EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND

PREFACE TO THE GAME - JUNE 2000

     This game is now over two decades old.  It recalls the days when
personal computers were simpler - 8-bit processors, a maximum of 32,
48, or 64 Kbytes of memory, and primitive graphics (if any).  There
were no mice on personal computers, and output was usually limited to
text on a screen.

     In those days, a type of game called an "adventure" game was
popular.  This type of game was named after the original game called
"Adventure" that ran on time-sharing systems.  The basic idea behind
Adventure was a computer world consisting of "rooms" containing
"objects".  A "room" was a location with a text description, such as
an actual room in a building, a portion of a cave, a clearing in a
forest, etc.  You would move from room to room by going in a direction
(north, down, etc.) or by using a portal (door, window, path, etc.).
An object was something in a room that you could pick up and take with
you, examine, or use to accomplish something.  You would type commands
to the game in something like English, like "pick up key" or "open
door."

     Empire of the Over-Mind is a game in the adventure game
tradition.  It was originally written for 8-bit microcomputers like
the Apple II and the Radio Shack TRS-80.  The version you have now was
expanded and ported to the IBM-PC in the days before Windows and hard
drives.  Bill Gates and Microsoft have taken a lot of hits lately, but
it is a testament to Microsoft's vision for the PC that the same
executable program runs exactly the same under Windows 95/98/NT as it
did under MS-DOS 2!  When you run the game under Windows, a console
screen will pop up that looks like a PC display before Windows.

     When you start the game, it will ask you whether you have color
or monochrome display adaptor and monitor.  Answer c (color) to both
questions.  Then just follow the instructions below.

     The remainder of the rules are the same as they were in 1986 when
the game was ported to the PC.  Make sure to read the Rhyme of
Over-Mind carefully carefully for clues!

----------------------------------------------------------------------


INSTRUCTIONS

Copyright (C) 1986 National Microcomputer Associates

IBM PC (R), PCjr (R), and many compatible computers,
128K memory, one double-sided disk drive
(R) Trademark of IBM Corp.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

     EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND for the IBM PC (R) and compatible
computers, including all data and text files, is Copyright (C) 1986 by
National Microcomputer Associates.  Limited license is hereby granted
to private individuals and nonprofit organizations to copy the data on
the program diskette for evaluation purposes only.  Players are
invited to send the author, Gary Bedrosian, an e-mail if they enjoy
the game.  (bedrosian@wsg.net) National Microcomputer Associates
reserves the right to all commercial use of Empire of the Over-Mind.


INTRODUCTION

     EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND is a fantasy adventure game that will
keep you on the edge of your seat for many hours of exciting
entertainment.  You will find yourself in a strange world ruled by the
mysterious and powerful OVER-MIND.  OVER-MIND controls an army of evil
creatures who are lurking in dark forests and abandoned cities to
prevent foolhardy adventurers like you from discovering its hiding
place and destroying it.  But even if you manage to defeat all of its
ingenious traps, how can you withstand the devastating lash of the
mind-whip that it uses to subjugate its vassals?  It is a task you
could never accomplish alone, but you will find unforeseen friends in
surprising places.  With their help and your own clever strategy, you
can overthrow the tyrant OVER-MIND.


FOR PLAYERS NEW TO ADVENTURE GAMES

     An adventure game is not like a computer video game which shows
moving targets on the screen and requires split-second timing to score
hits.  An adventure game is more like a computerized novel that allows
you to assume the role of the central character and make the decisions
about what the character should do next.  The computer serves not only
as your eyes and ears in a fantasy universe, but it also assumes the
roles of the other characters, good and evil, in the "novel".  With a
little imagination, you will quickly find yourself projected into a
complete alternate universe where the laws of physics have been
changed to make magic and super-technologies possible.

     One of the features of adventure games which makes them very easy
to learn is that "commands" are typed as simple English phrases.
There are no lists of coded commands to memorize.  In fact, an
adventure game player will not know before he tries what will work and
what will not - finding out is part of the fun of playing the game.
Of course, the computer does not really understand the complete
English language.  Instead, it has been programmed to respond to a
small number of key words which are usually obvious from the context
of the game.  In other words, don't expect the computer to understand
how to respond correctly to a command like, "Walk around until you
find something interesting."  A simple, direct command like, "Read the
old scroll," is the type of English phrase the computer can interpret.

