Rules :

1) No reload, except in the case of a game crash. All in all, I've had one crash to desktop and 2 freezes. The ctd was unexpected, and I had to replay about 1.5 hour (I had worse luck the second time). After that, I saved much more often, and the 2 freezes didn't change much the course of the action.

2) Characters created with maxed attributes, average HP, except for level 1 at which I maxed HPs too. For characters created later in the series, I calculated the average number of HP they should have and rounded down if necessary. In hindsight, I probably could have gone with rolled attributes : the only important attribute is DEX (to get the initiative), plus possibly INT/WIS for casters. CON is also important, but not as much.

3) Default difficulty.

4) Guides/walkthoughs allowed : I've never played the first 3 games, so going unspoiled would certainly have been a reciepe for failure. I used two extremely detailled guides for PoR and CotAB (found at Gamefaq) and switched to Gamebanshee for SotSB and PoD (less details and a few innaccuracies, but all in all it's still good and helped alot).

5) New characters can be added to replace an old character. If done at the beginning of a game, then they keep their equipement, otherwise equipment is lost. Twice, I had to create a character while in the middle of a game : once because I was not happy with a character in the team, the other time because my elf was dead for good :/ .

6) I hex-edited save files to remedy the strength bug when importing characters (except in PoD where it worked fine), but no other edit otherwise.

7) As little grinding as possible. In fact, I resorted to grinding 4 times : Once to level-up my first dual char, another time to compensate for a mistake I had made with character selection, and the last 2 times to level-up dual chars.

POOL OF RADIANCE :

Fighter/Magic-User 1/1 (start) --> 7/6 (end)
Fighter/Magic-User 1/1 (start) --> 6/6 (end) This one got level drained at some point
Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User 1/1/1 (start) --> 5/6/5 (end)
Fighter/Magic-User/Thief 1/1/1 (start) --> 6/6/7 (end) Huge mistake, see below
Cleric 1 (start) --> 6 (end)
Magic-User 1 (start) --> 6 (end)

I didn't realize at this point how HUGE a mistake it was to include an elf thief (that I planned to keep in PoD) in the team. In PoD, Raise Dead *and* Resurection do not work on elves. So basically a dead elf is a gone elf. And characters tend to die alot in the late game of PoD...
Apart from that mistake, this is a quite strong team : The single class MU ensures that you get fireball early, and you have tons of Sleep and Stinking Cloud.
This was probably the hardest game of the first 3 games : you have to pay attention, in the beginning, to which next area you're going to. When exploring a new area, I usually bumped into a wall close to the exit, so that I could exhaust random encounters (while keeping buffs) and only after that went to fully explore the area.
I've only had one death (the MU) due to lightning bouncing.
I completely avoided the graveyard.

CURSE OF THE AZURE BONDS

Paladin 5 (fresh) --> 10
Fighter/Magic-User/Thief 6/6/7 (imported from PoR) --> 7/10/11
Fighter/Magic-User 7/6 (imported from PoR) --> 7/11
Ranger 5 (fresh) --> Dual Ranger/Magic-User 9/11
Magic-User 6 (imported from PoR) --> 11
Cleric 6 (imported from PoR) --> 10

The imported chars got 1/2 levels very early, which certainly made the beggining of the game easier. But all in all, the game really felt easy. Not a single death.

SECRET OF THE SILVER BLADES

Paladin 10 (imported) --> 15
Fighter 8 (fresh) much (**) later replaced by Ranger 8 --> 15
Fighter/Magic-User/Thief 7/10/11 (imported) --> 7/11/16
Dual Ranger/Magic-User 9/11 (imported) --> 9/15
Cleric 10 (imported) --> 15
Magic-User 11 (imported) --> 15

(**) At first I had planned for a Fighter 13 dualed to Magic-User 14, but I later realized that I would miss the THAC0 and saves from level 17, so I rerolled a ranger.

Not much to say. Most of the game was easy, with a few hard areas (eastern crevasse for instance). One death (Cleric) during the first of the last 2 battles, because (again) of lightning bouncing. Bad luck since Cleric was invisible ! I imported her to PoR before using the Resurection from a temple, so that she wouldn't lose CON.

