   Welcome to The Fellowship of the Fleece.                                    
                                                                               
   This game is in the time-honoured  tradition of text-only adventures, the   
   concept behind which being that your mind is capable of painting far more   
   vivid pictures than mere computer graphics could achieve.                   
                                                                               
   YOU are the central figure in the story, and you will be presented with a   
   series of  problems & puzzles in your course to the final solution. These   
   problems will frequently require you to possess  certain  items  obtained   
   from elsewhere in the game and to use them in a particular way. It  would   
   be unwise to assume that any single item has only one use!                  
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                                         
   As an indication of how you are progressing, you will be  presented  with   
   a regular update of your score and the number of moves made so far. This,   
   however, is only a general guide, and should not be taken too  seriously.   
   Points will be awarded for obtaining certain items and for  solving  some   
   problems, but remember that the final objective is to complete the game -   
   you will be in no doubt when this has been achieved!                        
                                                                               
   At the risk of stating the obvious, you  would  be well advised to draw a   
   map.  Read all text carefully, and examine  all objects, as in many cases   
   the information you receive will be helpful in indicating your way ahead.   
   There are often clues in the descriptions of locations and objects  which   
   can provide valuable pointers.                                              
   
   THE PARSER                                                                  
   ~~~~~~~~~~                                                                  
   The parser in The Golden Fleece is certainly as sophisticated as any  you   
   will have come across in previous adventures.  You  communicate  with the   
   game by typing in your entry in plain English when you see the  prompt >,   
   finishing with the <RETURN> key.                                            
                                                                               
   To move around, just type in the desired direction, remembering that from   
   any location there may be the eight compass directions: NORTH, NORTHEAST,   
   EAST, SOUTHEAST, SOUTH, SOUTHWEST, WEST, NORTHWEST, plus UP and DOWN  and   
   IN and OUT. These can be abbreviated to N,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W,NW,U,D, although   
   IN and OUT have no abbreviations.  The  commands can be expressed in many   
   ways - thus, NORTH could be typed in as `NORTH',  `GO NORTH',  `GO TO THE   
   NORTH' or simply `N'.                                                       
                                                                               
   With certain verbs you are able to use multiple objects. Thus if you find   
   yourself in a location in which  you  wish to acquire several items,  you   
   could type in `TAKE THE LAMP THE SHOTGUN AND THE LOG'.  Note that `THE' &   
   `AND' are understood, but not required,  and the above command could just   
   as easily be `TAKE LAMP SHOTGUN LOG'.                                       
                                                                               
   The use of the words `EVERYTHING' OR `ALL' can be useful.  Thus you could   
   enter `TAKE ALL' or `GET EVERYTHING' in which  case  everything available   
   to be taken in your present location would be acquired.                     
                                                                               
   The exception facility `EXCEPT' or `BUT' is also useful in that you could   
   type   `TAKE  EVERYTHING  EXCEPT  THE LAMP AND THE BALL'.  Note that this   
   command could also be expressed in several different ways such  as  `TAKE   
   ALL BUT THE LAMP AND THE BALL', `GET ALL BUT NOT THE LAMP OR THE BALL' or   
   `TAKE EVERYTHING BUT NEITHER THE LAMP NOR THE BALL'.                        
                                                                               
   Please note that you may come  across certain  situations where an object   
   is hidden either inside, on, behind or under another object. In this sort   
   of situation you have to specify exactly from where you  wish to  acquire   
   the item. Thus, if you are in a room which contains a box  (or indeed are   
   carrying the said box) and the box contains an  emerald, typing  `GET THE   
   EMERALD' would not work - you would have to  enter  `GET THE EMERALD FROM   
   THE BOX'.  Examining any container will tell you whether or not it  holds   
   anything of interest.  Extrapolating from  the above, you could enter the   
   command `TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE BOX',  or if there were some things you   
   wished to exclude this could become `TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE BOX BUT NOT   
   THE EMERALD OR THE DISK',  `GET ALL BUT THE EMERALD AND THE DISK FROM THE   
   BOX', or even  `GET ALL FROM THE BOX BUT LEAVE THE EMERALD AND THE DISK'.    

   Multiple commands are available within one entry by separating each comm-   
   and with either a full stop or the word THEN.  Illustrative  examples  of   
   this follow:                                                                
                                                                               
   `TAKE THE HELMET FROM THE BOX THEN PUT THE EMERALD ON THE CHAIR'            
                                                                               
   `KILL THE TROLL WITH THE AXE THEN PUT ALL BUT THE DISK INTO THE BOX'        
                                                                               
   `OPEN THE DOOR THEN GO THROUGH IT'                                          
                                                                               
   Or in shorter form:                                                         
                                                                               
   `GO NORTH.DROP ALL BUT LAMP.GET DISK.RING BELL.WAIT'                        
                                                                               
