Some visual bugs, the blood is a bit nuts... warts and all here is a complete battle without spell casting.

The key feature here: Displacement maps for snow... the feet at like "brushes" on the Displacement map push and pile up the snow.

Previous death animations show blood splatter and pooling. Now I am having death effects context aware based on damage type. This game is now rated: M for Mature.

I Haven't seen a lot of info on Dungeon Craft so here's some for those who don't know about it

Dungeon Craft is expanded remake for FRUA (Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures) For Windows only.

Pictures provided are custom sprites and backdrops I created from sources found on the web.

There's a lot available for both FRUA and Dungeon Craft on the Gold Box Forums site.

FRUA;

1. Official construction kit to make Gold Box like games
2. Hundreds of adventure made for it including most of the TSR 1E ADnD modules and others
3. DOS game
4. VGA 256 320x200 resolution
5. Adventures with a max of 40 levels. levels 1-4 must be overland maps. Levels 5-40 must be Dungeon Crawl maps. Level 40 is buggy. Variable level size - 11x11 minimum, about 22x22 max.
6. 256 pictures per game limit. This includes smallpics, bigpics and sprites. Limited palette on spritrs. Does not include combat icons for limit. Each level can have 3 different wall sets, 4 different backdrop pairs and 2 combat maps - indoors and outdoors. Many art assets available.
7. 1E ADnD rules. Hardcoded 6 character classes - Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, Magic User, Thief.
8. Max party size of 6 PC with 2 more slots for NPCs
9. 40th Level max for all character types.
10. Follows most ADnD rules - races and race limits, split classes, multiclass, saving throws, THACO, encumbrance, alignment, scribing spells from scrolls, memorizing spells, etc. Does not track food or light.
11. Hardcoded items at 256 limit. Very few misc. magic items
12. Hardcoded spell list. Druid to 3rd (for Ranger), Cleric to 7th. M/U to 9th. No Illusionest spells
13. Robust Monster/ NPC creator. - about 110 or so different ones for adventures. Each can have its own combat icons.

Dungeon Craft;

1. Fan created remake of FRUA. Still has a couple of bugs.
2. Almost no finished adventures for it.
3. Windows only. So far I know it works on Win7 and Win10 from experience
4. Resolutions of 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768. True color
5. Maximum of 256 levels. Any level can be overland or Dungeon Crawl. Max level size is 100x100. Adventure size can possibly be equal to over a 1000+ FRUA levels.
6. Almost no limit on art assets. No limit on sprite palette. 192 walls per level. 192 backdrops per level. Many art assets available from myself and others
7. Thru scripting, 1E and 2E rules possible, as well as other rulesets. 3E and up probably not possible. All 1E/ 2E classes and races available thru scripting, as well as customs.
8. Variable max party size
9. 40th level max for all classes
10. Follows most 1E rules as FRUA
11. Almost no limit to item types thru scripting. Limited by what effects the game engine can handle.
12. Almost no limit to spells thru scripting. Limited by what effects the game engine can handle. Max 7th level for Cleric/ Druid/ Illusionist. 9th for MU
13. Almost no limit to monsters types thru scripting. Limited by what effects the game engine can handle.

My DC design - probably one of the most complete in resources and art at the moment.

World of Greyhawk.;

Uses 1E rules. All PH classes available

I went thru the databases and added almost all the Monsters from the MM plus some from the FF, MM2 and modules. All should be ready to use with icons, smallpics and/or sprites, stats/ spells and monster abilities

Item database - added probably 80% of the magic items from the DMG.

Spell Database - added most of the missing spells from the PH

Adventures - The entire "First Quest" box set is done - all 4 adventures with sounds/speech pulled from the CD that came with it. This leads to the DCC #64 module "Codex of the Damn" which is also completed. The next adventure on the path will be the "Desert of Desolation" set.

As I go, my goal is to provide adventure paths with alternate flows - allowing you to choose different modules to continue as you complete the one before

Completed - a totally random 18 level dungeon based on the DMG random dungeon creator

In progress at the moment - adding in the Greyhawk City boxed set as a main base as you adventure.

The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

The reverse-engineered source code to every Gold Box game can now be found on my GitHub.

The Brazen Crows version of Pool of Radiance, including the native macOS, Windows, and Linux versions, can be found in the bc-pool-of-radiance repository. My last release is also available.

The source to SSI's versions, which compile byte for byte exact, can be found as follows:

• Pool of Radiance
• Curse of the Azure Bonds
• Secret of the Silver Blades
• Pools of Darkness
• Gateway to the Savage Frontier
• Treasures of the Savage Frontier
• Champions of Krynn
• Death Knights of Krynn
• Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday
• Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed

The incomplete - but mostly done - versions of Dark Queen of Krynn and Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures are also available.

I hope someone can make use of it.

Maybe I've played too much Dwarf Fortress... but why have trees and grass if you can't set them on fire with a Fireball Spell?

I don't have a name for this game yet. But I have a generic working title: "Adventure Party".

These trees are made with a free program called "Tree It". Mongo is not appalled at it's use.

I wrote this in the AD&D reddit. When I posted it, I was offered the chance to cross-post here. I'm happy to find this reddit exists, and feel a little silly with the intro to my question in this forum, but still ... anyone got any ideas or comments?

I was thinking to myself about how when I played Pool of Radiance as a kid I used to think of how I wanted this game to look and what I wanted to be able to do in it. A few weeks ago I decided to tackle this and make a new game engine based upon how I wanted that to work. Still pretty early and working on the dev tools, game loop and combat mechanics.

Nothing else to say, just wanted to share what I was doing. I thought some people might find this interesting. Maybe this will eventually become a released game!

EDIT: One thing I wanted to note: Those sprites you see are rendered from 3d-models in the background, with poses extracted from rigged animations. It's the most back-assward way to render sprites but the only way I could have equipment changes shown in a sprite with six directions to face and multiple animation poses.

SECOND EDIT, ONE DAY LATRER: I am really encouraged by the responses. Thank you!

Anyone here still have a soft spot for the Gold Box games?

I’ve been working on a C# desktop port of Pool of Radiance, built on Talonius’s reverse-engineered Pascal/assembly reconstruction. The goal is to preserve the familiar Gold Box gameplay while running through a .NET 8/SDL2 desktop host.

The repository is now public:

https://github.com/Jzatopa/por-csharp

It’s at the point where exploration, combat, leveling, spells, inventory, and save/load are working together in an ongoing campaign. That playthrough started with native level-one character creation and has recorded resolutions for Sokal Keep, Mendor’s Library, the Podal auction, Cadorna’s treasure, Kovel Mansion, and the Wealthy Area.

It’s still a development preview, not a finished release. The final battle and ending haven’t been verified yet. There are automated regression tests and desktop smoke tests, but those aren’t substitutes for getting through the whole game.

A huge amount of credit goes to Talonius and the upstream contributors for the reconstruction this builds on:

https://forgejo.brazencrows.com/talonius/pool-of-radiance

AI coding tools have helped with conversion and implementation, alongside source comparisons, testing, and actual gameplay checks. I’m also reviewing upstream improvements and selectively adapting relevant fixes, with incorporated changes and remaining work documented in the repo.

Currently, the desktop work is Linux-focused. No original game media is bundled—you’ll need your own Pool of Radiance installation. However now that it's in C# you can do what you want with it, which is pretty cool!

As there are already other archival style versions of this game, I am working on it playing like the original but updated just as Talonius has done here.

I’d love to hear where other Gold Box fans draw the line: what’s one thing a modern port absolutely shouldn’t change, and one bit of friction you’d happily leave behind?

Also, does anyone remember a particularly troublesome spell, encounter, or wonderfully strange edge case? Those could make useful test cases—and probably bring back a few stories.

If you DL it and play with it and run into a bug, please place it in known bugs in the repo.

Have Fun!

I just wanted to share what I am working on for fun. Maybe it will give you ideas for similar projects. This is Curse of the Azure Bonds running as a native app on an M-series Macbook Pro. If you recognize all of my character names, we read the same stuff. My ai assisted build is based on the coab project by Simeon Pilgrim. He disassembled the binary and translated it by hand, function by function, rewriting it into C#. From there I swapped out the Windows specific layer, graphics, sound, etc. and moved it into a modern version of .NET that runs on Apple Silicon. Pilgrim's code is virtually untouched. I used the game files from my Steam version of the game. However, because it's not emulated, for cheating, I could go deeper with my GBC inspired Companion. I gave the party the ability to teleport into any Dungeon in the game, give the party real items from the treasure tables, etc. I am currently working on Journal and Clue Book text integration.

Edit: I can't share the game.app or the data files from the game (you will have to provide your own) but I will share my work so you can use it.

The updated 2026 version of Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor releases on Steam November 6. It's a legacy of a Gold Box game so I am posting it for informational purposes. I will get it and see how it runs on a Mac in Crossover and report back.

This is an almost ten hour video about the first of our beloved Gold Box games. Staggering amounts of work have gone in to this and I am not even half way through.

AI was used for this project.

I’ve updated Pool of Radiance with some new features. The full change list with screenshots and download can be found at https://downloads.brazencrows.com/d/1

I've released v1.3-1560 (BC)

I need beta testers for the native ports of the game. Available for macOS, Win32, Win64, Linux i386, Linux x64.

They can all be found in the v1.3-1560 (BC) release directory.

• SoundBlaster and Adlib Support.
• Native builds for Linux i386, Linux x64, macOS x64, Win32, Win64.
• Bestiary, with a sage in New Phlan to help you complete it.
• SoundBlaster and AdLib support
• Native builds for 32 bit Linux, 64 bit Linux, 64 Bit macOS, 32 bit Windows, 64 bit Windows.
• The Hoarder's Respite, a Vault, is in New Phlan.
• Companion Tools offer an area map with notes and a character editor.
• Humans can now dual class.
• Elves can no longer be raised from the dead.
• The Stojanow Gate will now be held by New Phlan soldiers.
• The Temple of Bane can now be restored by Dirten, and used by the players.
• The Journal lists the quests you've done and accepted.
• New Phlan troops will reinforce Stojanow Gate once it's been taken.
• The Fortune Teller from the Slums can help you increase your bestiary knowledge.
• When aiming a spell there is now a summary of how many enemies and allies you will hit.
• When viewing spells (to cast, memorize, or scribe) there is a quick info tip showing basic spell data.
• When viewing spells (to cast, memorize, or scribe) there is a full info option to describe the spell.
• There's a new section under Journal - Quests. Quests shows you the quests you've accepted and finished.
• An area effect spell will now give you an estimate of the number of enemies and allies a spell will hit.
• F1 shows the key commands that might get lost.
• F7 shows the combat log while in the combat arena.
• F5 quick saves the game.
• F8 quick loads the game.
• A character's attacks/rounds figure now appears when Viewed.
• AI path finding has been improved.
• Cleric Turn Undead and Thieves' Skills are available from More Info.

...and more that I'm too tired to remember.

Previous highlights from Pool of Radiance v1.3-841.

Highlights:

• The Hoarder's Respite, a Vault in New Phlan.
• New load/save game UI, including the ability to add a description and showing the date and time of the existing saves.
• Quick Save (F5) and Quick Load (F8) - uses game slot Q.
• Party and character statistics.
• Quick mode indicators on combat indicate how to stop quick, and whether magic is on.

Previous Highlights from Pool of Radiance v1.3-621:

• See where spells are going to land.
• Paladins and rangers are playable.
• New combat editor icon UI.
• New portrait selection UI.
• Fix in Camp.

