Introduction

The time: 1936
The place: 5000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean
The setting: The luxury dirigible Zinderneuf
The circumstances: Sixteen passengers were aboard the Zinderneuf when the giant airship left London. Twelve hours out of New York, only fifteen remain.
The crime: Murder
The victim: Anyone
The suspects: The fifteen passengers still alive
The detective: You
The solution: ????

The Game

Murder On The Zinderneuf has all the elements of a classic mystery: plot and counterplot, clues and red herrings, a host of suspicious characters with secrets to hide, and, naturally, a famous detective to sort things out: you. To solve the crime and expose the murderer, you can follow (shadow) suspects, search rooms for clues, and interrogate passengers in whatever style you wish, from soft and seductive to hard and mean.

In only twelve game hours (about 36 minutes of real time), you must unravel the web of passion and deceit entangling the suspects, solve the mystery and gather enough evidence to force the murderer to confess. The New York police cannot detain all the passengers. If you fail, the killer may go free - and your reputation as a detective will suffer accordingly.

To start, pick the detective whose identity you wish to assume for the game. (For details, see The Detectives.) Your choice will determine how quickly you will find clues, how explicit the clues may be and how (and how well) you interrogate suspects.

Having adopted your new role, you will be transported to the Dining Room (and observation deck) of the Zinderneuf, and the identity of the missing person will be revealed. Then, in the immortal words of Conan Doyle, "The game's afoot!"

Rules Of The Game

Following People

You may roam freely throughout the passenger section of the Zinderneuf. All passengers will wander around the lounge, dining room, and corridors, but where else they go is revealing.

You would expect Buck Battle to go into Veronica Marlowe's room: they're married. But what if you see him enter Hester Prymme's cabin? Is his purpose bibliographical, romantic, or something more sinister? Whether their relationship, whatever it may be, bears directly on the murder, it is probably worth investigating.

Clues

Clues are like little notes saying, "Kilroy was here." To search someone's cabin for clues, just walk in and move around. Naturally, you cannot walk on the furniture, but you may readily imagine yourself peering under beds searching through drawers, and examining the carpet as you move about.

After a while, you will find a clue or be told, "You find nothing," Clues may be as general as a brown hair or a tuft of lavender carpet or as specific as a particular brand of French perfume or a class ring engraved with someone's initials. To match the clue to the suspect who left it, you may find it helpful to examine the layout and color scheme of the cabins and, especially, to read the section on The Suspects (When you get tired of staring at the clue, press the joystick button or appropriate key, and you may go on.)

Some "clues" may turn out to belong to the resident of the cabin. Others may be unimportant, irrelevant, or misleading. (We didn't say solving the crime was going to be easy!)

You can search a room with a passenger in it, but empty cabins are easier, because people tend to get in your way. If someone bumps into you, you have to start your search over. You need not leave the room, but the results of your search will be delayed every time you touch someone.

Any time you are not in the middle of interrogating a suspect, you can review all the clues you've found just by pressing the appropriate key or button. (See the Command Summary Card.)

The Motive Clue

Each case has one special bit of evidence: the motive clue. Uniquely, the motive clue - a diary, a plane ticket, an insurance policy a series of revealing photographs - suggests something about why the murder was committed, as well as, perhaps, who might have done it.

The motive clue is found in the same manner as any other clue - by searching a room. However, you'll find the motive clue only after you've found an ordinary clue in the room, only if no passengers are in the room, and only after you've gathered significant information from your interrogations. (This, by the way, is the only time you'll find more than one clue in the same room.)

Naturally the motive clue is most likely to be found in the room of the killer, the victim, or someone else closely involved in the plot (e.g., the killer's accomplice or a relative of the victim).

Interrogation

Most of the information about the murder will come from talking to the passengers. Interrogating a suspect is something like the old recipe for cooking a chicken: first you have to catch one.

"Catching" a suspect is not difficult if you're not too picky about whom you talk to. Just "bump into" whoever's nearest; that will start the interrogation process. If you are feeling more selective, you may have to search all over the ship to locate a particular suspect.

Bumping into a suspect gives you three choices: Question, Ignore, and Accuse Suspect.

