Renga in Blue   Interactive fiction and the All the Adventures project

(Continued from my previous post.)

The thing I’ve found most fascinating studying the various incarnations of Adventure is the almost philosophical difference in approaches to where the expansions go.

With Woods’s own variation (Adventure 430) he essentially treated it as a “master quest” version of the game, adding secrets to the underground which otherwise could be seemingly unchanged at first glance (with the only major addition being changing the starting forest into a large maze). With Adventure 448 (mostly from Brown) the new sections felt “segregated” off so that the authors had a region they could call their own. Adventure 501 (and the follow-up Adventure 751) felt like it expanded outward more than inward.

Adding a link to the ocean. From the Dennis Donovan map of Adventure 751.

SVHA Adventure (or Adventure 360, based on the maximum score) instead seems to add interconnectivity: taking various dead ends, digging through farther, and connecting up some of the tunnels that come out as a result. There is very little interference with the “main game” (although a few rooms have tweaks) but rather there’s a new extension, as if the fictional universe the same cave system lasted for another 100 years (with dwarves, orcs and elves claiming more spaces) before the player arrived.

The upshot is this is hard to represent as a single map. I can give my original Adventure map as currently annotated. Please keep in mind I do not have all the rooms yet.

Let me explain the new isolated aspects first (although they might not stay that way) and then get into the interconnected section (where four distinct places in the cave all now link together).

The Hall of the Mountain King, as I mentioned in my last post, has the first difference someone is likely to see (“There is a barrel with a tap standing here.”) I still haven’t used the barrel anywhere yet. Going southwest, the rooms have some slight changes, with the path which normally leads directly to the dragon now with a “moist room”…

You’re in a corridor leading southwest/northeast, and rising slowly in the southwesterly direction. The walls are very moist, the reason being that mist from the northeast are condensing on the walls here.

…and while the secret canyon is there, it has the word “SINBAD” which is new.

You are in a secret canyon which here runs E/W. It crosses over a very tight canyon 15 feet below. If you go down you may not be able to get back up. The word “SINBAD” is hewn into the wall.

This place is also near the big interconnected zone, but let’s save that for now. In addition to SINBAD there is a related writing in the Oriental room now.

This is the oriental room. Ancient oriental cave drawings cover the walls. A gently sloping passage leads upward to the north, another passage leads SE, and a hands and knees crawl leads west. Among the drawings is scribbled “ALIBABA”.
There is a delicate, precious, Ming vase here!

Close to there — heading west to the Large Low Room, then north — is another new section.

This is an entirely self-contained puzzle, at first there is a room with a gate that can’t be lifted…

You are in a small room with a dirt floor. A gate is set on the way
south, and a way lead west. There is a low crawl going north.
The gate is down.
open gate
I’m not strong enough to do that, you know.

…but the text implies you just need to be stronger. A few steps away is a pantry…

n
You’re in narrow crawl space.
w
You are in a dusty pantry. There are shelves and cupboards. Nothing of
what you would expect in a pantry is to be seen. A crawl getting tighter
lead to the east.
An envelope stands on one of the dusty shelves.

…and the envelope contains a “small pill” that makes you feel stronger if you eat it. Heading back to the gate, you can then open it and go inside.

open gate
That pill surely made me strong!
s
You are in something that seems like a chapel or something. We’ll call this the sacred chamber. There are something like an altar on the south wall, and various things on the walls that suggest a religious place. To the north is an opening from the chamber, usually barred by a gate.
The gate is up.
There’s a ring of a curious shape on the altar. It looks magical.

I am unsure if the ring has any particular effect.

Finishing off the isolated areas, I’ve already mentioned the “leather satchel” found by going up from the clam area; as far as extra items go there’s a “parchment” in the volcano area that crumbles when I try to pick it up.

You are in a small chamber filled with large boulders. The walls are very warm, causing the air in the room to be almost stifling. The only exit is a crawl heading west, through which is coming a low rumbling.
Near the entrance lies an old withered parchment.
There are rare spices here!
get parchment
At your touch the parchment withers into dust. Something was written on it.

There’s also a new zone that I found off Witt’s End, the “maze” that just loops you around (and where the original way to escape is to not go east).

