Advanced Dungeons and Dragons - SSI CRPGs

            An article by Brian Burke

I had returned from my holidays at the end of August, refreshed,
tanned and raring to go. This feeling of euphoria did not last too
long and I was back to my listless old self in no time. So did I
turn to drink or loose women - certainly not. I discovered another
form of mind-numbing therapy, I discovered SSI RPGs.

I tackled the 'Forgotten Realm' series, commencing with 'Pool of
Radiance' and graduating through 'Curse of the Azure Bonds' to
'Secret of the Silver Blades' I immersed myself in a world of hack
and slash, of Clerics and Mages, Fighters, Rangers and goodly
Knights. I became one with my fantasy characters, urging them on
during battles and carefully nursing them when the odds were
almost insurmountable.

Suffering withdrawal symptoms after finishing 'Silver Blades' I
took due note of Ron Rainbird's excellent 'Champions of Krynn'
walkthrough and set my freshly generated team into this game and
then onto the second in the 'Dragonlance' series - 'Death Knights
of Krynn'. I am now climbing the walls waiting for 'Dark Queen of
Krynn' and 'Pool of Darkness', this latter bring the final chapter
in the Realms series.

'Pool' requires a set of balanced characters that will be suitable
for progression through the series and not just the one adventure.
Each of us will have our own thoughts on what constitutes a
suitable party. Having played 'Eye of the Beholder', 'Dungeon
Master' and 'Chaos' I knew that having a Mage was essential. With
a six strong party I was able to create two Mages which provided a
distinct strategic advantage. Add to this the obligatory Cleric to
dress wounds and turn Undead enemies and you have the backbone of
a successful force. The other three positions require Fighters,
typically Paladins and one Ranger. I'd also recommend the
selection of human characters due to their unrestrained ability to
be promoted to the highest classes allowed in any discipline.
With this party setup I was ready to take on allcomers and kick

seven bells out of the opposition. At least I would be when I
could amass the appropriate number of experience points.

Experience points are a reward for baddie bashing and are
essential to achieve progress through the ranks. Points can also
be acquired for solving what can only be described as a limited
number of puzzles and for successfully completing sub-quests.
Riddles do not appear until 'Silver Blades' and in 'Death
Knights', and even then there is a hack and slash solution should
you feel unable to provide the correct answer. A wrong answer will
take you back to an earlier point in the game (aaargh!). Your
intellectual abilities will not be stretched, however.

In all games except 'Death Knights' you will need to refer to the
Class Charts in the documentation to establish just when promotion
can be obtained. With promotion comes improved character
statistics and the ability to add power to your baddie-bashing
ability. Clerics gain the all important ability to learn more and
better healing spells. Mages can learn new or improved offensive
and defensive spells. The choice of Paladins (or Knights in the
Dragonlance series) will give healing ability further up the class
structure and will keep your team going at those times when two or
three battles follow without the chance to rest and recuperate.
Selecting the 'continue battle' option when the enemy is
vanquished will allow healing spells to be implemented. Ensure
that the recipient is directly adjacent (in any direction) to the
healer or the spell will be wasted.

Call me chicken if you like but I found that constant game saving
was one way of saving my sanity when involved with battling with
the Undead. Wraiths and Vampires have the ability to 'drain' your
characters of levels and, more importantly, of thousands of those
hard earned experience points. Saving frequently allows a position
to be regained without the problem of amassing thousands of lost
points. There are ten potential save game positions.

Presumably due to the mathematical formula of the AD&D dice
rolling engine, I found that battle characteristics were variable.
Should you be unfortunate enough to have a character 'killed',
then restoring the game (needs a fresh boot up, I'm afraid) allows
you to replay and win without loss. There are Restoration spells,
of course, but these have a negative impact on constitution
statistics, making the character more vulnerable to damage in
attacks.

As I found, almost to my cost, in 'Death Knights', learning the
right Mage spells upon promotion is vital. It doesn't pay just to
learn the latest highest spell. What is essential is learning the
useful spells first. As a rule these will be Magic Missile, Sleep,
Hold Person/Monster, Fireball (don't leave home without it!),
Haste, Silence, Detect Magic and Dispel Magic. There are many
others, of course, but these are really useful.

My error was not to learn Haste in 'Death Knights' where the key
to the final battle with Lord Soth is to have the ability to
strike twice as fast as the Death Knights. Only by casting
defensive spells did I survive. Imagine four weeks of playing time
out of the window, just for not having the right spell. That is
another lesson in how to save games really.

I'd suggest that at least one game is saved before your characters
achieve the highest levels. This gives you the opportunity to
return to a promotion position and learn or acquire the missing
skill. When commencing with 'Pool of Radiance' generated
characters you lack the ability to manually advance selected
character statistics as you can in later games (prior to
commencing the game proper). Ensure, therefore, that Clerics and
Mages possess the correct intelligence levels to allow extra
spells to be memorised before you press the accept button.

