During the most recent D&D sale I picked up Collection Two of the Forgotten Realms Archives. Excited to start my adventure I read through the manual and then tried to jump right into the game using the pre-made party. However I was disappointed to find that both save games files had the party already equipped and experienced in battle (and having already been given the newcomers' tour). At first I thought it was just some sloppiness on the part of GOG but looking more into it it seems that's the way the game was originally shipped.

In an attempt to rectify this, I fooled around with Gold Box Companion and a hex editor to remove the party's experience, start the game at the beginning and (optionally) take away their equipment and presumably return the gold that was spent on it.

You can download the two savefiles here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wnxll6pelzwgxja/PoR_default_CHRs.zip

Just unzip it into your Pool of Radiance > POOLRAD install directory and overwrite the 17-or-so files when it asks.

Save A is similar to the original Save A but will instead start the party with its equipment at the very beginning of the game. Save B also starts the party at the very beginning of the game but removes their equipment and returns the gold they would have spent on it.

To be honest the starting party isn't all that great so you'd probably be better off just rolling your own characters but...I like the idea of having a legitimate default party in an RPG. So...enjoy!