RULES OF INGLISH Inglish is a very sophisticated language-recognition program developed especially for micro-computers. It allows you to communicate with the program in a language and a structure familiar to you. The rules of Inglish are simple. The main thing to keep in mind is that each instruction must be in the form of verb + noun where the noun (or pronoun) is explicit or implied. Each sentence must have a verb. You can use punctuation to serparate sentences. Use commas and periods as you normally would. The only limitation on commands is that they should not be more than 128 characters long. The following are some examples of the way Inglish sentences can be constructed. Note, however, that the specific example shown may not be valid in this adventure. When an action does not directly relate to an object, only a verb is necessary. WAIT RUN This is also the case if you simply wish to travel in a particular direction. SOUTH OR S EAST OR E If the action relates to an object or a character, it must be identified by a noun. Inglish grammar applies, any order of diffrent parts of a sentence is usually not critically as in: WEAR THE RING GO THROUGH THE DOOR DROP THE ROPE ONTO THE TABLE Adjectives must preceed the nouns they describe. If it sounds in English, it's probably good Inglish. THROUGH THE HEAVY AXE AT THE HORRIBLE ORC LIGHT THE WOOD PIPE WITH THE MATCH Commands you give the computer must be specific and unambiguous. If there are two doors in a room, one red and one green, and you were to say: GO THROUGH THE DOOR The computer is placed in a quandary as to which door to put you through. In such situations, the program will put you though the first door it finds, which may not be the door you intended. In this case, it would be better to specify exactly which door you mean. GO THROUGH THE GREEN DOOR The meaning of many verbs can be altered by the use of prepositions, such as: ON, OFF, ONTO, and so on. Examples of Inglish sentences are: ATTACK WITH THE SWORD PICK UP THE RING In Inglish, prepostions usually go before the noun, but in some cases it sounds more natural to put them after the noun, such as: TURN THE LIGHT ON PICK THE GOLD UP Prepositions can also be used to specify the position of an object, or where you wish an action to be performed, such as: PUT THE GOLD INTO THE BAG TAKE THE PIPE FROM THE BOX USE OF AND You can use the word "and" with all its normal meaning in Inglish. This means, among other things, that you can enter more than one sentence or perform more than one action at a time. TAKE THE LAMP AND THE MATCH FROM THE CUPBOARD DROP THE SHORT AND THE LONG SWORD TAKE THE GOLD AND RUN ABBREVIATION OF COMMANDS You can abbreviate commands. For instance, to attack a green knight, you can say KILL GREEN WITH SWORD The computer will see that "green" corresponds with "green knight". Note also that the definitive article "the" can be omitted. In most cases, the computer will understand exactly what you mean. Unfortunately, if the green knight is standing before a green door, then the word "green" is no longer enough to identify the knight only, in which case you should say: KILL KNIGHT WITH THE SWORD Multiple commands can be entered by placing a comma between instructions. OPEN BOX, TAKE AXE, GIVE AXE TO SAM Each of the commands will be carried out by the computer in the order in which they are listed. SPECIAL COMMANDS In addition to the extensive Inglish vocabulary, there are few commands specific to the Fellowship of the Ring. The following is a list of these special commands. LOOK (which can be abbreviated to L) lets you see where you are, and all that can be seen at a particular location, and all possible exits. This command should also be used after you take over the role of another character at another location (that is, after you use the BECOME command). INVENTORY (which can be abbreviated to I) gives a full description of all inventory you are currently holding or carrying. EXAMINE is a standard Inglish word, but special mention of it is made here because it is also very useful when trying to obtain more information about your surroundings ins Middle-earth. Examining objects also reveals information about those objects that is not readily apprarent from a brief look. SAVE allows you to save the game for play at a later time. LOAD loads a previously saved game. After loading, play continues from the point where the game was saved. SCORE tells you what your percentage of play is. PAUSE suspends the game until you press another key. PRINT allows you to send text of the adenture to your printer and to the screen. QUIT stops the game and returns you to the beginning. INTERACTING WITH OTHERS CONVERSING The Fellowship of the Ring allows you to converse with the characters you meet on your journey. When you encounter a character you wish to speak to, the general form of the command is: SAY TO (name) "(sentence)" As in: SAY TO GANDALF "HELLO" Saying hello is usually enough to draw most characters into converation. You can ask the characters within earshot to perform specific commands that are of use to you, such as: SAY TO GANDALF "KILL THE ORC WITH THE SWORD" SAY TO PIPPIN "TAKE THE GOLD FROM THE ORC" It is not necessary to use the full form of: SAY TO (name). You can just use the name of the character you wish to speak to, followed by the message, such as: PIPPIN "GIVE THE GOLD TO ME" Of course, because all the other characters act independently there is not guarantee that they will do as you ask. Their decision will be based on a number of factors, including their allegiance to you, what they are currently doing, and so on. A few of the characters you encounter will have messages they will deliver only when you identify yourself or ask certain questions. To solve some of the problems you will face in The Fellowship of the Ring, you will need to cooperate with other members of your party. Thus you will need to become familiar with the SAY TO command. Remember, too that each character has its own limitations, such as degree of strength, and so on. COOPERATING In the Fellowship of the Ring you must lead a group of Hobbits through perilous situations. It will be necessary to tell other characters, including members of your own group, what you would like them to do in given situations. Be warned that, in order to suceed, certain actions must be performed by certain characters. Thus you will need to become familiar with the varied talents of each member of your party. Since you will often be in a group, it is comforting to know that it is not necessary to instruct each and every character on what he should be doing every moment. Most will follow your lead without any prompting. It is also possible to instruct characters to perform actions that will exclude the rest of the party, as in: SAY TO SAM "CLIMB THE TREE" This instruction will not result in a mass exodus to the treetops by all members of your party within earshot. Only Sam will climb the tree. If you leave without instructing him and he can still see you, Sam will follow you and perhaps eventually, catch up with you. You can speak directly to any character and ask him to perform an action involving another character, as in: SAY TO PIPPIN "GIVE ROPE TO FRODO" Friends and members of your party are more likely to respond favorably than strangers, unfriendly creatures, or followers of Sauron. But even friends may say no from time to time. Besides following your lead, most members of your party will come to your defense if you are attacked by enemies. There is no cosmic law that stops you from ruthlessly attacking a member of your own party. Do not be too surprised, however, if the other members of the party are a little cooler toward you afterward. You can talk to yourself, but the result is not going to be impressive. Suicide is quite possible, as long as you name your character as in any other attack. You could say (while playing the part of Frodo) KILL FRODO WITH AXE In all probability, the result will be something like: "You attack you with the axe. With one well placed blow, you split your skull." If you find this an attractive alternative, then by all means be our guest. The Fellowship of the Ring allows you another method of instructing the hobbits in your party using the BECOME command you can take over another character for a short time. (It is recommended that you become familiar withe adventure from a single player point of view before tackling the multi-character game). You can say: BECOME PIPPIN This technique can be used whenever a player wishes to put a character through a series of complex actions, or react to ongoing situations that will confront the character. This is a useful means of conducting operations without endangering the Ring, or for controlling the party if you want the hobbits to split up and go separate ways. Remember that you can only become one of the four hobbit characters you selected at the beginning of the game. For example, if you enter FRODO, you can only become FRODO. If you enter FRODO, SAM, MERRY, you can not become PIPPIN. Note: The Original copy of The Fellowship of the Rings comes with a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (partly for reference). GENERAL CONCEPTS During the adventure, you will encounter many objects. Some are useable as weapons, others are intended as food or drink, still others are used as containers in which to carry things. In Middle-earth liquids behave as they do in our world: they cannot be carried without a container. Also, a character cannot lift too heavy an object or carry too great a load. Most containers must be opened in order to reach their contents. Once a container is opened, you may look into it or take out the objects in it. Once the objects inside a container have been exposed, they may be used. Some containers may be transparent, allowing you to see the contents without opening the container itself. Some doors are locked. This means that you need either a key or magic to unlock them, or that someone on the other side of the door must open the door for you. FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND Their are 10 possible directions of travel: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST WEST, NORTHEAST, SOUTHEAST, NORTHWEST, SOUTHWEST, UP, AND DOWN. You can also abbreviate directions for each word. PASSING THROUGH THE PORTALS If you want to go through a portal, such as a door or a window, it is quite possible to say so directly, as in: GO THOUGH GREEN DOOR When you first enter a location and are given the full text description, all visible doors will be mentioned. However, on a second visit to the location, the brief description may not include all doorways, but only mention objects that can be seen in the immediate area. This doesn't mean that the doors or portals have disappeared, you can always get the full description by typing look or L. FOLLOWING If a character you have an interest in leaves an area, you may wish to follow him or her. For instance, if Strider suddenly said that he was going to leave, you might decide to: FOLLOW STRIDER LIGHT AND DARK In some areas, there will be no natural light. Unless you have the means to create light - such as matches and a candle - you will receive no description of the area in darkness. Once a light has been struck, you will be able to see. If you choose to travel in darkness, you may avoid meeting some unwanted characters. Remember, however, that orcs can see perfectly well in the dark. MAPPING THE ADVENTURE You should keep a map of your travels to assist you in finding your way. However, even your own carefully constructed maps cannot be entirely relied upon. Some locations can be revisited in a straightforward manner. With others, the direction you traveled to get from Point A to Point B may not be the opposite of the direction you must travel to get from Point B to Point A. For this reason, you would be wise to construct a grid listing locations you have already entered and directions you used to get to them from other locations. COMBAT Hobbits are poor fighters, albeit brave, but can often surprise even themselves by their abilities in one-on-one combat (don't let this give you any false confidence, however.) To attack an opponent, you must tell the computer that you wish to KILL it with a specific weapon, such as: KILL WOLF WITH SWORD If you do not specify a weapon, the program will assume that you wish to ATTACK with your bare hands. This is never a good idea. It is not possible to attack inanimate objects. They must be BROKEN. No matter how well you arm them, be wary of throwing hobbits into the midst of a gory battle. Being rather slight little creatures, they have a tendency to die with spectacular suddenness. Persistence in combat is rewarded, but be careful: Most opponents hit back, and an already-wounded character is much more susceptible to being killed than a healthy one. Some weapons (like axes) can be thrown at an opponent. This removes the weapon from your character, and drops it into the area in which you stand. If you throw your only armamment, you will, of course, become unarmed, and unfortunate situation. CARRYING ITEMS During the course of play, you will have to pick up and carry inanimate objects. Once you have found and item, simply TAKE the item in order to pick it up and carry it, as in: TAKE ROPE To check in equipment you are already carryingm take inventory of your character by typing INVENTORY or I. If you do not want the item you have picked up, you are carrying too much at once, or you already have a rope, you can say: DROP ROPE As an alternative, you may give the item to another member of the party, as in: GIVE ROPE TO SAM Some objects not only add weight to your burden, they increase your effective size. This can be troublesome if you intend to go through a small door or tunnel, so beware of adopting the pack rat syndrome. FATIGUE, WOUNDS, AND EATING All characters are rated for strength and stamina. During the game these characteristics may suffer due to combat fatigue, wounds or simple weariness. As a character is wounded, its strength ebbs, and its hold on life grows more tenuous. And, as time passes, a character becomes more and more tired as energy is used up. Highly strenuous activities, such as combat, may exhaust it even more. The best remedy for depleted strength or stamina is a good meal and some rest. In your travels, you may encounter skilled healers and magical herbs that cure fatigue and damage. Needless to say, these items are rare. REAL TIME In Middle-earth a wandering party might encounter a variety of characters. Some are friends, some are foes, but many simply ARE. Such characters live lives of their own, traveling about the lands attending to their own affairs. If a character you meet does not fall over himself to help you, try being patient. Just say hello, or try waiting until he notices you. Remember, while you and your band of hobbits are busy saving Middle-earth from the terror of Sauron the Great, other creatures and characters are busy with their own lives and adventures. As time goes on and things change for you, so they change for Middle-earth. Things may not be as they were when you return to a particular location. A FINAL WORD The best hints for playing the Fellowship of the Ring can be gained through reading the book. Otherwise, the only real hints that can be given here are these: Be careful. If you race through the game, you will only limit your enjoyment of it, but will fail to pick up valuable details that might come in handy later on in the game. Be smart. Hobbits are neither wise, strong, nor magical. If you are going to get anywhere, you will have to use your wits. Don't be scared to try risky actions. If you take no risks, you will find no rewards. In other words, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." And keep a good pair of running shoes handy. You're on your own! -END PART 2 OF 2-