Using a digital download version of the game worked like I expected. I did, however run into the "black screen" issue upon loading. I could hear my footsteps, but see nothing.
I ended up using a modified art.rez and localart.rez suggested by one of the youtube videos showing how to get the game to run in Win10. It effectively removed the Loading screen with the little ship.
Everything's working flawlessly now! I'm taking your advice, Peter, and trying an Assassin for the first time. This game may have its flaws, but it does have some entertaining and interesting bits 
