taking an item from a person - im stumped :)

I have a locked door which has a key called “small silver key”. I have a character named CJ who I want to have the key on him, but only present it when asked… so I typed:
(((( Instead of asking CJ about “key”: say “‘you mean this?’”. CJ holds the small siliver Yale key ))))

CJ holds the key , but I can’t take it from him… am I missing something really obvious :cry:
thanks all
Jimbo

The trick here is to type ACTIONS before trying the action while testing the IDE, and it will explain the exact name and action it is trying. If the Action fails, it should tell you what rule is blocking you.

You can remove the blocking rule permanently:

The can't take people's possessions rule is not listed in the check taking rulebook.

Or disable it just for this specific instance (always a good idea, or else the player can take anything any NPC is holding):

The can't take people's possessions rule does nothing when the noun is the yale key.

Since this is an instead rule which bypasses parsing, your message will show up every time the player asks CJ about the key even if he doesn’t have it. It’s good to check first to make sure to he responds appropriately. The best place in this simple case is AFTER the action fires.

After asking CJ about the yale key: if CJ carries the yale key: say "'Oh, you mean this key?' he asks, holding it up for you to take if you want it."; otherwise: say "'You already got that from me, brah. What did you do with it?' he replies.";

All this information is explained very well in the Index>Actions tab in the IDE (grouped or alphabetical), including all the synonyms for the action, all the rules affecting it, and insertion buttons to insert code to remove the rule or just insert the name of it.

2 Likes

wow ! thanks HanonO for the quick response ! this worked perfectly… so grateful :smiley: