17.32. Implicitly taking something

| Chapter 17: Activities |

| 17.32. Implicitly taking something

1. When it happens. When an action is tried which requires the actor (normally the player, of course) to be carrying something, but which is not in fact carried by that person. For instance, if the player types WEAR OVERCOAT in reference to a Moroccan overcoat currently draped over a chair.

2. The default behaviour. To print text such as "(first taking the Moroccan overcoat)" and then silently try taking the object in question (the overcoat). If the take succeeds, the silence means that nothing else is printed: if it fails, it will say why.

No matter what rules are written for this activity, it is impossible to use it to allow the action to go ahead even without the item. The activity allows us to change how, or if, an implicit take will happen, but not to change the consequences of failure. (To do that, we would need a procedural rule to "ignore the carrying requirements rule", but this kind of unstitching of the action machinery needs to be done with caution.)

3. Examples. (a) Forbidding implicit takes for certain dangerous items. (This seems especially fair if taking such items might cause death: the player will not wish to be killed on the strength only of our guess as to what he might be intending to do.)

> Rule for implicitly taking the curare:
> say "Ordinarily you'd pick up the curare in order to be able to do that, but this seems like a good moment for caution." instead.

(b) Changing the way the implicit action is reported for the player:

> Rule for implicitly taking something (called target):
> try silently taking the target;
> if the player carries the target, say "You appropriate [the target] first, of course. [run paragraph on]"

(c) Combining implicit takes when the noun and second noun must both be carried:

> Rule for implicitly taking the noun when the second noun is a thing and the second noun is not carried by the player:
> try silently taking the noun;
> try silently taking the second noun;
> say "(first taking both [the noun] and [the second noun])[line break]"

(d) Making another character reply amusingly:

> Rule for implicitly taking something which is carried by the player when the person asked is Clark:
> say "'I don't see how I'm supposed to do that when you're holding [the noun],' remarks Clark sulkily." instead.

363
| Example The Big Sainsbury's Making implicit takes add a minute to the clock, just as though the player had typed TAKE THING explicitly. |
RB

364
| Example Pizza Prince Providing a pizza buffet from which the player can take as many pieces as he wants. |
RB

365
| Example Lollipop Guild Overriding the rules to allow the player to eat something without first taking it. |
RB

As mentioned in this section, the "implicitly taking" activity does not allow us to skip an implicit take entirely. In order to do this, we need to borrow from the chapter on Rulebooks and use a procedural rule. (As we will see, procedural rules allow us to modify how actions are carried out in specific circumstances.) "Lollipop Guild" Candyland is a room. "A fizzing, popping wonderland of sugary delights -- from which you are unable to escape." The giant lollipop is a fixed in place edible thing in Candyland. "Growing right next to the path, on a trunk of white paper, is a giant lollipop colored green and red and white." The description of the lollipop is "If you were very blind, like Aunt Myrtle, you might mistake it for a young sapling just planted: the lollipop is just that leafy shade of green, with swirls of white and red that might be branches or flowers." The player carries a licorice gumdrop. The gumdrop is edible. The description of the gumdrop is "It is the size of a footstool and is very convenient when you can't reach tall objects." Procedural rule while eating the lollipop: ignore the carrying requirements rule. Report eating something: say "You consume [the noun] with gusto." instead. Test me with "take lollipop / eat lollipop / drop gumdrop/ eat gumdrop / look". Note that because of the restrictions on our procedural rule, the player still takes the gumdrop before eating it. If we wanted to extend the rule and allow the player to eat anything he wanted at any time, we might instead write Procedural rule while eating something: ignore the carrying requirements rule.

Previous | Contents | Next