Pool of Radiance: The Gold Box Games
Matt Barton · 2019
The first serious effort at integrating the official ruleset came in 1988, with the arrival of SSI’s Pool of Radiance for home computers. SSI’s design team leveraged the extensive Forgotten Realms campaign setting, with all its lore, history, bestiary, and geography, as well as its well-honed rules for combat, magic, and leveling. Pool of Radiance built on the foundation established by Sir-Tech’s Wizardry, with its first-person, three-dimensional exploration mode, but switched to a tactical isometric view for combat. Naturally, SSI wasn’t the only company at the table—Electronic Arts and Origin were also vying for the license. SSI used the engine it created for Pool of Radiance for that game’s sequels. Pool of Radiance was originally designed on and for the Commodore 64. Like TSR, SSI had started off making war games and, by 1988, had a well-earned reputation in that genre.