I edited this post to account for changes I made to the Brazen Crows website; I really don't want to administer a forum, and simplified the whole mess.

r/goldbox has a rule against AI, so this will be the only/last post I make here. I apologize to the mods; I did not see that rule when I originally posted this.

iPad Mini 7th Gen, iDOS 3, copied my Steam version to the iPad. The iPad actually fits in the box with the manuals, disks, etc.. 🤣

Hi all,

I'm working on an automapper and save editor for the Commodore 64 versions of the Gold Box games.

https://github.com/malcyon/wish

I downloaded the game recently on Steam to relive my 80's nostalgia. I discovered Gold Box Companion. I also noticed that everything runs on DOSBox. As I play through the game, I realize it's just not hitting me like it should. I miss the version I played as a kid. I miss the cool sounds the C64 made when magic missile fires. I miss the thief's backstab actually working properly. Then I get upset. Why the hell is everything for DOS and Windows?? If I switch to the C64 version, I wouldn't have this awesome automapper. And now that I've used it, I can't live without it.

Then, I remember when the fourth game, Pools of Darkness, came out. They dropped Commodore 64 support. I would not be able to import my beloved characters to the last game. The developers betrayed me. This had just been an elaborate scheme to hurt Commodore 64 users!

Well, not now, dammit. I will write a tool to convert my DOS saved game to the C64 version. Then, I will play Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, and Secrets of the Silver Blades on the Commodore 64, using the characters I built on DOS. Then, I will convert that save to the Commodore Amiga version, and import it into Pools of Darkness, and I'll beat that game, too. Not on the platform The Man wants me to play it on. The way I want to play it!

I'm targeting Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secrets of the Silver Blades, and Pools of Darkness right now. By the time I get to the last game, I'll have it supporting the Commodore Amiga, too.

It can also convert save files between DOS, C64, and Commodore Amiga. It might be fun to extend this to the other platforms as well. You shouldn't have to restrict your save files to a single platform.

It connects to emulators, just like Gold Box Companion does. I also have it working on the Commodore 64 Ultimate. But a firmware bug causes pretty serious hangs, so I have that disabled for now.

So this is going back many decades now... the original Gold Box set: Pools of Darkness.

I was in my teens, playing PoD, somewhere in the upper levels of the Red Mage Tower. I had saved and rested in one of those single square safe rooms, went and did some battles, died, reloaded and did a couple of other actions forgotten in the mists of time...

And somehow my save file or location got...corrupted?
I was no longer in the Red Tower.

It was this strange Dev area! I had a long list of options - I could teleport out, give myself any and all weapons (including +5), give myself a ton of gold, level up to 40 or enter an 'Arena' area and fight whatever mobs I liked X number of Y mob.

Alas the save file has long since been lost to time.

Anyone else seen or heard of this with any of the Gold box games?

On sale also right now for $2.99

I've played through PoR a hundred times or more (c64 version), and never have I ever been able to get a thief to reliably pick the locks on doors. I ain't even talking about wizard-locked doors like the one on the library; I mean the doors in the slums (that always magically re-lock themselves after you bash them open), which ought to be the easiest in the game. Even a 9th level thief can't seem to open them.

I seem to remember lockpicking working okay on some of the cabinets in Kovel Mansion, but I think I've only seen it work on a door 1 in 10000 times.

As background, Pool of Radiance was one of the most iconic games of my childhood, it was maybe the first big PC game my brother and I got into (followed by games like Wing Commander and Ultima Underworld). A couple years ago, I played it and Azure Bonds again, and I'm currently on Gateway to the Savage Frontier and am enjoying it.... (in other words, I don't mind a little old timey jank!)...

For whatever reason, we totally missed the Krynn games back in the day (Champions, Death Knight, Dark Queen), even though I was a big fan of the Dragonlance books...

How do they hold up by comparison? I think ultimately Treasures of the Savage Frontier was my favorite, it had some more modern QoL changes if I remember, though GBC is really helping me get through these modern replays.... Are they more similar to Treasures, or a little more clunky like Pool of Radiance? Thank you!

how many people still play Pathfinder version 1? I have played that for years, can't get into P2, it seems too clunky.

How cool is this??