You’re at Witt’s end.
There are a few recent issues of “Spelunker Today” magazine here.
sw
You are at bottom of a long flight of steps leading south and up. A corridor leads north, but obviously curves a lot further on. There is a waist-high column in the middle of the floor. On the pillar is placed a crystal(?) stone about two feet in diameter. There are tiny flickers of light in the ball, it looks like pictures of rooms. This is obviously the great palantir of Osgiliath, which was lost in the kin-strife in Gondor in Third Age 1635 !!!!!!!!!
s
You pass fissures and cracks in the wall along the stairs. There’s a large one on the east, but it’s too small for you to worm through. The snake suddenly strikes from the fissure!! You’re bitten and pummeled and strangeled thoroughly. That must have been an irrated snake!
Oh dear, you seem to have gotten yourself killed. I might be able to help you out, but I’ve never really done this before. Do you want me to try to reincarnate you?

The palantir is obviously of great interest…

Source.

…but let me mention three points on the snake first:

1.) Is that the same snake as the one that got driven off by the bird? Do I need to take the bird with me, perhaps?

2.) The problem with the bird again being helpful is that this is an instant death — there isn’t an obstacle that you then react to. Original Crowther/Woods was quite good about avoiding instant death; it would have a beat along the lines of a dwarf appearing or it being dark before you hit inevitable doom. The instant death is much less fair (especially given that this game has no save game facility).

2b.) In order to cope with the lack of save games I have been saying “yes” to the resurrection question. In nearly every other Adventure variant I would say no and just restore my save game, but the combination of no-saved-games plus instant death makes it the only practical way to handle things.

3.) Perhaps it is possible to reach this spot before facing the snake, and it will be clear? That would represent the kind of softlock I associate more with the Cambridge games like Hezarin.

Now, on to the palantir. It gave me some trouble operating it; I eventually realized it was fishing for “look direction”.

LOOK EAST
The stone starts searching in that sector.
A room underneath a grate. The stone shows
plain nothing.
A cobble crawl. The stone shows
plain nothing.
The stone found nothing in that sector.

The odd sequence here indicates it is doing some sort of “step by step” search where it somehow has the map subdivided into “zones”. This will be important later.

LOOK NORTH
The stone starts searching in that sector.
A ledge in a rock wall. The stone shows
A brass vessel stands in a corner.
In a pit with ice walls. The stone shows
A ruby sparkles in the middle of the room.
LOOK SOUTH
The stone starts searching in that sector.
The stone found nothing in that sector.

West gets the most information

LOOK WEST
The stone starts searching in that sector.
In a throne room. The stone shows
plain nothing.
A corridor with fairyland carvings. The stone shows
plain nothing.
A brightly lit dancing hall. The stone shows
plain nothing.
A corridor with grotesque statuary. The stone shows
plain nothing.
The stone found nothing in that sector.

I wasn’t able to get any other results. Note the similarity with Adventure 366 (which also has a palantir) but also the difference (this one can’t be used to teleport … I think).

Time for the big interconnected section:

I have a hard time capturing this as they are drawn on my map in very different places, but it interconnects with

a.) the “wide canyon” south of the Bedquilt area which previously was a dead end

b.) the “crossover” near the two mazes which normally led north to a dead end, but now passes through

c.) the vending machine in the “all different” maze

d.) the Giant Room with the eggs

Let’s start with the “wide place” canyon, which has a hole that goes down:

You are in a narrow corridor going southeast-northwest. There is an awful smell. There is a hole in the ceiling, but you cannot reach it.

SE is a room with an even more awful smell, and NW is a dungeon.

You are in someone’s dungeon. There are cells on both sides of the corridor. Most of the doors are rusted, but small windows give you the opportunity to check out there is nothing of interest inside. There is one door that may be unlocked, however, and inside this cell you can see a form huddled on the ground. The corridor goes southeast-northwest.
The celldoor is locked.

I have yet to bring keys over to this room, but it is an obvious next step in my gameplay (I kept getting hit by dwarves, and also orcs which work more or less like the dwarves).

Another entrance to the same complex is the vending machine. That’s been a popular place to muck around, since the vending machine gives entirely optional batteries for lamp extension (in other words, in a walkthrough there’s no reason to go in the all different maze!) This version of the game adds a hole where the player finds out after (by seeing it in in a mirror) they are very dirty:

As you look behind the machine, you see a small hole in the floor. It is just big enough for you to get through. From what you can see, there is no chance of coming up this way if you go down.
D
You are at the bottom of a narrow shaft. You cannot climb up the shaft. A corridor leads to the north.
N
In a niche in the corridor there is bolted a highly polished steel mirror on the wall. The corridor goes north/south here. As you pass the mirror, you see a black and ominious figure there. After checking behind you, you find you have seen yourself. That shaft must have been a chimney!

(I have yet to get here with water — again, no save games, plus getting hit by axes. It does appear “clean” is a verb but just going nearby to a waterfall doesn’t work, you have to be carrying the bottle.)

