History VideoGame / GoldBox

** Also in ''Curse'', traveling through Zenthil Keep will result in the party hearing an old man pointing at them and claiming that [[WesternAnimation/Wizards you killed Fritz]].

* ShoutOut: Traveling between overworld areas in ''Curse of the Azure Bonds'' would have your characters randomly come across an old man, standing in front of a bridge across a deep chasm, who asked three questions; failing the third question (which involved the game's [[CopyProtection code wheel]]) would end the game with the message [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail "An unseen force hurls you into the abyss!"]].

The games were collected at various times, the most recent being the ForgottenRealms Archives in 1997, which includes the five Pool of Radiance games and the two main Savage Frontier games, along with other ForgottenRealms-based games. Playing them on modern computers generally requires UsefulNotes/DOSBox or other emulation software.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: In ''Curse of the Azure Bonds'' the character screen for the NPC Alias, a visibly adult human, claims her to be two years old. This is not explained in-game (and so some players might assume it to be a developer error), but it is actually based on her ForgottenRealms [[CloningBlues backstory]].

%comment% The [==] prevents the slashes from being misinterpreted by the parser.

* ArtificialStupidity

* BadassPrincess: Princess Jagaerda of Gundarlun is a party NPC in Gateway to the Savage Frontier. Although she was (somehow) kidnapped by pirates, by the time the party finds her, she had just completed mowing them down with her axe.

* CharacterLevel

* ExtendedGameplay

* FauxFirstPerson3D

** You can also avoid the deadly special attacks and spells of NPCs by having one of your party members approach the NPC and then move away from them, provoking an attack. This "Opportunity Attack" would use up that NPC's action for the round if they hadn't already gone. Much better to take a dragon's bite (which could also miss) than for that dragon to use their breath weapon. Works on spellcasters, Beholders, etc.

** ''Neverwinter Nights'' (the original version, not [[VideoGame/NeverwinterNights that one]]) (1991)

** Subverted in ''Gateway to the Savage Frontier''. The dialogue suggested a BagOfSpillig event occured, but it was the first game of that trilogy.

** Zigzagged in Treasures of the Savage Frontier. Turns out you just have to put on the gear you got from the last game.

** You can also avoid the deadly special attacks and spells of NPCs by having one of your party members approach the NPC and then move away from them, provoking an attack. This "Opportunity Attack" would use up that NPC's action for the round if they hadn't already gone. Much better to take a dragon's bite (which could also miss) then for that dragon to use their breath weapon. Works on spellcasters, Beholders, etc.

* ComicStrip/BuckRogers series: (Lorraine Williams, owner of {{TSR}} at the time, inherited the rights to Buck Rogers, leading to a lot of promotion of Buck Rogers-based TSR products)

* CutAndPasteComic: Many of the pictures of monsters that show up on the upper-left hand window prior to combat were directly copied from the 1e ''Monster Manual''. Note that since it was a licensed adapatation, they clearly had the ok from TSR to do this.

The games were collected at various times, the most recent being the ForgottenRealms Archives in 1997, which includes the five Pool of Radiance games and the two main Savage Frontier games, along with other ForgottenRealms-based games. Playing them on modern computers generally requires {{Dosbox}} or other emulation software.

** ''PoolOfRadiance'' (the original version) (1988)

** ''VideoGame/PoolOfRadiance'' (the original version) (1988)

* LevelScaling: Many of the random encounters in Pool of Radiance contain more enemies for higher level parties.
** Actually not so much Level Scaling as Power Scaling. The game engine determines the party's power not only via the characters' levels, but also their attribute scores. Many players (ab)used the option to modify their characters' attribute scores (which was intended to allow players to re-create characters from pen-and-paper sessions) to set all attributes to their maximum scores, which in turn can and will lead to battles that border on NintendoHard due to the party being vastly outnumbered. Once particular battle early in Pool of Radiance can result in the party - which will be around 2nd or 3rd character levels if the player takes on this quest as soon as it's available - facing upwards of ''50 hobgoblins at once''.

* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear: A rather instantaneous version: temporary [=NPC=]s who join the party can be given items, but items in their inventory cannot be given to anyone else. Any equipment given to them ''cannot'' be recovered. ''Secret of the Silver Blades'' offers a (likely unintended) exception: Vala's equipment can be "deposited" in the city vault and retrieved by a player-controlled character.
** A way to bypass this is to "accidentally" have the [=NPCs=] knocked unconscious (or killed, if you don't want or need them anymore) during combat. As long as an NPC is unconscious (which he will stay unless you rest or heal him manually), you can remove all his gear. The easiest way to accomplish this is to either uneqip that [=NPC's=] armor prior to combat, and have him rush butt-naked towards the enemy lines while staying behind with the rest of your party. Alternatively, cast a Sleep or Hold Person spell on the NPC and have the enemies coup-de-grâce him.
*** Pool of Radiance saw a lot of abuse of this. The party could hire mercenaries (up to two at once) at the local training hall. One type of mercenary, the so-called Warrior (a 4th level fighter), came with a two-handed sword+1 and a plate mail+1 equipped ... at least until he fell pray to the above tactic and his magical gear ended up in the hands of the [=PCs=]. Players would continue hiring two new Warriors until all their [=PCs=] who could equip heavy armor owned one of these plate mails -- and then repeat this a couple more times to sell excess armors and/or swords for some good amounts of gold coins.

The Forgotten Realms Gold Box games became available on GOG.com in August 2015, with all the "get 25-year-old DOS games to run smoothly and properly on modern comps" fiddling already taken care of.

* GoldSilverCopperStandard: The games held to this, but included encumbrance without auto-conversion (meaning if you found 50 silver pieces, they ''remained'' 50 silver pieces that weighed 5 pounds until you spent them). The ultimate expression of this was [[UndesirablePrize the 50,000-copper piece hoard]] that made up the bulk of a kobold tribe's treasure in ''Pool of Radiance''. At the standard weight of 10 coins/pound; that equaled two-and-a-half ''tons'' of copper; good luck getting it back to Phlan! By ''Pools of Darkness'', however, you would keep most of your wealth in gems, jewelry, and magic items (while using ''platinum pieces'' as petty cash).

* GoldSilverCopperStandard: The earlier games held to this, but included encumbrance without auto-conversion. An especially annoying example was [[UndesirablePrize the 50,000 copper pieces]][[note]](which at the standard weight of 10 coins/pound equals two-and-a-half ''tons'' of copper; good luck getting it back to Phlan)[[/note]] that made up the bulk of one particular treasure in ''Pool of Radiance''). By ''Pools of Darkness'', however, you were using ''platinum pieces'' as petty cash.

* GoldSilverCopperStandard: The earlier games held to this (of which an especially annoying example was [[UndesirablePrize the 50,000 copper pieces]][[note]](which at the standard weight of 10 coins/pound equals two-and-a-half ''tons'' of copper; good luck getting it back to Phlan)[[/note]] that made up the bulk of one particular treasure in ''Pool of Radiance''), but by ''Pools of Darkness'' you were using ''platinum pieces'' as petty cash.

* TooAwesomeToUse: The Dust of Disappearance - it acts like an mass Invisibility spell that stays active even after you attack; in addition, it makes it impossible to be directly targeted with spells or missile fire (although you're still vulnerable to area attacks targeted on someone else). Probably best saved for the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon or for a NintendoHard side quest fight like the Mulmaster Beholder Corps.

* BagOfSpilling: Justified in ''Curse of the Azure Bonds'' by the villains ambushing and stealing your equipment, and then in ''Secret of the Silver Blades'', the villagers summon you, but forget to summon your equipment.

* AnEconomyIsYou: The only visible stores sell weapons and armor, and temples, inns, and training halls are the other buildings you can go into. Averted in ''Death Knights of Krynn', where shops sell candles, apples, and shoes (which have no game effect.)