   While really lengthy instructions could be entered as follows:              
                                                                               
   `N.N.E.U.NW.E.OPEN DOOR.E.N.GET ALL.WEAR COAT.READ SIGN.D.N.N.NE'           
                                                                               
   SAVING AND RESTORING                                                        
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                        
   It's not giving too much away to say that  at certain  points in the game   
   you will do something which unfortunately results in your untimely death.   
   As this can happen without warning, you are advised to save your position   
   from time to time. This is done by entering the single-word command  SAVE   
   whereupon you will be prompted for a filename for the position. Enter the   
   filename and hit the <RETURN> key.                                          
                                                                               
   To restore the game from any saved position, type the command RESTORE and   
   enter the appropriate filename when prompted followed by <RETURN>.          
                                                                               
   To restart the game from the beginning enter the command RESTART followed   
   by <RETURN>.                                                                
                                                                               
   SOME SPECIAL ONE-WORD COMMANDS                                              
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                              
   AGAIN -  This will repeat the last command you entered from the keyboard.   
   It can be abbreviated to the single letter `G'.                             
                                                                               
   INVENTORY  -  Gives you a list of what you are currently carrying. It can   
   be abbreviated to the single letter `I'.                                    
                                                                               
   LOOK  -  Gives you a description of your surroundings.  It can be abbrev-   
   iated to the single letter `L'.                                             
                                                                               
   SCORE  -  Gives you your score in the game so far.                          
                                                                               
   QUIT  -  This lets you stop your current session of the game. You will be   
   asked to confirm that this is what you really wish to do. The command can   
   be abbreviated to the single letter `Q'.                                    
                                                                               
   WAIT  -  This  allows  time to pass for one move of the game, without any   
   other event taking place. It can be abbreviated to the single letter `Z'.   
                                                                               
   BRIEF  -  Normally you are presented with a full description of each room   
   only on the first occasion you enter it. On subsequent visits you will be   
   told only the name of the location and any objects  present.  This is how   
   the game will normally act unless you tell it otherwise using the VERBOSE   
   or SUPERBRIEF commands.                                                     
                                                                               
   VERBOSE  -  This  tells the  game that you wish a complete description of   
   each location every time you enter it, even if you've been there before.    
                                                                               
   SUPERBRIEF  -  This commands the game to  display only a location's name,   
   (together with any objects there) even if you've never been there before.   
   Of course, you can still get a full description by typing `LOOK'.           
                                                                               
   SLEEP  -  You may  (or may not)  wish to have  the occasional rest. This    
   command allows for that.                                                    
                                                                               
   GAMES - This will give you a list of all the saved-game positions on disk   
   from which you can restore.                                                 
                                                                               
   DELETE - Allows  you  to  delete a file  from  the saved-games directory.   
   Before proceeding with the deletion, the program will  first  request you   
   to confirm that you wish the file to be deleted.                            
                                                                               
   AUTHOR - Tells you who to contact if you're REALLY stuck!                   
                                                                               
   VERSION - Tells you the release number of your version of the adventure.    
                                                                               
   FINALLY                                                                     
   ~~~~~~~                                                                     
   Note that this game is far from easy,  and will  doubtless take you very    
   many days  (if not weeks)  to complete. It often helps if you play along    
   with someone else as frequently what one person finds difficult  another    
   finds easy, and in this way you can complement one another.                 
                                                                               
   Please persist, but if you are REALLY stuck,  you can write to me at the    
   following address enclosing a stamped addressed envelope:-                  
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                          
   Jim MacBrayne                                                               
   19 Dinmont Road                                                        
   Shawlands                                                               
   Glasgow G41 3UJ                                                             
   Scotland                                                                    

   Compuserve 100411,461