Approaches

If you pick Question, you will be presented with a set of five approaches simulating casual conversation, body language, tone of voice, and general manner. There is a different set for each detective. Jethro Knight, for instance, offers a choice of Forceful, Seductive, Friendly, Polite and Naive.

Each suspect will respond somewhat differently depending on the role you are assuming and the approach you're taking. Harry Hacksaw and Inspector Klutzeau, for example, can both be pushy, but their results will not often be the same. The suspects response to your approach determines both the quality and the quantity of your answers.

You may be allowed up to three questions. The format is simple: you merely pick one of the 16 passengers to discuss. This is simply a concise way of saying, "What do you know about so-and-so?" Depending on your approach, a closer parallel might be, "Excuse me, my dear, but by chance do you happen to know anything about the person who disappeared?" or; conversely "Tell me all you know about so-and-so, or I'll break your arm!"

Since all 16 names will not fit in the text area simultaneously, you can scroll or "leaf" through any not immediately visible. (See the Command Summary Card.)

The response you get may be unhelpful ("We weren't acquainted"), possibly vital ("He was a blackmailer"), or anything in between. The better your approach, the more likely you are to get a telling reply. (If your approach is utterly inappropriate, you may be told to "Get lost!")

When you have digested the response, push the joystick button or appropriate key and go on to the next question. You can continue to ask about the same suspect, or you can ask about someone else. You can't change approaches, however; until the next time you interrogate someone.

The interrogation is over when the suspect walks away, and you are offered no more "questions" to ask. Important: you will not be able to talk to that suspect again until you first find a clue or interrogate someone else.

Ignoring Passenger

If you are hot on the trail of a suspect, and another passenger bumps into you, you may wish to Ignore the obstacle instead of taking the time for an interrogation.

There are drawbacks to ignoring people, however: they ignore you. You can't talk to - or accuse - someone you've just Ignored (or accused). Since you can't interrogate the suspect you last interrogated - unless you've found a new clue in the meantime - by ignoring several passengers in a row you can find yourself with an inconveniently long list of people temporarily out of your reach.

Note, too, that "ignored" passengers can still get in your way while you're trying to search a room.

Accusations

The Final Accusation

If all else fails, you have one final chance to redeem yourself. When time runs out, and the Zinderneuf docks in New York, you may risk your reputation on one Final Accusation. If you do, the accused passenger will be seized by the police and the appropriate cabin ransacked for clues. If you are right and evidence is found, the criminal will confess; and your reputation will be salvaged somewhat. However, if you are wrong, damage to your reputation (and your rating) will be the least of the results. Do not be tempted into wild accusations!

The Verdict

As soon as you make a valid (i.e., true and provable) accusation, or, in any event, at the end of the allotted time, you will learn who killed the victim - and why. You will also be given a rating based on your performance as a detective. Solving the case, of course, is a crucial element in your evaluation, but speed, the amount of evidence found or learned, and the number of false accusations (the fewer, the better) are also important factors.

Some cases will be harder than others, but even if you don't do well, there's always a new case waiting at the touch of a button. Happy sleuthing!

Hints

1. One obvious place to start is the victim's room. A clue there, of course, could be important and might point to a prime suspect for interrogation. If you find suspects in that room, there must be a connection- to the victim, if not the murder For starters, ask them about the victim.
   
