What Year Did You First Obtain FRUA?

[ProphetSword]

Pretty much what the topic of the Poll says.  When did you discover FRUA and purchase or obtain it?  Were you among the people who got it upon release, find it much later in a value pack or buy it off GOG during a sale?  Whatever your story is, let us know by answering the poll and leaving a comment if you'd like.  I'm curious to see when everyone first got into the hobby.

I'll start.  I saw an advertisement in late 1992 for FRUA and was instantly interested.  I was already a huge fan of the Gold-Box games, and being able to create my own scenarios sounded like a dream come true.  I bought it in March of 1993 right after its release.  I remember I paid $50 for it, which was pretty expensive for a video game in those days, especially for floppy disks.

I got a second copy much later on CD in a bargain bin for $5.  I was hoping the CD (given that CDs had much more storage space) might include some extras, but sadly it's just a big empty CD with a small space that holds FRUA.  Still got that CD.  Still got the original box and manual that the disks came in, but lost the disks years ago.

Got a third copy (a digital copy) when I bought the D&D games on GOG during a sale a few years back.  So, I have purchased FRUA three times.  I also purchased the Gold-Box games three times (bought each of them upon release, bought them again on a WizWorx CD collection in the 1990s and again on GOG when I bought FRUA).

[Nol Drek]

I got my first copy of FRUA in 1995. I waited until the game was on sale for a discount, as I had done with most of the Gold Box games. My first upload to the AOL forums was a set of Stone Giant and Frost Giants icons, with file dates of November 11, 1995. The first complete design that I uploaded was Scourge of the Slave Lords, which I began working on in January, 1996.

Since then, I have also purchased FRUA as part of the Dungeons & Dragons Ultimate Fantasy CD and the Forgotten Realms Archives Collection 2.

[hans]

Being a huge a fan of the GoldBox games (along with my brother and late father), we got it immediately when it first came out. 

The internet came later for us. 

And I didn't join the UA community until several months after that...  Maybe October of 1997...? 

Since then, FRUAdom has been a great home away from home.   :)

[Olivier Leroux]

It depends on the definition of "obtain" ...  :angel:

Must have been around 1994/1995 when I first heard about it. A friend of a friend of mine owned it and he was passing it around among his friends in school, lending his copy to the other guys. Not being familiar with the old Goldbox games, I first thought they were talking about a level editor for Eye of the Beholder. I showed an interest in it and one day it was my turn to try it. I guess I was slightly disappointed that it didn't have EOB style quality graphics, and at the same time I got quite enthusiastic when I discovered it was so much more than a level editor. I played around with it for a bit and really liked it, but I guess at some point I gave it back to its owner and that was that.

A few years later, maybe 1998/1999 I got access to the internet for the first time and after some time I discovered "abandonware" sites, hosting games that weren't officially sold anymore. And FRUA was among it, so I didn't think twice about downloading it, to be honest. At that time, I wasn't really used to buying games yet, at least not for for more than bargain bin prices, and FRUA was not that easy to obtain in Germany anyway. I soon discovered there was an online community and lots of downloadable designs, and one of the first designs I remember that really blew me away was Merlin's hacked "The Quest for Arkana". I really got into hacked FRUA, mostly as a silent player still, but I would also entertain myself by tinkering around with the editor and trying to create my own designs, without really thinking about sharing them. At some point, my friend's friend who still had his original copy but wasn't really interested in the game anymore, heard from my friend how passionate I was about FRUA and generously offered me his copy for free. The floppy disks weren't of much use to me, sadly, since it was the German version which was badly translated and never got updated to 1.2, so I couldn't use it for playing hacked English designs from the net, but getting the (equally badly translated but otherwise pretty nice) printed manual was cool. Eventually I got involved more actively with the community and I even managed to create two fragmentary designs as well as a couple of icons and art conversions to share online.

But I only actually bought the game in 2015, when it was re-released by GOG and I wasn't even all that active in the FRUA community anymore. I did leave that indroduction to FRUA on the GOG forums though, along with instructions for installation. At the time I was hoping the re-release would lead to an influx of new players and design authors to reinvigorate the community, but that didn't really happen. On the upside, this forum is still one of the nicest places with the friendliest people on the internet, while all the other forums get worse on the daily, so there's that.  :)   

Anyway, in short, if it's about discovering FRUA I'd estimate maybe 1995, if it's about buying my own copy, it was only 2015, twenty years later ...  :o  (So far the black sheep in this thread ...  :-[)

[Ray]

Watched the ads in the magazines (and, I think, comic books) until the big release.

Bought it at the mall and returned later to buy an art program that was suggested for use in creating new artwork...but didn't work.

[ProphetSword]

It depends on the definition of "obtain" ...  :angel:

To be clear, my definition of "obtain" includes any method by which the person responding ended up with a copy of FRUA. 

As a community, we take a stance against piracy as a whole, but I know that FRUA was out of print for the longest time until GOG recently resurrected it as part of its AD&D collections, so I'm not blind to the fact that people probably pirated it.  I'm not bothered by it either. 

