Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Dorateen]

I discovered there is no natural healing.

If I remember correctly you can heal 1 hp if you rest for 24 hours straight without leaving the camp screen.

That is what I recall as well. So depending on the amount of damage, characters can hole up and rest for days until the healers get back on their feet. Then they can cast their cleric spells.

 

[Goblino]

If your guy isn't healing, then he must have died in battle. Be sure you bandage anyone who falls asap

 

[Filthy Sauce]

Thanks for the info on natural healing. I did not attempt to rest 24 hours straight.

On the subject of time, Ive been reading the manual and there is an entry on page 11 that states

"From the moment the party begins its adventure in Phlan, the clock is ticking. The longer it takes a party to complete a mission, the harder it becomes."

Is this true or just BS

 

[GarfunkeL]

As pointed out by christian livsey, it is BS indeed. Oh and the manual does not mention it but there are secret encounters on the world map that you have to stumble on.

 

[ProphetSword]

I managed to make it back to town without any encounters but then I discovered there is no natural healing.

That's what inns are for. Go find an inn, pay the cost for the room and park in there until you're healed. You can either rest there the number of days equal to the number of hit points you're down, or rest for 24 hours and memorize cleric spells and use Cure Light Wounds to boost the healing process every day. Make sure to restock your spells before you leave the inn if you do this.

"From the moment the party begins its adventure in Phlan, the clock is ticking. The longer it takes a party to complete a mission, the harder it becomes."

Not true in the slightest. However, what is true is that if you boost up your characters stats too high (for example, making them all 18s) the fights become much, much tougher. Just a warning.

 

[Goblino]

K, so I'm at a standstill with the keep. I've killed the orcs and now all I can find are undead mobs and the specters I don't know what to say to. One gets all mopey and fades, and the others just wail at me. My only clue is some runes I found on a dead elf. No idea what to make of them. I got a few levels and spiritual hammers. Is mendors library a good idea now?

 

[octavius]

Translate the runes (I hope you have a code wheel?). Use the words when parlaying with the undead.

 

[Goblino]

It's only one kind of rune, so I can't use muh wheel that I made.

 

[Dedup]

http://www.oldgames.sk/docs/codewheel/pool-of-radiance/

This should help. Just line up the runes with the "Translate from Espruar" box and look in box 1 on the path with the dotted line for the English translation of the letter

 

[kmonster]

Use your codewheel (which came with the game as copy protection) to translate the runes.

 

[Goblino]

I can translate without dethek runes? All the dead elf has are espruar

 

[Filthy Sauce]

This game is harder than I remember... Or I just suck. The west side of the slums are insane with hallways choke full of 20+ enemies backed by dozens of archers which seem to have 100% hit chance. Ive had multiple party wipes and have had to mark 3 rooms as 'return to later'. I have found a few nice stashes of money in my travels though. Im going to see if I can afford Plate for my guys. Also need to change spell set up for my Cleric/Mage. Having at least 2 sleep spells seems like the way to go with some of these encounters.

Thats the plan anyway when I get back to town. Party is still deep in the slums. Found a exit to the west- going to see if I can map out a little of the new area before returning. Im still level 1 so it probably wont go very well.

Also just discovered that GOGs default dosbox settings for the game are retarded. If anyone is using that version make sure to edit the config files so you can hear those beautiful Tandy sound effects. GOG defaults it to PC Speakers- and those noises scare me greatly.

 

[Null Null]

Oh dear, you modded your stats up, didn't you?

Depending how crooked you want to be, I'd find a dead end and rest facing it--the game will be unable to fill up the whole complement of monsters it wants to and will only be able to fill up the dead end. You can then rest until the slums are cleared.

If these are fixed encounters, you can't clear some of the ones on the west with a 1st level party--you don't have enough Sleep spells, period. Leave them for later and level your party up a bit first.

 

[Goblino]

Today I learned how to read and follow instructions. Now that I figured out the translation, I'm going to run up and greet some ghosts with "flux camosuit chesty" and see how I fare

 

[mediocrepoet]

Never thought I'd see people finding PoR hard... This is making me want to replay it again though.

 

[Goblino]

It's pretty smooth sailing for me. Took a lot for me not to just google that password, but I feel like a better man now that I learned to read the fucking manual. I will say the beginning of POR is extremely uninviting to a player my age. The combination of old interface, controls, and limited options for level 1 combat made me feel like the game wasn't going to be worth it.

 

[Filthy Sauce]

Oh god.. My journey to newfagdom is complete. I could have leveled up my guys along time ago, but didnt know they had enough xp to do so. I could have sworn the names of the PCs changed green when they could level up... Maybe it was a later gold box game like the savage frontier series? Fortunately, only my cleric was fucked over by my mistake... He lost about 500xp.

 

[Mozg]

Correct, although I can't remember which game introduced that bit of UI. I think I remember that Dark Queen of Krynn had it.

 

[Comte]

I know Death Knights of krynn has it as I am playing it right now. Champions of Krynn did not.

 

[octavius]

Never thought I'd see people finding PoR hard.

Parts of it is brutal. The combat against the Trolls and Ogres in the Old Ropers Guild is one of the hardest of all Gold Box games battles if you are not fully prepared.

 

[Comte]

Is the scroll of protection from Dragon Breath a one use item?

 

[Goblino]

How do I identify clerical scrolls? I've got shittons of clerical scrolls.

 

[Null Null]

You don't have to. You can cast spells right off them.

It's the mage scrolls you have to identify (or cast Read Magic). The shops will also do it for you; the number of spells on the scroll will appear.

Also, your blue character names will turn purple in any game made after Death Knights of Krynn when they are ready for a level-up. I remember first discovering this on my old CGA (yes!) laptop when the names suddenly became really hard to read.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Is the scroll of protection from Dragon Breath a one use item?

Yes, all scrolls are.

 

[Goblino]

Well things are going pretty well for me. I've cleared the thieves from the mansion and now I'm at the kobold caves. I got wiped my first time through, because I was too eager to cast my first fireball and I left my mage open to get thrashed by an ogre. My positive experiences with printing up the manuals have inspired me to purchase grid paper and crayons. It looks like I'm going to be playing and mapping old-ass crpgs now Thanks codex for making me a faggot.