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Monster is a text-oriented computer adventure game. Like other traditional adventure games such as Zork and Adventure, Monster players issue simple commands to direct a "puppet" through an artificial world. Players can explore the world, pick up and make use of objects, and solve puzzles. However, Monster is quite different from other computer adventures in two respects: first, Monster is a multiplayer game. In addition to the normal actions a player can effect on the simulated environment, players can also interact with one another. Player characters can fight, talk, trade items and explore territory together. Monster is similar in this respect to some multiplayer games available on computer networks such as the Source and Compuserve. However, Monster allows players to do something that very few, if any, other games allow: the players themselves create the fantasy world as part of the game. Players can create objects, make locations, and set up puzzles for other players to solve. Game mechanisms allow players to: o Create and describe new objects and locations o Specify how game objects function o Provide text descriptions for events that may happen For example, a player in Monster could create a room named "Great Hall", provide a textual description for it (which other players would see upon entering the rooms), and describe special features of the room (for instance, a brass plaque on the wall). Here's what another player who walked into the room described above would see (lines beginning with > are the player's input): > look You're in Great Hall You're in the middle of a vast hall stretching out of sight to the east and west. Strange shadows play across the high vaulted ceiling. The floor is set with smooth rectangular stones. The walls feel slightly cold to the touch, and damp with condensation. A copper plaque, slightly green with age, is set into one wall. > look plaque The plaque looks very old and corroded. However, you can still make out the writing: " Monster, created by Rich Skrenta, 1988. Play at your own risk. " Now the creator of the rooms could add a secret passage, perhaps hidden underneath some stones in the floor. To do this, first the player would describe what the stones looked like, then make a hidden exit to another location with a special command which would activate it. Here's what the player would see after making these changes: > show details Details here that you may inspect: stones plaque > look stones The stones are rough and black, and cold to the touch. Although the mortar work appears to have been expertly done, it has decayed with time. Many stones are cracked, and narrow spaces fracture the carefully laid pattern. Some of the stones are quite loose. You might be able to lift one of them with some effort. > lift With great effort, you manage to lift the stone enough to fit inside. Once below the stone, it falls back into place, sealing out the light from above. You squirm down the narrow tunnel . . . This example only hints at the details that actually go into the creation of a realistic game puzzle. To set up a rich game location, a player would have to specify: o A textual description of the room, as well as separate descriptions for various rooms details (in the example above, the plaque and the stones are room details) o A description of each of the possible exits from the rooms (there might be no description if the exit is hidden) o What happens when an object is dropped at the location (for example, if a player is swimming and he drops something, the object should sink) as well as a message describing what happened to the object o For each exit, a set of messages and parameters including: - the name of the exit - whether the exit requires a special object to pass (for example, a door key or some magic object) - a message displayed to the player if he can't successfully leave through the exit (if he doesn't have the key, for instance) - an optional message that the player sees when he goes through an exit (in the example above, the text "Once below the stone, it falls back into place...." is such a message) - a message that players inside the room see when someone leaves through the exit - a message that players inside the room see when another player enters the room through the exit - miscellaneous other parameters Technical Aspects of Monster: ----------------------------- Each player who plays the Monster game runs a separate copy of the game. Each individual Monster process shares a database containing all of the information about the simulated world, including: o Records describing all of the rooms, interconnections between rooms, objects, and descriptions for the above o The locations of every player and object o A special shared file used for interprocess communication Each of the Monster database files are organized as a linear collection of fixed-length records. Monster uses the following files: roomfile: file of records containing data on Monster locations namfile: file containing names for objects, rooms and people descfile: file of text description blocks (10 lines maximum) linefile: file of short (one line) descriptions intfile: file of various integer parameters objfile: file of records containing data on Monster objects indexfile: file of bitmaps for the other files; used to mark free/inuse records for dynamic allocation eventfile: file of records used for interprocess communication Record Locking: --------------- When Monster tries to access a record in one of the shared data files, it first makes a read attempt on the record. If the record is available (no other Monster process is reading or writing it) VMS will lock and read the record and return successfully. If another process has locked the record, VMS will return an error condition. In this case the Monster process will wait a small random amount of time and attempt to read the record again. Then if the Monster program cannot successfully read and lock the record after a certain number of retries, it prints an error message and aborts. In initial versions of Monster a count was kept of how many times two processes would "collide" when both wanted to read one record. The random wait dramatically reduced this hit count. Monster's response time using this scheme is acceptable when the load on the VAX is not too high. However, it does have some drawbacks. The first is that a data record being read by a Monster process is locked for a short time, even if the process has no intention of writing to it. Also, the collide-and-wait approach is somewhat crude considering VMS has extensive record locking facilities which are capable not only of allowing multiple-read access to a record but also of queueing processes desiring to write-lock a record. Unfortunately, the use of these facilities requires special VMS priviliges not available to ordinary users. Interprocess Communication: --------------------------- Monster processes communicate through a shared file. A communication from one process to another is referred to as an event; the shared file for communication is called the event file. Two player processes will only need to communicate if both players are in the same location, since actions in one room won't affect gamers elsewhere. However, when two or more players are in the same location, quite a lot of events may happen: o Notification of entry and exit -- players in the room must see when other players come and go o Notification of various actions -- such as picking up and dropping objects, taking inventory and closely examining things o Messages when players talk to each other in the game o Primary, target and third-party events for fighting -- the player throwing the punch sees one thing, the person being hit another, and somone else watching sees a third message. Because only player processes in the same Monster game location need to communicate, each room has an associated event file record. Each event file record contains a circular list of events with a pointer to the most recent event. When a player enters a new room, either by moving or joining the game, the Monster process reads the event file record for the room and makes a local copy of the current event pointer. At periodic intervals, the Monster process will reread the event file record and compare its local pointer to the one in the event file. If they are different, other player processes have logged events to the event record, and the Monster process will pull them off the list, handle them, and update its own local pointer. When a process needs to log an event, it write-locks the event file record, writes a new event, and updates the event file pointer. There are over sixty different events that a Monster process can initiate or handle; each event can be interpreted differently according to circumstances. For example, player A may whisper something to player B. Suppose player C is also in the room. Player A's process logs an event containing the message, the event type ("whisper") and the target of the whisper (player B) to the event file record associated with their current location. > whisper b >> Hey b, this is something I whispered to you. Player B's process will receive and handle the event: A whispers, "Hey b, this is something I whispered to you." Player C's process will also receive and handle the event. Usually C will only see A and B whispering together: A is whispering to B. However, there is a small chance that C will overhear the message: You overhear A whispering to B: "Hey b, this is something I whispered to you." This method of interprocess communication requires that all Monster processes frequently read the event file to see if any events have occured. This might seem less efficient than another scheme possibly using VMS mailboxes or shared memory. Lack of sufficient VMS privileges prevented me from using shared memory. Mailboxes might be more efficient, especially if used with the Vax's interrupt system. However, several problems would be present: o In order to allow any process to communicate with any other, full interconnection would be necessary. In addition, since VMS mailboxes only transmit data in one direction, n Monster processes would require 2n mailboxes. A scheme using mailboxes would quickly exhaust process quota limits. o It is somewhat awkward to set up mailboxes and even more difficult to inform other processes of their presence. Once again, I believe that special VMS privileges might be necessary to do this. The event file scheme of communication has proven flexible and is fast enough when the VAX load is not high. Maintaining a Player's Existence in the Database: ------------------------------------------------- When a user runs Monster, it first checks a playerlog to see if he has ever played before. If so, the player is restored to the state he was in when he last played, just before issuing the QUIT command. In the