Thank you all for your suggestions. I’ve spent some time looking at Let’s Plays, and I think I’ll try Age of Decadence first. My only regret is the lack of wilderness exploration.
Ironically, I had looked at Balrum reviews on my own earlier today, but was put off by comments in this thread: Looking for a good single-character RPG Is the general consensus that it is good? If so, I still have to consider it.
Lots of good ideas here, though. I think the only title in the entire thread which I already played was Baldur’s Gate, many years back.