Gold Box SSI's Gold Box Series Thread

[Cael]

Champions of Krynn

My party:

• Human Knight (promoted to Sword, but probably should have just stayed as Crown during this game)
• Human Fighter
• Qualinesti Fighter/Mage[White]
• Qualinesti Cleric[Shinare]/Fighter
• Kender Cleric[Majere]/Thief
• Human Mage[Red]

Though surprisingly short and much easier than I expected, I had a great time with this one! It has really reinvigorated my interest in the Gold Box series, after the slight letdown of Curse of the Azure Bonds and the total disappointment of Secret of the Silver Blades. The unique Krynn mechanics made character/party development a lot of fun, and although the game was very linear with just a handful of optional missions, the story was fun and each area was really quite interesting; I liked how some quests could be solved through alternate (non-combat) means. Combat remained at least somewhat interesting throughout, and I liked how you could exhaust random encounters in most (all?) areas after fighting just a few of them.

I'm really looking forward to bringing my party into Death Knights of Krynn, but will probably go in chronological release order and play Countdown to Doomsday first.

Not a bad party. Perfectly serviceable.

COK is a good intro into the setting and the series. DKK, on the other hand, hold on to your hat.

The Krynn series is the best of the lot in terms of gaming experience. However, its itemisation is lackluster.

The Savage Frontier series is much better in terms of itemisation and its gaming experience is a close second to the Krynn series. I have never liked the Bonds series as much, for some reason.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

But..... he's 007; what isn't there to like?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

You know, I bet SOTSB is probably the easiest to convert in the UNLIMITED ADVENTURES toolset. Do you all like the smaller pictured continent map or the larger walking POR map?

You know, I never finished a Buck Roger's goldbox. I really should have played those. I still have my 5.25" disks. :p

 

[Arrowgrab]

You know, I bet SOTSB is probably the easiest to convert in the UNLIMITED ADVENTURES toolset. Do you all like the smaller pictured continent map or the larger walking POR map?

You know, I never finished a Buck Roger's goldbox. I really should have played those. I still have my 5.25" disks. :p

I like them both. No reason why you couldn't play them now.

 

[Erebus]

Champions of Krynn

Merely looking at this picture is enough to piss me off, as it reminds me of how those Solamnic douchebags robbed me of my dragonlance and my belt of giant strength.

 

[Butter]

It makes me want to replay Champions of Krynn. Excellent game.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Lol... Lord Soth riding in the background.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Lol... Lord Soth riding in the background.

Lord Soth is quite clearly in the foreground of what is one of Keith Parkinson's better paintings for D&D/AD&D:

"Lord Soth's Charge" originally appeared in the Dragonlance 1987 calendar and was re-used for Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home, Battlesystem Miniature Rules, DMGR3 Arms & Equipment Guide, SSI's Death Knights of Krynn, and the Tales of the Lance box set.

 

[octavius]

Lol... Lord Soth riding in the background.

Lord Soth is quite clearly in the foreground of what is one of Keith Parkinson's better paintings for D&D/AD&D:

"Lord Soth's Charge" originally appeared in the Dragonlance 1987 calendar and was re-used for Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home, Battlesystem Miniature Rules, DMGR3 Arms & Equipment Guide, SSI's Death Knights of Krynn, and the Tales of the Lance box set.

It inspired one of the Dead Poets to write the poem The Charge of the Death Brigade.

 

[Cael]

Champions of Krynn

Merely looking at this picture is enough to piss me off, as it reminds me of how those Solamnic douchebags robbed me of my dragonlance and my belt of giant strength.

I can't remember: When you import a character from COK, not a saved game, does DKK stills strip you of the dragonlance, gauntlets and belt?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Well, you could add them back with GBC. Not a huge deal tbh. Be more worried about undead. I actually got tired of GB stripping shit. It just gets to be stupid. The lance eh ok but the belt and gauntlets... meh. Annoyance.

 

[octavius]

Bro, can't you even lift without the gauntlets?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Blisters. Ouchies.....

 

[Cael]

Well, you could add them back with GBC. Not a huge deal tbh. Be more worried about undead. I actually got tired of GB stripping shit. It just gets to be stupid. The lance eh ok but the belt and gauntlets... meh. Annoyance.

You need to know which code to use with GBC. I don't :D

Besides, it makes me feel less bad to abuse the Cerberus bug when they strip stuff away like that.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Ceberus bug?

I wish my comp wasn't fucked up and I had a house to fuck around on GBC. Let me tell you just hex editing is trickier and even UGE (okd dos universal game editor) can be taxing but still fun to mess with.

I suppose cheating is meh for some and unless you've exhausted every normal gameplay option maybe you shouldn't. I still never tried a full solid 1s in stats for a party or solid demi-human for the entire pools-darkness & frontier games (i wish frontier had 3 games). Unfortunately you can't ethically demi-human krynn but i bet you could GBC a full kender party of restricted classes.


How about 6 kender monks! Dunno if you can make a say... 9-10 multi-classes on one alt. The Kender that knows all.

 

[Cael]

Ceberus bug?

I wish my comp wasn't fucked up and I had a house to fuck around on GBC. Let me tell you just hex editing is trickier and even UGE (okd dos universal game editor) can be taxing but still fun to mess with.

I suppose cheating is meh for some and unless you've exhausted every normal gameplay option maybe you shouldn't. I still never tried a full solid 1s in stats for a party or solid demi-human for the entire pools-darkness & frontier games (i wish frontier had 3 games). Unfortunately you can't ethically demi-human krynn but i bet you could GBC a full kender party of restricted classes.


