1 ZORK/DUNGEON User Information
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3 I. Getting a ZORK/DUNGEON
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5 a. ITS: Say ZORK^K to DDT rather than :ZORK to get a zork.
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6 b. 10X/20X: Invoke the local dungeon (usually DUNGEO)
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8 II. Bugs, comments, suggestions...
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10 Always welcome and encouraged. All mail should be sent to
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11 DUNGEON@MIT-DMS. Dungeon has a BUG command, in addition, which
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12 may be used to report strange happenings. Its use is described
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13 below. Please note that for 10X/20X systems, net mail to DUNGEON
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14 will be acted on much more quickly than BUG command reports.
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16 If, in making a bug report, you know what symptoms were exhibited
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17 by the program, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!! include them. It is at best
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18 extremely irritating and at worst useless to receive a bug report
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19 like 'mumble frotz' loses, or 'try saying \"mumble frotz\"'. With
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20 such reports, we have no way of knowing the situation when your
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21 'mumble frotz' lost, and no way of knowing if any bug we manage
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22 to reproduce (if we do) is the same one you saw. In consequence,
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23 everyone's time is wasted.
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25 III. Typing to Dungeon.
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27 A number of characters in Dungeon have special effects. These
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28 include a number of line editing commands. The characters are:
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30 <rubout> or <backspace>: delete the last character typed
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31 <ctrl-W>: delete the last word typed
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32 <ctrl-U> or <ctrl-X> or <ctrl-@>: delete the entire buffer
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33 <ctrl-D>: redisplay the buffer
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34 <ctrl-L>: redisplay the buffer. Sometimes this also clears the
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37 <altmode/cr>: terminate commands
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38 <ctrl-S>: flush long typeouts
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39 <ctrl-G>: like the QUIT command (vide infra)
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40 <semicolon>: Causes the remainder of the command line to be ignored.
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41 This may be useful for annotating hard copies/scripts of games.
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43 IV. Garbage Collection
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45 Dungeon may occasionally type out a message 'GIN FREE STORAGE-
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46 <long pause> GOUT TIME=10.92'. This indicates that a garbage
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47 collection is occurring. We have attempted to prevent this, since it
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48 may take a significant amount of real time on a loaded system; should
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49 it ever occur, please send mail to DUNGEON@MIT-DMS describing the
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50 circumstances--how many moves have been made, whether a RESTORE has
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51 been done, and so on. THIS IS NOT FATAL: after the GOUT message is
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52 printed, you may continue playing.
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56 The following commands may prove useful for the playing of Dungeon.
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57 They are not, however, game commands (i.e. they have no side effects
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58 in the current game).
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62 Verbose: The default: print long room descriptions on first
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63 visit, 20% of the time thereafter.
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65 Brief: Supresses printing of long room descriptions for rooms
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66 which have been visited. Short object descriptions
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67 are also used in such rooms.
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69 Super(brief): Suppresses printing of all long descriptions, even
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70 on the first visit. Short object descriptions are
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73 Noobj: Suppresses printing of object descriptions in rooms
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74 already visited. See the 'object' command.
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76 Note that the maximally verbose description (that printed on the
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77 first visit to a room in verbose mode) may always be obtained by
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78 saying 'look'. See also the 'room' and 'object' commands.
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82 Info: Prints a file which might give some idea of
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83 what the game is about.
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89 Quit: Prints your score, and asks whether you wish to
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92 Score: Deflate your ego.
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94 Time: Describe how much of eternity you have injured.
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96 Versi(on): Describe the current version.
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98 d. Hard copy (directory owners only!)
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100 Scrip(t): Script to a file ZORK.SCRIPT
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102 Unscr(ipt): End scripting
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104 e. Save/restore (directory owners only!)
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106 Save: Save the game for future continuation (to ZORK.SAVE)
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108 Resto(re): Restore a saved game (from ZORK.SAVE)
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109 Only the player who created the save file can restore
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110 it at a later time! You are warned.
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114 Bug: Although the best way to report bugs is to send mail
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115 to DUNGEON@MIT-DMS, there is a 'bug' and command
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116 built in to the game. This generates files which
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117 must, alas, be manually transmitted to the
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118 maintainers. It is, however, better than nothing.
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120 Featu(re): Like Bug, to make a suggestion for a feature.
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124 Again: Repeat the last input.
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126 Look: Describe the current surroundings. 'L' is equivalent.
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128 Room: Print the verbose description of the room, without
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129 mentioning any objects.
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131 Object: Print the verbose description of all the objects in
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132 the room, without describing the room. 'Look' is
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133 equivalent to a 'room' command followed by an
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136 Inven(t): Describe your possessions. 'I' is equivalent.