     There are two basic rules which the novice adventurer should keep
in mind.  First, pay close attention to what the computer prints on
the screen.  It takes a lot of memory to store messages and to store
the programming necessary to display them at the right moments.
Anything that gets printed is USUALLY important.  Before you skip over
a seemingly unimportant message on the screen, be sure it really is
unimportant.  Remember that you are reading a computerized novel;
savor all the chapters.

     The second rule is to understand what kinds of inputs the
computer is looking for and respond accordingly.  It may be necessary
to rephrase a command several times before the computer recognizes its
key words.  Generally speaking, adventure programs are looking for
very primitive commands.  For instance, most adventure programs allow
the player character to pick up things and examine things.  The best
way to enter a command to do something is to type a simple phrase with
a minimum of extra words.  For example, if there is a banana in the
game, check it out by typing, "Examine banana".  It is unlikely that
going into more detail in the command will do anything other than
confuse the program.


SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE GAME

     Every adventure game has its own peculiarities, and EMPIRE OF THE
OVER-MIND is no exception.  Please read this section carefully, even
if you are an experienced adventure game player.

     EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND is an object-oriented adventure game.
This is simply a technical way of saying that nearly every command
consists of an action (verb) that one wishes to perform on an object
(noun).  For example, in the command, "Examine banana", the player
wishes to perform the action (verb), "Examine", on the object (noun),
"banana".  The computer might respond with a message like, "You see a
banana that looks mighty good to eat."  The next command might be,
"Eat banana", to which the computer might respond, "Yum!  You feel
like climbing a tree and pounding your chest!"

     The actions in the game take place in many areas.  Each area is
one geographic location which contains one or more objects.  Every
object in an area is considered accessible to the player (for picking
up, examining, or whatever is appropriate).  In other words, if the
computer prints a message saying that you see a gorilla, then the
gorilla is close enough to be of immediate concern.  Looking at it the
other way, you are close enough to the gorilla to be of concern to
him!

     Areas are connected to other areas by a type of object called a
portal.  The usual way to go from one area to another is to perform a
travel action (a simple "Go" will do) on the portal (noun).  For
example, if there is a road in your area, the command, "Go road", will
take you to the end of that section of road in the next area.  Of
course, portals can be objects for other types of commands as well.
(You can figure out those for yourself.)  Note that there are no
compass directions for travel commands (north, south, east, west),
unlike some other adventure games.

     There will be some occasions in which there will be two or more
of the same type of object in your area.  For example, there might be
a red brick and a gold brick.  In order to specify the exact object,
you will need to include an adjective.  Otherwise, the computer will
simply pick the first one it lists, sometimes with unexpected (and
unpleasant) consequences.  In this example, you would type, "Get red
brick" or "Get gold brick".

     Putting together these ideas, the general form for a command is

     VERB (ADJECTIVE) NOUN


     There are also a few special words that the computer can
interpret.  "It" (or no object at all) refers to the last object
specified.  In other words, you could type, "Examine banana" and then
"Eat it" or just "Eat" and the computer would assume you mean the
banana you just examined.  Depending on the situation, the computer
also understands "Go up", "Go down", "Go in", and "Go out".  You can
just type "up", "u", "down", "d", "in", "i", "out", or "o" if you
don't like typing long commands.

     It is never necessary to specify that you want to perform an
action "with" something.  If you do, it will probably confuse the
computer.  The computer automatically checks to see if you have access
to the right tool to do whatever you type.  For example, if you wanted
to shine your shoes, you would type "Shine shoes" and the computer
would automatically check to make sure you have shoe polish and a
cloth.

     You can freely type uppercase or lowercase letters any time
keyboard input is required during the game.


THE OBJECT OF THE GAME

     The object of EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND is to destroy the OVER-
MIND and free the twin planets it holds in thrall.  You can expect to
make many mistakes before you learn all the secrets of the game.
Because destroying OVER-MIND is such a tall order, the game assigns
you a rank that improves as you progress through the many puzzles and
tricky situations.

     When the game begins, you are given the rank of Novice
Adventurer, Thirtieth Class.  Your class number will decrease by one
for each key accomplishment in the game.  By the time you have reached
the rank of Novice Adventurer, First Class, you will have learned all
you need to know in order to destroy OVER-MIND.  (Your class number
can also increase if you make a major mistake.)

     If you manage to destroy OVER-MIND, you are given a new rank
based on the total number of moves and whether several good deeds have
been performed.  If your game character perishes in the act of
destroying OVER-MIND, you will be awarded the rank of Kamikaze
Adventurer, First through Thirtieth Class (posthumously, of course).
If you destroy OVER-MIND and live to tell about it, you will be
awarded the rank of Hero, First through Thirtieth Class.

     The rank of Hero, any Class, is superior to the rank of Kamikaze
Adventurer, any Class, which in turn is superior to the rank of Novice
Adventurer, any Class.  The true master of EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND
will attain the rank of Hero, First Class.


COMPUTER DETAILS

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

     To run the EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND program, you will need an IBM
PC (R), PCjr (R), or compatible system, with a minimum of 128K RAM and
one double-sided floppy disk drive.  The game will work with either
the monochrome display adapter card or the color display adapter card.
If the color graphics adapter is used, you will be able to select
color character output (for color monitors) or monochrome character
output (for monochrome monitors attached to the color graphics card).
In any case, your monitor must be capable of displaying 80-character
lines.


YOUR GAME DISK

     Unlike many computer adventure games, the EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND
game disk is a normal PC disk that you can copy, transfer to a fixed
disk drive, make a directory listing of, or do anything else that you
can do to a normal floppy disk.  The first thing you should do is copy
the entire game disk to a blank disk (use the DOS DISKCOPY command,
which is explained in your DOS manual) and put the original disk away.
If you want to be able to "boot" your computer from your copy of the
game disk, you should use the DOS SYS command (also explained in your
DOS manual) to add the DOS system files to the disk.

     Example (for computers with two disk drives):

     1. Start your system in the usual way.

     2. Put your system disk in drive A: and a blank disk in
        drive B:.

     3. Type
             DISKCOPY A: B:

     4. Remove the system disk from drive A: and insert the
        original game disk, then press any key.

     5. When the computer asks for COMMAND.COM, remove the
        original game disk from drive A: and insert your
        system disk.  Press any key.

     6. Type
             SYS B:

     7. The disk in drive B: now has both the EMPIRE OF THE
        OVER-MIND and DOS on it.

     If you have only one drive, you can still follow the above steps
as long as you are careful to swap disks when DOS prompts you.

     Because we respect our customers, we have made no attempt to
"copy protect" the game disk.  In return, please respect our copyright
notice above.


HOW TO START THE GAME

     The EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND game program on your floppy disk is
called OVERMIND.COM.  If you are "booting" your computer from the game
disk, OVERMIND.COM will automatically execute.

     If you already have your system on and just want to run the game,
follow these steps:

     1. If you have a fixed disk drive (lucky you!), use the CD
        command to switch to the subdirectory where the game
        and data files were copied.  Otherwise, insert the game
        disk in drive A: and type
             A:

     2. Type
             OVERMIND

     The Empire of the Over-Mind program will load into memory and
begin.  Title and copyright information will be displayed, followed by
a line that says, "Working..."  The program will read game data from
several files on the game disk, sending a blank line to the screen for
each file read to let you know it is actually doing something.
Reading the data takes about five to twenty seconds, depending on the
type of computer and disk drive you are using.


DEFINING YOUR DISPLAY TYPE

     After reading the game data, the program determines which type of
display adapter you are using.  The IBM PC and compatibles have two
types of display adapters:  monochrome text only, or color text and
graphics.  (The IBM PCjr has, in effect, a color display adapter built
in.)  Each display adapter type responds to a different block of
memory addresses.

     If you have only one type of display adapter, the program
automatically determines which one you have and goes on to the next
question.  If you have both types, or a non-IBM adapter that responds
to both memory blocks, the program will ask if you have a monochrome
adapter (M), or a color adapter (C).  Type M or C.

     If your adapter is color, the program will ask an additional
question.  It is possible to connect a monochrome monitor to a color
adapter, but there is no way that a program can tell what type of
monitor is connected to the adapter.  Some monochrome monitors do not
display text clearly for some choices of color.  For this reason, the
program asks whether you are using a monochrome monitor (M) or a color
monitor (C).  Type M or C.



THE INTRODUCTION

     The last question is whether you want the introduction.  Type Y
(yes) or N (no).  You will probably want to read it the first time you
play.  After the introduction (if any) is displayed on the screen, the
game begins.


