10.8. Fire

| Chapter 10: Physics: Substances, Ropes, Energy and Weight |

| 10.8. Fire

Fire exhibits some of the properties of a gas: it is only vaguely located and tends to spread out, though it passes by touch rather than on the air. It is hazardous to life, through direct contact, heat, and smoke. Better governed, it provides light and warmth. Worse governed, it consumes almost anything it comes into contact with. Here the problem with "debris" is not so much that we need potentially hundreds of new objects to represent broken items: instead, fire could sweep through a work of IF destroying so much that no play is possible any longer. Setting up a problem in which the player must defeat a fully-capable fire is difficult to balance.

As with liquids, it is best to simulate the least amount of fire that the design will allow. Bruneseau's Journey provides a single candle which can be lit, or blown out, but where fire can never transfer from the candle's end to anything else - or vice versa: the player's source of fire, with which to light the candle, is discreetly neglected.

In the more realistic Thirst 2, a campfire is lit using a tinderbox, so that fire does transfer from one thing (tinder) to another (the campfire): but it is always confined to just these two items, and can be used only for light and warmth.

The Cow Exonerated provides a class of matches that can light any flammable object, but assumes that burning objects requires only one turn; lighting one thing does not burn another.

In Fire or in Flood provides a complete simulation of what we might call "wild-fire": combustion which spreads through arbitrary objects and rooms, destroying all in its path.

See Examining for a way to describe objects as charred once they have been partly burnt

See Heat for one consequence of fire having touched something

See Gases for an implementation of smoke without fire, if this can exist

See Liquids for water being used to extinguish a simple fire

See Lighting for other uses of candles and torches as light sources

151
| Example Bruneseau's Journey A candle which reacts to lighting and blowing actions differently depending on whether it has already been lit once. |
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"Sire," said the Minister of the Interior to Napoleon, "yesterday I saw the most intrepid man in your Empire." - "What man is that?" said the Emperor brusquely, "and what has he done?" - "He wants to do something, Sire." - "What is it?" - "To visit the sewers of Paris." This man existed and his name was Bruneseau. - Victor Hugo, Les Miserables Let's say that our intrepid explorer has a candle that can be lit and blown out again, and should accordingly appear unlit, burning, or partly burnt: "Bruneseau's Journey" The Sewer Beneath St Denis is a room. "A narrow, stone-lined passageway, with only a little ledge to walk above the level of the refuse that flows down towards the Seine." The candle is carried by the player. The description of the candle is "A candle, [if the candle has been lit]partially burnt[otherwise]still in pristine condition with untouched wick[end if]." Instead of examining the lit candle, say "It burns with a pure heart." The block burning rule is not listed in the check burning rules. Instead of burning the lit candle: say "The candle is already lit." Check burning: if the noun is not the candle, say "[The noun] cannot profitably be set on fire." Carry out burning the candle: now the candle is lit. Report burning: if the candle had been lit, say "You relight the candle."; otherwise say "You light the candle for the first time.". Understand "blow out [something]" as blowing out. Understand "blow [something] out" as blowing out. Blowing out is an action applying to one thing. Carry out blowing out the candle: now the candle is unlit. Report blowing out: if the noun is the candle and the candle was lit, say "You blow out [the noun]."; otherwise say "You blow on [the noun], to little effect." Test me with "x candle / light candle / x candle / blow out candle / x candle". We must be careful: "if the noun was lit" would throw errors because past-tense rules can only be applied to specific items, not to variables that could be anything.

117
| Example Thirst 2 A campfire added to the camp site, which can be lit using tinder. |
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407
| Example The Cow Exonerated Creating a class of matches that burn for a time and then go out, with elegant reporting when several matches go out at once. |
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384
| Example In Fire or in Flood A BURN command; flammable objects which light other items in their vicinity and can burn for different periods of time; the possibility of having parts or contents of a flaming item which survive being burnt. |
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