Zork Grand Inquisitor
Developer(s)	Activision
Publisher(s)	Activision
Engine	Z-vision
Release date(s)	1997
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player, 'Linked' (network) play
Rating(s)	ESRB: T
Platform(s)	Apple Macintosh, Windows
Media	2 CDs or 1 DVD-ROM

Zork Grand Inquisitor is a graphical adventure game, developed by Activision and released in 1997 for the IBM compatible PC and Apple Macintosh (by MacPlay). It builds upon the Zork and Enchanter series of interactive fiction computer games originally released by Infocom. The cast includes Erick Avari, Dirk Benedict, and Rip Taylor. It is a 'point-and-click' game on 2 CD-ROMs that allows the player to look around in a full circle of 360 degrees at each pre-rendered location (called 'Z-vision'). This visual freedom applies to the horizontal axis only; looking up and down is restricted, although possible in some locations. Adventure is a genre of video game typified by exploration, puzzle-solving, interaction with game characters, and a focus on narrative rather than reflex-based challenges. ... Activision, Inc. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... One of the first PCs from IBM - the IBM PC model 5150. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... MacPlay is a publisher of Macintosh computer games, founded in the early 1990s by Interplay. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... Enchanter is a 1983 interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling and published by Infocom. ... Zork, an early work of interactive fiction, running on a modern interpreter Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. ... This article needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... Erick Avari (born April 13, 1952) is an Indian actor who is best known for his roles in films such as Stargate, Independence Day, The Mummy and Planet of the Apes. ... Dirk Benedict (born Dirk Niewoehner on March 1, 1945) is an American movie and television actor, perhaps best known for playing the characters Lt. ... Rip Taylor Charles Elmer Rip Taylor (born January 13, 1934 in Washington D.C.), is an American actor and comedian known as The Crying Comic. Known for his high voice, zany hair, bushy handlebar mustache over a perpetual toothy grin and his heavyset physique, his schtick is to toss handfuls... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ...

Zork Grand Inquisitor was one of the first computer games to include true closed captioning so that a deaf person could play without missing any of the sound effects and spoken dialog in the game[1]. A commonly-used symbol indicating that a program or movie is closed-captioned. ...

Game overview

The player, known by the acronym AFGNCAAP, joins forces with the Dungeon Master Dalboz (voiced by Michael McKean), who was imprisoned in a lantern by the Grand Inquisitor, Yanick. They attempt to find three legendary objects that will restore all magic to the realm and bring about the fall of the Inquisitor. The three artifacts are: one of the Cubes of Foundation, the Coconut of Quendor and the Skull of Yoruk. Zork Grand Inquisitor is set in 1067 GUE, after the events of Zork: Nemesis but before Return to Zork. Zork: The Undiscovered Underground was written and released as a promotional prequel to the game. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Wishbringer Beyond Zork Zork Zero Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Frobozzica Miscellaneous Timeline   Calendar   Magic Double Fanucci Companies Infocom   Activision AFGNCAAP is an acronym from the computer game... Michael McKean Michael McKean (born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, composer and musician, best known for his portrayal of Leonard Lenny Kosnowski on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley. ... Magic/magick and sorcery are the influencing of events, objects, people and physical phenomena by mystical or paranormal means. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Wishbringer Beyond Zork Zork Zero Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Frobozzica Miscellaneous Timeline   Calendar   Magic Double Fanucci Companies Infocom   Activision The Cubes of Foundation are powerful items in... Zork universe Zork games Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Wishbringer Beyond Zork Zork Zero Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Frobozzica Miscellaneous Timeline   Calendar   Magic Double Fanucci Companies Infocom   Activision The Coconut of Quendor is a powerful item... Zork universe Zork games Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Wishbringer Beyond Zork Zork Zero Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Frobozzica Miscellaneous Timeline   Calendar   Magic Double Fanucci Companies Infocom   Activision The Skull of Yoruk is a powerful item... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... Zork: Nemesis is a 1996 graphical adventure game developed by Activision. ... Return to Zork is a 1993 adventure game in the Zork series for the PC and Apple Macintosh. ...

The music for the game was composed by John Beal and Mark Morgan.

Story

The game begins in Port Foozle, which has been occupied by the Inquisition. The evening curfew has just begun. Megaphones in the streets continuously spout ridiculous propaganda, including a reminder that all residents must have standard Inquisition loudspeakers in their homes, blaring standard Inquisition propaganda at all times. Violation of any of the numerous rules of the Inquisition will result in swift totemization "courtesy of Frobozz Electric" (formerly the Frobozz Magic Company, before magic was banished). The player discovers an old lamp in the sea, and takes it to the TV-star-adventurer Antharia Jack (an Indiana Jones parody), whereupon we discover that the lamp is possessed by the Dungeon Master in exile, Dalboz. Jack is later arrested by the Inquisition for setting a fire in the street which was actually set by the player character. In-game cut-scenes show the events of Antharia Jack's imprisonment throughout play. A curfew can be one of the following: An order by the government for certain persons to return home before a certain time. ... A megaphone, with a three-inch lighter to scale. ... Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of people, rather than impartially providing information. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones Dr. Henry Indiana Jones, Jr. ...

The player eventually ends up in the Great Underground Empire itself accompanied by Dalboz. Magic spells are hidden all over the Underground. These spells are automatically added to the player's spell book as they are discovered, and include rezrov, throck, obidil and snavig. See Zork Magic for details on these spells, many of which originated in Infocom's original series of Zork and Enchanter games. Along the way, three other characters are met, all of whom have been subject to the totemizer: a fanciful dragon, a creature called Brog, and the rightful heir to the kingdom - Lucy Flathead. To recover the three artefacts that will restore magic, each of these three characters must be sent through time tunnels to the places where the artefacts were last known. Once recovered, they are stored in a giant, living castle. Zork universe Zork games Zork trilogy Zork I Zork II Zork III Enchanter trilogy Enchanter Sorcerer Spellbreaker Wishbringer Beyond Zork Zork Zero Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis Zork Grand Inquisitor Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Frobozzica Miscellaneous Timeline   Calendar   Magic Double Fanucci Companies Infocom   Activision In the Zork series of interactive fiction computer...

Locations

Locations to explore include:

• GUE Tech - the magic university, which is now deserted. The Dungeon Master and the Grand Inquisitor attended this university in the same year.
• The Dungeon Master's lair - a small house and garden.
• The Underground Underground subway - a transport system that takes the player to and from the locations of Hades, Flood Control Dam #3, the monastery and the crossroads.
• Hades - a light-hearted rendition of the Greek underworld, featuring Charon the oarsmen, who sails the player across the river to the gates of Hell. To summon Charon, the player must use the 'Hades Shuttle Courtesy Phone' - a spoof of automated telephone support systems with directions like "to press 3, please press 7".
• Archipelago - a set of islands wherein lies a dragon, and in which the Coconut of Quendor can be found.
• The White House - the famous landmark from the original Zork game.

Representation of a university class, 1350s. ... A rapid transit, underground, subway, tube, elevated, or metro(politan) system is a railway system, usually in an urban area, with a high capacity and frequency of service, and grade separation from other traffic. ... Hades, Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a red-figure Apulian vase made in the 4th century BC. For other uses, see Hades (disambiguation). ... Monastery of St. ... A crossroads (the word rarely appears in singular) is another word for road junction, where two or more roads meet (there are three or more arms). ... In Greek mythology, the underworld indicate the kingdom of deaths. ... In Greek mythology, Charon (Greek Χάρων, fierce brightness) was the ferryman of Hades. ...

Trivia

Planetfall makes a cameo appearance in Zork: Grand Inquisitor, but the screen that's shown has a few mistakes: there is no text before the explanation about Deck Nine, and the last sentence says that the bulkhead is "cleared" when it's supposed to say that it's "closed". Planetfall is a 1983 science fiction text adventure by Steve Meretzky of Infocom. ...

Much of the humor in Zork Grand Inquisitor stems from the ludicrous Inquisition policies and propaganda. Example quotes:

• 'Shun magic, and shun the appearance of magic. Shun everything, and then shun shunning.' - the Grand Inquisitor (Mir Yannick), played by Erick Avari.
• 'This is a paid announcement: "The Grand Inquisitor rules!"' - voice of the Inquisition, played by David Lander.
• 'And never forget who is the boss of you--Me! I am the boss of you!' - The Grand Inquisitor (Mir Yannick), played by Erick Avari.

Mir Yannick as the Grand Inquisitor in Zork Grand Inquisitor Mir Yannick is a fictional character from the Zork universe and the villain in Zork Grand Inquisitor. ... Erick Avari (born April 13, 1952) is an Indian actor who is best known for his roles in films such as Stargate, Independence Day, The Mummy and Planet of the Apes. ... David Lander on the cover of his autobiography David Landau (born June 22, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York), better known as David Lander, is an American actor, comedian, composer, musician, and baseball scout. ... Mir Yannick as the Grand Inquisitor in Zork Grand Inquisitor Mir Yannick is a fictional character from the Zork universe and the villain in Zork Grand Inquisitor. ... Erick Avari (born April 13, 1952) is an Indian actor who is best known for his roles in films such as Stargate, Independence Day, The Mummy and Planet of the Apes. ...

External links

• Zork: Grand Inquisitor at MobyGames
• Zork Grand Inquisitor - Adventure Classic Gaming Game Summary Information & Review
• Zork Grand Inquisitor at The JAVE
• Zork: Grand Inquisitor at the Internet Movie Database

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