18.3. New rules

| Chapter 18: Rulebooks |

| 18.3. New rules

Stretching a point seasonally, we might write:

> Every turn, say "The summer breeze shakes the apple-blossom."

This rule is nameless. It needs no name because it will never need to be referred to: by identifying it as an every turn rule we have already said enough to lodge it in the "every turn" rulebook. In fact, though, it is easy to create a named rule:

> This is the blossom shaking rule: say "The summer breeze shakes the apple-blossom."

The name of a rule must always end with the word "rule", for clarity's sake. (The phrasing "This is the ... rule" is used because "The ... rule" would be open to misinterpretation.)

Previously we had a rule which had no name, but belonged to a rulebook: now we have the opposite, because although the "blossom shaking rule" has a name, it has not been placed in any rulebook. That means it will probably never be applied, unless we give specific instructions for that.

Alternatively, it is possible to both name and place a rule in a single sentence:

> Every turn (this is the alternative blossom rule): say "The summer breeze shakes the apple-blossom."

Now the "alternative blossom rule" is a named rule in the "every turn" rulebook.

376
| Example Stone A soup to which the player can add ingredients, which will have different effects when the player eats. |
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377
| Example The Crane's Leg 2 A description text generated based on the propensities of the player-character, following different rulebooks for different characters. |
RB

378
| Example Bribery A GIVE command that gets rid of Inform's default refusal message in favor of something a bit more sophisticated. |
RB

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