For the Clerics I put healing spell attainment above attacking
skills. As long as your Cleric has a Staff Sling or Sling and a
Mace you'll be well equipped. Having the ability to quickly
restore the party to health far outweighs the offensive needs. By
chance I found a bug with the SSI healing system that allowed me
to obtain a factor of up to three times the 'Cast Light Wounds'
spell. By overclicking on the memorise 'light wounds' icon I
discovered that, when casting, the casting character changed once
the spell was cast and that returning to the correct character
showed no discharge of that spell, although the recipient of the
spell had been positively affected. This works best when selecting
a recipient that was more than one space above or below the
caster!

I derived a great deal of satisfaction from mapping the games.
There is ample opportunity to cover reams of foolscap with
hieroglyphics. As a general rule a grid of 16 x 16 is adequate
with around 15-20 maps per game.

As ever there are exceptions, the most notable one being 'Silver
Blades'. After setting off from the initial town I found myself
sellotaping umpteen sheets of paper together as the grid became
larger and larger. Be warned, you need about eleven 100 x 100
grids to cope with the quest to the Well of Knowledge and the Ice
Cave mine below. Use of the Area icon will allow maps to be drawn
with ease but not all scenarios allow use of this facility.
Keeping an eye on one's compass is therefore essential.

Use of the Speed setting can play an important part in the
enjoyment factor. My initial foray into 'Pool' led me to placing
this setting at its slowest level as the manual suggested that
messages may be missed if set on high. In reality, as long as you
get in the habit of 'Bandaging' fallen party members soon after
they have gone down (and certainly before the end of an
encounter), the vital messages require a key depression by you,
the player, before they are removed from your monitor screen. So
set the speed towards the top end. The battle sequences will
otherwise become tedious, taking up to and beyond an hour for
large encounters.

Whilst it may be tempting, particularly in 'Pool of Radiance', I'd
suggest that allowing the computer to control characters during
battles is not a good idea. They do tend to wander off in
peculiar directions and use spells to no particular advantage, so
stick with manual control.

Always attack spellcasters first and regularly in order to prevent
your party members from being disabled. Keep the Mages and Clerics
at the back out of the main line of battle. It pays to attack
first as you strike the first blows and thus have a strategic
advantage. Any Non Player Characters that join your party in their
quest may be positioned to your advantage. Always ensure that they
receive their share of the spoils otherwise they may turn on you
at some point in the game. Should you encounter battle scenarios
that appear unwinnable then use the appropriate Invisibility
spells and attack with range weapons. The battles I particularly
recall are the final encounter in 'Pool' and when fighting Pieces
of Mondor in 'Curse'.

Manipulation and use of Magic is important to game enjoyment and
the well being of your party. The purpose of having two Mages is
that your magic casting ability is doubled. The throwing of a few
well-placed Fireball and Ice Storm spells can save lots of battle
time and restrict the potential damage to the party. The Fireball
spell should be cast four spaces away from the nearest party
member in interior battles and three spaces when outside. This
will prevent the spell having a detrimental effect on the team.
The Ice Storm spell is similar but does slightly less damage over
a lesser area.  Lightning bolts bounce off walls to strike baddies
twice if you can manoeuvre your caster into the right position.

The gathering of Treasure and its subsequent identification is
necessary in order to acquire the appropriate weaponry to allow
successful baddie bashing and put the party in a win/win
situation. Initially collect everything for resale at shops so you
have the funds to buy arrows and so on. Equip the party with Plate
Mail as soon as funds permit. Use Shields to lower each member's
AC category. The lower the AC, the less damage taken.

Keep Gems and Jewels as gems and jewels until you really do need
to converts them into cash. There are banking facilities in
'Silver Blades' and in the Krynn series. Bracers provide the
simplest and most efficient way of raising funds. Finding treasure
is a good way to boost the coffers and generally it is items found
in this manner that are the really useful magic items. It is worth
dumping the non-magic items to make room in your inventory to
carry them.

Ensure that sufficient money is available when asked for
identification and again when visiting Training Halls for
promotion. This is one good reason for ensuring that NPCs are fed
with rewards. Remember to equip them also. At shops that provide
+1 arrows or better I'd suggest the dumping of lesser stock and
the purchase of the better weapon. There can be an appreciable
difference in positive hit points with superior equipment. This
reduces battle time and again restricts damage.

Resting is an essential part of the recuperation and spell
memorising process. When spells have been consumed the only way to
regain them is via resting. Unless in an absolutely guaranteed
place of safety, such as an Inn, then Cure spells should be
exhausted first. Rest can then be achieved in hours as opposed to
days. Even so, the chances of being disturbed are great and the
number of these instances will test your patience to the full.
Nevertheless this is part of the gameplay and adds to your
experience points.

