To:	Dungeon Players
From:	"The Translator"
Subj:	Game Information
Date:	8-OCT-80


   ZORK:  The Great Underground Empire - Part I' ...was developed
   by the original authors based on their ZORK (Dungeon) game for
   the PDP-10.  It features a greatly improved parser;  command
   input and transcript output files;  SAVEs to any device and
   file name;  and adaptation to different terminal types,
   including a status line on VT100s.  Note:  this is not the
   FORTRAN version that has been available through DECUS.  This
   version has been completely rewritten to run efficiently on
   small machines - up to 10 times as fast as the DECUS version.

   ...ZORK runs under RT-ll, HT-ll, or RSTS/E and requires as
   little as 20K words of memory and a single floppy disk drive.
   The game package, consisting of an RX01-format diskette and
   an instruction booklet, is available from Infocom, Inc.,
   P.O. Box 120, Kendall Station, Cambridge, Ma. 02142.

ZORK(tm) is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.  It is available for several
popular personal computers as well as for the PDP-ll.


SUMMARY
-------

		    Welcome to Dungeon!

   Dungeon is a game of adventure, danger, and low cunning.  In it
you will explore some of the most amazing territory ever seen by mortal
man.  Hardened adventurers have run screaming from the terrors contained
within.

   In Dungeon, the intrepid explorer delves into the forgotten secrets
of a lost labyrinth deep in the bowels of the earth, searching for
vast treasures long hidden from prying eyes, treasures guarded by
fearsome monsters and diabolical traps!

   No DECsystem should be without one!

   Dungeon was created at the Programming Technology Division of the MIT
Laboratory for Computer Science by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce
Daniels, and Dave Lebling.  It was inspired by the Adventure game of
Crowther and Woods, and the Dungeons and Dragons game of Gygax
and Arneson.  The original version was written in MDL (alias MUDDLE).
The current version was translated from MDL into FORTRAN IV by
a somewhat paranoid DEC engineer who prefers to remain anonymous.

   On-line information may be obtained with the commands HELP and INFO.

INFO
----

Welcome to Dungeon!

   You are near a large dungeon, which is reputed to contain vast
quantities of treasure.   Naturally, you wish to acquire some of it.
In order to do so, you must of course remove it from the dungeon.  To
receive full credit for it, you must deposit it safely in the trophy
case in the living room of the house.

   In addition to valuables, the dungeon contains various objects
which may or may not be useful in your attempt to get rich.  You may
need sources of light, since dungeons are often dark, and weapons,
since dungeons often have unfriendly things wandering about.  Reading
material is scattered around the dungeon as well;  some of it
is rumored to be useful.

   To determine how successful you have been, a score is kept.
When you find a valuable object and pick it up, you receive a
certain number of points, which depends on the difficulty of finding
the object.  You receive extra points for transporting the treasure
safely to the living room and placing it in the trophy case.  In
addition, some particularly interesting rooms have a value associated
with visiting them.  The only penalty is for getting yourself killed,
which you may do only twice.

   Of special note is a thief (always carrying a large bag) who
likes to wander around in the dungeon (he has never been seen by the
light of day).  He likes to take things.  Since he steals for pleasure
rather than profit and is somewhat sadistic, he only takes things which
you have seen.  Although he prefers valuables, sometimes in his haste
he may take something which is worthless.  From time to time, he examines
his take and discards objects which he doesn't like.  He may occas-
ionally stop in a room you are visiting, but more often he just wanders
through and rips you off (he is a skilled pickpocket).

HELP
----

Useful commands:

   The 'BRIEF' command suppresses printing of long room descriptions
for rooms which have been visited.  The 'SUPERBRIEF' command suppresses
printing of long room descriptions for all rooms.  The 'VERBOSE'
command restores long descriptions.
   The 'INFO' command prints information which might give some idea
of what the game is about.
   The 'QUIT' command prints your score and asks whether you wish
to continue playing.
   The 'SAVE' command saves the state of the game for later continuation.
   The 'RESTORE' command restores a saved game.
   The 'INVENTORY' command lists the objects in your possession.
   The 'LOOK' command prints a description of your surroundings.
   The 'SCORE' command prints your current score and ranking.
   The 'TIME' command tells you how long you have been playing.
   The 'DIAGNOSE' command reports on your injuries, if any.
Command abbreviations:

   The 'INVENTORY' command may be abbreviated 'I'.
   The 'LOOK' command may be abbreviated 'L'.
   The 'QUIT' command may be abbreviated 'Q'.

Containment:

   Some objects can contain other objects.  Many such containers can
be opened and closed.  The rest are always open.   They may or may
not be transparent.  For you to access (e.g., take) an object
which is in a container, the container must be open.  For you
to see such an object, the container must be either open or
transparent.  Containers have a capacity, and objects have sizes;
the number of objects which will fit therefore depends on their
sizes.  You may put any object you have access to (it need not be
in your hands) into any other object.  At some point, the program
will attempt to pick it up if you don't already have it, which
process may fail if you're carrying too much.  Although containers
can contain other containers, the program doesn't access more than
one level down.

Fighting:

   Occupants of the dungeon will, as a rule, fight back when
attacked.  In some cases, they may attack even if unprovoked.
Useful verbs here are 'ATTACK <villain> WITH <weapon>', 'KILL',
etc.  Knife-throwing may or may not be useful.  You have a
fighting strength which varies with time.  Being in a fight,
getting killed, and being injured all lower this strength.
Strength is regained with time.  Thus, it is not a good idea to
fight someone immediately after being killed.  Other details
should become apparent after a few melees or deaths.

Command parser:

   A command is one line of text terminated by a carriage return.
For reasons of simplicity, all words are distinguished by their
first six letters.  All others are ignored.  For example, typing
'DISASSEMBLE THE ENCYCLOPEDIA' is not only meaningless, it also
creates excess effort for your fingers.  Note that this trunca-
tion may produce ambiguities in the intepretation of longer words.

   You are dealing with a fairly stupid parser, which understands
the following types of things--

   Actions:
	Among the more obvious of these, such as TAKE, PUT, DROP, etc.
	Fairly general forms of these may be used, such as PICK UP,
	PUT DOWN, etc.

   Directions:
	NORTH, SOUTH, UP, DOWN, etc. and their various abbreviations.
	Other more obscure directions (LAND, CROSS) are appropriate in
	only certain situations.
   Objects:
	Most objects have names and can be referenced by them.

   Adjectives:
	Some adjectives are understood and required when there are
	two objects which can be referenced with the same 'name' (e.g.,
	DOORs, BUTTONs).

   Prepositions:
	It may be necessary in some cases to include prepositions, but
	the parser attempts to handle cases which aren't ambiguous
	without.  Thus 'GIVE CAR TO DEMON' will work, as will 'GIVE DEMON
	CAR'.  'GIVE CAR DEMON' probably won't do anything interesting.
	When a preposition is used, it should be appropriate;  'GIVE CAR
	WITH DEMON' won't parse.

   Sentences:
	The parser understands a reasonable number of syntactic construc-
	tions.  In particular, multiple commands (separated by commas)
	can be placed on the same line.

   Ambiguity:
	The parser tries to be clever about what to do in the case of
	actions which require objects that are not explicitly specified.
	If there is only one possible object, the parser will assume
	that it should be used.  Otherwise, the parser will ask.
	Most questions asked by the parser can be answered.