THE DISPLAY

     The monitor is divided into six regions.  Each region is used to
display messages of different types.

     LOCATION REGION: The top line of the monitor is the location
region.  A short message is displayed in this region describing where
your character is.  For example, on the first move of the game, the
short message will be, "You are in a forest."  On color monitors, the
location area is given distinctive foreground and background colors.
On monochrome monitors, the location message is displayed as dark
characters on a light background.

     INVENTORY REGION: Directly below the location region, on the
left-hand side of the monitor, is the inventory region.  All of the
items your character is presently carrying are listed here.  For
example, the inventory message might read, "You are carrying a lamp
and a sword."  On color monitors, the inventory message is green.

     OBJECTS IN VIEW REGION: Directly below the inventory region is
the objects in view region.  All of the objects your character can see
(not counting what he is carrying) are listed here.  For example, "You
see an oak tree, a twig, a hornet, and a winding trail."  If the
location of your character would normally be dark but there is an
object giving light (or through which light passes), there will be a
message like, "The light here comes from or through a window."  The
objects in view message is yellow on color monitors.

     WARNING REGION: The warning region displays a message if you
entered an unknown command, there was an error loading or saving a
game in progress, or some other exceptional condition has occurred.
The warning message is red on color monitors.

     PROMPT REGION: The bottom two lines of the monitor are the prompt
region.  When the program requires input, you will be prompted by a
message in this region.  Your keyboard input will also appear here.
The prompt for your next move is, "Type your command for move X:",
where X is the current move number.

     MAIN MESSAGE REGION: The right-hand side of the monitor, except
for the location and prompt regions, is reserved for the normal
responses of the program to your commands.  On color monitors, the
main messages are cyan.

     If the game does not seem to be displaying messages in the six
regions, but instead displays all messages in the upper left corner of
the screen, then either you selected the wrong adapter type when the
game began (see DEFINING YOUR DISPLAY TYPE above) or your "compatible"
system is not as compatible as you thought.



BASIC COMMANDS

     To get started, you will need to know the basic commands of the
game.  (There are also advanced commands, but learning them is part of
the challenge.)

     EXAMINE: When you examine an object, the program will display a
message in the main message region describing the object in detail.
The move number does not advance while you examine things, and any
pending catastrophies will be held up until you do something that does
advance the move number, like "wait" (see below).

     DROP: Drop allows you to put down objects you have previously
picked up.  (See GET below.)  The program assumes that you carefully
set the object down in a convenient and close spot.  Only one object
can be dropped per move.

     GET: Get allows you to pick up portable objects.  You can carry a
maximum of six portable objects at a time.  Only one item can be
picked up per move.

     GO: Go is the basic movement command, as explained above.

     HELP: The help command causes a help message to appear in the
main message region.  The help message is not keyed to the game
situation.

     JUMP: The jump command requires no object, because its meaning
will be clear from the context of the game when you jump.  For
example, if you are near a hole, then "jump" is taken to mean "jump
into the hole."  Surviving the jump depends on the circumstances -
mostly how far you fall before reaching the lower area.

     LOAD:  The load command allows you to load a previously saved
game.  (See SAVE below.)  The program will prompt you for a file name,
which should be the same name that was used to save the game.  If
there is an error reading the save file, the game will be restarted
from move 1 and an error message will be displayed in the warning
region.  If you have not saved the current game, the program will give
you a chance to do so before the old game is loaded.

     QUIT: If you want to exit the game before you have defeated Over-
Mind, use the quit command.  If you have not saved the game, the
program will give you a chance to do so before returning you to DOS.
(See SAVE below.)

     REDRAW: Redraws the screen display in case it was corrupted by
an external process, such as a RAM-resident program.

     SAVE: The save command allows you to save a game on your disk.
The program will prompt you for a file name, which can be one to eight
alphanumeric characters, plus optional drive and/or subdirectory
specifiers.  Do not include a file name extension because the program
automatically adds the extension ".SAV" to your file name.  Examples
of valid save file names are "CASTLE1" and "C:.\SAVES\FORK".  (See
your DOS manual for a full explanation of file names.)  You can save
a game on the Over-Mind disk or any other disk you wish, assuming
there is enough room.  If there is an error saving the game, an error
message will appear in the warning region and the game will continue
without loss of data.

     THROW: The effect of the throw command is similar to drop (see
above) except that the object is assumed to be tossed into the air
as far away from you as possible.  In some circumstances, an external
force (like gravity) will carry the object to a different location,
while in other circumstances the object will come to rest in the
location from which it was thrown.  Like jump (see above), the context
of the game determines in what direction the object is thrown.  Only
one object can be thrown per move.

     WAIT: This command causes the game to advance one move while you
do nothing.  Use it at your own risk!


THE STORY BEHIND THE GAME

     The Rhyme of Over-Mind is important to the play of the game.  It
contains general and specific hints which you will need to destroy
Over-Mind.  Read it carefully before playing.


THE RHYME OF OVER-MIND

Long years past, of an ancient land I sing,
Fruitful and great, ruled by a noble king:
Alcazar Rex, in battle armor bright,
Scourge of evil, winner of every fight.
His enemies all vanquished, turned then he
To rule of law, to keep his nation free.
A council of four, merciful and just,
Each to his duty, pledged to sacred trust,
Alcazar summoned to the royal hall.
The citizens cheered, acclaiming them all.

Gerald the Green, minister of the farms,
Made fields and orchards thrive with wholesome charms.
Rubin the Red, minister of defense,
Built towers of stone with walls high and dense.
Byron the Blue, minister of the law,
Drafted the statutes with scarcely a flaw.
Griffin the Gold, minister of the tax,
Collected three pennies for every axe.
In peaceful days, they ruled the nation well.
Then struck the tragedy this rhyme will tell.

As the nation prospered, families grew;
Soon there were many where once only few.
In the vernal season, when leaves turn green,
Flowers bloom, and the streams run cold and clean,
Each citizen, to pay the king his due,
Must tithe his gold, measured and tested true.
Griffin the Gold, the tax records to keep,
Worked night and day, forsaking restful sleep.
After easeless evenings and wearisome nights,
He slipped into dream and saw wondrous sights:

A city of crystal floating in air,
With bright rainbow lights, exceedingly fair.
Then appeared a dark angel; thus he spake:
"Friend Griffin, the future is thine to make.
Why slavest thou, to copy each number,
Deprived of fresh air, good food, and slumber?
In the crystal city, technology
Can provide a tireless servant for thee,
All thy records in memory to hold,
Encased in a smooth sphere of shining gold."

Griffin the Gold felt his heart quake with fear
To see the shadow of an angel near.
Yet, veteran of war, no coward, he
Gathered manly courage, set his tongue free,
And asked: "How is this, thou angel dark,
A golden sphere that can work as a clerk?
Great mage magic, technology must be;
I fear too great for mere mortals like me.
What sort of men, or devils from the Hole,
Over such magic command and control?"

To this the angel was quick to reply:
"Yes, they are devils.  They tell the big lie.
Claiming to love men, they secretly despise,
Holding unto themselves the greatest prize;
Bestowing on mankind miserly gifts:
Rain in the summer, in winter snow drifts.
Cut short thy work, in restful peace recline;
Had thou the golden sphere, all things would be thine.
In the bright crystal city, find it there.
Touch it, then thou shalt awake in thy chair.

The bright crystal city drifted close by;
Griffin grabbed hold and soared into the sky.
In the shadows he crept, in constant fear
That the miser devils would see him or hear.
He scaled a tower.  Climbing a ledge,
Nearly falling, he climbed over the edge.
A golden light!  He was near, he could tell.
There was the golden sphere, locked in a cell!
Through the bars he reached, stretching out his hand.
Dread power's pawn, as the dark angel planned.

A guardian angel drew quickly near.
"Thou mortal fool, touch not the golden sphere!"
But too late.  Griffin's hand did slip and touch
The golden sphere he coveted so much.
With a soul-rending crash, brilliant blue light,
Glowing crystal shards flew into the night.
Their city destroyed, the bright angels fled.
Griffin returned, by the dark angel led
Back to mortal lands, to Exchequer Keep.
Then he awoke from his dream-filled sleep.

"What dream!" he exclaimed, suddenly awake.
Then a golden sphere he saw.  Thus it spake:
"I am Servant-Mind, to thee tireless slave.
The work of dull tasks forever I save.
Provide me the records kept in thy care;
Then I shall compute for each the fair share
Of taxes owed.  Yet I can do much more:
Alcazar's nation wastes goods by the score.
By my plans this will end.  Thus shall it be,
If all confidence is given to me.