Our stance against piracy stems from the community not wanting to provide links to promote the piracy, but I don't think anyone has ever shunned a member of the community if they obtained it in a less than legal manner.  And we likely never will.  It is more about not drawing negative attention to the community than it is about judging what an individual does.

We will, however, continue to only endorse legal means to get the game (by pointing people toward GOG.com), but everyone is welcome and everyone should feel free to share their story, no matter what choice they made in getting a copy of the toolset.

[Paul R. Stevens]

When it first came out.  Not for myself but for my son
who must have been about 15 at the time.  He was delighted,
took a great interest, and it probably changed his life a bit.
He is now a member of the Factorio programming team.

https://factorio.com

[Milos Gulan]

Wow, nice  8)

I was about to say 2017. but it seems I am here from 2012. according to my profile. Just trying to catch up with all things here that are really great, if not best Ad&d experience yet :).

[JudgeDeadd]

I could not say exactly what year it was, but it was definitely sometime in the early 2000's, with me still in elementary school. We had recently gotten the new and exciting "Internet" thing in our home, and I'd just found out about abandonware sites, which promised an abundance of entertainment at the click of a button. One of the games on offer was "Unlimited Adventures".

I had never played, or even heard about, any of the Gold Box games at that time. What drew me to UA was the very concept: a program which would allow me to make my own games! Just like all these other games I loved playing, except they'd be mine and mine only! (This was before GameMaker, Unity, and other such tools were available!) I immediately downloaded it, and began creating my first project.

My early efforts have not been preserved, unfortunately. They would bear witness to my adorably awkward mistakes. For example, the earliest games were made up entirely of Overland modules; I simply assumed Dungeons were the exact same thing as Overlands, except with dungeon-themed backgrounds. It also took me a while to discover the "Text Statement" event; until then, I handled all the dialogue with "NPC Says" (hey, after all, that's what it's meant for, just look at the name!)

When I finally found out — much to my excitement — that the Dungeon modules would allow me to realize "3D" environments, I proceeded to make an ambitious design, set in a city ruled by a corrupt mayor Ozzir and terrorized by the bandit Rizzo. (Spoiler: in a shocking plot twist, they turn out to be the same person!) The half-baked design, named "Wein City", did not survive, but I reconstructed it later from memory and finished it for the sole purpose of making fun of it.

Then came teenage years, my first uploads to the Archive, a handful of simple but warmly received mods, a series of comedy-themed designs trying clumsily to ape Pratchett... And, of course, a myriad of ambitious ideas, none of which got close to realization... Memories, memories...

How long has it even been since I last posted here...?

[MikeR1984_FRUA-DC]

I first obtained FRUA from the Internet in October 2010, but before that I had been playing some of the Gold Box games since 1994 when I was only 10 years old. So I was pretty familiar with how the Gold Box games were and was therefore able to figure out how to use FRUA. I obtained FRUA as soon as I found it online and was so very happy that I was able to get it, because I always wanted a way to design my own Gold-Box style mod ever since playing my first Gold-Box game (which was "Treasures of The Savage Frontier" for the Commodore-AMIGA). But, in a way, I am glad that I didn't obtain FRUA until 2010 because when I was a child I didn't have much of the patience or the commitment required to design my own mod like I do now.

I know that FRUA is old software, but it's these kind of 1980's-1990's games that I grew up with and so it means a lot to me. And it's nice to have that feeling of nostalgia to go along with playing the many FRUA mods out there, and creating your very own as well.

:)

[Ray]

I first obtained FRUA from the Internet in October 2010, but before that I had been playing some of the Gold Box games since 1994 when I was only 10 years old. So I was pretty familiar with how the Gold Box games were and was therefore able to figure out how to use FRUA. I obtained FRUA as soon as I found it online and was so very happy that I was able to get it, because I always wanted a way to design my own Gold-Box style mod ever since playing my first Gold-Box game (which was "Treasures of The Savage Frontier" for the Commodore-AMIGA). But, in a way, I am glad that I didn't obtain FRUA until 2010 because when I was a child I didn't have much of the patience or the commitment required to design my own mod like I do now.

I know that FRUA is old software, but it's these kind of 1980's-1990's games that I grew up with and so it means a lot to me. And it's nice to have that feeling of nostalgia to go along with playing the many FRUA mods out there, and creating your very own as well.

:)

Every word of this - you nailed it!

Well, except for the "ten years old" part. LOL!

[Mannast]

1993 - Could not wait to get it.  Had played most of the Gold Box games and saw the advertisements for FRUA.

[Anne Nym]

I don't remember exactly, but must have been between 1995 and 1997. Voting is closed anyway, so the exact year isn't that important.

Hi and greetings from a new member, by the way.

[hans]

I don't remember exactly, but must have been between 1995 and 1997. Voting is closed anyway, so the exact year isn't that important.

Hi and greetings from a new member, by the way.

Welcome, Anne!   

[Null Null]

Welcome as well! I see you've discovered the Realm...