   Similarly, when people tell you they "don't know" anything (or anything more) about a suspect, there's no point in continuing to ask them about that suspect. (But note that this is not the same as getting a "go jump in the lake" response - which only means the speaker is displeased with your approach.)
2. Some people are more involved in each case than others. While no one knows all the answers, some suspects do have vital information. Since each case is different, you can identify these key suspects only by close questioning and evaluating the clues found in their rooms.
3. Pay attention to the way people talk about each other. The use of first names, for instance, suggests friendship, intimacy, or, at least, some significant connection.
4. Use common sense and some imagination in choosing your approach. Try to remember what approaches work with which suspects. If you don't get two or three answers, you can do better with another approach.
5. While it is possible to "miss" a motive clue (because you don't have enough evidence, or because there's someone in the room you're searching), if you "find nothing" the first time you search a room, don't bother searching it again; there are no clues there to be found.
6. Don't be too hasty in making an accusation. False accusations count against you in your rating and cut down the number of passengers who can provide you with information. You can accuse a suspect without having found the motive clue, but you must have other significant information to yet a confession. Accusing even the right person without sufficient evidence will only mean you won't be able to accuse that suspect again until the end of the game. Don't make a Final Accusation unless you've got the possibilities narrowed down to two or three suspects and have found the motive clue; otherwise, you're more likely to hurt your rating than help it.
7. If you are baffled by an obscure reference in someone's reply, don't worry about it. It may be of some help, but it won't be vital. It may be explained in the section on "Historical Notes". If not, and the subject piques your interest, look it up in an encyclopedia at your leisure.
8. If you are really confused and want to give up, you may Quit before the game has run out. This lets you see the killer's confession - but your reputation will suffer, of course.

Historical Notes

Die Zinderneuf

Dirigibles like the Zinderneuf - rigid airships - were luxury liners of the air. Although the biggest were more than three football fields in length (dimensions that dwarf the famous Goodyear blimp), they were almost all "bag: Their passenger quarters were substantially more modest, if still luxurious. The Graf Zeppelin, the first dirigible to sail around the world (in 1929) carried only 16 passengers. The Hindenberg, which initiated trans-Atlantic service in 1936, carried 50 passengers.

The growing speed of conventional aircraft, American control of the helium supply, and a series of disasters like the Hindenberg's fiery death in 1937 at Lakehurst, New Jersey effectively grounded dirigibles before the onset of World War II. Ironically futurists today envision a rebirth of safer, more powerful airships as cheap, flexible transporters of heavy cargo.

The Period

To most of us today, the 1930's are as foreign as ancient Rome. At the time of Murder On The Zinderneuf's setting, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was still offering his own version of "bread and circuses" as he "guided" the United States through an unprecedented four terms of depression and war. Prohibition was gone, but the large-scale, profitable crime it had spawned remained. Vaudeville, burlesque, and the strip tease were flourishing, and Sally Rand was doing the fan dance that drew crowds to the Chicago Exposition of 1932-33. Penicillin had not yet been discovered, but early work on the "uranium bomb" was going on in Great Britain, the U.S., and Germany.

Recent movies included It Happened One Night (1934), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935). Valentino had been dead for ten years, but a mysterious woman in black put flowers on his grave every year. The hottest thing in Hollywood was a platinum blonde named Jean Harlow. Johnny Weismuller, a Gold Medal winner in the 1928 Olympics, achieved fame and fortune in a number of Tarzan movies. Larry "Buster" Crabbe, star of the 1932 Olympics, also made a Tarzan movie but found bigger success as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers in some wildly popular serials. While Jesse Owens was making mincemeat of Aryan superiority in Munich in 1936, the priggish Avery Brundage was making headlines back in the States for kicking the popular swimmer Eleanor Holm off the Olympic team - for drinking champagne!

Utopianism flourished, and cults - many inspired by the theosophy of Madame Helena Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine were everywhere. Guy and Edna descended from Mount Shasta claiming to be Accredited Messengers of such Ascended Masters as Jesus and the Count de St. Germaine. Their book, Unveiled Mysteries, became a best-seller, and they attracted millions to the worship of the Mighty I Am before being indicted for mail fraud. Frank Robinson got a horde of followers for Psychiana by advertising "God power" in the classifieds. The Thule Group attained disrepute by becoming popular with many Nazis, but perhaps the most notorious cult of all was the Isis-Urania Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Led by the infamous Aleister Crowley and decried as Satanism and devil-worship, the Order was popular among the affluent and avant-garde.

With the tremendous interest in the occult and mysticism, wealthy adventurers were spending vast sums of money to uncover hints of lost Atlantis, Venusian Earth colonies, the elder gods, or whatever else caught their fancy Such finds as the Mayan Crystal Skull, the astronomical observatories of the Aztecs and Toltecs, and the hidden cities of southern Asia proved that not all of this research was fruitless.

As tensions increased throughout western Europe and Britain, the espionage trade flourished. With nearly every major nation (plus a few of the smaller ones) involved in pre-war maneuvering, spies, counterspies, and double agents were behind every door, in every closet, and, of course, on every trans-Atlantic luxury zeppelin cruise.

Detectives

Private detective Harry Hacksaw was released from the police force when a kidnapper died under "intense interrogation"- but only after he had revealed the location of his accomplices and the victim. Eschewing the subtle approach of more cerebral sleuths, "Hard Harry" relies on "gut instincts" and a personal code of honor that neither bribes, "broads" nor beatings can bend.

The success of CHEF INSPECTOR EMILE KUJ1ZAU has long baffled not merely the criminal element in France but even his superiors in the Surete, most notably Commissioner Wetfuss. Whatever the secrets of his idiosyncratic methods, his epic struggles with his nemesis, the Lavender Leopard, his strenuous training regimen with his houseboy and valet Kongo, and the trademark trench coat and unmistakably Gallic mustache have combined to make Klutzeau a legend in his own time (if not his own country).

Surely the most famous resident of the small village of St. Margaret Mead, spinster sleuth MISS AGATHA MARBLE5 is the leading exponent of the so-called "secondhand solution!' A keen student of human nature, she relies almost exclusively on neighborhood gossip for evidence. Tall, thin, and frail, the elderly Mbs Marbles ventures abroad rarely and only through the generosity of her nephew, novelist Chandler East.

The son of German immigrants and a lifelong resident of London, Humboldt Hause HAUSE claims the title of the world's first scientific detective. To Hause, one of the foremost authorities on dirt, tobacco, and similar material, a bit of carpet fuzz speaks volumes, and the faintest footprint bears an unmistakable autograph.Thanks to the indefatigable efforts of his companion and chronicler, Dr. Voltmam (the veterinarian and beagle fancier), Hause's moosestalker hat, pipe, and accordion are almost as well known as his deductive powers.

LIEUTENANT CINCINNATD of the New York Police Department is perhaps as well known for his rumpled trench coat and battered Model A Ford as for his outstanding record as a crime-solver. His apologetic manner and unkempt appearance conceal dogged persistence, a sharp eye for detail, and a concern for minor discrepancies that borders on obsession.

Aided by the mind of a genera!, the will of the gladiator, and the body of an exotic dancer, CHARITY FLAIRE, a war orphan of uncertain parentage, built The Web, the largest smuggling network in post-war Europe. Since her "retirement" in 1933 with a fortune estimated at over half a million pounds sterling, Miss Flaire's hobbies have included crime prevention and counter-espionage for His Majesty's government.

The famous Swiss (not French) detective ACHILLE MERLOT, a London resident since the war, indulges his passion for method and order by solving crimes no one else could possibly solve - except perhaps arch-rival Humboldt Hause. Publicly disdaining Hausian examinations, Merlot knows a clue when he finds one but prefers to concentrate on motive. His ridiculous vanity and almost comic appearance- the short, pear-shaped silhouette, preposterous mustache, and cane-give him a harmless air he finds useful in getting people to talk.

J ETHRO KNIGHT, known in some circles as "the Angel" for this saintly behavior, but regarded by certain policemen in England as a rogue himself, is more often described- by women, at least-as a "handsome devil:' Possessed of a rugged physique and a con man's charm, the Angel does not hesitate to cut corners in his ceaseless struggle with those he terms "the ungodly"

Detective Ratings

Each detective has a personalized best and worst rating. In between there are six general ratings which apply to all:

1. Super Sleuth
2. Ace Detective
3. Expert Criminologist
4. Trained Investigator
5. Glorified Gumshoe
6. Feeble Flatfoot

The Suspects

Taken from the Soho slums by the first of several husbands, a booking agent who shaped her early career before being killed in the war, VERONICA MARLOWE found fame on the English stage but fortune in Hollywood in the 1920s. Her long blonde hair and striking looks kept her in great demand for more than a decade, on-screen and off, and she was one of several women rumored to be the famous "woman in black" at Valentino's grave. Lacking a major role for the past two years, she guaranteed herself the part of Jane in a new Tarzan movie by marrying the proposed male lead, Olympian Buck Battle.

