Quest for Zen is an "interactive fiction" game with a twist - where you are part of a live-action book, but so are others! A text-adventure on a distant world where the only limit is your own imagination.
Help Desk
You find yourself in an oriental world of mental power and physical strength,
where dozens of other aspiring warriors will join you in the quest to become
a Zen Master Ninja. This triangular piece of land, which has been a training
ground for students of nin-jitsu for generations, is bordered on one side by
Shinto Mountain, and on the other two sides by the River of the Kami-no-michi.
Unknown to the world, this mystical place is filled with unmatched power...
and unescapable danger!
Here, you will be battling your fellow students in order to progress onward through the nine levels of power. To achieve each level, you must first defeat another ninja of equal or higher power than yourself and then complete a task (puzzles which must be solved from hints within the game). Starting off as a mere beginning ninja, it will take patience, wisdom, strategy, and skill to fight your way to the top of the ninja heirarchy. The path of the ninja is not for everyone -- many will fail, and only a few will find true success. Your destiny remains to be discovered...
QUEST FOR ZEN is a real-time, multi-user combat simulation. You control an "alter ego" character via commands entered through your terminal; the game lets you know what's going on by sending messages to your screen. The main aspect of this game is INTERACTION with other players, through conversation, combat, and various other "actions".
Your character consists of several vital statistics: level, health points, number of moves per turn, and known attacks and defenses. Your "level" determines your maximum number of health points, number of moves per turn, and the number of attacks and defenses you know. As you gain each level, your maximum number of health points will increase as well as your number of moves per turn and/or number of known attacks and defenses.
During a "turn", approximately 10 seconds, you may either use attacks and defense, or move around -- but not both in the same turn.
You always have a "defense mode" in use (the last one you executed), but changing that mode uses one of your "moves" for that turn. For example, a ninja with 3 attacks/defenses per turn may attack, change defense mode, and then attack again; however, if no attack or defense moves are used, the ninja may use that turn to move around the terrain).
All attacks and defenses have two-letter abbreviations. For a list of your current attacks and defenses, type "list attacks" or "list defenses". The format for using them in the game are "defense" and
"attack ". You may also use "att" and "def"
as abbreviations, and you do not have to type out the entire name of the
person you wish to attack. A typical example is "att HP mur", which works
just as well as "attack HP murdoctor".
Type "health" to see how many "health points" you have, and "status" to receive a full overview of your current standing in the game.
QUEST FOR ZEN also allows "peaceful" player interaction with commands such as "say", "wink", "nod", "grin", "laugh", etc. Some experimentation with different verbs will yield a variety of possible "actions". Accordingly, you can do some actions TO someone, such as "whisper to", "bow
", and "smile ". Remember that you are a ninja now, and
you must act as such. Certain actions (e.g. "hug") are not applicable in
this setting, while others (e.g. "ready") are specific to the martial arts
atmosphere presented within.
Other commands used herein: "brief" - display the name of each location, but not the long description. "unbrief" - show the long description of each location when you enter. "look" - display the long description of the room you are currently in. "look" - display the description of a player in the room.
"north"/"south"/"east"/"west"/"n"/"s"/"w"/"e" - move a certain direction.
"score" - list Zen Master high scores.
Good luck, student of ninjitsu... you'll need it!
Here, you will be battling your fellow students in order to progress onward through the nine levels of power. To achieve each level, you must first defeat another ninja of equal or higher power than yourself and then complete a task (puzzles which must be solved from hints within the game). Starting off as a mere beginning ninja, it will take patience, wisdom, strategy, and skill to fight your way to the top of the ninja heirarchy. The path of the ninja is not for everyone -- many will fail, and only a few will find true success. Your destiny remains to be discovered...
QUEST FOR ZEN is a real-time, multi-user combat simulation. You control an "alter ego" character via commands entered through your terminal; the game lets you know what's going on by sending messages to your screen. The main aspect of this game is INTERACTION with other players, through conversation, combat, and various other "actions".
Your character consists of several vital statistics: level, health points, number of moves per turn, and known attacks and defenses. Your "level" determines your maximum number of health points, number of moves per turn, and the number of attacks and defenses you know. As you gain each level, your maximum number of health points will increase as well as your number of moves per turn and/or number of known attacks and defenses.
During a "turn", approximately 10 seconds, you may either use attacks and defense, or move around -- but not both in the same turn.
You always have a "defense mode" in use (the last one you executed), but changing that mode uses one of your "moves" for that turn. For example, a ninja with 3 attacks/defenses per turn may attack, change defense mode, and then attack again; however, if no attack or defense moves are used, the ninja may use that turn to move around the terrain).
All attacks and defenses have two-letter abbreviations. For a list of your current attacks and defenses, type "list attacks" or "list defenses". The format for using them in the game are "defense
Type "health" to see how many "health points" you have, and "status" to receive a full overview of your current standing in the game.
QUEST FOR ZEN also allows "peaceful" player interaction with commands such as "say", "wink", "nod", "grin", "laugh", etc. Some experimentation with different verbs will yield a variety of possible "actions". Accordingly, you can do some actions TO someone, such as "whisper to
Other commands used herein: "brief" - display the name of each location, but not the long description. "unbrief" - show the long description of each location when you enter. "look" - display the long description of the room you are currently in. "look
Good luck, student of ninjitsu... you'll need it!
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