[Note from the Author: In our modern times, when games need interpreters and 256K RAM+, Encryptment is a refreshing exception, allowing you to use the meanest of computers, such as that 16K Spectrum you had mothballed. To do this, computer moderation had to be discarded, a return to the medium's pen-and-paper roots. I recommend printing this file in 80 columns, so given paper's variability of size, you should first interact with this fiction by inserting lines so that it prints nicely. It's self-marking, doing sections in order will be more rewarding (ie: inscriptions, hatch, shrines) and, with the exception of L3's inscription, knowledge of ANY game is unnecessary and may well hinder progress. I wrote Encryptment in about 14 hours over 4 days, though it's been tuned far too much since (I'm a tinker and a minimalist =). Not originally intended for dino-comp entry, synchronosity being what it is, not only does the comp begin at a suitable time, but Encryptment is all about dinosaurs... Credits to Anu Garg and Torquemada, etc. --TSO, March 31, 2000 Users of other interactive fiction systems may find this FAQ useful: Q: How do I save? A: Put your printout in a place where it won't be thrown out. Q: How do I restore? A: Remember where you left your printout. Retrieve it when you do. Q: How do I undo? A: Erase any pencilled notes that you've made. If you've used pen, erase VERY hard, or use whiteout. Q: How do I restart? A: Print out another copy of Encryptment Q: How do I play The Pawn, have a romantic interlude with the Cardinal, burn the boxes, etc.? A: Unlike lesser works, Encryptment's only bounds are those that you set, so edit this file and print it off! The adventurous may want a space opera, a mystery, or a cathartic piece. The interactivefictionous may want a cathartic space opera about a detective. I say "Go for it!" ] +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 'So this game just one big complex puzzle?' I asked. | | 'Yes,' came the answer. | | I quit. | | - Adam Cadre | +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Encryptment: An interactive search for meanings. | By Taro Ogawa (x_ohara_x@my-deja.com), Copyright 2000 | version 2000033124:01 | Permission given to archive and distribute this unmodified. | Ah... what the hell. Permission given to modify this provided that lines | beginning with "|" are left intact. Frob Nose who'd want to. Last May, I found a box an ex-flatmate left held Apple // games; a surprise, for Apple //s were ten years dead, and he'd owned only Commodores until IBMs finally met his Amiga's capabilities. Reading decaying manuals from battered boxes, I discovered handwritten notes (see below) in "The Pawn". These bore the letterhead of the Text Adventures Museum, which I'd read about years ago (in Games Magazine?), but not visited. My curiousity piqued, when next in the region I found that it was now the Church of Interactive Fiction. Its cardinal told me that it was still the same place but tax breaks for religions were better. The crypt was closed ("modern exhibits" were being installed in its place) but examining the notes, he said that they were complete for the first part, except that the hatch had another section to its inscription: "K12 J5 J9/J1 J12 F13 G12/H5 H7 K10 M18 K6/B4/L3 B2 H17 F5/J7 I2 N12 C15." "You can do it without that", he noted, "but you'd have a Snowball's chance". I enquired about the remaining parts, and was told it was lucky that I'd come when I did, for in another couple of weeks they too would be gone. I was led into a warren of small rooms, which he called shrines of which the Shrine of Summarised Summaries was first. It contained a number of Brass Plaques. These read as follows: Zork 1: "N10 I14 E6/B3 D15 I16 I17 F15/B5 . A10 . A12" Zork 2: "E9 E16 E15 E14/C12 E10 F9 O10/I6 C7 E5 F8 I18 H3 G1 B7 A15 B15 A18" Zork 3: "C18 A6 H15 E17/K8, E7, C8 C10/D7 L5 E12 E11 F3 I4 I1 !" Deadline; Suspect; Witness: "D9 G2 A4 N1 C16 C17 !" Sorcerors Get All the Girls 1, 2, & 3: "A11 A3 A5 A17 G7 !" Zork Zero; Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2: "' E2 C9 A7/ D13 G13 . '" Shogun, Seastalker, Plundered Hearts, Cutthroats: "A9 H6 F1 L7 A2 K15 J13" The Shrine of Wisdom's plaque read: "C13 A16/D5 H13 L10 H9 F7 F10 N17 A14 N8/ N9 C6 N3 L11/G3 