POOLS OF DARKNESS

Paladin 15 (imported, soon 17) --> Dual Paladin/Cleric 17/33
Ranger 13 (fresh) --> Dual Ranger/Magic-User 17/22
Fighter/Magic-User/Thief 7/11/16 (imported) --> DEAD, replaced by Fighter/Thief 9/13 (fresh)
Dual Ranger/Magic-User 9/15 (imported, soon 9/17) --> 9/32
Cleric 15 (imported, soon 18 - dunno if it's a bug, she leveled up 3 times after being resurected) --> 40
Ranger 15 (imported, soon 17) --> Dual Ranger/Magic-User 17/25

The imported Ranger and Paladin were dualed at the start of the game (I farmed the first fight at Zenthil Keep, so that they would gain a few levels fast). The fresh ranger was dualed a little bit later. All in all, I avoided the outer dimensions until I had 2 dualed characters that had gotten back their warrior levels. During the early-mid game, the THAC0s in the team weren't great, but they were good enough, considering the fact that most mobs in the realms have relatively bad AC (and the team had good gear). Now that the team warriors have gotten back their warrior levels, this is a team that rocks (except for the elf failure) : I've just gotten the 3rd artefact, and having 3 capable warriors (as well as 3 capable Magic-Users and 2 capable Clerics) really helps. As for the death count :

First 2 deaths were in the Red Tower, both due to Desintegrate (Red Mage). That's when I discovered that you lose all the equipement if a character is desintegrated ! Luckily, I had some backup (altho I lost a few nice trinkets).

Then, another death due to a Pet of Kalistes Desintegrate in Kalistes Dimension.

And then... tons of deaths in Moander's Heart (well, maybe "only" 3 or 4, but also alot of stoned/poisoned characters and something that was close to a party wipe). Some of the fights there are insane. That's one part of the game where I was really glad to have a 2nd Cleric (Blade Barrier is really efficient at being a... barrier !) as well as 3 level 17 warriors : better saves are great when fighting Bits o' Mander, and you need the melee dps for Golems/Bits.

So here I am : Legolas was properly buried and replaced with an inexperienced Gimli who should have been there from the start. I'm soon heading to Mulaster.

Hope you enjoyed reading :)

Random notes :

- Dual characters are great. Notheless, having an (almost) pure Magic-User in the team is a good thing : the extra Magic-User levels really help with overcoming Drow MR.

I do find this all very interesting, thanks for posting! I've played these games many times (especially PoR, which is my absolute favourite by far) but I've never tried Iron Man.

So, it was a fail...

I managed to reach the 3rd of the last battles, but lost it.

Here are some details :

1) In the last level, there is an optionnal fight against 4 beholders + 19 other monsters. Only real reward for that fight is a +4 Helm and a +4 Plate. If you've paid attention to equiping your team with the best possible gear (found in Bane's dimension), only the Helm is really worth it (everyone should have the equivalent of +3 Plate or better). Nonetheless, I wouldn't recommend going for that fight, at least not melee range, with the beholders : they can cast Destruction (at range) which will permanently destroy a character (status is GONE). I discovered that the hard way and lost my Ranger/Magic-User 17/26 (not the gear, tho). I replaced him with a level 14 fighter. Not too happy about it, but well.

2) The first fight is hard, especially if you don't get good initiative rolls. Only one of my (now) 2 Magic-Users got the initiative over Blue Minions, after that it was a lightning fest. 3 chars died quickly, 2 others left unconcious, with only my Paladin/Cleric remaining. He nonetheless survived, thanks to a Ring of Blinking and several Blade Barriers. At the end of the fight, he could cast Heal on my Ranger/Magic-User and the newly created Thief. Onward to round 2.

3) Round 2 was easy. If you keep your distances from the Beholder/Death Tyrant/Elder Orb, they'll cast harmless spells (Mind Blank protects from fear). I couldn't turn a single Death Tyrant (altho it should be possible, according to some guides), but could kill the eyes one by one with arrows.

4) At the end of round 2, I realized I had made a big mistake : my Ranger/MU had no Haste spell memorized, and it probably would have helped alot. So round 3 started un-hasted and with only 3 chars. It's quite funny that the game acknowledges that. Soon another ligntning fest started, with my Paladin/Cleric taking some damage (for some reason, it seems that, for the Ring of Electric Immunity to work, you need to unequip then equip it at the start of each new fight) and the other 2 chars dying. After that, the Paladin managed to kill Gothmenes (so, technically, this is a win, isn't it ?) but was owerwhelmed by the remaining monsters. End of story :)

One last note :

If I was to replay PoD, I'd go with :

1) 1x Paladin 17 --> Cleric
2) 3x Ranger 17 --> MU
3) 1x Cleric
4) 1x Ranger 9 --> MU

Having a Thief in the team is really giving up power for no real benefit.

I heard that D&D 1e apparently has a rule that there can at most be 3 rangers in the party, which your proposed party violates; hence, your propsed party may not be valid. With that said, I don't know whether PoD implements that rule.

PoD does implement that rule, but I've also read somewhere (but didn't test) that dualed Rangers don't count towards this limit, so it should be fine.

Also, I'd probably dual the Cleric from the start to MU (while dualing The Paladin to Cleric and 2 Rangers to MUs). That would clearly imply a loss of healing power for a short time, and it would require to manage the beginning of the game with only a Ranger 9/MU 17, a Ranger 13 and 4 meatbags, but after a short period of time, that would allow for 5 (!) MUs in the team, which for definitively help alot in the endgame and especially the last battles. Or maybe wait until Cleric is 19 before dualing her, just to get the best saves and have an easier early game.

Personally, I would probably try to keep the "Heal" spell available at all times, because it's so much better than weaker healing spells.

(Then again, I would never do an ironman run, but that's another story. I always use savestates when playing Wizardry 1-3 and 5, for instance. (I've beaten Wizardry 1 without loading a savestate (IIRC), but I did make a savestate at some point, and I used a well-known glitch that yields enough experience to level up past level 200, so I'd argue that doesn't really count.) Too bad that True Resurrection doesn't exist yet. (If it did, it would definitely be able to remove this condition.)

Then again, did you try Resurrection? (I think some edition may have written this spell in a manner that might allow reversing Disintegrate, but I don't remember.)

Again, yet another reason I don't do ironman, and won't if I get around to this series.

(Next on my list to play, not counting Swarm Simulator (not an RPG, and doesn't take much active play most of the time), is actually Demon's Winter, an SSI game that is *not* AD&D based. I've already discovered something that might be a bug.)

Heal is very convenient, but it isn't mandatory at all in the early game.

As for the GONE status, nothing will cure it (I tried). On the other hand, death by Disintegrate can be cured (unless you're an elf, but that's another matter), but you lose all the character's gear (which you don't with Destruction/GONE).

I played Demon's Winter back in the days. Really enjoyed it. Have fun !

Still need to get myself to start the game. I've already found some strange behavior that sounds like it could be a bug: If anyone in your party has the Persuasiveness skill, the initial prices offered by merchants are a bit higher than they would be if nobody had that skill.

Reminds me of the LOST status in early Wizardry, which could, for example, happen after a second failed resurrection attempt.

It turns out that, in some Wizardry games, it's possible to remove that status, whether by invoking an item that adds a different status or that can revive, an event that affects status, or perhaps an outright glitch. (Identify glitch in Wizardry 1 can't remove this, but it can change ASHES to AFRAID, removing the risk.)

If you want to investigate removing GONE, I would suggest looking for events that might set or remove status conditions, and see if one of them can fix this.

(Wasteland 1 has an event that sets everyone to one HP remaining; this event, which can only happen once, can revive dead characters, which is not supposed to be possible in that game.)

I can't help you with that.

One thing I remember for sure, however, is that you're quite limited when it comes to the skills a character can learn. I would advise to plan in advance which skills you want for each of the chars, so that you don't regret having learnt a skill that prevents you from learning another, more useful, one. I doubt that it is possible to remove that GONE status without resorting to "cheats" and, even if it was possible, that wouldn't be of much help since I already failed at my ironman attempt.

Maybe that thread will be helpful to someone trying the same as I did (this someone might be me in a few years from now) but for now I'm done with the game.