Parsely games are an ingenious mash-up of computer text adventures, RPGs, and party games. One player acts as the “parser” - the program running the text adventure. He reads descriptions to the others, and responds to their commands. The other player or players can take turns giving the parser commands, like GET TORCH, and attempt to complete the goal of the adventure (and, optionally, collect as many victory points as possible.)

These games are a great way to get people involved in roleplaying, even if they’ve never played a regular RPG before. The adventures are much shorter than traditional text adventure games, but just about the right length for an hour or more of play. There is even a SAVE function, to prevent your character from having to start over from the beginning!

In Pumpkin Town, it’s Halloween night, and you’re itching to get as much candy as you can – but where will that strange bone ladder in the sky take you?

(You will probably want to also get the first of the Parsely series, Action Castle, for the rules and tips on how to run these analogue text adventures.)