| Chapter 18: Rulebooks |

| 18.13. Phrases concerning rules

The "ignore" phrase is only one of a suite. The full list is:

> ignore ...rule...
> reinstate ...rule...

The "reinstate" phrase simply reverses any previous "ignore" of the same rule, and is otherwise not useful.

> reject the result of ...rule...
> accept the result of ...rule...

Some rules produce results, as we shall see in the next section, but they can be set so that whatever result they produce will be ignored. Again, "accept ..." simply undoes a previous "reject ..." and otherwise has no effect.

> substitute ...first rule... for ...second rule...
> restore the original ...second rule...

Whenever the second rule is to be invoked - from any rulebook, or as a result of any "follow" instruction - invoke the first one instead. Again, "restore ..." simply undoes the effect of an earlier "substitute".

> move ...first rule... to before/after ...second rule...

This causes the first rule to be ignored whenever it turns up in the ordinary way, but to be invoked either immediately before or immediately after the second rule whenever that second rule is invoked. In effect, it cuts out the first rule from wherever it was, and glues it onto the second. Note that there is no obligation for the first rule to begin in the same rulebook(s) as the second, so this can be used to slot in a wholly new rule, perhaps only if certain circumstances hold.

These rule-changing instructions allow apparently casual sentences to wreak havoc with the model world. This, for instance, is quite the recipe for mayhem and perplexity:

> A procedural rule: reject the result of the before rules; ignore the after rules; move the after rules to before the before rules.

295
| Example Uptempo Adjust time advancement so the game clock moves fifteen minutes each turn.

296
| Example Lethal Concentration 1 A poisonous gas that spreads from room to room, incapacitating or killing the player when it reaches sufficient levels.

297
| Example Swigmore U. Adding a new kind of supporter called a perch, where everything dropped lands on the floor.

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| Example Lethal Concentration 2 Poisonous gas again, only this time it sinks.

299
| Example Solitude Novice mode that prefaces every prompt with a list of possible commands the player could try, and highlights every important word used, to alert players to interactive items in the scenery.

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