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138 Diagn(ose): Describe your state of health.
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140 Wait: Causes 'time' to pass.
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142 V. Dungeon Command Parser
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144 A command is one line of text terminated by a carriage return or
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145 altmode. For reasons of simplicity all words are distinguished by
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146 their first five letters. All others are ignored. For example,
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147 typing 'DISASSEMBLE THE ENCYLOPEDIA', while meaningless, is also
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148 creating excess finger motion. Note also that ambiguities can be
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149 introduced by this: 'unscr' is 'UNSCRipt', not 'UNSCRew'.
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151 You are talking to a moderately stupid parser, which understands
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152 the following types of things.
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156 Among the more obvious of these, TAKE, DROP, etc. Fairly general
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157 forms of these may be used: PICK UP, PUT DOWN, etc.
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161 NORTH, SOUTH, UP, DOWN, etc. and their various abbreviations.
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162 Other more obscure directions (LAND, CLIMB) are appropriate in
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163 only certain situations. Because words are only five letters,
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164 you must say 'nw' for 'northwest': the latter is truncated to
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165 'north', which isn't quite what you had in mind.
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169 Most objects have names, and can be referenced by them.
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173 Some adjectives are understood and are required when there are
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174 two objects which can be referenced with the same 'name' (e.g.
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179 It may be necessary in some cases to include prepositions, but
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180 the parser attempts to handle cases which aren't ambiguous
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181 without. Thus 'Give car to demon' will work, as will 'Give demon
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182 car.' When a preposition is used, it should be appropriate:
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183 'Give car with demon' does not parse.
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187 The parser understands a reasonable number of things. Rather
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188 than listing them, we advise you to do reasonable things. Note
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189 that several sentences may be typed on the same line, separated
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190 by commas or by 'and': 'n,e,s,w,open mailb and read' will [try
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195 Sentences of the following forms will parse:
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196 Put A and B and C in trophy case
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197 Put A, B, and C in trophy case
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198 Give A and B to the troll
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199 The following will not:
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202 The point is that an AND or a <comma> are required so as not
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203 to hopelessly confuse the parser.
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204 Special objects named 'everything' and 'valuables' exist; one
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205 may, for example, say 'take everything' and 'put valuables in
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210 Several commands may be included on a single line. They must be
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211 separated by 'then' or '.'. Thus:
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212 TAKE BOOK. N. DROP BOOK AND CANDLE
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213 is correct. Note that the use of a comma between commands will
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214 cause the command line to be parsed incorrectly: comma should
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215 only be used between multiple objects.
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219 The parser tries to be clever about what to do in the case of
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220 actions which require objects in the case that the object is not
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221 specified. If there is only one possible object, the parser will
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222 assume that it should be used. Otherwise, the parser will ask.
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223 Most questions asked by the parser can be answered (e.g. With
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228 The following 'theories' are fundamental to the game and should
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233 Some objects can contain other objects. Many such containers
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234 can be opened and closed; the rest are always open. They may or
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235 may not be transparent. For you to access (take, for example)
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236 an object which is in a container, the container must be open;
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237 for you to see such an object, the container must either be open
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238 or transparent. Containers have a capacity, and objects have
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239 sizes; the number of objects which will fit therefore depends on
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240 their sizes. You may "put" any object you have access to (it
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241 need not be in your hands) into any other object; at some point,
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242 the program will attempt to pick it up if you don't already have
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243 it, which process may fail if you're carrying too much.
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244 Although containers can contain other containers, the program
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245 doesn't access more than one level down.
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249 Occupants of the dungeon will, as a rule, fight back when
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250 attacked; they may in some cases attack you unprovoked. Useful
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251 verbs here are 'attack <villain> with <weapon>', 'kill', etc.
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252 Knife-throwing may or may not be useful. The adventurer has a
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253 fighting strength, which varies with time: in particular, being
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254 in a fight, getting killed, and getting injured, all lower it.
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255 One's carrying capacity may also be reduced after a fight.
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256 Strength is regained with time. (Thus, it is not a good idea to
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257 fight someone immediately after being killed.) Other details
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258 may become apparent in the course of a few melees. The
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259 'diagnose' command describes your state of health.
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263 There are some objects in the dungeon which are rumoured to have
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264 the ability to transport the fearless adventurer to mysterious
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265 regions which are inaccessible on foot. Needless to say, the
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266 adventurer faces great personal peril as he encounters these
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267 regions. The 'vehicles' can usually be entered with the 'board'
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268 command, and can be exited with the 'disembark' command.
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