Using DosBox and SSI's games to Play DnD Modules

[Deuce Traveler]

Lately I've been on a DosBox kick. I am still trying to figure out why, but I am finding Dragon Age: Origins to be boring. However, I can't seem to put down Pool of Radiance by SSI, even though the game was made in the late 80s. I play it through a DOS emulator called DosBox and many of the DOS games are now abandonware, meaning you can download such games from sites such as abandonia.com.

Anywho, I was visiting different abandonware sites for classic DnD games, when I passed over Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures. Basically, the software company that created the Gold Box games (Strategic Simulations Incorporated or SSI) created an RPG maker that never really took off, but had a lot of capability.

Well here we are some years later and there are now a ton of modules that have been created for FRUA (Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures). A large number of these modules are copies of old TSR pencil and paper modules such as the Temple of Elemental Evil, Queen of the Demonweb Pits, Castle Amber, and so on. There are even superhero modules, though I'm not sure what rule set they use. Currently, I am playing Keep on the Borderlands with a party I just created. The map function doesn't work on these modules, so I am also finding myself having to create my own maps on graph paper. Basically I am playing old school DnD RPGs again, but solo (with a rolled up party of six) and having a blast.

To make these modules work takes a bit of work. You have to learn how to navigate DosBox and a program called UAShell, but I found the results worthwhile once I followed the instructions here:

Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures thread :: The Codex Forums

 

[Sutekh]

Damn, If I spend too much more time looking at this post then Im going to be forced to fire up my Gold Box series again... a nd that only leads to pain and referencing journal entries!

Ive used UA before with limited results, its a good program but I always just preferred firing up either Curse or Pools of Radiance first and foremost.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I'm playing Pool of Radiance, too. So far I've liberated several sections of the city, but I still can't handle the 3 trolls and 2 ogres in the beginning slums map. Mostly it's because I'm having trouble finding enough gold to level to match my current XP.

 

[Spatula]

Yeah, that troll fight is a nasty one. That and some outdoor battle against a zillion kobolds (or were they goblins?) is about all I remember from PoR.

 

[Squire James]

Boy, does that bring back some memories! I'm probably in the UAShell credits somewhere (I think I was Chaos4907 back then... I was a big fan of chaos theory when I was in college), since I wrote some of the early utilities when I was dissatisfied with what Unlimited Adventures allowed me to import. Better programmers than I eventually picked it up and assembled them and lots of other things into UAShell.

I never really did get Dosbox to work in an acceptable fashion, so my UA days ended when I finally installed a version of Windows that didn't like my DOS stuff. Perhaps Dosbox is better now. I never made any decent modules... I guess the utilities and their helping teach me C programming were more interesting to me.

Sorry for the boring old-person talk... you just brought out a "Little Gygax Moment" in me I suppose!

 

[Deuce Traveler]

It definitely wasn't boring. I have an appreciation for those that merge computer programming skills in support of role-playing games. And I always find little tidbits of this kind of history very interesting. After getting UAShell to work, I have found myself considering how to transfer my own old homemade modules into a Gold Box module.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Lately I've been on a DosBox kick. I am still trying to figure out why, but I am finding Dragon Age: Origins to be boring.

That's because it is boring. The table top RPG they made off of it is pretty good though.

However, I can't seem to put down Pool of Radiance by SSI, even though the game was made in the late 80s. I play it through a DOS emulator called DosBox and many of the DOS games are now abandonware, meaning you can download such games from sites such as abandonia.com.

Anywho, I was visiting different abandonware sites for classic DnD games, when I passed over Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures. Basically, the software company that created the Gold Box games (Strategic Simulations Incorporated or SSI) created an RPG maker that never really took off, but had a lot of capability.

Well here we are some years later and there are now a ton of modules that have been created for FRUA (Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures). A large number of these modules are copies of old TSR pencil and paper modules such as the Temple of Elemental Evil, Queen of the Demonweb Pits, Castle Amber, and so on. There are even superhero modules, though I'm not sure what rule set they use. Currently, I am playing Keep on the Borderlands with a party I just created. The map function doesn't work on these modules, so I am also finding myself having to create my own maps on graph paper. Basically I am playing old school DnD RPGs again, but solo (with a rolled up party of six) and having a blast.

To make these modules work takes a bit of work. You have to learn how to navigate DosBox and a program called UAShell, but I found the results worthwhile once I followed the instructions here:

Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures thread :: The Codex Forums

This sounds awesome. I too have been on an old school computer gaming kick and was just wondering how I could get my hands on some of the old 'gold box' stuff. Thanks!

 

[Holy Bovine]

Yeah, that troll fight is a nasty one. That and some outdoor battle against a zillion kobolds (or were they goblins?) is about all I remember from PoR.

They were orcs. I had 4 wizards (most multiclassed to fighter or thief) and they all launched sleep spells in the first round in that one. Only reason I was able to beat it (after about 5 tries!).

 

[Deuce Traveler]

My party:

Fighter/Thief
Fighter/Magic-User (Sword guy)
Fighter/Magic-User (Archer)
Magic-User/Cleric
Fighter/Cleric
Fighter/Magic-User/Cleric

The hardest part is finding enough gold to level them, but mass sleep spells are great. Eventually I'll be lobbing mass fireballs. After battles there are the mass healing festivals.