| 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.

Suppose a game in which all actions take a very long time. Here's a simple implementation: "Uptempo" The fast time rule is listed instead of the advance time rule in the turn sequence rules. This is the fast time rule: increase the turn count by 1; change the time of day to the time of day + 15 minutes. When play begins: change the right hand status line to "[time of day]". The Temporal Hot Spot is a room. Test me with "z / z". This works fine as it stands, but we may run into some difficulty with it if we add scheduled events: At 9:30 AM: say "Two turtles run by, almost too fast to see." At 9:37 AM: say "A snail blitzes past." At 9:42 AM: say "The grass grows." At 9:50 AM: say "Several flowers burst open." Time is counted forward after the schedule has already been consulted, so that only the 9:30 AM event happens between 9:30 and 9:45; the next two appear to occur between 9:45 and 10:00 AM, and the 9:50 AM event is not reported until the 10:00 AM to 10:15 wait. To get around this, we might schedule events only on the fifteen-minute mark when we want them to occur. Alternatively, we might try instead "Uptempo" First turn sequence rule: increase the turn count by 1; change the time of day to the time of day + 14 minutes. When play begins: change the right hand status line to "[time of day]". The Temporal Hot Spot is a room. At 9:30 AM: say "Two turtles run by, almost too fast to see." At 9:37 AM: say "A snail blitzes past." At 9:42 AM: say "The grass grows." At 9:50 AM: say "Several flowers burst open." Test me with "z / z / z / z". This moves time forward substantially at the beginning of each turn-sequence rule set, then checks the schedule and prints events, and then (using the ordinary advance time rule) moves time forward one last minute, for a total of fifteen minutes each move.

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.

298
| 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.

Previous | Contents | Next