Unlimited Adventures, Gold Box D&D construction set
September 19, 2015 11:49 AM Subscribe
Here are two Let's Plays (text) devoted to SSI's classic DOS D&D "Gold Box" construction set program Unlimited Adventures, one of the most revered user-level RPG creator programs and now available on GoG.
"I am after all proposing that I showcase 30 year old modules (Castle Amber, Temple of Elemental Evil, etc), via a 25 year old RPG system (2nd edition AD&D), using a 20 year old video game (SSI's Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures)." — UA Let's Play on ENWorld.
Modules & Sites
Dungeon Craft is an open source RPG engine inspired by Unlimited Adventures. After a long development period, it graduated to version 1.0 in October of last year. It's a bit clunky to set up though, and I cannot vouch for how it runs. It claims to be able to make standalone games.
- Let's Play UA, an ENWorld forum post.
- Another text Let's Play, on RPG Codex. UA modules are not easy to get running, but for those interested....
"I am after all proposing that I showcase 30 year old modules (Castle Amber, Temple of Elemental Evil, etc), via a 25 year old RPG system (2nd edition AD&D), using a 20 year old video game (SSI's Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures)." — UA Let's Play on ENWorld.
Modules & Sites
- A collection of modules based off of classic pen-and-paper D&D modules. The website The Realm suggests an order of play and sets them in a campaign world.
- The UA File Archive, with an archive of UA newsletters — and the newsletter seems to still be active!
- UA fan site (Wayback Machine)
- Art for UA adventures
- YouTube video of the editor.
- Video Review Part 1 - Part 2
- Gold Box Explorer is a program for decrypting the assets from Gold Box games.
- UA Shell is a program for running UA adventures hacked to allow for more options and to fix bugs. What is UA Shell? (Wayback) UA Shell can be obtained here, but you're on your own for using it.
Dungeon Craft is an open source RPG engine inspired by Unlimited Adventures. After a long development period, it graduated to version 1.0 in October of last year. It's a bit clunky to set up though, and I cannot vouch for how it runs. It claims to be able to make standalone games.
- Dungeon Craft project site.
- Dungeon Craft adventures.
- Dungeon Craft fansite. (Last updated 2007)
Nice, by gamers, for gamers. (This post, not any game publishers...)
posted by Samizdata at 12:36 PM on September 19, 2015
posted by Samizdata at 12:36 PM on September 19, 2015
I played Dungeon type games on my Amiga 3000 back in the day. The Amiga Dungeoneering Collection is great to run on Windows with WinUAE, though Legend of Grimrock and probably Legend of Grimrock II do nicely for modern versions of the genre.
posted by juiceCake at 12:45 PM on September 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by juiceCake at 12:45 PM on September 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
With your host, Gelliant Gutfright
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:28 PM on September 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:28 PM on September 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
I first stumbled upon the rabbit hole of UA a few years ago, and was worried that the links might have succumbed to bitrot. Amazingly, not all of them have. I figured, though, that I should go ahead and make the post before information on UA becomes harder to find.
posted by JHarris at 3:03 PM on September 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 3:03 PM on September 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
Temple of Apshai represent!
Man, I wasted to much time on the Gold Box games (and Eye of the Beholder - and the not related Star Craft2).
Magical, magical hours.
posted by Mezentian at 3:43 PM on September 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
Man, I wasted to much time on the Gold Box games (and Eye of the Beholder - and the not related Star Craft2).
Magical, magical hours.
posted by Mezentian at 3:43 PM on September 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
Aw, man, even hearing the words "Temple of Elemental Evil" sends me a-traveling back in time. :D
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:40 PM on September 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:40 PM on September 19, 2015 [3 favorites]
I heard about FRUA shortly after its release, but the stores I usually ordered games from (and yeah, we lived in the middle of the woods, we didn't even have local game stores at the time) didn't have it even if it was in the catalogue.
Then, in 2002, Neverwinter Nights came out and it turned into the PC RPG I've sunk most hours in, ever.
So, I'm very happy to finally have FRUA. And Dungeon Hack, which was another game I really darn wanted but couldn't find. And Pool of Radiance, which along with Ultima V was pretty much the first RPG I attempted to play, ever. (Warez'd copies. The Ultima V floppies were broken and PoR needed a code wheel.) Too bad the PC version didn't have the kickawesome music from C64 version.
In summary: GOG is awesome.
posted by wwwwolf at 10:57 AM on September 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Then, in 2002, Neverwinter Nights came out and it turned into the PC RPG I've sunk most hours in, ever.
So, I'm very happy to finally have FRUA. And Dungeon Hack, which was another game I really darn wanted but couldn't find. And Pool of Radiance, which along with Ultima V was pretty much the first RPG I attempted to play, ever. (Warez'd copies. The Ultima V floppies were broken and PoR needed a code wheel.) Too bad the PC version didn't have the kickawesome music from C64 version.
In summary: GOG is awesome.
posted by wwwwolf at 10:57 AM on September 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by Elementary Penguin at 11:59 AM on September 19, 2015