user is not found in the playerlog, he is started out at an initial location, somewhat in the center of the world. To place a player into a location, Monster scans the room record for a free "person" slot to put the player's index into. Once the player is part of the room record, he will be visible to other players who are also in that room (providing he hasn't hidden himself), and they will be able to interact with him. A dangerous situation occurs when a player process dies or becomes disconnected for some reason. In this case, the room record shows that a certain player is in a location, but in fact there is no controlling Monster process for that player. There will be no process to handle events directed at that player. This is a bad situation because they player is not obviously "dead" to the other Monster programs, as interprocess communication only involves sending an event, and does not provide for receipt acknowledgement. These "zombie" players were a serious nuisance in an early version of Monster. The Monster world appeared to be full of players, when in fact they were just ghosts left from players typing the VAX interrupt character or becoming disconnected from modems (Monster now inhibits the interrupt character to help prevent the casual creation of zombies). There are two cases where a zombie game character may be detected: when another player suspects that a game character is not being controlled by a real user (either from a lack of response from the game character or by checking the VAX user list); or when the player who created the zombie character attempts to play Monster again (only one player per account is allow to play Monster at a time, so if a player tries to enter Monster and also appears to be currently playing the game, either 1) two players on one account are trying to play Monster at the same time, or 2) the player character that appears to be currently playing Monster is really a zombie). To handle the first case, when one player suspects another of being a zombie, the player can issue the PING command. PING sends repeated events directed at the suspected zombie, with short pauses between the sends. If PING does not receive a response within a certain amount of time (currently about three seconds) it attempts to smoothly return the zombie character to the "inactive" (not playing) state. This involves taking every object the player character was holding and dropping them on the ground, updating the "time of last play" record and modifying the playerlog to show that the player is not currently playing. In the second case, when no other player has PINGed away the zombie and the original player (the one responsible for the zombie character) attempts to reenter Monster, Monster will inform him: There may have been some trouble the last time you played. Trying to fix it . . . At this point, Monster itself attempts to PING the player's character. If two people on the same account are trying to play Monster at the same time the PING will be answered and Monster will not let the second player into the game. Otherwise, the player will enter Monster normally after a short pause: All should be fixed now. Welcome back, Faust. Your last play was on 13-MAY-1988 at 8:31pm. Even with this solution, there are still situations where trouble can arise with zombie characters. For example, suppose a player is on a modem playing Monster and becomes disconnected. Another player PINGs away the zombie character. The dialup player calls up the VAX again, and reconnects to his disconnected process. Now his Monster process still thinks the player character is alive in the room (it has no knowledge of the disconnect) but the database shows that the player is inactive. If only a few events have been logged in the associated event file record, the reconnnected Monster process will notice the fatal PING to itself (lingering in the event file record) and will abort. However, if many events have occured while the process was disconnected, it will not be aware of the change to the database. This will leave the database in an inconsistent state until the player QUITs the game. Fortunately, when the player quits the database will be fixed. Since this problem will eventually correct itself (when the player quits) and because checking for this very rare situation would slow response time considerably (Monster would have to verify its existence in the database continuously) I decided to ignore this exception. I had originally hoped for a smoother solution to the "disconnected player" problem. In a system where a central process drives all of the player terminals, this is possible. However, because control in Monster is shared between many identical processes, the problem is much harder. Reflections on the Project: --------------------------- How the "Installed Base" Stagnated New Development: --------------------------------------------------- During the development of Monster I would periodically change the records that held the Monster database. Once changed in the program, this would render the existing database unusable, as the new program could no longer open the old files. Thus, I would have to destroy the existing world if I wanted to add any fields to the records that comprised the shared files. In order to provide a stable environment for players who did not want to see their hard work making Monster rooms destroyed every time I made a change to the structure of the database, I installed a