Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 26: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 3

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing some more of Gateway to the Savage Frontier! Not to be confused with Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire or Journey to the Savage Planet.

It occurs to me that I've got no idea what your opinions are about me dragging games out for two or three parts instead of getting to the point and moving on. If it makes you feel any better, this is still the same amount of words and pictures as a two-parter, I just split them across three pages so it's less of a gruelling marathon to get through (for both of us).

Alright, you're currently reading part 3. You can find part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE. If you decide to stick around then beware of SPOILERS.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 25: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm still playing the DOS version of Gateway to the Savage Frontier!

Though I decided to show the title screen from the Amiga port this time and I really shouldn't have bothered. It turns out that the only difference between the two is that some of the dots are purple in the Amiga game and green in the PC game.

There's no flashy PC-98 version to show off this time and I already showed the C64 title, so that's it really. We're past the days where there were a dozen competing computer formats, and they didn't go wild and port it to the Phillips CD-i or Atari Lynx or something.

Still, they did alright on PC, at least according to a chart I saw in Computer Gaming World issue #89 which said it was the best selling MS-DOS game in North America in August 1991!

Okay, this is part 2, so if you want to read part 1 you should CLICK HERE. Otherwise carry on reading what you're reading, though I'm getting deeper into the story now so beware of SPOILERS.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 24: Gold Box - Gateway to the Savage Frontier (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

Beyond Software

|

Release Date:

1991

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm back to Dungeons & Dragons with Gateway to the Savage Frontier!

The opening titles call it a "Forgotten Realms Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Volume I", and I remember seeing that on a bunch of earlier titles as well. Though Pool of Radiance called itself a 'Fantasy Role-Playing Epic Vol. I' and Eye of the Beyonder was a 'Fantasy Role-Playing Saga Vol. 1' so they're a little different. And Champions of Krynn wasn't even set in the Forgotten Realms!

This is yet another Gold Box RPG, the 7th or 8th of them so far, but this time Strategic Simulations Inc. handed the reins over to Don Daglow's Beyond Software. Daglow was already a veteran RPG game designer at this point, having created one of the first RPGs ever made, Dungeon, in 1975 for PDP-10 mainframes. He also invented the concept of having a circle under the selected player in sports games, apparently.

You could argue that 1991 was the wrong time to start a whole new RPG saga with the ageing Gold Box engine, especially as there were two other D&D series still going and the games were already getting accused of being archaic. I think SSI may have actually agreed the engine was out of date, as they had new engines on the way for the Dark Sun and Ravenloft games. Fans just had to hang in there for a couple more years.

The Gold Box engine had gotten a bit of an update at least, with Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday introducing 256-colour VGA graphics. This is the first D&D RPG to make use of the upgrade, plus it introduces Sound Blaster support for proper sound effects! I'm not getting my hopes up for a soundtrack though.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 23: Gold Box - Death Knights of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 3

This week on Super Adventures, I'm just going to write a little more about Death Knights of Krynn.

I don't usually drag these things out to three parts, because I usually spend the time to properly edit them down! But this is a fairly interesting game so I don't feel too bad about making an exception. I won't be finishing it though, I haven't turned into the CRPG Addict. Yet.

Here have some links to help you get around:

• Death Knights of Krynn - Part One
• Death Knights of Krynn - Part Two
• List of the Dungeons & Dragons games I've played

Going to three parts means that I get to show off the C64 title screen as well. It's nothing that amazing, but I can appreciate how the C64 versions of the Gold Box RPGs all share the same theme and look like they're part of a set. That is not the case for any of the other versions. Not that there are many other versions left at this point, as the game only came out for PC, C64, Amiga and PC-98. I was thinking of showing off the Amiga title screen, but it's just the PC version with slightly better colours.

Once again I should mention that there will be SPOILERS here, for both this and Champions of Krynn.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 22: Gold Box - Death Knights of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm going to continue playing Death Knights of Krynn! If you'd prefer to read part one instead, click THIS LINK.

I'm still playing the DOS version you can buy from Steam and GOG, I just decided to show the PC-98 version of the title screen this time. It's based on the game's box art, or at least the painting the box art borrowed. The PC-98 title music is also worth a listen, and if this was 1998 I'd have it autoplaying when you open this page.

The painting is called 'Lord Soth's Charge' and that's him at the front, the leader of the undead army. I don't actually know anything else about him, but I feel like we wouldn't be friends in real life. I do know something about the engravings surrounding the logo though. There are three orders of Solamnic Knights: the Order of the Crown, the Order of the Sword, and the highest of them is the Order of the Rose. So the rose design is probably related to that.

Warning: this is going to have SPOILERS. Not just for Death Knights of Krynn, but also Champions of Krynn, as it's a sequel.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 21: Gold Box - Death Knights of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1991

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64, PC-98

---

This week on Super Adventures, it's the second game in Strategic Simulations Inc.'s Krynn series: Death Knights of Krynn. There's an interesting use of colour in that title screen. It makes me think of Halloween... or maybe Christmas. Regardless, it's very on-brand for Gold Box art.

I've been playing the Dungeons & Dragons games in as close to chronological order as I can figure out and so far there's been a lot of variety. I've been jumping between action games, wargames, dragon flight sims etc. That's not really the case for this next batch though, as they released three Gold Box RPGs in the same year: Death Knights of Krynn, Gateway to the Savage Frontier and Pools of Darkness - the middle chapter of one series, the beginning of another, and the conclusion to the original saga. Oh, plus there was Neverwinter Nights, the Gold Box MMO.

Death Knights of Krynn is once again taking me back to the Dragonlance campaign setting, and I actually know a bit about the place now. I know about the War of the Lance and the Solamnic Knights and their fearsome moustaches, I know about the Dark Queen Takhisis and the Draconians made from corrupted dragon eggs. I don't think I know anything about Death Knights yet, but I'm here to learn.

I should probably warn you that this is going to have SPOILERS. Not just for Death Knights of Krynn, but also Champions of Krynn, as this is a sequel.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 20: Eye of the Beholder (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the rest of Eye of the Beholder.

(Click this text for PART ONE, or this text for the LIST OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS GAMES I've played so far.)

The game was originally for MS-DOS, Amiga and PC-98 computers, then made its way to the Sega Mega CD and SNES a few years later. So for once no one involved had to think 'But how do we get this to run on an old 8-bit Commodore 64 in 64 KB of RAM?' Even the game it borrowed its gameplay from, Dungeon Master, was a 16/32-bit Atari ST title.

The Atari ST was left out this time, though owners were likely used to that by now. It got two more Dungeons & Dragons games this year, Curse of the Azure Bonds and Shadow Sorcerer, before being dropped entirely. This was technically the second and last D&D game for the Mega Drive/Genesis too, with the Mega CD release coming out after the Sega exclusive Warriors of the Eternal Sun.

Anyway, I'd give you a spoiler warning about all the story I'll be playing through, but it's not really that kind of RPG. I could give you a warning for new dungeon tiles though, as I'll be delving deep enough to see all the art.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 19: Eye of the Beholder (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

Westwood

|

Release Date:

1991

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, PC-98, Sega CD, SNES

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm returning to an old nemesis of mine, Eye of the Beholder. I've tried this a bunch of times and never gotten anywhere in it.

The text says it's A Legend Series Fantasy Role-Playing Saga, Vol. 1, so that's a little different. Pool of Radiance was a Forgotten Realms Role-Playing Epic, Vol. 1, but this time it's a saga and it's part of the Legend series! A series that only has games called Eye of the Beholder in it, as far as I'm aware. Plus they missed out the 'Forgotten Realms' part, even though that's where this is set.

Oh, this is by Westwood Associates, by the way, the folks who made Hillsfar (bad) and DragonStrike  (awkward), and the internet says it came out in 1991, not 1990 like it says on the title screen. 1991 featured more Dungeons & Dragons games than any year before or since, with Eye of the Beholder being right at the start of them. And also at the end of them.

• Eye of the Beholder
• Death Knights of Krynn
• Neverwinter Nights
• Gateway to the Savage Frontier
• Pools of Darkness
• Shadow Sorcerer
• Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon

Two Eye of the Beholder games in one year is a bit much, though I suppose it's not as bad as four Gold Box RPGs!

Alright, this is the second time I've covered this game, if the first time even counts. All I did was wander around the first floor of the SNES game for a bit before getting bored and giving up. This time however I'm not quitting so easily and you can expect to see hours worth of identical-looking plain dungeon walls. So get a drink and make yourself comfortable. That's just good advice in general, really.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 18: Gold Box - Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little bit more of sci-fi RPG Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. I just want to get up to the bit where you get to fly your own spaceship and see how that works. (Click HERE to return to part one.)

The game was released in 1990, for DOS, C64 and Amiga, and then the Genesis/Mega Drive in 1991. This means it's the first and only Gold Box title to get a release on a Sega system. It wasn't the first Dungeons & Dragons game to get ported over however, as a: it's not a D&D game, and b: Heroes of the Lance was released on the Master System a little earlier.

I've heard that a few of the releases included the novel First Power Play by John Miller, which is the kind of extra I like to see in a game box. Though I'd be happy to get any extras in the box these days. Or a box.

Speaking of relics from ancient times, here's a fun fact for you: the character of Buck Rogers debuted in 1929, so he predates Conan the Barbarian by 3 years and Superman by 9. The premise of his story is that he's a pilot from the present day who gets frozen in suspended animation until the 25th century. That's a massive 500 years, or at least it used to be. The present day has moved forward a bit since then, so if they announce they're making a new movie in time for his 100th birthday in 2029, he'll start off already 1/5th of the way there.

Note: this is a game with a story, so there will be SPOILERS below. Not for all of it though, I'm not going to end up finishing it.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 17: Gold Box - Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1990

|

Systems:

DOS, C64, Amiga, Mega Drive

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday! A Science Fiction Role-Playing Computer Game Vol. I. Not to be confused with Buck Rogers XXX, that would be... something else.

I actually played this once already, 14 years back. Though the PC version scared me off, so I played the friendly Genesis/Mega Drive version instead, with its icons and isometric levels. I don't recall much about it now, but there's one thing I'm sure of: it's got nothing to do with Dungeons & Dragons' medieval multiverse of knights and clerics whatsoever. It didn't even come in a gold box.

It does run on the Gold Box engine though. Plus it's by D&D video game developer SSI and it was an adaptation of the Buck Rogers XXVc tabletop game from D&D publisher TSR. I think that makes it worth a look.

Hang on a moment, the more I stare at that logo the weirder it seems. Half the letters have impossible sharp corners, you can't do a T or a D that way, and the letters W and M are straight up impossible to reproduce on a 7-segment display. Also the T has a single pixel of red missing and it's bothering me.

Alright, now I'll be able to sleep tonight. Doesn't really look as good though.

Anyway, it seems a bit strange to build a new tabletop RPG around a character people mostly knew from a campy TV show from the late '70s, but there was actually a good reason why TSR were trying to resurrect the brand: they were being run at the time by Lorraine Williams, whose family owned the Buck Rogers IP. If you've got a classic sci-fi brand and a tabletop RPG company, it's not the worst idea to try combining the two. And it apparently sold an okay number of copies. Not great, but enough to justify the sequel that came out a couple of years later.

Okay I'm going to play the game for a while and see if I can get further than I did in the Mega Drive game. I remember walking around a damaged spaceship, though I can't recall if I managed to walk back off again.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 16: Gold Box - Secret of the Silver Blades (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing a little more of the MS-DOS version of Secret of the Silver Blades.

That's actually the title screen from the PC-98 version up there, that's why it looks so dithered. They took a picture made to fit into a tiny EGA palette of 16 colours and then squeezed it down to just 7. Still, it could have been worse - the Macintosh version is black and white. I don't mean it's monochrome like the Game Boy, I mean it has two colours: black and white.

