From: forbes@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (Scott Forbes)
Subject: Draft of the FAQ
Summary: Feedback, comments, additional info to forbes@icbm.att.com
Organization: Usenet Sports Programming Network
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 00:55:50 GMT

>LOOK
West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front 
door.  There is a small mailbox here.

>OPEN MAILBOX. READ LEAFLET
Opening the small mailbox reveals a leaflet.

(Taken)

    "Welcome to rec.games.int-fiction!

    This is the Frequently Asked Questions list for rec.games.int-fiction,
    a new USENET newsgroup for the discussion of Interactive Fiction games
    and related topics.  To read a specific question, use your newsreader's
    search function on the string "(n)", where n is the question number.

    (1)  Asking for and posting hints  ( please don't spoil the game )
    (2)  Lost Treasures of Infocom I
    (3)  Lost Treasures of Infocom II
    (4)  Missing or hard-to-find information in LTOI packaging
    (5)  FTP sites for public domain IF games and solution files
    (6)  Whatever happened to Infocom, anyway?
    (7)  Our sister group, rec.arts.int-fiction

    This FAQ is currently under construction; questions and information should 
    be e-mailed to Scott Forbes (forbes@icbm.att.com).

    No newsgroup should be without one!"

>BLORPLE THE LEAFLET
Abruptly, your surroundings shift.

Nondescript Room
This is a drab, nondescript room. The only exit leads south.

>S
Enchanters' Retreat
Belboz is meditating here.

>BELBOZ, HELLO
"Hello." Belboz doesn't seem pleased to see you.

>ASK BELBOZ FOR A HINT                                                      (1)
    Belboz looks at you suspiciously.  "Only the rawest of apprentices would 
    ask for a hint (or post one) without observing proper netiquette.

    1.  Above all else, don't spoil the puzzle or game for other people
        who are reading the newsgroup but DIDN'T ask for a hint.  Use
        spoiler warnings in the both the posting's title and the text.

        Good example:
        >Subject: Re: ZORK I question (SPOILERS)
        >
        >J. Random writes:
        >>How do I get into the white house?
        >
        >SPOILERS

        >Have you tried running for President?
        >


    2.  If you're asking for a hint, please try to ask in a way that
        doesn't spoil the puzzle, or spoil other puzzles in the game.
        Describe whatever details are relevant, but don't post the 
        answer to every other puzzle you've solved up to this point.

        Good example:
        >I've figured out what the gold machine is for, but I keep
        >getting killed whenever I try to use it.

        Bad example:
        >I used the gold machine to send a message to Orkan, but the
        >Warlock noticed my presence and turned me into bat guano.

        If you can't ask the question without revealing part of the
        puzzle, protect the question with spoiler warnings as above.


    3.  When asking for a hint, please ask for responses by e-mail.
        If you don't, half a dozen people will post the same response,
        and it's more likely that one of them will spoil the puzzle.

        If someone else posts a hint request and you're also interested
        in seeing the answer, send e-mail to the questioner and ask
        that they send whatever info they receive.  Please don't post a
        "me too" message to the net asking for the same hint; you have
        a better chance of getting an answer if you send e-mail to the
        person who originally posted the request.


    4.  When giving a hint, please try to give just enough information
        to send the adventurer on his/her way.  Please don't spell out 
        the exact sequence of moves required to win the game from here,
        or solve the next two puzzles in order to get the ball rolling.

        Good example:
        >Have you explored the area outside the house?

        Bad example:
        >There's a window on the east side of the house, which you can
        >squeeze through in order to get in.  Don't bother with the
        >front door; there's no way to open it.  Don't eat the food,
        >either:  You'll need it later to feed the microscopic dog.

Belboz looks at you expectantly.

>FROTZ BELBOZ
Belboz stops you with a word of power.
"Ah! Now I have you, charlatan! Fool me twice? Never!" He rises to his feet, 
makes a threatening gesture, and you find yourself transported to...

Dark
You can make out a shadow moving in the dark.

>LOOK AT SHADOW
The shadow is vaguely Ford Prefect-shaped.

Vogon Hold
This is a squalid room filled with grubby mattresses, unwashed cups, and 
unidentifiable bits of smelly alien underwear. A door lies to port, and an 
airlock lies to starboard.

Ford removes the bottle of Santraginean Mineral Water which he's been waving 
under your nose. He tells you that you are aboard a Vogon spaceship, and gives 
you some peanuts.

>ASK FORD ABOUT LOST TREASURES OF INFOCOM
A long silence tells you that Ford Prefect isn't interested in talking about 
the Lost Treasures of Infocom.

Ford yawns. "Matter transference always tires me out. I'm going to take a nap." 
He places something on top of his satchel. "If you have any questions, here's 
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (Footnote 14). Ford lowers his voice to a 
whisper. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you'll never be able to finish 
the game without consulting the Guide about lots of stuff." As he curls up in a 
corner and begins snoring, you pick up the Guide.

>CONSULT GUIDE ABOUT LOST TREASURES OF INFOCOM                              (2)
    The Guide checks through its Sub-Etha-Net database and eventually comes up 
    with the following entry:

    "The Lost Treasures of Infocom" is a collection of 20 Infocom games 
    available for $49.95 through most retail and mail-order outlets.
    Games in the LTOI I package include:

    Zork I         Enchanter      Deadline       Starcross
    Zork II        Sorcerer       Witness        Suspended
    Zork III       Spellbreaker   Suspect        Planetfall
    Zork Zero      Ballyhoo       Infidel        Stationfall
    Beyond Zork    Moonmist       Lurking Horror Hitchhiker's Guide

    The package includes a manual which contains photocopies of all the original 
    manuals and game pieces (such as the trading cards from "Spellbreaker", 
    which are needed to solve a puzzle in the game), but some information was 
    left out -- see question 4 of this FAQ for more details.