A big, strapping fellow with blond hair and all-American good looks, FRANCIS "BUCK" BATTLE was just another farm boy from Des Moines until he learned to swim. State and, later, national honors led to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He met Veronica during the stop-over in London and, following a whirlwind courtship that belied the twenty-year difference in their ages, married her and signed to star in Tarzan's Jungle Lust on the same day - less than 24 hours after winning the last of his three medals, a gold in the 300-meter freestyle.

MARGARET VANDERGILT is the famous author of the syndicated gossip column, "Mark My Words:' which has ruined the usual number of careers and made her the standard number of enemies. Once divorced and twice widowed, she is wealthy and still attractive at 44. She has brown hair, wears glasses, and smokes. She is the mother of Felicity Sucrose and the patron of artist Vincent Van Wente.

Claiming variously to be a student of Escher and the last of the Italian futurists, VINCENT VAN WENTE had been involved in the French modern art scene for some time without a shadow of success until he met Margaret while she was vacationing in Paris. Impressed by a talent others had failed to recognize - or his boyish, even effeminate looks and curly brown locks - Margaret became his patron. Vincent smokes the same brand of cigarettes as she and, like her, affects a cigarette holder.

Felicity Sucrose, a sweet young thing of 18 and to all appearances a model daughter, is Margaret Vandergilt's daughter by her first husband. A pretty, pleasant blonde educated at boarding schools in Brighton and Switzerland, Felicity is usually surrounded by suitors, but none has found the key to her heart.

While Rod London was still an infant, his parents, who were British diplomats, were killed in Manchuria in the Boxer Rebellion. Although he eventually inherited the family estate in Northumbria, he found he preferred a life of action. As a soldier of fortune he fought in the Spanish Civil War with Franco and in Abyssinia and Ethiopia against Mussolini. A dark, black-haired, ruggedly handsome fellow of 36, Rod smokes English cigarettes.

Former fan dancer and burlesque queen SALLY ROSE met and married financier Oswald Stonemann on the same night. During her electrifying career, she was arrested twice for lewd and lascivious conduct and was rumored to have made at least one art film. Among her reputed lovers was the notorious gangster Dutch Schultz. Her blonde hair and supple body continue to attract men like a magnet. She, too, is a smoker.

OSWALD SDNEMANN was a poor young immigrant who found his youthful education on the streets of Chicago. He worked at various odd jobs until the age of 25, when he started his own business. He prospered during Prohibition, and his commercial empire now includes distilleries, steel mills, race horses, and a munitions factory. He is 45, bald, and slightly overweight; he wears glasses for reading and smokes the usual foul-smelling Havana cigars.

Little is known of NAIAUA BEJHMSW's background before becoming Jeremiah Folmuth's ward. According to Rev Folmuth, her parents, who were killed in the Great War, were Czech, but there was a persistent rumor that she was spirited away from Czarist Russia at the time of the revolution. Her life seems devoted to ballet, and it is not known how much of Jeremiah's fire-and-brimstone she has absorbed. A slender, black-haired lass of about 19, is well on the road to becoming a prima ballerina.

REVEREND J EREMIAH RDLMUH began his career fighting voodoo in the bayous. Later he gave healing sermons on the radio, fought for Prohibition, and campaigned unsuccessfully to ban both movies and Rudy Vallee's music because they were "Satanic" and "exciting:' The 42-year-old, red-headed evangelist's declared earnings in 1935 were more than $100,000 and were rumored to exceed that figure substantially.

STEPHIE HART-WINSTON is the daughter of the famous English inventor Felix Q. Winston and Desiree Hart, the fiery emancipationist. Independently wealthy even before her parents died, Stephie inherited her mother's fierce independence along with her red hair. Educated in all the best schools, Stephie studied mysticism in Tibet, climbed in the Andes, and travelled throughout the Far East. A crack shot with rifle or pistol, she was the youngest woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. At 27, she has been the despair of more than one suitor.

Originally a stage magician and ventriloquist (when he was known as 'the great Sandini"), Aldo Sandin was profoundly affected by an encounter with the notorious Aleister Crowley in 1928. Later that year, with the help of Frank Robinson, he regressed through some of his past lives, including the famous magician Merlin. Now 40 and sought after as much for his Valentino looks as his psychic success, he is a medium through whom various wealthy widows contact the spirits of their late husbands for financial advice. His hair is as black as ever, and he is a chain smoker.

While still in her early twenties, French fashion designer MARIE ROGET met Anton Peste on a trip through central Europe. A lengthy courtship followed, but they were not married until the success of her first line, the Borgo Collection, assured her place in the world of fashion. An attractive woman of 36, with styled brown hair and glasses, Marie is sensitive and generally mild but can be ruthless with competitors.

A Hungarian aristocrat, ANTON PESTE appears to be about 50 but remains strikingly handsome. Tall, slim, black-haired but fair-complected, he wears severe, somewhat old-fashioned dark suits and speaks English fluently but with a slight accent. Always polite and quiet, even a bit reclusive, he seems devoted to his wife.

HESTER PRYMME, a librarian from Akron, claims to have won the trip as part of a contest no one else aboard seems to have heard of. She wears glasses, her brown hair in a bun, and unflattering dresses, but in rare moments of animation her face hints at a certain allure. Witty but shy she at times appears distracted and often keeps to herself.

PHILLIP WOLLCRAFT attended a small, quiet school 50 miles north of Boston, where he specialized in the history and theology of primitive cultures, and currently resides on the shores of Lake Como, Wisconsin. Recently he has been investigating standing stones and Druidic circles in England and more obscure finds on the continent. An altogether unremarkable-looking fellow with glasses and brown hair, Phillip has been overheard in the middle of the night crying out in an unfamilar foreign tongue.

The Authors

Programmer Robert Leyland and Designers Paul Reiche III and Jon Freeman are all game enthusiasts of some standing.

Robert Leyland, a co-founder of Southern Software, was both designer and programmer of Dragon's fye, a nominee for the Charles Roberts Award. He was a resident of Auckland, New Zealand, until succumbing to the blandishments of "free enterprise;' American bookstores, Free Fall Associates, and Diane Ascher - not necessarily in that order He estimates that he has played the board game Dune a few hundred times, and he is forever enrolling friends and acquaintances in a Dragonquest game that has yet to be played. Among his other quirks are an inexplicable fondness for the Commodore PET and something called "Minties"-and an accent that is now a source of mirth for both his American and his New Zealand friends.

Paul Reiche, a co-founder of Fantasy Art Enterprises, is the author/designer of several role-playing games and supplements including The Necromican, Booty & the Beasts, and (with a little help) Nngworld. He toiled for a time in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where he produced more games and supplements and some Dungeons & Dragons revisions evidently considered too heretical to see the light of day. He now belongs to CTHULHU, a loose organization of TSR "alumni" who publish the world's funniest newsletter. Paul is an arcade shark whose other interests include robots, elaborate Japanese warrior toys, and Jane Seymour. He is currently looking for a new girlfriend however, since Miss Seymour hasn't returned his calls.

Jon Freeman, a co-founder (is there something in the air?) of Automated Simulations (now Epyx), designed many of their games, including Ciush, Ciumble & ChompL a Roberts Award nominee opposite Dragon's fye. His manuals, books, and articles on games include lie PLAYBOY Winner's Guide to Board Games and a column for COMPUTER GAMING WORLD. For a number of years one of the less successful members of the Science Fiction Writers of America, he insists that he will get back to writing SF one of these days. The likelihood of his finding the time can perhaps be judged by the fact that he has been kept so busy working on Murder On The Zinderneuf and Archon (another game he and Paul designed) that he has not, at this writing, managed to mail his 1982 Christmas cards. Jon is a collector of books he can't find time to read, records he doesn't get to hear, and fancy video equipment that never seems to work.

In addition to their love of games, Robert, Paul, and Jon share a rabid interest in SF and fantasy and a leaning toward libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism.

Note: We (the aforementioned R, P & J) are trying to live off our royalties, and, since we are (amazingly enough) probably poorer than you, Gentle Reader, we would appreciate it if you would not make unauthorized copies of our games, so that we can keep trying to live off our royalties. Thanks.