1991

Gateway to the Savage Frontier
Published: 1991
Publisher: SSI

Gateway to the Savage Frontier, released in 1991, was something of an attempt to return to the simpler days of Pool of Radiance. The player embarked on a quest that had nothing at all to do with the evil Tyranthraxus or the restoration of Phlan. Rather, the adventure took place leagues away in the northwest corner of the Forgotten Realms, in a place known as the Savage Frontier. Your stalwart adventurers, drugged and subsequently robbed blind, found themselves embroiled in a political plot to overthrow the loose order of the Savage Frontier's neighboring city states. Your only hope of defeating the evil wizard Vaalgamon and his gigantic kraken allies was to gather the four mystical statues and confront your enemies in battle at the town of Ascore.

With its completely new story and (relatively) low, low level cap, Gateway to the Savage Frontier was essentially an attempt to recover from the insanely high-level aftermath of Pools of Darkness and again return to the simplicity of Pool of Radiance. Characters had the exact same level caps as in Pool of Radiance (ninth for thieves, eighth for fighters, and sixth for spellcasters), and the treasure was roughly on the same level with that of Pool of Radiance as well. What was probably most distinctive about Gateway to the Savage Frontier was the character-specific side quests; there were two NPCs (Krevish and Rishpal) who, if recruited to the ranks of the party, would allow you to either participate in nonrequisite side quests or even get you a slightly different ending.

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