of cutscene-heavy action "RPGs".
and you did finish it, so it can't be as bad as people always say it is.

Eh, no, doesn't work that way. It's still a mediocre game.
But that's it. It's just very mediocre, not horrible. So, as I said - play it, and if you enjoy it enough to keep playing it (or your autism outweighs the boredom, as was probably the case for me), then fine.

 

[Serus]

that's just my individual form of autism: I feel like I have to play games in the exact state they were in as they were released. gog only offering Gothic 3 with the Community Patch or KotoR 2 with Restored Content Mod breaks my heart.

Then I assume You also play Pathfinder: Kingmaker in version 1.0 - "in the exact state it was released"?
Good luck.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I demand a Beamdog "remaster" so we can highlight secret doors !!

That would be so niiiiiiice, characters would become genderless and they'd be able to romance each other, also, for more incline, they'd be side quests to romance the orc chieftain before the dungeon and then to romance a mage skeleton ... and a dog (there wasn't any but it'd wouldn't be too much of a hassle to add one, right ? ) .. and a sheep ? And ... well, i guess that's enough even for them.

What i meant is each dungeon level is huge, secret doors are really secret and i think you need to go through some of them to exit the dungeon, it's not just extra treasure, for example i think a set of stairs is hidden behind a secret panel.
They brought that shit to the next level, you could run around the whole level 4 times without finding the exit.

So think about it during the character creation.

 

[slymer]

I bought this game used off of Amazon, but it came with a Lord of The Rings DVD inside, so I never played it.

 

[The Old Kiwi]

Hmm? I cannot recall a single favorable review from the release period of the game. It certainly went from main shelf to bargain bin in a big hurry!

Of all (original game) Gold Box games, PoR had been the worst of those in its day! I played it in MS-DOS after it was converted, and thus, after I played most of the other Gold Box games.

I've never had the slightest interest in changing my opinion!

 

[Darth Canoli]

Martyr

Found a fix for POR 2 crawling combat speed in the sorcere's place.

And i finally could download the compatibility program to fix the transparent bug issue, i think i'll give it another shot.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Well, i tried a fix for the transparent glitch, didn't work, also, i forgot about the false TB thing with a timer.

Not worth the effort.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

You can stop the timer by sliding it to the lowest position, you then have infinite time to make your turns.

 

[Darth Canoli]

You can stop the timer by sliding it to the lowest position, you then have infinite time to make your turns.

Ah, thanks, didn't bother too much with trying to configure it because of the display bug, it's unplayable anyway.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Did you try disabling hardware acceleration ?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

People mod and fix other games why not this one? Or how about the deepest darkest most dastardly dungeon crawl of them all:

Spoiler

 

[ProphetSword]

Of all (original game) Gold Box games, PoR had been the worst of those in its day! I played it in MS-DOS after it was converted, and thus, after I played most of the other Gold Box games.

Anyone who thinks the original POR is the worst of the Gold Box games should have their license to play CRPGs revoked.