The game was released on five systems, MS-DOS, PC-98, Mac, C64 and Amiga, and they'd all gotten the previous two games as well, so anyone playing through the saga on one of those machines was in luck... for now. People who'd been playing on the Apple II or Atari ST were less fortunate as those computers got dropped here, and I doubt it was possible to get the saves working on another system. Their heroes had to all retire at game #2, never levelling up past level 12... or past level 4 if they were a halfling fighter with low strength (1st Edition AD&D is weird).

Okay, if you want to jump back to part one, CLICK HERE.

If you want to view the Dungeons & Dragons games I've played, CLICK HERE.

And if you want to keep reading, be aware that there will be SPOILERS beyond this point.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 15: Gold Box - Secret of the Silver Blades (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1990

|

Systems:

DOS, C64, Mac, Amiga, PC-98

---

Today on Super Adventures, I'm playing the 11th Dungeons & Dragons video game, Secret of the Silver Blades! 

I'm playing the DOS version to be precise and I can already tell from this title screen that the game isn't going to be supporting 256 colour VGA graphics. That's fine though. 4 colour CGA was no fun for anyone, but Tandy and EGA hardware allowed artists a large enough palette to come up with something distinctive. They gave us a style tied to a specific time and place in history that otherwise would have never existed. A style with lots of magenta and cyan.

(I hope the VGA era isn't too far off.)

Secret of the Silver Blades is the third game in the Pool of Radiance saga, following on from the events of Curse of the Azure Bonds. This means I've finally made it back to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting after a surprisingly long stay in the Dragonlance universe. I'm also back to the Gold Box engine, so I already have a good idea of what this is going to be like.

Anyway, I'm going to be playing the game for a few hours, so there may be SPOILERS here for this and earlier games in the series.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 14: DragonStrike (MS-DOS) and DragonStrike (NES)

This week on Super Adventures, I've finally got another excuse to Photoshop together a title image. The weird thing is, I started adding the ripped cover effect to it before I noticed that the Amiga version's cover already uses a torn paper effect (you can see it the top left behind the dude). That's such a weird coincidence. Their effect is better, but I think mine came out looking okay.

Anyway DragonStrike came out in 1990 and is the 10th Dungeons & Dragons game. Meanwhile DragonStrike (NES) came out in 1992 and is the 21st Dungeons & Dragons game. It was pretty common at the time for different systems to get wildly different games that all shared the same title, but in this case it's only the NES release that just had to be awkward.

Covering both games at the same time requires breaking the timeline a bit, but doing it this way means I get to compare them, so you're getting double dragons this week.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 13: Gold Box - Champions of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm just playing some more of the DOS version of Champions of Krynn, but I thought you might want to see the PC-98 title screen instead this time.

The game was released on just five systems this time: IBM PC, Amiga, PC-98, Commodore 64 and Apple II, so we've lost the Atari ST and Apple Mac - both 16-bit systems weirdly. The 8-bit C64 is still hanging in there, but this was the final Dungeons & Dragons game to be ported to the legendary Apple II. It had been the main platform for RPGs in the US, giving the world titles like Ultima, Wizardry and The Bard's Tale, but it had its last major hit in 1989 with Prince of Persia. A computer that couldn't run SimCity or Golden Axe didn't really have a place in the early '90s.

In fact technology had moved on so far by this point that the PC version of Champions of Krynn actually has Adlib sound card support! It's also one of the very few Gold Box RPGs to support the Roland LAPC, which is basically an MT-32 on a card (the next few games didn't support it for some reason). It doesn't really change much however, as I think the only music in the whole game is the theme tune at the start.

If you want to go back to part one, CLICK HERE.

If you want to see all the Dungeons & Dragons games I've played CLICK HERE.