M6/J10/_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _/D10 C4/I12 E13 C5/K1 L14 L13 F17/E1/ G4 N2 N7 E3 K16 C14 E4 K17 K18 ." The Shrine of Cluefulness was hidden in a maze of twisty passages. "Take the 7 moves of the shortest route here from what remains", said the Cardinal, "and you'll unlock the secret". The plaque read: "What hidden metaphysical meaning does the Crypt reveal? _ _ _ _ ,/_ _ _ _ _ ./_ _ _ _ _/_ _ _ _ !" Have you any idea what it's all about? -T. === START OF TRANSCRIBED NOTES === Crypt in basement. Hatch over ladder to C4, adjacent rooms, 15ft square. Sign on Hatch: "WHAT'S THE RATIONALE FOR TWISTING MAZES OF LITTLE PASSAGES?" Solid black marble walls, white sandstone floors/roof. No chisel marks - v. strange. Arched doorways, vaulted roof. No scrt doors (would be vis. Solid stone!). Some doorw have inscription over. Each room has letr+num [inscribed circ] -> grid ref! B2/B3, E1/F1, L6/L7 doorw have trenches ~1' deep -> no purpose? no drain, etc. No coffins, corpses, bones, etc. Why called crypt? Asked old man - said "It's more a mine but that's because I look after it", and won't say more. __Map of The Crypt__ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 A [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] | | | | | | | B [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] | | | | | | C [ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] | | | | | | D [ ] [ ] [ ]-[ ] [ ] [ ] | | | | | | E [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] | | | | | | | | | F [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] | | | | | G [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ] | | | | | H [ ] [ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] | | | | | I [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] | | | | | | J [ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ] | | | | | | K [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] | | | | | | | | | L [ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ] | | | | | | | | M [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] | | | | | | N [ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] | | O [ ] [ ] __Inscriptions in the Crypt__ [with door that they are above in brackets] A2: Strange arc on first baseball collected in diamond. (E.) Deerstalker limit. (S.) A3: Commencing altered history shows understanding. (S.) A4: Sailor backed rodent. (S.) A5: E1[east] reshot without me is a poor movie. (S.) A7: It's absurd to start on back: north, southeast, north, southeast. (S.) A9: PRISM squarely shows that the young bear a cardinal ... (E.) ... church leader on arms and legs to ascend. (S.) A14: I14: oddly carved letters. (E.) A15: Unites in disunity when removes bonds from... (S.) B2: ...A3, a leading Good Witch. (E.) C4: Start in twisting passage. (E.) C10: Tense extreme tyrant gets Heart of Gold. (S.) C12: Where mammals fly? Where hens can't? Where diamond-runners learn? (E.) C13: Surprised in twisty passages. (S.) D9: "Am back, Mother!" (E.) E1: Shorten a span. (E.) The Crypt? I10? Component of H6? Any east inscription but B2 and L3? (S.) E3: Sound of waterfall to prevail. (S.) E9: Pair of lugs' two-dollar bounty reported for Pirate. (E.) E17: Premier hurdygurdy hides organgrinder's tail in merry-go-round poem. (S.) F7: Machine-gun grouping is not French. (E.) G1: Give me the run-around regarding collapsed buildings. (E.) G11: Knot about left-centre... (E.) H5: ...where the visible is audible. (E.) H6: Swears when giving mutt directions. (S.) H15: Holy creature not right in religious picture... (S.) I1: ...without even a slain asp. (E.) I4: A weapon? A four-letter instance of H6? One way or another? (S.) I10: Cavalry travel to Trinity site. (S.) I12: Clever Chicago crimebuster to see crime. (S.) I14: Beneath a plundered heart... (E.) J4: Wumpus head or tail of Dornbeast. (E.) J9: Blind terror of Horned God. (E.) K8: ... the third rib is with a rib, for instance. (S.) K15: Stone-free space discovered in back of a nice vacant lot. (E.) K16: Bank's contents... (S.) K18: ...tells of revealing distance. (S.) L3: Formal gathering is standard for Darkness Dwellers. (E.) N1: Heard example of H6[south] at waterwall. (E.) N7: Go Back! Exit is right, right, left. (E.) N15: State of Americas before 1776 is just common sense. (E.) === END OF TRANSCRIBED NOTES ===