Introduction

An adventure on cassette for the BBC Microcomputer Model B

Welcome to the medieval land of Quondam, where all things magical are possible. The land is full of wonders, but is also full of traps for the unwary. Your task is to find all the treasures and a safe place to deposit them. But beward, things are seldom as they seem. This is a text adventure for advanced players.

Quondam is designed to be used with Operating Systems 1.2 or later versions.

Game Objective

The object of this adventure is to find all the treasures and a safe place to deposit them. The computer is your eyes and hands; it will describe your immediate surroundings and any objects you might be able to use. It will also tell you what is happening around you. You must tell it, in return, what to do by typing in instructions.

Use commannds of one or two words, in upper or lower case (typically a verb or a verb and object). The computer looks at the first four letters of any word you type, so that the command NORTHEAST must be typed in as NE to distinguish it from NORTH (or N - there are various abbreviations you will pick up as you play).

Some General Advice

• Passages bend sometimes, so going north from one area doesn't necessarily bring you into the next area from the south. (You can try BACK or B if you're confused.
• "Eh?" means the computer didn't understand the first word you said.
• "I don't understand that!" usually means that the second word wasn't understood. Some objects can hae special properties, as you'll find out; some of them are a help and some a hindrance.

Useful Words

Part of the fun is finding out what words are understood! However, a short list of those you might not guess is given here:

To move in some direction, try something like: MOVE UP, CLIMB, GO SOUTH, WEST, IN, LEAVE.

To pick up or drop a rock, try GET ROCK or DROP ROCK. TAKE and DROP alone pick up or drop the first object the computer sees.

ON and OFF may be useful.

To get a full description of your immediate surroundings, use LOOK.

To get a list of your possessions, use INV (for Inventory).

To stop altogether, use Q, QUIT or STOP.

To save a game for later - and the computer won't let you do this sometimes for reasons only time will explain! - SAVE.

Scoring

During the game you can display your score by typing SCORE and pressing RETURN. You can earn points by visiting risky areas, but most points are scored by depositing treasures in the 'safe place'. This place is accessible at various times, but needs thought. Beware of puns!

Loading

CHAIN"" (RETURN)

The program takes approximately seven minutes to load.

Saving

During the course of the game you may wish to SAVE a game (for example, before trying something dangerous) with the intention of returning to it later. Simply type SAVE and press RETURN.

Saving (Cassette Version)

You will then be prompted with the usual "RECORD then RETURN" message; at this point you should make sure you are at a suitable area on one of your cassettes.

You may SAVE a game as many times as you wish, but since it is always saved as a file called "INIT" you will need to keep a note of which recording is which.

When you want to start a game from one of these positions, first load the main program as usual, but select 'S' to start from a "saved" position. You will be asked to "Position the database file". Place the appropriate cassette in the cassette recorder before pressing the Play button.

Should you QUIT or die you will be asked if you want another game. Y will return you to the start of the game; N will simply end.

Saving (Disc Version)

You will be prompted to insert a suitable disc and type in a filename.

Note: Do not try to SAVE to the disc supplied; use one of your own discs.

You could call the files containing the saved positions "INIT1", "INIT2", "INIT3" and so on.

When you want to start a game from one of these positions, you can request the saved position instead of the initial position at the start of the program. You will again be prompted to insert the appropriate disc and supply a filename. The game will then start from that position.

Should you QUIT or die, you will be asked if you want another game. Y will put you back to the start of the game (i.e. a choice between the initial position and a SAVEd file) while N will simply end.