Hello Im fairly new to Text based rpgs and need a little help getin started anyone give me some pointers?

1. save and save often and make different save files these are old school adventure games so you can dead end yourself also death isn't too bad since Zork 1 and 2 you can usually resurrect yourself

2. while these games use a text parser infocom was known for having some really smart parsers so you can do full sentences, enter multiple commands and such so you can type: "Go north, toss the knife at the troll, pick up the treasure and say hi to the thief." and the game will proceed with the commands and if should you put in something it can't do it will simply do all the other commands while ignoring the one it can't do.

Also to "talk" in Infocom adventures you can either use "Say <what you want to say> to <charecter here>" or "<charecter name>, <what you want to say> " you can also ask the game various things like "what is a grue?" or "who is Dimwit Flathead" and the game will tell you

3. Never kill the thief outside of his lair in Zork 1 or else you wont get the stuff he stole back and you will need him to take a certain item as only he can open it

also here's a bit of a tip there is a part in Zork 2 where there are a set of cakes you can read them by using a bottle of poision like a magnifying glass

4. make a map but be warned there are two areas in Zork 1 which are Wizardry level annoying as they are there to screw with your mapping luckily outside of those two areas in 1 it's not that hard to make a map since you just draw a box with the name of the room what items were there and then draw a line(s) to the connecting rooms

those are some of the basics with a hint or two thrown in.

Oh some more tips in Zork 1 it pays to know a bit of homer's the Odyssey(mainly the name of the main character either version of his name will work)

Also your goals in the first three are as follows:

1. collect the lost treasures of the great underground empire and place them in your trophy case you will need all 20 to win the game

2. Your main goal in the second one is to master the powers of the Wizard of Frobozz and defeat him and obviously find your way too the third game

3. Solve the puzzles that the Dungeon Master has set for you and prove yourself worthy

oh and just remembered in Zork 3
1. there is a time limit of 145 turns to complete a crucial puzzle before a earthquake hits and makes the room that contains a crucial item inaccessible.

2. there will come a point where you have to make certain choices these choices will determine if you can win the game or not so save first and choose wisely

And there is a bug in Zork 2 where if the wizard hits you with a illumination spell the spell will not were off and thus rendering the game unwinable so save often

I'm guessing this person has moved on...but I'll say it anyway (DCT has good info, but I'll add a little in "for dummies" mode):

the idea behind navagativing around in zork and other text based games is that you have an action you want to perform, and a VERB and a NOUN will get you far. You can say "look at the sword" but you can also say "look sword" and it will understand you. While you can say "go north" you can also just type n and the game will know you want to go north. N = north, S = south, u = up, d=down, ne = northeast, and so on...

LOOK at everything. If it isnt nailed down, you should probably take it. Take your time, read and re-read all the descriptions...let yourself "see" what your character sees. If you arent sure of something, LOOK AT <whatever it is>. Open things, move things, push/pull things....dont be afraid to play around with objects. If its in the description, it may be there for a reason...

If you are attempting to do something, and you cant...rephrase what you want, try using a different word. If the game doesnt understand you when you say "move the bookshelf" try "pull bookshelf" "push bookshelve" or even "open bookshelve" (if you think its part of a secret passage or something).