"This I require, no burdensome thing.
Only that each person to me must bring
The story of his life, nothing held back.
The whole nation's commerce I shall then track:
What jobs men should do, how much they should pay,
When to sow the fields, when to harvest hay.
Summon now thy good friend Byron to me,
That laws of the nation altered can be,
To give us the power, lives to control,
For the good of all, every living soul."

By sweet suasion did Servant-Mind convince
Byron to empower it as a prince -
Or a tyrant, as the truth is now known.
But Byron, using all skills he did own,
Persuaded the people this was the way
To greatest good and a glorious day
When none would want care.  Thus it came to be
That all knowledge from mountains to the sea
Was held by Servant-Mind on a high tower,
In the king's name wielding total power.

As seasons passed, the people restless grew,
And their leaders close to Alcazar drew,
To whisper complaints in only his ear,
For spies were many, and all felt great fear.
"The days are bleak, and our master is cruel."
"We work like dogs."  "Our only food is gruel."
"Without our freedom, we truly are dead."
Secretly, to the king these things they said.
Alcazar rose in great wrath; gave a cry:
"I swear to aid my people, or I die!"

Clever Servant-Mind had this long foreseen
And protected itself.  Gerald the Green,
By false promise of power corrupted,
Had natural life vilely disrupted;
And, with the magic of a leaf of gold,
To animate or dispel he did hold
Control over plant and skull long dead,
To serve as sly traps for the sphere of dread.
Then for amusement at living man's pain,
Servant-Mind had Gerald horribly slain.

Rubin the Red was corrupted as well;
Down the garden path to his private Hell.
Weapons of war he had loved since a child,
And thus by Servant-Mind was he beguiled
With a super-weapon, unknown today,
Shooting blinding light, blasting all away!
And with a device none can unravel,
To the red planet Rubin did travel,
Where at Servant-Mind's bidding to await
Any king's enemy sent there by fate.

With each step, Alcazar's anger increased.
On the tower roof his wrath was released.
A mighty blow at the sphere did he swing;
His sword shattered to bits with shocking sting.
Dazed on the roof, Alcazar heard this said:
"All must obey me, the living and the dead!
Servant-Mind no more, I am Over-Mind!
In punishment cruel, a blight on mankind!
Thy petty nation asunder I tear!
Thou mortal, know what I am, and despair!

"Released by fool Griffin, thy minister,
Where angels had trapped my force sinister,
Now I shall work on mankind my poison:
Destroy night and day, and every season;
Set brother against brother; kill the crops;
Torture victims with pain that never stops.
From my new abode, which thou doest not know,
I shall rain on men every curse and woe.
Secluded there I shall rest in my berth,
Safe from all powers that be of this earth."

A great man was Alcazar.  Not dismayed,
He called, "Pyro!" and summoned to his aid
A being of fire, Over-Mind to fight;
But conjured demons soon put it to flight.
Near despair, by a method no one knew,
He vanished, and to the red planet flew,
Where secretly, against just such a day,
He had built a tower.  He knew the way.
And in that tower, secure against harm,
His infant daughter played without alarm.

Twenty years they lived in the tall tower,
Cared for the grounds, and tended the bower.
One day, a vision came to Alcazar.
He saw a stranger coming from afar.
His garments were unlike any yet seen,
But his spirit was strong and conscience clean.
Paused with his vision while the hot sun blazed,
He saw not Rubin, staggering, heat-crazed.
In from the desert came Rubin the Red;
Haggard was his face, a gash on his head.

Startled, Alcazar turned to see the man
Who for years had shared every battle plan,
And wept unashamed for pity that he
Should be thus reduced to savage degree.
Said Rubin the Red, as his dying plea,
"My king, please hear a confession from me.
By toys I was seduced from duty clear.
Would I had stayed beside my king so dear.
But perhaps thou canst use them in some plan.
I pay now for sinning.  Do what thou can..."

Alcazar buried his friend in the sand.
While he was digging, cold revenge he planned
Against Over-Mind.  In a secret room,
He worked alone to seal Over-Mind's doom;
Removed the enchantments, canceled the role
They had in giving Over-Mind control
Of the weapons, so that when completed,
By its own snares it could be defeated.
Then he shut the room with black iron cold,
And only his daughter the pass-spell told.