The monsters employed vary and increase in ferocity as the series
develops. There are descriptions in the manual as to each
individual nasty. The more memorable ones are enemy magic users
such as Clerics, Wizards and Mages. These guys must be taken out
early in a battle sequence. They lose the ability to cast spells,
as you do, once they've been hit. Being the recipient of
Fireballs, Slay Living and Hold spells is no joke. The Skeleton
fighters in 'Death Knights' and indeed the Death Knights
themselves can sometimes be hit by Cone of Cold or Ice Storm
spells, but once only. Then you have to stand and bash them. In
the case of the Death Knights this means taking Fireball and Fear
punishment till they drop. In 'Death Knights', use the NPC knights
to fight the battles in the High Clerist Tower.

Dragons are dead meat once you have found the Dragonlance. Would
that all weapons had the ability to produce 110+ hit points per
strike. Unfortunately this only applies to Dragons. Try to
dispatch them before they can breathe Fire on the party. Otherwise
it's "Goodnight Vienna" and much use of Cure Wounds spells. Dark
Elves in 'Curse' have high hit points (80, I think) in relation to
the party's abilities. Once you've surrounded one, they can be
dispatched quickly. Buy mirrors to be rid of the Medusas. One


appears in 'Curse' but they appear en masse down the mines and in
the Crevasse section in 'Silver Blades'.

Wraiths, Sprites and Vampires are bad news. They can drain
characters of levels and experience points. Their hit points are
not particularly high and they can be zapped with a couple of
Fireball or Ice Storm spells. A more efficient way to be rid of
them is to have a Cleric 'Turn' them. This is an available icon
for this type of party member only. Some spectacular battles may
be won this way but you'll get zero experience points as no strike
took place. Better that than Drained.

Iron Golems appear in the Dragonlance games and 'Silver Blades'.
They have Hit Points of 80 or so and may only be bashed. Lightning
spells slow them down but Fireballs actually restore them!
Basically the bigger the baddie you can slaughter, the greater the
reward in experience points.



Herewith a very brief overview of each game.

Pool of Radiance:

The weakest of the set in terms of graphics and utilities. The
basic utilities are there and it's not until you get on to the
others in the series that you appreciate how basic Pool is.
Frequent random enemy encounters early in the game will test the
patience of a saint but hang on in there as these decrease the
stronger you get. There are random caves and other dark holes on
the wilderness map. A friendly Dragon lurks in the mountains to
the North. The Buccaneer camp is random also, it's no good just
following the map references in 'Quest for Clues' as they'll be
different! Be sure you are well armed with weapons and experience
here. There are good items to be had IF you can survive the hard
battles. Follow the quests given to you by the town clerk in a
logical order to ultimate completion.


Curse of the Azure Bonds:

More of the same but the graphics are sharper and the speed
superior. Hit points carry on from 'Pool' and experience points
rewards grow larger too. Class levels are more advanced.
Difficult battles with a Beholder and a Medusa in one section mean
that Haste and defence spells must be in place. Be sure to have
saved games you can retreat to if need be.

Secret of the Silver Blades:

As may be expected the prettiest of the three so far. Very large
initial mapping area required. Map your way through to the Well of
Knowledge where, after a fight, you may drop umpteen quantities of
gems in to gain clues to the next quest. On the other hand, keep
battling through and save the Gems in the vault. There's also a
Magic Shop in the main town, very handy, and riddles at various
levels once you leave the Crevasse section. Get them right or
fight Iron Golems. Once up in the castle, don't be deceived by the
Journal Entry that refers to the secret passage.

Champions of Krynn:

First in the Dragonlance series of adventures but basically
similar gameplay to the Forgotten Realms saga. Magic restoration
is superior in that once spells are consumed then they are
automatically memorised. An option exists to allow you to change
if you wish. Ron Rainbird has more than adequately highlighted the
details of this game in previous issues of SynTax.

Death Knights of Krynn:

This game highlights when characters have obtained the necessary
experience points for class progression. It's great not having to
look up the tables in the documentation to see if promotion is
due. There are lots of Wraiths and Vampires who have the ability
to drain characters. Keep your distance! The end game sequence is
in the third level of the Keep leaves you no retreat opportunity
so be sure to have maximum class levels at this stage and all
relevant spells.
All the games allow the party to wander around after a successful
completion. This is presumably for absolute devotees of the game
to wander in Throtl and Krynn to their heart's content, building
up zillions of experience points till the next game is released.

I believe that there are earlier SSI games such as 'Phantasie' and
'Hillsfar' but I think, without being sure, that they employ a
different game design. The 'Savage Empire' series, available on
the PC but not yet on the Amiga I suspect will follow the same
pattern. For those with a more futuristic bent the 'Buck Rogers'
RPGs follow the 'Realms' game engine where swords are replaced by
lasers and where there is a higher involvement of NPCs.

Having spent some six and a half months on this particular type of
RPG genre I can honestly say that my only problem with SSI is how
quickly they can convert the PC versions of the games onto the
Amiga and will my daughter have completed Willy Beamish in time for
me to get seriously stuck in with my faithful band of warriors
again!