Unfortunately, my Apple has not been in working order for some years now, but I was able to obtain the MS-DOS version of the Bard's Tale series, and still do play from time to time. Haven't played any of the SSI games other than the the Buck Rogers saga in a while, but they definitely provided me with some fun times.
I bought Brian Fargo's Bards Tale because it included retail copies of BT 1, 2 & 3.
I knew going in that Bard's Tale by Inxile was never intended as a sequel or even a spin off.
He just had the rights to the name and made an action RPG that made light of RPG Cliché.
Buck Rogers was cool. The gameplay was all but identical to the SSI GB games, except for the Forgotten realms setting, and lack of handguns for fighters.
** You may like this a lot if you ever played Eye of the Beholder or Dungeonmaster: http://www.grimrock.net/