I remember a time when gaming was ridiculously difficult. There was no hand-holding or tutorials or any of that stuff. Just you, the manual, the game and your notebook - for taking notes, of course.
Well, that time has come again, because somehow GOG got the rights to the old gold box games - an AD&D standard from years gone by that is - since it was made in the 80's - sometimes ridiculously difficult.
For the longest time, the gold box games were in legal limbo, because they were made by SSI who, in turn, were contracted by TSR - the then-creators of Dungeons and Dragons. Somehow, GOG have negotiated with Hasbro to acquire the publishing rights to these games so that they can offer them as digital downloads on that particular service.
Right now, they're being offered in bundles on the main page. These bundles used to be sold as CD-ROMS that contained all the games mentioned in each specific collection. [For example, Forgotten Realms Archive I contained all of the Eye of the Beholder games]
You cannot search for individual games on GOG for these collections right now, if you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound. [which is a little weird, all things considered, because GOG just went through a huge collection-busting procedure where - for example, they unbundled King's Quests I, II and III and allowed you to download them as separate games.]
What are you buying into when you pick these up?
Super old school Role Playing adventures. There's no hand holding - you have to keep your own notes and own maps. Rolling for stats is a common occurrence and you would generally keep more than one party on-hand in case your "main" party failed so that you could run down into the dungeon, collect their bones and resurrect them.
You have been warned :)
So, if you're going to grab your adventurer's hat and hop into these old experiences, do feel free to let us know in the comments.
Maze image courtesy of Pixabay
Game release information courtesy of the GOG News Page