    The package also contains a hint book, which looks like somebody took all 
    the Invisiclues booklets and typed them into a text file. The hint book is 
    riddled with spelling mistakes, formatting errors and other problems, but 
    in most cases the mistakes are not serious enough to keep you from using it.

    See also the entry on "Lost Treasures of Infocom II".

You begin to feel distinctly groggy.

>CONSULT GUIDE ABOUT LOST TREASURES OF INFOCOM II                           (3)
    The Guide checks through its Sub-Etha-Net database and eventually comes up 
    with the following entry:

    "Lost Treasures of Infocom II" contains most (but not all) of the remaining 
    Infocom text adventure games, and also retails for $49.95 through retail 
    and mail order outlets.  Games include:

    Seastalker
    Wishbringer
    A Mind Forever Voyaging
    Trinity
    Cutthroats
    Hollywood Hijinx
    Bureaucracy
    Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
    Plundered Hearts
    Border Zone
    Sherlock
    Shogun

    [Will someone please confirm that this list is correct, as I don't have the 
    LTOI II package and am going from memory here.  --SF]

    This package contains photocopies of the original packaging, but does NOT 
    contain a hint book:  Instead it contains a 1-900 number which you can call
    to receive hints.

You begin to feel indistinctly groggy.

>CONSULT GUIDE ABOUT MISSING GAME PIECES                                    (4)
    The Guide checks through its Sub-Etha-Net database and eventually comes up 
    with the following entry:

    Here is a list of missing or hard-to-find info in the LTOI I game package.

    _Lurking Horror_
    This story begins in a computer room, and the first "puzzle" is
    logging in at the computer and retrieving your term paper.  The 
    computer will ask for a Login ID and Password; the Login ID is the
    number below the bar code on your Student ID Card (see page 151 of
    the LTOI manual).
    
    _Deadline_
    [Would someone who has the original Deadline packaging like to
    fill in the blank here with the missing game piece?  --SF]

You begin to feel very indistinct.

>WAKE FORD
Rather like trying to wake the dead.  Speaking of which...

    ****  You have died  **** 

Now, let's take a look here... Well, you probably deserve another chance. 
I can't quite fix you up completely, but you can't have everything.

Inside the Barrow
There is a lamp here.

A strange little man in a long cloak appears suddenly in the room.  He is 
wearing a high pointed hat embroidered with astrological signs. He has a long, 
stringy, and unkempt beard.

The Wizard draws forth his wand and waves it in your direction. It begins to 
glow with a faint blue glow. The Wizard, in a deep and resonant voice, speaks 
the word "FTP!"  He cackles gleefully.

    PUBLIC DOMAIN TEXT ADVENTURES AND "WALKTHROUGH" SOLUTION FILES          (5)

    [List to be inserted here  --SF]

The Wizard points his wand at you again, and incants "Freeze!"  The spell is
so effective that you end up frozen for the next 500 years...


FC ALERT! Planetside systems are deteriorating. FC imbalance detected. 
Emergency reviving systems completed. You are now in control of the complex.

SENSA INTERRUPT: Seismic aftershock detected ten meters north of Beta FC. 
Tremor intensity 9.7. Projected damage: connecting cables in Primary and 
Secondary Channels.

FC INTERRUPT: All Robots, report locations.

IRIS: In the Weather Monitors.
WALDO: In the Gamma Repair.
SENSA: In the Central Chamber.
AUDA: In the Entry Area.
POET: In the Central Chamber.
WHIZ: In the Advisory Peripheral.

>WHIZ, PLUG IN.
FC: Cryolink established to Whiz.
WHIZ: It's great to be home. Plugged in to the Advisory Pedestal. Ready to 
process queries.

>ASK ABOUT INFOCOM                                                          (6)
    AP:  In February 1986 Infocom was purchased by Activision, a company best
    known for the manufacture of Atari 2600 video game cartridges, and slowly
    sank into mediocrity as the "Infocom" name was used as a marketing tool.
    Infocom continued publishing interactive fiction through late 1987, but by
    1988 most games published by Infocom were actually written by someone else.

    Activision never actually went bankrupt, but it never fully recovered after
    the computer and video game market went bust in the late 1980's.  It is now
    publishing a number of "classic game" packages, repackaging old successes.

    [There are a couple of other articles I've seen posted to r.g.int-fiction
    that tell more about Infocom, and I know Stu Galley is on-line here -- if
    there is any more information about what happened to Infocom, of if someone
    is planning to make a periodic post of Infocom info, please let me know.]

>ASK ABOUT REC.ARTS.INT-FICTION                                             (7)
    AP:  The USENET newsgroup "rec.arts.int-fiction" is a group for _authors_ of
    Interactive Fiction.  If you're writing a game and want advice, post there; 
    if you're playing a game and want advice, post here.

As the door swings open you are blinded by intense light and incredible pain. 
Just before everything overloads and you fade from existence, you can make out 
the shapes of three humans, one of them holding onto the door of the cylinder, 
another of them looking exactly like you, and then everything goes dark.

Press any key to continue

Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction