Chapter 7: Basic Actions
7.4. Try and try silently

A useful little phrase allows us to trigger off actions ourselves, rather than waiting for the player to type something which generates them. Thus:

Instead of entering the trapdoor, try going up.

The effect of this is that the original action is stopped and converted into a new one. The word "try" is chosen to make clear that there is no guarantee of success. For example:

Before locking the front door, try closing the front door.

"Try" can be modified with the word "silently" thus:

try silently taking the napkin;

Silence is maintained only if this new action, the taking of the napkin, is successful (so if the napkin is successfully taken, the text "Taken." will not appear): if the action should fail, a suitable objection will be voiced as usual. The following:

Before locking the front door, try silently closing the front door.

is better than our previous attempt because the closing action is meant to be something that the player would do quite unconsciously, so that it seems inappropriate to mention it at all.


84
* Example  Hayseed
A refinement of our staircase kind which can be climbed.

RB
85
* Example  Fine Laid
Making writing that can be separately examined from the paper on which it appears, but which directs all other actions to the paper.

RB

Sometimes it is useful to direct all -- or almost all -- actions from one object to another. For the sake of argument, say we have a sheet of paper with writing on it, and (because we're very meticulous) we want to let the player examine the writing and get a customized response, different from when he just examines the sheet of paper. But for all other purposes -- say, TAKE or TASTE -- we want the two objects to be treated as one.

Here, we approach the problem by changing the noun and/or the second noun of the current action, then issuing a new command to "try the current action". Because we've changed the noun and second noun, the "current action" at this point is different from the one generated originally by the player's command.

"Fine Laid"

High Street Stationer is a room.

The sheet of paper is a thing in High Street Stationer. The writing is part of the sheet of paper.

The description of the sheet of paper is "A beautiful sheet of heavy cream paper." The description of the writing is "Delicate and spidery."

Instead of tasting the sheet of paper, say "You might need more fiber in your diet, but this isn't the way.".

Before doing something other than examining when the current action involves the writing:
    if the writing is the noun, change the noun to the sheet of paper;
    if the writing is the second noun, change the second noun to the sheet of paper;
    try the current action instead.

Test me with "examine sheet of paper / examine writing / get writing / taste writing".


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