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.

[7] Different combat options are available to characters based on class: fighters can use melee or ranged weapons; magic-users can cast spells; thieves are able to "back-stab" opponents by strategically positioning themselves.

This portion of the city hosts businesses, including shopkeepers that sell holy items for worshippers at each temple, a jewelry shop, and retailers who provide arms and armor.

Using bards and publications, they spread tales of the riches waiting to be recovered in Phlan, which draws the player's party to these shores by ship.

[6] Eventually, the player learns that an evil spirit named Tyranthraxus, who has possessed an ancient dragon, is at the root of Phlan's problems.

[2] The scenario was created by TSR designers Jim Ward, David Cook, Steve Winter, and Mike Breault, and coded by programmers from Strategic Simulations, Inc's Special Projects team.

[16] The section of the Forgotten Realms world in which Pool of Radiance takes place was intended to be reserved for development solely by SSI.

Developers also worked to balance the graphics with gameplay to provide a faithful AD&D feel, given the restrictions of a home computer.

[20] Pool of Radiance was released in June 1988;[15] it was initially available on the Commodore 64, Apple II series and IBM PC compatible computers.

The game was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System under the title Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance, released in April 1992.

[citation needed] The Amiga version also features some extra music, while most other ports contain only one song that plays at the title screen.

For example, in Sokol Keep the player discovers some parchment with elvish runes on it that require use of the code wheel to decipher; this is optional however, but may be used to avoid some combat with undead if the decoded words are said to them.

GOG.com released Pool of Radiance and many Gold Box series games digitally on August 20, 2015, as a part of Forgotten Realms: The Archives-Collection Two.

They felt that "roleplayers will find Pools is an essential purchase, but people who are solely computer games oriented may hesitate before buying it [...] it will be their loss".

The reviewer noted that the third-person arcade style combat view is a "great improvement" for SSI, as they would "traditionally incorporate simplistic graphics in their role-playing games".

The reviewer was critical that Pool of Radiance was "not original in its presentation" and that the colors were "a little drab", but concluded that the game is "classic Dungeons & Dragons which SSI have recreated excellently".

It is beautiful to look at, true to its AD&D roots, boasts features like automapping and excellent documentation, and has a strong theme to motivate gamers.

Ken St. Andre—designer of the Tunnels & Trolls RPG—approved of the game despite his dislike of the D&D system, praising the art, the mixture of combat and puzzles, and surprises.

[33] Scorpia also disliked the amount of fighting in a game she otherwise described as a "well-designed slicer/dicer", concluding that "patience (possibly of Job) [is] required to get through this one".

stated that experienced role-playing gamers "won't find anything new here", but recommended it to those who "love dungeons, dragons, and drama".

[36] In their March 1989 "The Role of Computers" column in Dragon magazine #143, Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser gave Pool of Radiance a three-page review.

They praised it as "the first offering that truly follows AD&D game rules" and advised readers to "rush out to your local dealer and buy Pool Of Radiance", considering it SSI's flagship product and speculating that it would "undoubtedly bring thousands of computer enthusiasts into the adventure-filled worlds of TSR".

[28] For the second annual "Beastie Awards" in 1989, Dragon's readers voted Pool of Radiance the best fantasy role-playing game, with Ultima V as the runner-up for the year.

The primary factor given for votes was its faithfulness to the AD&D system as well as the game's graphics and easy-to-use user interface for commands.

The contributor felt that "the Pool of Radiance series set the stage for Dungeons & Dragons to make a major splash in the video game world".

Dragon described the novel's plot: "Five companions find themselves in the unenviable position of defending the soon-to-be ghost town against a rival possessing incredible power".

[47] A review for Curse of the Azure Bonds in Computer Gaming World noted that "you can transfer your characters from Pool of Radiance and it's a good idea to do so.

[48] GameSpot declared that Pool of Radiance, thanks to its detailed art, variety of quests and available treasure, and tactical combat system, and despite the limitations of only four allowed character classes and the low maximum character level, "ultimately succeeded in its goal of bringing a standardized form of AD&D to the home computer, and laid the foundation for other future gold box AD&D role-playing games".

[50] According to the editors of Dragon magazine, Pool of Radiance was based on Ruins of Adventure, rather than the module being based on the computer game,[51] but Mike Breault stated in a 2021 interview that TSR chose him, Winter, Cook, and Ward to work on the design and writing for Pool of Radiance, indicating that the material was originally created for the game.