Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Chapter 1: Box Full of Letters (Wilco, 1995)

[West of House] This is an open field west of a white house with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here. A rubber mat saying "Welcome to Dungeon!" lies by the door.

Let's start off on the right foot. A boarded up door means it can't be opened. Don't spend your time looking for a hammer. It is closed and closed it shall remain. Things that are lying around are typically useful somewhere else. Taking and dropping items in a central location (which you will find soon enough) is the best way to assure you have what you want when you want it.

>open mailbox

>read leaflet

Taken.

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 system should be without one!

Dungeon was created at 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 long tradition of fantasy and science fiction games. The original version was written in MDL (alias MUDDLE). The current version was translated from MDL into FORTRAN by a somewhat paranoid DEC engineer who prefers to remain anonymous.

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

>drop leaflet

>take rubber mat

>west

[Forest #1] This is a dimly lit forest, with large trees all around.

Welcome to the Forest Maze, not to be confused with the Maze or the Coal Mine Maze. Being an adventurer can be…ready for it?...a-maze-ing.

>east

[Forest #4] This is a dimly lit forest, with large trees all around. One particularly large tree with some low branches stands here.

Welcome to a clue…ignore nothing that is out of the ordinary.

>up

[Up a Tree] In the bird's nest is a large egg encrusted with precious jewels, apparently scavenged somewhere by a childless songbird. The egg is covered with fine gold inlay and ornamented in lapis lazuli and mother-of-pearl. Unlike most eggs, this one is hinged and has a delicate looking clasp holding it closed. The egg appears extremely fragile.

>take egg

Do not futz with the egg. Yes, you can eventually open it, but then it is rendered useless. In this case, the Thief is our friend.

>down

>east

[Clearing] This is a clearing, with a forest surrounding you on the west and south. There is a pile of leaves on the ground.

You can count the leaves, if you are so inclined. There are 69,105 of them, which is another programmer joke: decimal 69 is equal to octal 105, and hexadecimal 69 is equal to decimal 105. I’m telling you, these guys knew how to party!

>move leaves

Done. A grating appears on the ground.

For the intrepid adventurers of earlier versions (i.e., 2.6A), this grate was an absolute necessity as a way out of the underground. We will figure out how to open it later in the game.

>se

[Forest #2] This is a forest, with trees in all directions around you.

>se

[Canyon View] You are at the top of the great canyon on its south wall. From here there is a marvelous view of the canyon and parts of the Frigid River upstream. Across the canyon, the walls of the White Cliffs still appear to loom far above. Following the canyon upstream (north and northwest), Aragain Falls may be seen, complete with rainbow. Fortunately, my vision is better than average, and I can discern the top of Flood Control Dam #3 far to the distant north. To the west and south can be seen an immense forest, stretching for miles around. It is possible to climb down into the canyon from here.

A dam? Hmmm…must be another way to get there…

>down

[Rocky Ledge] You are on a ledge about halfway up the wall of the river canyon. You can see from here that the main flow from Aragain Falls twists along a passage which it is impossible to enter. Below you is the canyon bottom. Above you is more cliff, which still appears climbable.

>down

[Canyon Bottom] You are beneath the walls of the river canyon, which may be climbable here. There is a small stream here, which is the lesser part of the runoff of Aragain Falls. To the north is a narrow path.

>n

[End of rainbow] You are on a small, rocky beach on the continuation of the Frigid River past the falls. The beach is narrow due to the presence of the White Cliffs. The river canyon opens here, and sunlight shines in from above. A rainbow crosses over the falls to the west, and a narrow path continues to the southeast.

A dead end…likely won’t be the last one we find.

>se

Canyon Bottom

>up

Rocky Ledge

>up

Canyon View

>s

[Forest #5] Forest

>west

[Forest #3] Forest

>north

[South of House] You are facing the south side of a white house. There is no door here, and all the windows are barred.

>east

[Behind House] You are behind the white house. In one corner of the house there is a small window which is slightly ajar.

Breaking and entering is the criminal act of entering a residence or other enclosed property through the slightest amount of force (even pushing open a door), without authorization. At a minimum, forcing the window open and entering the house would be illegal trespass. Since we are looking for treasure, might as well add burglary, as there is intent. Time to decide: go home or go in. Ah yes, you have chosen wisely.

>open window

With great effort, you open the window far enough to allow entry.

>west

[Kitchen] This is the kitchen of the white house. A table seems to have been used recently for the preparation of food. A passage leads to the west, and a dark staircase can be seen leading upward. To the east is a small window which is open.

On the table is an elongated brown sack, smelling of hot peppers.

A bottle is sitting on the table.

The glass bottle contains:

A quantity of water.

>take all

>west

[Living Room] This is the living room. There is a door to the east. To the west is a wooden door with strange gothic lettering, which appears to be nailed shut. In the center of the room is a large oriental rug. There is a trophy case here. On hooks above the mantelpiece hangs an elvish sword of great antiquity. A battery-powered brass lantern is on the trophy case. There is an issue of US NEWS & DUNGEON REPORT here.

The US NEWS & DUNGEON REPORT contains information regarding the version of the game, and is not worthy of reading.

>read lettering

The engravings translate to, "This space intentionally left blank".

As Sir Nigel Archibald Thornberry would say, "That's sarcasm, isn't it?"

>drop all

>take lamp

The companion to all underground adventurers, this lamp will definitely save your bacon. It has finite power, so turning it off when it is not needed is a good idea.

>east

Kitchen

>save

Saved.


1 comment:

  1. I'm currently playing "DUNGEON" (FORTRAN version from 3-NOV-78) on a simulated classic computer: VAX-11/780.
    DUNGEON seems to be 98% of ZORK version 3.2B (only minor differences).
    I'm missing several of your very informative Chapters:
    8, 12, 14, 18-22, 25-31 as well as the Appendices 2 and 3
    Could you please supply the missing information?
    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete