Q: I've heard of Pool of Radiance before, is this a different game?
A: Yes, it's a sequel. The original Pool of Radiance launched in 1987 and was first D&D game on a computer to use the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game license. It was followed by 12 titles, often referred to as the "gold box series". This release of Pool of Radiance will take up the story 10 years after the old one ended. A new Pool of Radiance has been discovered and your novice party of heroes will be dispatched to uncover the source of the new evil. No knowledge of the prior PoR game is required to enjoy this sequel, but it should be a lot of fun for the many fans of the original.

Q: Who is developing/publishing Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (PoR)?
A: POR is being developed at Stormfront Studios and published by Ubi Soft Entertainment under the SSI brand. Stormfront has been associated with SSI's classic "gold box" RPG offerings such as: Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Treasures of the Savage Frontier and the original Neverwinter Nights on AOL.

Q: What engine is PoR using?
A: A new engine from Stormfront, using a state-of-the-art character animation system.

Q: What rules system is PoR using?
A: PoR will be the first D&D RPG to use the 3^rd Edition D&D Rules. The new rules set has been made available at GenCon in August of 2000.

Q: Where is PoR set, exactly?
A: PoR is set in the Moonsea region of the Forgotten Realms, and starts in the port city of New Phlan, the original site of the first Pool of Radiance. From there, the characters go to the ancient elven city of Myth Drannor, located in the forest kingdom of Cormanthor.

Q: How many areas will we have to explore?
A: Aside from the tutorial section in New Phlan, the section of Myth Drannor that the characters explore contains several very large sub-dungeons. Some locations have towers, overhead walkways, mystical teleportation devices, and more.

Q: What are they like?
A: Myth Drannor was the first city where many of the races were able to co-exist peacefully, so there are several different environments in which to adventure: the once-majestic towers of the elven Castle of Cormanthyr, mysterious forested glades that were once a part of the city, and a dwarven stronghold called the "House of Gems," to name a few. Also, we’ve taken all of the maps of Myth Drannor that we could find and built a 3D map of the city from the ground up. For all intents and purposes, we have buildings that are accuracte in every way to the D&D information we have.

Q: How many new NPCs can we get?
A: You can create 1-4 characters to begin the game, and can have up to six characters in your party with NPCs that you meet along the way. Once an NPC joins your party, he or she is under your control.

Q: Is there an XP cap?
A: Based on the new 3rd Edition Rules, PoR is designed to allow your characters to progress from first level all the way up to sixteenth in any one class (this allows spellcasters to cast up to 8th level spells). Players can multiclass to a maximum to 16/16 or any combination thereof that does not exceed level 16 in any one class. For example, a character could become a 16th level rogue / 16th level sorcerer, or a 10th level barbarian, with 5 levels in cleric, 12 levels in ranger, and 5 levels in monk.

Q: What are the races and classes?
A: We are supporting the basic Classes and Races per the new 3^rd Edition Rules: Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, Sorcerer, Monk, and Rogue. Races we’ll support are Half-Orc, Human, Halfling, Dwarf, Elf, and Half-Elf. This is not to say that these are all of the races in the game; we’ll have Drow NPCs and other races as well.

Q: Are there going to be new magic items?
A: Yes. In fact, Myth Drannor is rumored to be quite a storehouse of magic items. Many of the magic items that the player can find in PoR are ones that are familiar from the Forgotten Realms, others are new, unique, items that may surprise the player.

Q: Are there going to be new spells & monsters?
A: Yes. There will be over 100 spells, some of them will be new 3rd Edition spells and others will be the traditional spells. We have a wide variety of monsters and some are straight from the pages of the new Player Handbook for D&D. We even invented a new creature called the Arraccat for players to face, which is sort of a combination of a spider, scorpion, and a lion with a nasty temper.

Q: When will Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor be released?
A: The game will hit the shelves of USA in the end of September 2001. The rest of the world will have to wait till mid-November 2001.

Q & A with Pool of Radiance Producer Chuck Yager

Q: How has using the 3rd edition rules changed PoR?
A: Drastically! Originally the game started off as a 2nd Edition product as the 3rd Edition rules hadn't been announced yet. After we made arrangements with Wizards of the Coast to get copies of the rules, we immediately started re-shaping the game to conform as best we could. Naturally, we already had a significant code structure in place, and while we were able to implement nearly all of the new rules, certain changes just didn't make sense for our game or work within the code. However, the bulk of changes earned the game the title of being the first RPG to show off the new 3E rules. We have everything from concealment and cover in combat, to delaying and refocusing your initiative, to brand new magical items, skills, feats, and special class abilities for players to use at their disposal.

Q: Will the NPCs ever do their own thing? Do members of your party interact? Why a mandatory two slots for NPCs?
A: Throughout the course of the game, you run across a total of 8 NPCs that will join your party and a host of others that won't. It is up to you whether or not you let them join up; if you changed your mind, they can usually be found later on in sections of the game. As for doing their own thing, some NPCs have their own agendas, but if they are in your party, they are doing your thing. We didn't want to create conflict within the party nor confusion about which mission was more important. We left two slots open for NPCs to give the player the chance to try out some different characters if they wished… After all, you might decide you rather like the sorcerer/fighter more than your ranger and want to swap them out.

Q: Is Pool of Radiance turn-based or real-time?
A: It's turn-based style gaming with a controllable twist. The turn times are adjustable. You can set them for unlimited time, which is the most like traditional D&D gaming or for as little as 6 seconds. At fastest setting each character will have no more than 6 seconds to react, and if the turn is not taken, the game will move to the next character.