version with a separate set of data files than the copy I worked on for development. Players created rooms and tested the installed version, while I continued to develop my own copy. Eventually, the world in the first release of Monster had about 60 rooms. About a month after installing the original Monster I replaced it with the new, greatly enhanced version I had been working on (the executable was about 4 times the size of the original) and started over with an empty world. I had provided expansion fields in the data records for the new release of Monster so I could continue to develop the game without having to work on my own private copy. The second release of Monster was very popular. I continued to add features to the program, and made use of the expansion fields when possible. However, I felt more and more constrained by the limits of my database. I needed to change more about the data records than the expansion fields would allow. I wanted to erase the world a second time; however, players had put much work into creating over 100 rooms, and became quite angry when I suggested that I might throw away the current world to make a new one. Some suggested that I write a program which would convert the existing database to a new format. However, I felt that the work to do this would be much greater than the work I was planning to spend to make enhancements to the game. Also, the style of my changes during development called for small frequent changes. I abandoned the idea of trying to write a translation program, and instead attempted to work around the limitations of the database structure. Eventually, however, my work stagnated, and new development on Monster ceased. I never anticipated the work of my playtesters holding back further development. If I were to rewrite Monster, I would use a more flexible storage approach, one probably involving a form of dynamic typing which would let me add new parameters to the database without actually changing the record structure or size. Appendix A: Specifyable Parameters for Monster Locations and Objects --------------------------------------------------------------------- Rooms: ------ nicename: the name of the room nameprint: formatting control for the nicename primary, secondary: textual descriptions of the room which: control for which room description prints: 0 - only print primary room description 1 - only print secondary room description 2 - print both primary and secondary room descriptions 3 - print primary description; then print secondary description if the player is holding the specified magic object for the room magicobj: the magic object for the room trapto, trapchance: allows a player to semi-randomly be thrust through an exit rndmsg: eerie message that randomly prints details: details that may be looked at in the room Exits: ------ toloc: where the exit goes kind: type of the exit: 0 - no exit; always fails 1 - open exit; always succeeds 2 - exits succeeds if player has key object 3 - exit fails if player has key object 4 - exit randomly fails 5 - potential exit; doesn't exist yet 7 - exit cycles between being open and closed exitdesc: short textual descrption of the exit fail: description if player fails to go through exit success: description if player succeeds to go through exit goin: what other players see when someone goes into the exit comeout: what others see when a player comes out of the exit hidden: what the player sees when he finds the exit (if it's hidden) objreq: key object for exit alias: name of the exit reqverb: requires the player to use the alias only (without "go") to use the exit reqalias: requires the player to know the exit alias; can't use the compass point autolook: surpresses the automatic "look" done upon entering the new room Objects: -------- oname: the name of the object kind: type parameter for the object linedesc: short description of the object (the "on the floor" description) examine: close inspection description for the object numexist: how many copies of the object exist sticky: inhibits players from being able to pick up the object getobjreq: requires the player to be holding another object before he can pick up this one getfail: message printed if a player fails to get an object getsuccess: message printed when an object is successfully picked up useobjreq: object player must be holding to use this object uselocreq: place player must be in to use this object usefail: message printed if player fails in use of the object usesuccess: message printed if object is successfully used usealias: alias word to "use" reqalias: require player to know the alias to use the object article: whether "a", "an", "some", "the" should precede the object name Appendix B: Monster Command List --------------------------------- Accept/Refuse # Allow others to Link an exit here at direction # | Undo Accept Brief Toggle printing of room descriptions Customize [#] Customize this room | Customize exit # | Customize object # Describe [#] Describe this room | Describe a feature (#) in detail Destroy # Destroy an instance of object # (you must be holding it) Duplicate # Make a duplicate of an already-created object. Form/Zap # Form a new room with name # | Destroy room named # Get/Drop # Get/Drop an object #,Go # Go towards # (Some: N/North S/South E/East W/West U/Up D/Down) Health Show how healthy you are Hide/Reveal [#] Hide/Reveal yoursef | Hide object (#) I,Inventory See what you or someone else is carrying Link/Unlink # Link/Unlink this room to/from another via exit at direction # Look,L [#] Look here | Look at something or someone (#) closely Make # Make a new object named # Name # Set your game name to # Players List people who have played Monster Punch # Punch person # Quit Leave the game Relink Move an exit Rooms Show information about rooms you have made Say, ' (quote) Say line of text following command to others in the room Search Look around the room for anything hidden Self # Edit a description of yourself | View #'s self-description Show # Show option # (type SHOW ? for a list) Unmake # Remove the form definition of object # Use # Use object # Wear # Wear the object # Wield # Wield the weapon #; you must be holding it first Whisper # Whisper something (prompted for) to person # Who List of people playing Monster now Whois # What is a player's username ?,Help This list . (period) Repeat last command Appendix C: Customization Subsystem Menus ------------------------------------------ Room Customization: ------------------- Custom> ? D Alter the way the room description prints N Change how the room Name prints P Edit the Primary room description [the default one] (same as desc) S Edit the Secondary room description X Define a mystery message G Set the location that a dropped object really Goes to O Edit the object drop description (for drop effects) B Edit the target room (G) "bounced in" description T Set the direction that the Trapdoor goes to C Set the Chance of the trapdoor functioning M Define the magic object for this room R Rename the room V View settings on this room E Exit (same as quit) Q Quit (same as exit) ? This list Exit customization: ------------------- Custom [direction]> ? A Set an Alias for the exit C Conceal an exit D Edit the exit's main Description E EXIT custom (saves changes) F Edit the exit's failure line I Edit the line that others see when a player goes Into an exit K Set the object that is the Key to this exit L Automatically look [default] / don't look on exit O Edit the line that people see when a player comes Out of an exit Q QUIT Custom (saves changes) R Require/don't require alias for exit; ignore direction S Edit the success line T Alter Type of exit (passage, door, etc) V View exit information X Require/don't require exit name to be a verb ? This list Object Customization: --------------------- Custom object> ? A "a", "an", "some", etc. D Edit a Description of the object F Edit the GET failure message G Set the object required to pick up this object 1 Set the get success message K Set the Kind of object this is L Edit the label description ("There is a ... here.") P Program the object based on the kind it is R Rename the object S Toggle the sticky bit U Set the object required for use 2 Set the place required for use 3 Edit the use failure description 4 Edit the use success description V View attributes of this object X Edit the extra description 5 Edit extra desc #2 E Exit (same as Quit) Q Quit (same as Exit) ? This list Appendix D: Monster Playerlist as of June 5, 1988 -------------------------------------------------- dolpher ! Monster Manager 5-JUN-1988 1:48pm * great baths dasun_c ! Iceman 4-JUN-1988 10:30pm * the transporter room kirsten ! Kirsten 4-JUN-1988 11:20pm * ffoirefirma isakson ! Satan 3-JUN-1988 10:13am * satan's private hell tlb05405 ! Tlb05405 3-JUN-1988 11:59am * east hall nate ! Smaug 3-JUN-1988 7:41pm * platform 1 skrenta ! Faust 3-JUN-1988 8:37pm * tower room gary ! Monster Vice Manager 2-JUN-1988 9:50pm * inner office laura ! Laura 2-JUN-1988 10:36pm * turbolift chamber james ! James 1-JUN-1988 7:54pm * chuk's elevator chuk ! SoulStorm 1-JUN-1988 9:57pm * east hall peter_t ! Peter_t 31-MAY-1988 8:33pm * pine forest cary ! Cary 31-MAY-1988 11:20pm * maelstrom francisco ! Prof. Anthrax 30-MAY-1988 3:54pm * waterbed sundeep ! Sundeep 29-MAY-1988 2:21pm * mta office bkc04916 ! Cheekster 28-MAY-1988 10:51am * the 'ell stop ktl04905 ! Corwin 28-MAY-1988 11:44am * west hall perry ! Bufu Master!!! 28-MAY-1988 8:40pm * pinkie's place maryahn ! pinkie 27-MAY-1988 12:39pm * the sewer tunnel immell ! hurricane eye 26-MAY-1988 2:25am * post office 3 robert ! Hungry Wolf 26-MAY-1988 2:26am * roll6 linda ! linlop 26-MAY-1988 10:47am * terminal room jeff ! Pringle 25-MAY-1988 7:12pm * ic mic00229 ! Mic00229 22-MAY-1988 8:33pm * great hall jeffoire ! Ffoire Zen Salad 20-MAY-1988 1:41pm * bar schroder ! Schroder 19-MAY-1988 10:09am * burrow lunde ! Purple Peril 18-MAY-1988 12:55pm * cloud 9.5 pib ! Great Pib 17-MAY-1988 11:51pm * great pib's lair ahrens ! it 15-MAY-1988 4:56pm * landing mborsetti ! Mborsetti 12-MAY-1988 10:20pm * sewer crossroads brian ! Mr. Raven 11-MAY-1988 11:24am * a damp and dark hole wen05563 ! Gary 11-MAY-1988 9:00pm * great hall jimbo ! Jimbo 8-MAY-1988 10:02pm * great hall lentz ! Lentz 7-MAY-1988 8:24am * front of isp noyes miller ! Mungus 5-MAY-1988 1:14pm * starbase otto ! Otto 4-MAY-1988 8:45pm * heidi's nightmare chris ! House Manager 3-MAY-1988 3:54am * home base liao ! Liao 30-APR-1988 1:21pm * white house chaz ! Chaz 29-APR-1988 4:05pm * post office 2 jmc ! Run JMC 29-APR-1988 4:37pm * isp heaven rod ! Rod 29-APR-1988 9:00pm * great hall choi ! Choi 28-APR-1988 8:25pm * east hall bo ! God 26-APR-1988 1:58pm * great hall jonathan ! Jonathan 26-APR-1988 5:26pm * eye of the hurricane swift ! Swift 26-APR-1988 8:53pm * post office hall ric05787 ! Deadhead 26-APR-1988 10:57pm * nightmarish room mccoy ! The Scribe 26-APR-1988 11:41pm * scribe home g_wenslow ! Gary II 24-APR-1988 11:58pm * east hall kri04333 ! Kri04333 18-APR-1988 12:11am * great hall dissett ! Kronos 18-APR-1988 10:13pm * kronos' room wantz ! Wantz 17-APR-1988 2:51pm * great hall cheezer ! Cheezer 16-APR-1988 7:55pm * the pine forest ahr04465 ! Ivo 16-APR-1988 7:56pm * sewer transport joey ! geek 15-APR-1988 8:03pm * forest crossroads wargaski ! Wargaski 14-APR-1988 4:01pm * toxicated eric ! Eric 13-APR-1988 3:51pm * the hall of chuk rwc00220 ! Rwc00220 12-APR-1988 1:32pm * great hall kstull ! Kstull 12-APR-1988 5:01pm * post office 3 tim ! Tim 11-APR-1988 8:26pm * great hall sean ! Sean 10-APR-1988 4:27pm * great hall sam ! Sam 10-APR-1988 12:54pm * great hall dean ! Artagel 9-APR-1988 8:21am * turbolift chamber supercom ! Cursor 8-APR-1988 12:00am * forest paths anne ! Anne 7-APR-1988 6:55pm * great hall lisa ! Lisa 7-APR-1988 6:56pm * great hall mouse ! Mouse 3-APR-1988 11:26pm * west hall mca04477 ! Mca04477 2-APR-1988 8:56pm * burrow sajiv ! Sajiv 30-MAR-1988 6:06pm * great hall chad ! Chad 30-MAR-1988 6:37pm * chuk's elevator jennifer ! Jennifer 30-MAR-1988 7:22pm * east hall lasonia ! Lasonia 29-MAR-1988 11:22am * west hall brian_t ! Brian_t 29-MAR-1988 11:59am * maelstrom mikk ! Random 29-MAR-1988 11:19pm * ledge topher ! Topher 28-MAR-1988 1:19pm * great hall spectre ! Ghost in the machine 28-MAR-1988 11:43pm * ghost's mailroom dave ! Dave 18-MAR-1988 10:14am * post office hall penguins ! Penguins Amok 18-MAR-1988 11:52pm * chuk's elevator lawson ! Space Cowboy 18-MAR-1988 12:23pm * great hall heidi ! Heidi 17-MAR-1988 1:11am * digital purgatory bueno ! Bueno 17-MAR-1988 7:49pm * post office hall dan ! Grando 16-MAR-1988 8:18am * eye of the hurricane eric_yue ! Samsok 16-MAR-1988 9:29pm * the yueguy's joint cra01453 ! Cra01453 15-MAR-1988 3:01am * great hall adam ! Adam 14-MAR-1988 6:45pm * round room was04906 ! Milt 14-MAR-1988 9:48pm * great hall watson ! Watson 14-MAR-1988 10:22pm * chuk's elevator brianw ! Brianw 12-MAR-1988 * ffoirefirma mike ! Mike 12-MAR-1988 * toxicated predator ! Predator 12-MAR-1988 * east hall daniel ! Daniel 11-MAR-1988 * west hall dav08345 ! Dav08345 11-MAR-1988 * great hall vlahos ! otis 11-MAR-1988 * post office ginter ! Ginter 10-MAR-1988 * living room rob09549 ! Rob09549 9-MAR-1988 * great hall dora ! Dora 8-MAR-1988 * toxicated kim ! kim 8-MAR-1988 * post office 2 michael ! Prabdib 7-MAR-1988 * tunnel of love bradley ! Bradley 29-FEB-1988 * eye of the hurricane john ! Raunchmeister 29-FEB-1988 * underhall melvin ! Killer Melvin 27-FEB-1988 * chuk's elevator cliff ! Cliff 26-FEB-1988 * east hall Appendix E: An Actual Monster Game Log --------------------------------------- $ monster Welcome to Monster! Hit return to start: Welcome back, Faust. Your last play was on 1-JUN-1988 at 10:47pm. You're in Great Hall You're in the middle of a vast hall stretching out of sight to the east and west. Strange shadows play across the high vaulted ceiling. The floor is set with smooth rectangular stones. The walls feel slightly cold to the touch, and damp with condensation. A copper plaque, slightly green with age, is set into one wall. Monster Manager is here. > Monster Manager vanishes in a brilliant burst of multicolored light. > l You're in Great Hall You're in the middle of a vast hall stretching out of sight to the east and west. Strange shadows play across the high vaulted ceiling. The floor is set with smooth rectangular stones. The walls feel slightly cold to the touch, and damp with condensation. A copper plaque, slightly green with age, is set into one wall. > Monster Manager appears in a brilliant burst of multicolored light. > who Monster Status 1-JUN-1988 10:48pm Username Game Name Where dolpher Monster Manager great hall skrenta Faust great hall > look plaque The plaque looks very old and corroded. However, you can still make out the writing: " Monster, created by Rich Skrenta, 1988. Play at your own risk. " > show details Details here that you may inspect: stones plaque > look stones The stones are rough and black, and cold to the touch. Although the mortar work appears to have been expertly done, it has decayed with time. Many stones are cracked, and narrow spaces fracture the carefully laid pattern. Some of the stones are quite loose. You might be able to lift one of them with some effort. > Monster Manager is looking at the stones. > Monster Manager is looking at the plaque. > Monster Manager says, "Hey Faust, let's go down to the Underhall." > Monster Manager manages to lift a stone in the floor and descends. > lift With great effort, you manage to lift the stone enought to fit inside. Once below the stone, it falls back into place, sealing out the light from above. You squirm down the narrow tunnel . . . You're in UnderHall This is a cramped, humid room beneath the Great Hall. The walls are dripping with water condensed from mist rising from the baths. Some of the mist follows the ceiling and dissappears up the narrow tunnel. Stairs lead north down to the Great Baths. A neon sign flashes "Great PIB's Lair" over a door to the South. You could manage a crawl through a narrow tunnel leading upwards. Monster Manager is here. > look Monster Manager Monster Manager is the stereotype of a computer hacker. He is wearing a flannel shirt with several snickers bars in the breast pocket. On his belt is an ASCII-HEX conversion chart. On his feet are a scuffed pair of hiking boots so he can tackle those dangerous mountains that crop up in operations. Also dangling from his belt is a battered box with many buttons on the front and wires with sockets on the ends protruding from the back. The switches seem to have been placed haphazardly, but the object is unmistakably one of great power nonetheless. Monster Manager is in perfect health. Monster Manager is empty handed. > Monster Manager is looking at you. > Monster Manager swings at you but misses. > You duck in time to avoid Monster Manager's punch. > You see stars as Monster Manager bashes you in the face. > You parry Monster Manager's attack. > punch Monster Manager You can't punch the Monster Manager. > l You're in UnderHall This is a cramped, humid room beneath the Great Hall. The walls are dripping with water condensed from mist rising from the baths. Some of the mist follows the ceiling and dissappears up the narrow tunnel. Stairs lead north down to the Great Baths. A neon sign flashes "Great PIB's Lair" over a door to the South. You could manage a crawl through a narrow tunnel leading upwards. Monster Manager is here. > n You're in Great Baths These are the luxurious Great Baths where tired adventurers may come to relax and try to regain their health and youth from the mineral waters. From where you stand at the entrance, you can see below you the bubbling soapy pools of water churning violently in tile-lined pits. The pools are fed by hot springs from deep in the rock beneath you. Steam and huge soapy bubbles rise out of the hot pools of water. The bubbles dance through the air, climbing higher and higher, until they either burst on the sharp walls of the cave or are lost in the mist above you. Shallow tiled steps, wet and slick from the hot soapy waters of the springs, lead down to the pools. Rough stone stairs lead up to the south. > In an explosion of orange smoke Monster Vice Manager poofs into the room. > Monster Manager has come down the stairs from the Underhall. > Monster Vice Manager produces a "who" list and reads it. > system System> v used free total Block file 1008 92 1100 Line file 1501 109 1610 Room file 283 27 310 Object file 139 41 180 Integer file 6 0 6 System> Monster Vice Manager is in system maintenance mode. System> exit > Monster Vice Manager is no longer in system maintenance mode. > 'Hey Gary > Monster Vice Manager says, "Hi, Faust." > look Monster Vice Manager The Monster Vice Manager is dressed in a conservative three piece suit. The stern expression on his face is just a facade, he really is a warm and sensitive guy underneath. He is willing to answer any questions and help out with any problems. He can best be described by the phrase: "Do what thou wilt, so mete it be." He returns your gaze with a hint of understanding and amusement. Monster Vice Manager is in perfect health. Monster Vice Manager is empty handed. > Monster Vice Manager is looking at you. > punch Monster Vice Manager You swing wild and miss. > . Monster Vice Manager ducks and avoids your punch. > . A quick punch, but it only grazes Monster Vice Manager. > You only feel the breeze as Monster Vice Manager swings wildly. > . You swing wild and miss. > You see stars as Monster Vice Manager bashes you in the face. > You only feel the breeze as Monster Vice Manager swings wildly. > . You deliver a quick jab to Monster Vice Manager's jaw. > Monster Vice Manager's swing misses you by a yard. > . Your roundhouse blow sends Monster Vice Manager reeling. > You double over after Monster Vice Manager lands a mean jab to your stomach! Monster Vice Manager looks a little dazed. > Monster Vice Manager vanishes from the room in a cloud of orange smoke. > who Monster Status 1-JUN-1988 10:56pm Username Game Name Where dolpher Monster Manager great baths skrenta Faust great baths gary Monster Vice Manager inner office > poof inner office This rooms is a conservatively decorated office. A large desk dominates the room. Several pictures hang on the walls and a silver service is on a stand off to the left. Two plush chairs beckon for you to sit down. There are stairs leading down. Monster Vice Manager is here. Monster Vice Manager looks a little dazed. > sh det Details here that you may inspect: bin plaque pictures stand > look bin The bin has a sign on it saying, "Leave mail for the Monster Vice Manager here. Thank you." > look plaque The plaque reads: Gary Wenslow, Monster Vice Manager > look pictures These are very nice pictures of landscapes. They look expensive. > look stand The silver service on this stand is of fine workmanship. There are also crystal goblets and flasks containing very fine wine, brandy, and whiskey. > l This rooms is a conservatively decorated office. A large desk dominates the room. Several pictures hang on the walls and a silver service is on a stand off to the left. Two plush chairs beckon for you to sit down. There are stairs leading down. Monster Vice Manager is here. Monster Vice Manager looks a little dazed. > rooms gary gary: tunnel of love more tunnel of love end of tunnel hot dog stand picnic window mvm office inner office hall1 hall2 hall3 hall4 hall5 hall6 hall7 hall8 hall9 concession roll1 roll2 roll3 roll4 roll5 roll6 roll7 roll8 roll9 roll10 worker's ledge railing rope mvm mail room > rooms dolpher dolpher: void pit of fire underhall great baths pools in the pool in the bubble higher bubble highest bubble ledge tower ledge circular staircase behind house kitchen living room bottom of stairs manager's mailbox tower room on the scaffolding round room mountain pass roof of tower west passageway castle entrance center hall outside the gate east passageway narrow passage > poof behind house You're at Behind House The back door of the house is boarded up, but the windows have not been blocked. One window at ground level leads into what appears to be the kitchen. All of the other windows are too far above the ground for you to reach. A path leads west to the front of the house. > form Study > poof studty There is no room named studty. > poof study You're in Study A note on the east wall says "Your exit here." > refuse east Exits east will be refused. > l You're in Study > desc [ Editing the primary room description ] Enter text. Terminate with ** at the beginning of a line. You have 10 lines maximum. 