THE HOBBIT In the HOBBIT program, you take on the role of Bilbo, the hobbit. You will be able to roam freely throughout Middle Earth, explore and discover this wonderful enchanted land. You will meet all types of creatures, some friendly, others much less so. Your Adventure will be dangerous and exciting - it will be up to you to face the challenges which confront Bilbo. At the point where this Adventure commences Gandalf, who is a wizard, has talked you into entering a new and exciting adventure to help out Thorin, the dwarf. Your mission is to seek out the evil Dragon and return the treasure he hoards back to your home and place it for safe keeping in the chest. As a secondary mission, you must look out after Thorin and protect him. Should he be killed during the Adventure, it is most unlikely you will be able to survive the dangers ahead of you on your journey! Best of luck Bilbo: may you return with wonderful tales to tell on a cold evening in front of a log fire. COMMUNICATING WITH THE COMPUTER The computer in this Adventure acts as a go-between for you. You tell the computer in plain INGLISH exactly what you want to do, and the computer will translate that request and execute it. The computer will also be your source of information about where you are, what you can see and what the other creatures in the Adventure are doing. If the computer is not sure of something you meant, or if there is any ambiguity about what you said, it will come back to you with queries for clarification. The computer has a large vocabulary - it knows over 500 words, and can perform over 50 different actions (made up by over 30 verbs listed at the back of this booklet, combined with over 10 prepositions) so it is capable of very sophisticated communication. The use of plain INGLISH allows you to enter your instruction in normal sentences. THE SCREEN DISPLAY The screen display has been divided into two "windows". The bottom five lines of the screen is your "communication window" with the computer. Everything you type will be shown here in capital letters, and this part of the screen will scroll independently of the rest of the screen. If for some reason there is confusion about what you typed in, the computer will prompt you in the same "communication window" area. An obvious example is where you mistype a word, such as DOOR - if you type "DOR" the computer would return with the prompt - I don't understand "DOR". Other messages will also be printed here when the computer is not able to execute what you typed in. The rest of the screen is the "Adventure window" - this is where you will be able to find out what is happening in the Adventure, what you can see and so on. The "Adventure window" is shown on the screen in upper and lower case. Every action that you take is also printed on the "Adventure window" (usually in more detail than what you entered!) Any action that takes place, whether performed by you or one of the other characters will be shown: You take the short strong sword. Thorin examines the curious map. Descriptions of the location, objects, what is in the object, and so on, is also shown on the "Adventure window". The "Adventure window" scrolls independently of the bottom screen. Usually what happens will be able to be printed on the screen without losing anything. Occasionally, such as if you have typed in may sentences at once, or if there is a lot of action going on, the information will take up more than one screen full. The Hobbit uses the same INGLISH language described in the LORD OF THE RINGS instructions and you are recommended to read those before playing the Hobbit. HINTS FOR THE HOBBIT The best hints you can get for this Adventure come from the book, THE HOBBIT. This Adventure follows extremely closely the plot of the book, and if you should find yourself stuck, the best solution is to carefully reread the book. Some parts of the Adventure have slight departures from the book to make it more interesting - the riddles that Gollum may ask you, for example, are not the same as the book! That would be too easy! At some points in the game you may use the word "HELP" to get a clue to help you continue. These clues are meant to be somewhat cryptic. DICTIONARY Movements: DOWN D EAST E NORTH N NORTHEAST NE NORTHWEST NW SOUTH S SOUTHEAST SE SOUTHWEST SW UP U WEST W Special verbs: EXAMINE HELP INVENTORY I LOAD LOOK L NOPRINT PAUSE PRINT QUIT SAVE SCORE Action verbs: BREAK CLIMB CLOSE CROSS DIG DROP DRINK EMPTY ENTER EAT FILL FOLLOW GIVE GO KILL LOCK PICK PUT OPEN RUN SAY SHOOT SWIM TIE TAKE THROW TURN UNLOCK UNTIE WEAR Prepositions: ACROSS AT FROM IN INTO ON OUT OFF THROUGH TO UP WITH Adverbs: CAREFULLY GENTLY QUICKLY SOFTLY VICIOUSLY