Parsely Jared A Sorensen by Jared A. Sorensen instant download after payment.

Parsely games are based on the old text- adventure parsers from the late 1970s and early 1980s—games such as Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork and Planetfall. In this version, a person replaces the computer, and a map and script replace the software.

One person (most likely you) is the Parser, the name given to the program that runs a text adventure.

It’s your job to relay the game world to the players. You describe what the character sees, the results of their actions and anything else appearing in the game. You also keep track of the character's current location, inventory and score. Refer to yourself as “I” when talking to the players.

Everyone else playing the game shares one character. Refer to each player as “you” during

the game. You need at least two humans to play

a Parsely game: a Parser and a player. There’s no limit to the number of players, making Parsely games ideal for parties, conventions and other large gatherings of geeks who are into this kind of thing.

Action Castle was created in 2003, on the fly, at a friend’s party. Years later, I’d often bring it with me to game conventions, first with 30 players, then 60, then 200, and eventually over 400! My pal and fellow game designer, Luke Crane, persuaded me

to publish it as a Z-fold pamphlet in 2009. Now it’s time to delve back into the source code, recompile it all and bundle it together for this book.

Would you like to play a game (Y/N)? —Jared Sorensen

April Fools’ Day, 2017