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Gateway To The Savage Frontier
Gateway to the Savage Frontier (1991) is a '' Gold Box'' ''Dungeons and Dragons'' computer game developed by Beyond Software and published by SSI for the Commodore 64, PC and Amiga personal computers. Development When SSI began work on the Dark Sun game engine in 1989 after the completion of ''Secret of the Silver Blades'', they passed responsibility for continuing the Forgotten Realms Gold Box games to Beyond Software. Designers Don Daglow, Mark Buchignani, David Bunnett, Arturo Sinclair and Mark Manyen set the action for the game in an area of the Forgotten Realms that TSR had labeled ''The Savage Frontier'', north of Waterdeep and south of Luskan along the Sword Coast. The area was far to the west of the region that hosted the action for ''Pool of Radiance'' and its sequels. One of the major locations in the Savage Frontier, Neverwinter, spun off a new chapter. Beyond Software gained the support of AOL executive Steve Case to create the first-ever graphical MMORPG, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clyde Caldwell
Clyde Caldwell (born February 20, 1948) is an American artist. Self-described as a fantasy illustrator, he is best known for his portrayals of strong, sexy female characters. With his work at TSR in the 1980s, he is considered one of the artists contributing to fantasy art's "golden age". Early life Born on February 20, 1948 in Gastonia, North Carolina, Caldwell was interested in becoming an artist from an early age, "I became an artist sort of by default ... I couldn't do anything else! I was into music for awhile. I played the guitar for a local band. I also enjoyed writing both stories and songs. But drawing and painting were the easiest for me." Caldwell took up an interest in painting fantasy and science-fiction art while in junior high school. "My biggest influences back then were the covers of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books. I wanted to paint pictures like those covers. My parents had always encouraged me in my artwork, but they didn’t understand why I was painting sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Sun
''Dark Sun'' is an original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (D&D) campaign setting set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic desert world of Athas. ''Dark Sun'' featured an innovative metaplot, influential art work, dark themes, and a genre-bending take on traditional fantasy role-playing. The product line began with the original ''Dark Sun Boxed Set'' released for D&D's 2nd edition in 1991, originally ran until 1996, and was one of TSR's most successful releases. ''Dark Sun'' deviated from the feudalistic backdrops of its Tolkienesque pseudo-medieval contemporaries, such as ''Greyhawk'' or ''Forgotten Realms'', in favor of a composite of dark fantasy, planetary romance, and the Dying Earth subgenre. ''Dark Sun''s designers presented a savage, magic-ravaged desert world where resources are scarce and survival is a daily struggle. The traditional fantasy races and character classes were altered or omitted to better suit the setting's darker themes. ''Dark Sun'' differs further in that t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neverwinter Nights (AOL Game)
''Neverwinter Nights'' was the first Multiplayer video game, multiplayer online role-playing game to display graphics, and ran from 1991 to 1997 on AOL. Gameplay ''Neverwinter Nights'' was developed with gameplay similar to previous games in the Gold Box series. Players begin by creating a character. After creating the character, gameplay takes place on a screen that displays text interactions, the names and current status of one's party of characters, and a window which displays images of geography marked with various pictures of characters or events. When combat occurs, gameplay switches to full-screen combat mode, in which a player's characters and enemies are represented by icons which move around in the course of battle. Development ''Neverwinter Nights'' was a co-development of AOL, Stormfront Studios, Beyond Software, Strategic Simulations, Inc., SSI, and TSR, Inc., TSR. It was the first Multiplayer video game, multiplayer online role-playing game to display graphics. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MMORPG
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player character, character (often in a fantasy world or science-fiction world) and takes control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from Online game, single-player or small Multiplayer online game, multi-player online RPGs by the number of players able to interact together, and by the game's persistent world (usually hosted by the game's video game publisher, publisher), which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game. MMORPGs are played throughout the world. Worldwide revenues for MMORPGs exceeded half a billion dollars in 2005, and Western revenues exceeded a billion dollars in 2006. In 2008, the spending on subscription MMORPGs by consumers in North America and Europe grew to $1.4 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Case
Stephen McConnell Case (born August 21, 1958) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist best known as the former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online (AOL). Case joined AOL's predecessor company, Quantum Computer Services, as a marketing vice-president in 1985, became CEO of the company (renamed AOL) in 1991, and, at the height of the dot-com bubble in 2000, orchestrated with Gerald M. Levin the merger that created AOL Time Warner, described as "the biggest train wreck in the history of corporate America." Since resigning as chairman of the company in 2003, he has launched a venture-capital firm, Revolution LLC, based in Washington, D.C., and authored ''The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future'', which in 2016 became a ''New York Times'' bestselling book. In 2022 he published his second book, ''The Rise of the Rest: How Entrepreneurs in Surprising Places Are Building the New American Dream''. Life and career Steve Case was born ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pool Of Radiance
''Pool of Radiance'' is a role-playing video game developed and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc (SSI) in 1988. It was the first adaptation of TSR's ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' (''AD&D'') fantasy role-playing game for home computers, becoming the first episode in a four-part series of ''D&D'' computer adventure games. The other games in the " Gold Box" series used the game engine pioneered in ''Pool of Radiance'', as did later ''D&D'' titles such as the ''Neverwinter Nights'' online game. ''Pool of Radiance'' takes place in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting, with the action centered in and around the port city of Phlan. Just as in traditional ''D&D'' games, the player starts by building a party of up to six characters, deciding the race, gender, class, and ability scores for each. The player's party is enlisted to help the settled part of the city by clearing out the marauding inhabitants that have taken over the surroundings. The characters move on from one ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sword Coast
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip. A slashing sword is more likely to be curved and to have a sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade. Many swords are designed for both thrusting and slashing. The precise definition of a sword varies by historical epoch and geographic region. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger; the earliest specimens date to about 1600 BC. The later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The spatha, as it developed in the Late Roman army, became the predecessor of the European sword of the Middle Ages, at first adopted as the Migration Period sword, and only in the High Middle Ages, developed into the classical arming sword with crossguard. The word ''sword'' continues t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Savage Frontier (Forgotten Realms)
''The Savage Frontier'' (product code FR5) is an accessory for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting ''Forgotten Realms''. It describes the Savage Frontier of Faerûn. The book was written by Jennell Jaquays and published by TSR in 1988. Cover art is by Larry Elmore, with interior illustrations by Esteban Maroto, and cartography by Dave Sutherland, Dennis Kauth, and Jaquays. Contents ''The Savage Frontier'' is a campaign setting supplement which describes the area north of the High Moors—the location in which the novel ''The Crystal Shard'' takes place—and the northern barbarians. The book focuses on the lands to the north of the city of Waterdeep. The color maps and text add further detail to the Northlands and Trackless Sea. This campaign supplement contains information on the Northmen, the Uthgardt Barbarians, and the northern dwarves and orcs. It provides information on major settlements, strongholds, ruins, and includes adventure ideas. ''The Savage Front ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TSR, Inc
TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been unable to find a publisher for ''D&D'', a new type of game he and Dave Arneson were co-developing, so founded the new company with Kaye to self-publish their products. Needing financing to bring their new game to market, Gygax and Kaye brought in Brian Blume in December as an equal partner. ''Dungeons & Dragons'' is generally considered the first tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), and established the genre. When Kaye died suddenly in 1975, the Tactical Studies Rules partnership restructured into TSR Hobbies, Inc. and accepted investment from Blume's father Melvin. With the popular ''D&D'' as its main product, TSR Hobbies became a major force in the games industry by the late 1970s. Melvin Blume eventually transferred his shares to his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
