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Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Pool of Radiance
Developer(s)	Marionette
Publisher(s)	Pony Canyon (Japan) FCI (US/Canada)
Release date(s)	April, 1992
Genre(s)	Role Playing Game
Mode(s)	single player
Platform(s)	Nintendo Entertainment System
Media	cartridge

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Pool of Radiance is a role-playing game that was first released in 1988 for the computer, under the name of Pool of Radiance, and ported to the Famicom in 1991 and to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. It utilized the Gold Box engine introduced by its 1988 version and later improved upon in Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures. The game (and the engine) features two different modes: first person perspective for NPC interactions and exploring and a more strategy-board based combat display, where characters and enemies are represented by small icons. Combat is turn-based and requires maneuvering close to your foe for close range attacks.

Contents 1 Setting 2 Game Play 3 Plot 4 Screenshots 5 See also 6 External link

The game takes place in the popular Forgotten Realms setting with most of the action taking place in or around the city of Phlan, located in the Moonsea region. During the course of the game the party will leave Phlan and have the opportunity to visit a pyramid, graveyard, kobold cave, an abandoned castle taken over by lizard men, nomad settlement, the slums of Phlan, a slave camp, Zhentil Keep, and finally the fortress of Tyranthraxus.

The player could create several characters, but only six would be allowed in the party at one time. During the character creation process the player was presented with a list of the possible race and class combinations, selected the desired alignment, then was presented with a set of randomly generated attributes and hit points. Character creation could prove frustraiting because the player had no control over how the numbers were placed. For instance, the game might generate a mage with an Intelligence of 10 but a strength of 18. Or, the player might be offered a fighter with good strength, constitution, and dexterity but 4 hit points.

The game also didn't necessarily follow the AD&D first edition multi-classing rules too closely. A fighter/cleric could use edged weapons and a multi-class mage could wear armor while casting spells.

When a character earned enough experience to advance a level, the player needed to go to the training hall in New Phlan. After paying 1,000 gold pieces, the player went up a level. Level advancement could also prove frustriating because the number of additional hit points gained was randomly determined (making it possible for a fighter to only gain 1 or 2 hit points). Fortuntly, there was a trick to over come this. The player could simply save his game before leveling up then reset the game if he wasn't happy with how many hit points his character gained with the level. Upon leveling up, magic-users were given the opportunity to select a new spell at this time. Mages could gain additional spells by finding scrolls and copying the spells they contained.

Warning: Plot details/spoiler

The game is losely based on the Forgotten Realms novel of the same name, though none of the heroes from the book appear in the game.

The game starts with the party arriving in the city of New Phlan. They are prompty greeted by a man who gives them a quick tour, pointing out the location of the docks, the temple of Tyr, the training hall, the slums and the city hall building. From here the party is left on their own. The party can complete missions given by the city clerk for experience points, money, and sometimes treasure. This made the game very open-ended, as most of the missions did not have to be completed in any specific order. The missions are:

• Defeat the monsters that have taken over Sokol Keep.
• Prevent a tribe of nomads from joining Tyranthraxus (done by helping the nomads repel an invasion of kobolds).
• Slaying the Kobold King and his tribe (one of the most difficult missions in the game because the player needs to face three waves of attackers with no recovery time in between before they can reach the Kobold King himself).
• Clear the monsters out of the slums of Phlan.
• Destroy the undead horde that has taken over Valhingen Graveyard (done by destroying a vampire in the graveyard. If the party found the Effreti bottle hidden in the kobold cave they will have a powerful ally in the fight).
• Travel to Podol Plaza and report on a magical item that is being auctioned.
• Defeat the bandit Norris the Grey.
• Defeat the thieves and traitors that have taken over Kovol Manor.
• Reclaim a shrine of Tyr that has been taken over by worshippers of Bane (if the player waits long enough he will be offered this mission by the head priest at the temple of Tyr and be given a cleric NPC to assist with the mission).
• Find history books about Phlan in old times.
• Find out what is polluting the river and end it (involves traveling to a pyramid and defeating an evil wizard and his mutated lizardmen bodyguards)
• Prevent a tribe of lizardmen from joining forces with Tyranthraxus (this mission is tricky because the lizard men's lair has a field around it that prevents the use of magic. To prevent the lizardmen from joining Tyranthraxus a character needs to defeat the lizard man chieftan in single combat).
• After the party has completed several missions one of the city councilmen will give the party a special mission: find a box that was taken from him. The party is also asked to look for his servent Skullcrusher, who disappeared while looking for it.
• Rescue the son of a city councilman who was taken by pirates (this mission involves finding the slave trader's camp and either breaking the boy out or negotiating with the head slaver).

Late in the game Councilman Caldera will ask the party to deliver a message to Zhentil Keep. The party will be given a tour of the Keep, invited to dinner, then escorted to their room. In the middle of the night they will be attacked.

The final mission involves defeating Tyranthraxus. First, the party must overcome the guards at the gates of Valjevo Castle. Once inside they must traverse a maze made up of poisonous thorn walls to find the hidden door that leads to Tyranthraxus' tower. Once the party meets up with the Boss (who has possessed a bronze dragon), they will be given the opportunity to join his army. If the player says yes, then Phlan is destroyed. If the player answers no, his party is attacked by Tyranthraxus's elite guard followed by the Boss himself.

Should the player win the fight, Bane pulls Tyranthraxus's soul through the Pool of Radiance. The party returns to Phlan where they are given a huge reward by the city clerk. The clerk will also give a password for each party member (persumably, this password would allow a player to import his characters into a future SSI D&D game).

In addition, there is a side quest given by an old man in the slums of Phlan. By recovering a potion of youth for him he gives the party a reward consisting of gold and magic items. Among the reward is usually a necklace of missiles, which comes in handy until any mages in the party can cast a fireball spell!

• List of NES games
• List of Famicom games
• Pool of Radiance - The computer versions and general story

• Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Pool of Radiance at MobyGames