1: This is a luxurious study walled with fine oak paneling. A window 2: looks out of the east wall. It is surrounded by purple curtains. 3: There is a small sign on the wall. 4: ** * e > l You're in Study This is a luxurious study walled with fine oak paneling. A window looks out of the east wall. It is surrounded by purple curtains. There is a small sign on the wall. > desc sign [ Editing detail "sign" of this room ] Enter text. Terminate with ** at the beginning of a line. You have 10 lines maximum. 1: The note seems to have been hurriedly scrawled. It reads: 2: 3: " This room for demonstration purposes only! " 4: 5: ** * ? A Append text to end C Check text for correct length with parameter substitution (#) D # Delete line # E Exit & save changes I # Insert lines before line # P Print out description Q Quit: THROWS AWAY CHANGES R # Replace text of line # Z Zap all text @ Throw away text & exit with the default description ? This list * p 1: The note seems to have been hurriedly scrawled. It reads: 2: 3: " This room for demonstration purposes only! " 4: * e > sh det Details here that you may isspect: sign > look sign The note seems to have been hurriedly scrawled. It reads: " This room for demonstration purposes only! " > l You're in Study This is a luxurious study walled with fine oak paneling. A window looks out of the east wall. It is surrounded by purple curtains. There is a small sign on the wall. > desc sign [ Editing detail "sign" of this room ] * i 1 1: 2: ** * p 1: 2: The note seems to have been hurriedly scrawled. It reads: 3: 4: " This room for demonstration purposes only! " 5: * e > look sign The note seems to have been hurriedly scrawled. It reads: " This room for demonstration purposes only! " > l You're in Study This is a luxurious study walled with fine oak paneling. A window looks out of the east wall. It is surrounded by purple curtains. There is a small sign on the wall. > form Behind the Curtains > link west Hit return alone at any prompt to terminate exit creation. Room to link to? behind the curtains Exit comes out in target room from what direction? east Exit created. Use CUSTOM west to customize your exit. > l You're in Study This is a luxurious study walled with fine oak paneling. A window looks out of the east wall. It is surrounded by purple curtains. There is a small sign on the wall. There is a passage leading west. > custom west Customizing west exit If you would rather be customizing this room, type CUSTOM with no arguments If you would rather be customizing an object, type CUSTOM <object name> Type ** for any line to leave it unchanged. Type return for any line to select the default. Custom west> ? A Set an Alias for the exit C Conceal an exit D Edit the exit's main Description E EXIT custom (saves changes) F Edit the exit's failure line I Edit the line that others see when a player goes Into an exit K Set the object that is the Key to this exit L Automatically look [default] / don't look on exit O Edit the line that people see when a player comes Out of an exit Q QUIT Custom (saves changes) R Require/don't require alias for exit; ignore direction S Edit the success line T Alter Type of exit (passage, door, etc) V View exit information X Require/don't require exit name to be a verb ? This list Custom west> a Alternate name for the exit? curtains Custom west> r The alias for this exit will be required to reference it. Custom west> d Enter a one line description of the exit. Type ** to leave line unchanged, * to make [no line] * Custom west> exit > l You're in Study This is a luxurious study walled with fine oak paneling. A window looks out of the east wall. It is surrounded by purple curtains. There is a small sign on the wall. > go curtains You're in Behind the Curtains There is a passage leading east. A note on the floor says "Your exit here." > e You're in Study This is a luxurious study walled with fine oak paneling. A window looks out of the east wall. It is surrounded by purple curtains. There is a small sign on the wall. > desc window [ Editing detail "window" of this room ] Enter text. Terminate with ** at the beginning of a line. You have 10 lines maximum. 1 You see a green lawn shaded by tall trees and bordered with sculptured 2: shrubbery. A small rabbit is nibbling at some grass. The entire 3: scene has an artificial look, as if it were some cartoon rendering. 4: ** * exit > sh det Details here that you may inspect: sign window > look window You see a green lawn shaded by tall trees and bordered with sculptured shrubbery. A small rabbit is nibbling at some grass. The entire scene has an artificial look, as if it were some cartoon rendering. > quit You vanish in a brilliant burst of multicolored light. $