N
You are in a well lit room. The walls are hung with fantastic draperies, (to heavy to carry), and there are rich carpets on the floor, (also to heavy to carry). At the opposite end of the room there is what appears to be a decorated throne. Beside the throne is a table covered with velvet. On your side of the room is also a table covered in velvet. There is an opening to the south, the throne is to the north.
A five-armed chandelier made of gold, furnished with strips of other precious metals, is standing on the table.
On the throne sits a lovely elven princess, clad in some green garments. She eyes you warily.

If you approach, she leaves through a curtain to the east, but trying to follow lands you outside.

You are at the throne in the throne room. The throne is of such magnificent splendour that it is hard to take your eyes away from it. Added to this you have the table beside it, covered in a kind of velvet that gives out its own soft light. To the south is an opening in the wall. The draperies to the east and west might also cover doors or openings. A scepter, wrought from mithril, inlaid with gold, and encrusted with diamonds almost as clear as silmarils, lays on the table.
E
There must have been magic at work. As you walk through the draperies and the opening behind it, you find yourself in free air. Behind you is a blank mountain wall, in the middle distance you can see the building from which you started. The building is to the northeast.

Heading west rather than east leads to a “rune room” with Viking runes, and more branches. You can meet back up with the dungeon by going east and the southeast; going northeast instead leads to a torture chamber.

You are at the branching of the corridor. One path leads southeast, one leads west and steeply up, and one northeast.
A graphnel with a suspicious rope coiled at the end lies in a corner.
NE
You are in what has obviously been a torture chamber. Chains hang on the wall, different “implements of the trade” are spread across the floor and shelves. A reek of blood still lingers in the air, and there is an oppressive gloom in the room. An exit leads south, another east. Hovering slightly above the floor, a whitish apparition emerges before you. A low, rasping moan is heard, the sound sends a chill all through your bones. You can, somewhat undistinctly, hear words. It sounds like: “Give back, give back, oh give back my body to me. Nobody will pass whom won’t do so, nobody will pass on this way …”

(I haven’t gotten any farther past this section.)

Turning back to the rune room and going west instead leads to a ballroom and another instant death. You can reach the same ballroom approaching from the south (which enters via the “crossover” route) so I’ll show that version off:

You are at a crossover of a high N/S passage and a low E/W one.
N
This seems to be the start of a finely hewn corridor, leading northwest. A narrow corridor goes to the south.
NW
You are in a corridor with finely chiseled steps. The corridor goes up and north, and down and south.
N
You are at the southern end of a brightly lit hall. Steps lead down to the floor, which is bare and obviously designed for dancing. To your right a balcony goes round the east side of the hall. The balcony entrance is northeast, the steps go north. To the south is an opening to a corridor. On the other side of the hall another staircase goes up. On the floor a merry band of elves are dancing, forming intricate patterns. They see you and beckon for you to come and join them. An orchestra with gleaming instruments is at the balcony, playing a lively tune.
NE
You stand at the balcony behind the orchestra. There is some unrest among the musicians. Suddenly, it turns out that both the dancing elves and the musicians are orcs. Those in the orchestra are small and delicate, they throw away their instruments and scurry out of the room. The others stand at the floor and throw knives at you. Their aiming turns out to be exceedingly accurate.

I think the solution here may be (as we’ve seen in other Adventure versions) to get two types of enemy together. If the dwarves are chasing us, and we walk into the ballroom (or balcony) with the dwarves in tow, I suspect they will fight each other and we can get away. Or maybe the death will just be more colorful.

Norsk Data 10 board. Source.

To summarize my open problems, I need to handle:

a.) orcs in a ballroom that kill me

b.) a snake that kills me

c.) locked door at the dungeon (which I just haven’t brought the keys to yet, but I’m sure the thing inside will kill me)

d.) what to do at the torture room

e.) reading the parchment without it “withering away”

f.) applying SINBAD and ALI BABA (no, rubbing the lamp doesn’t work)

g.) the elf in the throne room and the magic exit

Some of these I have strong leads for, just I need to grit my teeth and boot up another game from the beginning in order to do a test. I think the dwarves are rather deadlier than in the original (they hit more often) and the previous game didn’t have orcs; while orcs work much the same as dwarves, it means there’s even more enemies to cope with and potentially be killed by.

There is a dangerous orc in the room with you!
One sharp nasty knife is thrown at you!
It misses!
You’re in slab room.

This means even though it seems like a simple thing to bring object X to place Y I have had multiple attempts in a row foiled by a stray thrown knife.