How about 6 kender monks!

Spoiler

The armory in Cerberus where you get the Mace of Disruption, Ring of Protection +3 and Gauntlets of Ogre Strength is bugged. When you enter it, you get the treasure screen. If you don't turn around and go straight out again, but move within the armory building, every time you stand back on that square, it triggers the treasure screen. This stops when you leave the building (as you can't re-enter the building, IIRC). With this bug, you can duplicate as many of the three items as you want. There is also a chainmail +2 in the pile, if that means anything to you by that point.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Well, you could always do the camping load add/remove dupe.

Lemme think:
load saved game
put shit on one char
drop empty dude, add your mule
Load up mule with good shit
Remove mule from party
Reload
Rinse and repeat until you have a bunch of awesome mules loaded.
Start new game
Add mule party
Dedicate save for mule party abd never save over it.
Then reverse to your preferred parties.
You have mules in the "Guild" so to speak and a save full of mules in case you fuck up your armoury.

it was something like that. I did it with manuals of bodily health to get all dudes up to 25 con in pool. Regen was nice. Uge just slap a 25 or 30 con on them for time management. Hell... solid 25-30.

 

[Cael]

Well, you could always do the camping load add/remove dupe.

Lemme think:
load saved game
put shit on one char
drop empty dude, add your mule
Load up mule with good shit
Remove mule from party
Reload
Rinse and repeat until you have a bunch of awesome mules loaded.
Start new game
Add mule party
Dedicate save for mule party abd never save over it.
Then reverse to your preferred parties.
You have mules in the "Guild" so to speak and a save full of mules in case you fuck up your armoury.

it was something like that. I did it with manuals of bodily health to get all dudes up to 25 con in pool. Regen was nice. Uge just slap a 25 or 30 con on them for time management. Hell... solid 25-30.

I figured that one out early. The pre-made characters in DQK (the first GB game I played) had one of several things, so I started duplicating them for the whole party. It was after I noticed that they ASK you whether you wanted to save a character when you removed it from the party. Hit No, and sure enough, the saved version is the old one with all of its items still intact. Hilarity ensued.

You can also use the camping save/load thing to train your characters when you are stuck in an area where you can't train. All sorts of fun applications just because of that one question.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Now, i only say 30 tops because on FRUA monster editing it seems you can give mobs 30 in stats. I dunno if it does crap though.

 

[ColonelMace]

Following upon my discovery of Pool of Radiance grabbed along the rest of the SSI pack off Steam, I started Curse of the Azure Bonds, mostly because I'm hooked on the formula, and find the combat really enjoyable.
The start was shaky due to finding confirmation online that characters' attributes are broken after importing them from PoR. The beginning also suffers from the questionable design choice to have the player face very high AC thieves en masse during the first hours of the game. If you follow the advice from the mysterious grey robed man (who I assume is Elminster since they keep dropping his name everywhere) and start your journey by the village of Hap, aforementioned high AC thieves are replaced by magic quasi-immune drows... It took me some patience to get past all of that but I eventually managed. I've just cleared the pit of Moander now and this is what I think about this sequel :

- Weaker location design than Pool of Radiance. It feels emptier and/or less well thought out than the first title of the saga. It is still enjoyable enough to warrant a playthrough today, if you're enamoured with hack n slashers and curious about these classics, but expect a slight drop in quality from PoR to CotAB.
- Combat challenge is dialed up a notch, which is warranted by the level range of the adventure (which starts at level 5). I'm having a few more game overs than in the first game. It's nothing too challenging though, and the experience remains pretty laid back.
- The plot is really efficient, and kickstarted by a solid premice : the eponymous azure bonds which lay the path towards the villains. Plot matters little in a hack n slash some might say, but I believe it to often differenciate between a good and a great dungeon crawl, and despite the sheer simplicity of it, I really appreciate the whole metaplot surrounding the pool of radiance.
- The transition from free roaming the land to visiting set locations was a bit disappointing at first (especially with tavern tales remaining almost the sole element of novelty in each town), but I like how they hand placed a couple of scripted events here and there. It's a different way to handle outland exploration, but it's growing on me.

I fumbled my party creation but decided to roll with it. Going for a half elf ranger wasn't the no brainer I thought it would be, as she's limited to level 7 due to her female-restricted strength attribute. She's been stuck there for hours now. I also went for a dwarven fighter and a halfling thief, who are both suboptimal choices, although not as grieving as the ranger, who's starting to fall behind in terms of efficiency. I don't miss this aspect of AD&D1, albeit I do like differenciation between races overall.
Anyway, the fire knives, Dracandros and Mogion being dealt with, it's time to meet the zhents.

 

[Butter]

Yeah, you can't really use demi-humans beyond PoR.

 

[octavius]

I always include a Dwarf or Half-Elf Fighter/Thief (with high enough STR to get to Fighter 7 and 1.5 APR).
Backstabbing is the most efficient way of dealing with enemies like Drow.

 

[ColonelMace]

Considering I rolled a pure thief this time (had a fighter/thief in PoR due to my first two pure thieves dying at level 1 and ending up ditched in the foul river ), I don't use backstab nearly enough. I'll fix that with my next party.

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Wizards Crown. Every party member has separate money.
Eternal Dagger. Party has money. INCLINE.
Pool of Radiance. Every party member has separate money again. DECLINE again. Is this because of AD&D rules?

One member had 103 golds. Went to inn. Price is 1 platinum. He had not enough money!

 

[ColonelMace]

Takes a split second to trade money between characters.
Needless to add, money is barely of any use in Pool of Radiance.