Welcome to Interactive Fiction!
       Copyright 1997 (C) Howard A. Sherman - All Rights Reserved

If you've ever played an adventure game before then you should be right
at home here.  In case you're not here are some guidelines for playing:

1) Don't look for any graphics.  This is interactive fiction.  Fine books
   don't have pictures to accompany the text and neither does this game.
   Read the screen carefully.  It will contain a description of where
   you are, items which may (or may not) be of use to you and in most
   cases the other directions you can go which lead to other parts of
   the game.

2) Try to keep it simple.  You don't have to, but try.  This game is
   written in Inform by Graham Nelson.  It is quite sophisticated to
   recognize anything reasonable which may, in some form or fashion,
   have relevance to the game.

3) Save your game often! You'll probably goof somewhere along the way
   and saving your game will allow you to restore back to your previous
   position.  If you don't save your games with some degree of frequency
   you run the risk of having to start all over again from the beginning.

   (Baltimore:24 is not a huge game so it won't be any great loss but still.)

4) Some commands you should be aware of:

   save - Save or "bookmark" your position in the game at the time of saving.
   restore - Load in the last game saved or resume where you are bookmarked.
   pet - Some cute creatures in here may need some TLC.
   call - You'll need to make an important phone call at one point.
   restart - Will restart your game from the beginning.
   quit - Abbreviated as q.  Will quit the game when you say so.
   undo - If you goofed somewhere, this command will fix it for you.
   score - Shows your progress in the game so far.
   n,s,e,w - The 4 primary directions.  these will navigate you through
             the game.  In addition, ne, se, sw, nw, up, down, in or out
             are also good to remember.
   again - Abbreviated as g.  This will repeat the last command entered.
   look - Will give you a description of the room you are currently in.
   take <item> - Will take an object that is present in the room you are in.
   drop <item> - Will drop an item you are carrying.
   info - Will give you basic information about the game and the author.

   There are ALOT of other commands which are way too numerous to list.
   Just try any reasonable verb to do any given thing.  If the game won't
   take it it'll tell you so and ask for another way to phrase it.

5) Enjoy! Interactive Fiction is a lost art and I hope you truly enjoy
   it! Visit my web page at http://www.excelsior.net/random for more
   about interactive fiction.

6) Just run baltimre.bat from Windows or the DOS directory these files
   are sitting in.

   I welcome all comments so please send them! My email address is:
   random@excaliber.net