A magic charm upon the girl he cast,
To sleep until ten centuries had passed
And the stranger came from a world apart
To banish the evil and win her heart.
Griffin he placed in a magical cave,
To wait for the hero, his soul to save
By telling this tale.  Repair his mistake!
I am Griffin, and now my leave I take.
The rest is for thee, hero bold and kind,
To seek out and destroy the Over-Mind!


PREVIOUS INCARNATION OF EMPIRE OF THE OVER-MIND

     The original Empire of the Over-Mind was written by us for
8-bit home computers several years ago.  This new version has been
expanded and changed to the point that it shares little with the
original game except the title and the Rhyme of Over-Mind.


HINTS

     There are enough clues and hints in the Rhyme of Over-Mind and
within the game itself that you should be able to win without more.
But as adventure game players ourselves, we know how frustrating it
can be to get stuck on one thing and not be able to progress.  The
ten hints below will help you past some of the most common
difficulties.  We suggest using them only as a last resort - give
yourself one demerit in the scoring for each hint used.

     (By the way, the hints are encoded.  Decoding them is part of the
challenge.)

1. Q: What does the golden leaf do?
   A: Obws pyb Oykub ve Vabo-Ufxs.  Pyb mbwe wmmvnr kvg pv wxfuwpb
      wxs/vo sfrlbm dbopwfx uwjfdwm vtibdpr.

2. Q: How do I get past the mammoths?
   A: Nlt qbqqonlx bytc'n xvbyta og qdvl, hdn nlte ao gtby xcbktx.

3. Q: How do I get down from the mountain?
   A: Kantn ytn kvu kaqfhc rug fnnz ku jfuv.  Dqtck, rug syf katuv yf
      uminsk udd kan lugfkyqf (cnn kan tgbnc).  Cnsufz, kan vuub
      mbyfjnk qc lyhqs - igck lyjn y vqca.

4. Q: How do I find my way in the forest?
   A: Tyror gj a zfgszr qrjjapr ajjxkgatre cgty toairl alxfp raky xd
      tyr matyj kxffrktgfp tyr dxorjt aoraj.  Aj vxz toairl alxfp qxjt
      xd tyr matyj, tyrv iafgjy afe xtyroj ammrao.  Nv zjgfp xnbrktj
      aj qaouroj, vxz jyxzle nr anlr tx trll cygky matyj kxffrkt cygky
      aoraj.

5. Q: How do I get light in dark places?
   A: Ygppva iqe lsze erepeainr cm imtsab qsy anpe (zenx iqe tvep).

6. Q: How do I get a key?
   A: Kiab heq ab physuapfkqt.  Dh aekh kiq yaeq pfrrvaed kiq dhutqe
      uqfz. Dqk uadik nbaed kiq febjqr kh wnqbkahe zacq.  Sapx ns kiq
      bihcqu. Dh kh kiq qet hz kiq kneequ.  Qmfyaeq kiq duaek.  Kfxq
      kiq prvbkfu.  Lnys.  Feayfkq kiq bxquqkhe.  Vhn bihnut ehj oq ae
      dhht bifsq zhr znrkiqr qmsuhrfkahe.

7. Q: Enh ln K fsa aes silver amulet hkaenga tskyf soasy?
   A: Eka aes maoiovakas hkae aes mislfseoccsz.

8. Q: Yeq ie O tpoza lyg gnarled tree?
   A: Srozslg ol xocbl.  Ier'l xecmgl le hotv lyg shhpg sri gsl ol.

9. Q: Riw ai V mbiva Ibso-Tvpa'z tvpa wrvf?
   A: Eic pssa m zyoipu mpszyrsyvg.  Gipyomoe yi fifcjmo xsjvsq,
      mjgirij vz m gspyomj psobicz zezyst asfoszzmpy, piy m zyvtcjmpy.

10. Q: Clx giz F rwe hiye ecw lava gjwieajwy?
   A: Ecwk ijw fzpfzgfdnw.  Wfecwj eiqw inlzr wzlarc ojfwzsy el qwwh
      ecwu dayk xcfnw kla yziegc Lpwj-Ufzs, lj jwojifz ojlu qfnnfzr
      ecw rldnfzy.
