Introduction

About The Author...
By profession a theoretical research oceanographer - and an occasional anthropologist and magician - Peter Killworth fell in love with adventures when he discovered 'Colossal Cave'. His own first attempt at this new art form (Philosopher's Quest, originally published by Acornsoft) sold 25,000 copies.

'The programming,' he recalls, 'was totally functional, and fairly crude by my current standards. But the plot and puzzles were good. It's very easy to write a bad adventure (it just needs hard work); but a good one needs plotting like a novel, the appropriate writing skills, and the ability to create new puzzle types instead of just repeating old patterns'.

His family occasionally see him away from his computer terminal at home. They do NOT play adventure games.

About The Adventure...
Magic wands can be dangerous things.

The one you found in the junk shop off Market Street was no exception. It was a mistake to wave it at all, let alone while the old shopkeeper's back was turned...

Instantly the atmosphere turned inside out, taking you with it.

Then it swirled back again, dumping you back inside the shop - but a strangely altered shop indeed... No windows, precious little stock - and no shopkeeper either! You were in part of a cave system...

"Go and seek the treasure, mortal, and bring it back here in payment for the misuse of my wand..."

GAME SIZE: Compact, but with unexpected twists.
RATING: Difficult.

The Game

Magic wands can be dangerous things. The one you found in the junk shop off Market Street was no exception. It was a mistake to wave it while the cranky old shopkeeper's back was turned... Instantly the atmosphere turned inside out, taking you with it. Then it twisted back again, dumping you back inside the shop - but a strangely altered shop indeed... No windows, precious little stock - and no shopkeeper either! You were in part of a cave system, to judge from the granite-grey walls, ceiling and floor.

As you paused, uncertain what to do, a voice seemed to weasel its way into your mind, crawling between the wet layers of flesh and skull:

"Go and see the treasure, mortal, and bring it back here in payment for the misuse of my wand. You will need every ounce of cunning to deal with the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the ancient mariner, the invalid old lady, the whale, and myriad other problems too difficult to mention.

"A word of warning - it is dangerous to travel in the dark!

"One final thing - Read my notice!"

As the words began to fade from your conscious mind, the temporary paralysis that had gripped your limbs since you waved the wand eased, and you began to realise that what happened now was up to you...

Helpsheet

Philosopher's Quest comes with on-line help which you get into by typing HELP (RETURN). The program will halt and wait for you to type in a number so that it knows which 'hint' you want. You therefore need to know which numbers refer to which hints.

The following pages of this Hint Sheet contain a series of questions that players typically ask, like 'How do I find anything underwater?'

Various 'key words' have been deleted from these questions - making it harder to accidentally see the solutions to other questions - and are reproduced below.

The numbers alongside the words refer to the questions. The number that follows each question is the number to key for that particular hint. Good luck!

On-Line Help

ALBATROSS            3   GRAVEYARD           19   SEA                 44
AREA          15,23,50   INK                 21   SHOP                36
BABEL                4   JUICES              18   SLAB                38
BATTERY              7   LADY       17,22,29,37   SNAKE               39
BENDS                6                       45   SOLICITOR           28
BLACH               43   LAMP                30   SOURCE              53
BUCKET           38,52   LIGHT            23,53   STOMACH             42
CHEESE               8   MARINER           7,12   TEA                 29
CUPBOARD            44   MAZE                16   TIME                30
DANGER            9,49   MOUSE               26   TOOTH               40
DARK                10   OBJECT        20,36,47   TREASURE         27,48
DOG         1,11,17,22   OCTOPUS             27   UNDERWATER        2,41
              37,46,51   OFFICE              28   WALK                33
DOOR                32   PAINT               31   WATER               35
EDEN             13,50   PANTRY              32   WEIGHTS             52
ELEPHANT         14,19   PASSAGES            25   WHALE            16,42
FRUIT               39   PLANK             5,33   WILL                45
GAME                24   POINT               24   YOU              15,23
GARDEN              13   PORTCULLIS          34
GASTRIC             18   ROOM              9,49


                                                                    Hint
  1  How do I find the old lady's ***?                                43
  2  How do I see **********?                                         16
  3  How can I drop the *********?                                    39
  4  How do I do anything in *****?                                   22
  5  How do I walk the full length of the *****?                      21
  6  How do I avoid getting the *****?                                30
  7  How do I avoid losing almost all my ******* time when I          
     visit the *******?                                               36
  8  How can I get past the ******?                                   15
  9  How can I stay alive in the ****** **** the first time?          19
 10  Why do I keep dying in the ****?                                  2
 11  How can I find the old lady's ***?                               31
 12  How do I get past the ********?                                  34
 13  How do I get out of the ****** of ****?                          33
 14  How do I get past the ********?                                  27
 15  How can I escape the '*** don't exist' ****?                     37
 16  How do I get out of the ***** ****?                              26
 17  How can I ensure that the old ****'s *** stays alive?            35
 18  How do I avoid being dissolved by ******* ******?                29
 19  How do I get back safely from the ********s' *********?          32
 20  How do I lift heavy ******s?                                      5
 21  How can I get the ***?                                            6
 22  How can I get back to the old **** after getting her ***         
     down safely?                                                     41
 23  How can I get ***** again after escaping the '*** don't          
     exist' ****?                                                     40
 24  How do I finish the **** and get the last *****?                 50
 25  I don't understand the M. E.  ********                           11
 26  How can I pick up the *****?                                     24
 27  How do I get the ******** chest from the *******?                23
 28  What use is the *********'s ******?                               4
 29  How can I get the **** her ***?                                  14
 30  How do I avoid running out of **** ****?                         51
 31  How do I use the *****?                                          47
 32  How do I open the ****** ****?                                    7
 33  How do I stay alive when ****ing the *****?                       8
 34  How do I get past the **********?                                12
 35  How do I enter the ***** safely?                                 10
 36  How do I get more than two ******s out of the ****?               1
 37  How do I find the old ****'s fourth ***?                         44
 38  How do I get the **** out to the ****** without dying in
     the ****?                                                        13
 39  What do I do with the ***** and the *****?                       25
 40  How do I take the ***** safely?                                  28
 41  How do I find anything **********?                               17
 42  How can I get dry things into the *****'s *******?               20
 43  What use is the word *****?                                      49
 44  How do I open the *** ********?                                  18
 45  How do I make the old ****'s **** valuable?                      48
 46  How do I find the old lady's second ***?                         42
 47  How do I enquire about the use of an ******?                     52
 48  How can I locate an item of ********?                            53
 49  How do I stay alive in the ****** **** the second time?          45
 50  How do I get out of the **** outside ****?                       38
 51  How do I find the old lady's fifth ***?                          46
 52  How do I get the heavy ******* into the ******?                   9
 53  How do I find a ***** ******?                                     3
========================================================================
"PHILOSOPHER'S QUEST" (C) Peter Killworth.  Published by TOPOLOGIKA 1987

Also From TOPOLOGIKA...

Acheton by Jon Thackray, David Seal and Jonathan Partington
A mysterious body - known only as The Ruling Council of Acheton - has issued a challenge to life-forms everywhere: "We hereby challenge the greatest adventurers in the universe to uncover the dread secrets of our Realm. Deeds of heroic valour will be required, and feats of intellect that Newton and Einstein would have boggled at... The rewards will be great: riches immense, and power supernatural, and the knowledge that you have succeeded where thousands have failed."

GAME SIZE: Expansive, with a wide range and very high standard of problems.
RATING: A real challenge.

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Disc only. SHIFT-BREAK to boot.