Beware of SPOILERS beyond this point.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 12: Gold Box - Champions of Krynn (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1990

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64, Apple II, PC-98

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Champions of Krynn, a 'Dragonlance Fantasy Role-Playing Epic Vol. 1' (Version 1.2). It's the beginning of a brand new Dungeons & Dragons trilogy!

I've already played a few games in the Dragonlance campaign setting, like Heroes of the Lance and Dragons of Flame, but even though they were based on tabletop modules I wouldn't exactly call them RPGs. Champions of Krynn is actually a proper Gold Box RPG however, just like Pools of Radiance... except I'm probably going to have to deal with those annoying dragon men that shoot magic at you and explode when they die again.

This also the beginning of a new decade: the 1990s! I'm on year 9 of my quest to play the first 10 years of Dungeons & Dragons games, and the end is in sight. Though in truth I'm only halfway through them, as SSI were releasing a ton of these games at this point. We got three AD&D titles this year:

• Champions of Krynn - What I'm playing right now.
• DragonStrike - A dragon combat flight sim.
• Secret of the Silver Blades - Chapter three of the Pool of Radiance Gold Box tetralogy.

Plus there was Buck Rogers XXVc: Countdown to Doomsday. It's got nothing to do with D&D, but it's adapted from another tabletop game by D&D creators TSR and it runs on the Gold Box engine, so they basically just swapped the dragons for spaceships.

Okay, I'll be playing the game for a couple of hours, taking screenshots and writing words, so there'll be SPOILERS below.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 11: Silver Box - War of the Lance (MS-DOS)

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1989

|

Systems:

Apple II, DOS, C64

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out the PC port of SSI's fantasy wargame War of the Lance!

I know what the title screen looks like, but I promise you that this is an official Dungeons & Dragons game that you can buy in the Silver Box Classics collection on Steam. It's even by Strategic Simulations Inc., the folks who had already developed Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds by this point. But there is a perfectly good explanation for why it looks so basic: this is just what wargames looked like at the time, especially when they were made for the Apple II.

Wargames have never really been my thing, but from what I can tell, SSI had been in the business longer than anyone and had earned a reputation for knowing what they were doing. Their first game, Computer Bismarck, had been developed for the Apple II (and TRS-80) way back in 1980, which is about the same time that genre-defining RPGs like Ultima and Wizardry were released for the machine.

But by 1989 the Commodore 64 and IBM PC compatible had taken over as the dominant US computers, and I think this is the last time SSI made the Apple II their lead platform. They were really going back to their roots here. Plus Dungeons & Dragons was originally inspired by tabletop wargames, so they were going back to its roots too. 

You can tell they were going old school with this one as they skipped the 16/32-bit Amiga entirely. Other than PC, Amiga was the only system to get all the regular Gold Box RPGs, but it only got three out of four Silver Box games. Though by the look of the game, the machine could probably emulate it.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 10: Silver Box - Dragons of Flame (MS-DOS)

Developer:

U.S. Gold

|

Release Date:

1989

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, C64, ZX Spectrum, CPC, FM Towns, PC-98, NES

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out the next Dungeons & Dragons game on my list: Dragons of Flame. Though you don't need me to tell you that, you can see it yourself on that beautiful title screen up there.

Dragons of Flame was the second of the 'Silver Box' Dragonlance games... or maybe the third. I did the research for this, I tried to pin it down, but it was released so close to War of the Lance I really don't know which comes next. At least I can be sure that it's the second chapter of the story that began in Heroes of the Lance, and that it's by the same developer, U.S. Gold.

I also know that the game was ported to many of the same systems, though not quite all of them. Fans with 8-bit machines like the MSX, Master System, PC-88 and Sharp X1 would've had to upgrade to see what happened next. Either that or bought the novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It did get a ZX Spectrum port though! In fact this was the second and final D&D game released on the computer, and on the Amstrad CPC as well. I'm experiencing the end of an era here.

Okay, I'm going to put the game on and see how far I get. It's probably short, but it's probably also really difficult, so don't get your hopes up.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 9: Gold Box - Curse of the Azure Bonds (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I feel like I should write a little more about Curse of the Azure Bonds. It's a big complicated RPG, so one article wasn't really doing it justice. You could argue that two isn't enough either and I should really finish it, but... I don't want to.

Like Pool of Radiance, the game was released on a ton of systems: IBM PC, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, the venerable Apple II, Apple Macintosh, NEC PC-98. Not the NES this time though; the Gold Box RPGs never returned to the console. And D&D was done with the Sharp X1 and PC-88 entirely by this point.

On the plus side, the Atari ST got a port this time! Their first and only Gold Box game. It's a shame that ST owners were left out after this, as it was one of the higher spec machines of the '80s and its weakness with scrolling backgrounds wasn't a problem for these turn based RPGs.

Alright, if you want to return to part one then CLICK HERE. If you want to see a list of all the Dungeons & Dragons games I've covered CLICK HERE. And if you want some Curse of the Azure Bonds spoilers then you're already in the right place.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 8: Gold Box - Curse of the Azure Bonds (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1989

|

Systems:

DOS, C64, Apple II, Amiga, Mac, Atari ST, PC-98

---

This week, it's my first Super Adventures game of 2026: Curse of the Azure Bonds! 

The game came out in 1989, which means I've still got three more years of Dungeons & Dragons games left to get through before I've finished the first decade. That doesn't sound so bad, but this is the point where they begin to get abundant.

Strategic Simulations Inc. had the licence at this point and their tactic to increase game sales was to give people more games to buy. They released an average of six D&D games a year, half of them proper Gold Box RPGs.

To make things more straightforward, or more confusing, the Gold Box games alternated between three different series. Well, three plus the Neverwinter Nights MMO. And the Buck Rogers games I suppose, but they're something else.

Anyway, this is A FORGOTTEN REALMS Fantasy Role-Playing Epic, Vol. II, which makes it the second volume of the Pool of Radiance saga. It's also a sequel to the novel Azure Bonds so there are two sagas intersecting here. Though you'd be forgiven for thinking it was an adaptation as it has basically the same name and the same cover. I know most/all the early D&D games used recycled art for their boxes, but they were taking the piss a bit with this one.

I'm going to play the game for a few hours, probably spoil a bunch of early twists for you, and show off screenshots. I won't be playing enough of the game to form a proper informed opinion (ie. all of it), but I'll try to hang in there long enough to get what it's doing.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 7: Hillsfar (MS-DOS)

Developer:

Westwood Associates

|

Release Date:

1989

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64, Atari ST, PC-88, PC-98, NES

---

This week on Super Adventures, my Dungeons & Dragons quest has reached the year 1989 and I'm playing... whatever this is. It's not a Gold Box game, I know that much, but it is an official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons licenced product and it is linked to Pool of Radiance, so we're back in the Forgotten Realms again for this one.

The game's called Hillsfar and it's by Westwood Associates, the guys who would later go on to make real-time strategy legends like Dune II and Command & Conquer, along with adventure games like Legend of Kyrandia and Blade Runner. I'm considering this to be a good sign. Though at this point Westwood were mostly in the business of porting games to other systems, typically 8-bit titles to 16-bit machines like the Amiga and Atari ST, and they were apparently quite good at it.

Hillsfar itself was ported across to a fair number of computers, though it was released on fewer systems than Pool of Radiance (9) and Heroes of the Lance (13). This means that we've already said goodbye to the Master System, MSX and Sharp X1, which never got another D&D game, and the PC-88 is dropping out here as well. The Apple II and Mac aren't out yet but they both skipped Hillsfar, so their owners missed out on its big selling point: it can import characters from Pool of Radiance and export them into the next game in the saga, Curse of the Azure Bonds. 

All the major Western computer RPG franchises of the time let you import saves, it was nothing exclusive to the Gold Box games. In fact The Bard's Tale lets you import from Wizardry and Ultima III, and then you can import from that game into Deathlord or Centauri Alliance. But what makes Hillsfar different is... actually I have no idea, I haven't played it yet.