INTERACTIVE FICTION -- GETTING STARTED

"Okay, so I've read the opening paragraphs.  What am I supposed to do
with this > thingy?"

Good question.  The > prompt appears whenever it is your turn to tell
the game what you want to do.  Simply type in an imperative statement,
like OPEN THE DOOR, or EAT THE SANDWICH, and press the Enter key.  Also,
articles aren't necessary: OPEN DOOR or EAT SANDWICH will work just as
well.  Occasionally, the game will ask you to clarify a command you've
typed.  For instance, if you type EAT SANDWICH, and there is more than
one sandwich in your immediate vicinity, the game may respond, "Which
sandwich do you mean, the ham sandwich or the bologna sandwich?"  It
is not usually necessary to retype your command -- simply answering the
question is fine (HAM is a sufficient reply, for example.)  Of course,
you don't have to answer the question if you don't want to; if you're a
vegetarian and don't want to eat either sandwich, you can type OPEN DOOR
and the game will treat it as an all-new command.

No matter how enthralling your initial location is, chances are you'll
eventually want to go somewhere else.  To do so, simply type the
direction you want to go: WALK NORTH is a perfectly acceptable command,
but N will do the same thing, and is much easier to type.  Most text
adventures understand twelve directions: the four cardinal directions
(N, S, E, W), four diagonals (NE, NW, SE, SW), UP and DOWN (which may be
abbreviated U and D), and IN and OUT.  (These last two may not be
appropriate in many places: IN makes sense if you're standing next to a
car, for instance, but not if you're standing all alone in a meadow.)

Pronouns such as IT are useful, but can be tricky.  Usually, IT refers to
the last object you used as a direct object of a command: if you type
EXAMINE RHODODENDRON and the description is appealing enough that the
rhododendron must be yours, TAKE IT is sufficient.  Be careful, though,
or you'll fall into the following trap:

     > EXAMINE FLOWER
     Which flower do you mean, the rhododendron or the chrysanthemum?

     > RHODODENDRON
     It's awful purdy.

     > TAKE IT
     Taken.

     > PUT IT IN BACKPACK
     Done.

     > CLOSE IT
     You can't close a rhododendron!

ALL is another useful word for when you want to PUT ALL IN BACKPACK or
TAKE ALL FROM CUPBOARD; you can even go so far as to DROP ALL EXCEPT
RHODODENDRON AND SANDWICH if you like.

Sometimes you will encounter people and other animate creatures with whom
you'll wish to interact.  There are generally four ways to converse with
other characters.  You can ask about something (ASK SHEILA ABOUT MODERN
ART), tell the character about something (TELL SHEILA ABOUT INCOMING
MISSILES), or just say something (SAY HOWDY).  You can also give orders,
in the following format: SHEILA, TOUCH MY MONKEY.  Of course, the
character may choose not to obey.

Most interactive fiction these days has a reasonably impressive vocabulary;
some words you might want to try are:

BUY       KILL      PUSH      SMELL
CLOSE     KISS      PUT       TASTE
DRINK     KNOCK     READ      THROW
DROP      LICK      REMOVE    TIE
EAT       LISTEN    SEARCH    TOUCH
EXAMINE   LOOK      SHOW      TURN
GIVE      OPEN      SIT       UNTIE
JUMP      PULL      SLEEP     WEAR

You can also combine many of these verbs with prepositions: in addition
to LOOK, you can LOOK AT, LOOK INSIDE, LOOK UNDER, LOOK THROUGH, and so
forth.

There are also a number of special commands and abbreviations you should
be aware of.  In addition to the compass directions mentioned above, they
include:

G: short for AGAIN, this repeats the last command.

I: short for INVENTORY, this produces a list of what you're carrying.

L: short for LOOK, this describes your surroundings.

X: short for EXAMINE, this provides a description of an object.

Z: short for WAIT, this causes a turn to pass without an action being
   performed.

HEALTH: this provides a description of your physical condition.

QUIT: ends the game.

RESTART: restarts the game from the beginning.

RESTORE: restores a saved game (not available online.)

SAVE: saves your position in the game (not available online.)

VERBOSE: this causes a description of a location to appear every time you
   enter it, even if you've been there before. Recommended.

This is only the beginning of what you can do in a piece of interactive
fiction.  Every game will provide additional verbs, rules and capabilities
unique to that game.  Feel your way around, try things as they occur to
you, and most of all, have fun!