The three games of the Enchanter Trilogy are a bit inconsistent in how they handle the FROTZ spell. Let's compare them, as early as possible in the games.
Enchanter:
>FROTZ SPELL BOOK
There is an almost blinding flash of light as the spell book begins to glow! It
slowly fades to a less painful level, but the spell book is now quite usable as
a light source.
>TURN OFF SPELL BOOK
The spell book is now off.
It is now pitch black.
>FROTZ ME
You are bathed in a sickly yellow light, bright enough to read by.
>TURN OFF ME
You can't turn that off.
So there's apparently a slight bug here, because the room shouldn't go dark when I turn out the light. I'll look into that when I'm done here.
Sorcerer:
>FROTZ SPELL BOOK
There is an almost blinding flash of light as the spell book begins to glow! It
slowly fades to a less painful level, but the spell book is now quite usable as
a light source.
>TURN OFF SPELL BOOK
How? It's glowing by magic.
>FROTZ ME
You are bathed in a sickly yellow light, bright enough to read by.
>TURN OFF ME
How? It's glowing by magic.
Spellbreaker:
>FROTZ SPELL BOOK
There is an almost blinding flash of light as the spell book begins to glow! It
slowly fades to a less painful level, but the spell book is now a serviceable
light source.
>TURN OFF SPELL BOOK
The magical glow fades.
>FROTZ ME
There is an almost blinding flash of light as you begin to glow! It slowly fades
to a less painful level, but you are now a serviceable light source.
>TURN OFF ME
The magical glow fades.
The progression from Sorcerer to Spellbreaker seems natural to me. You've learned more about magic, so now you know how to "un-FROTZ" things. But it's strange that you can turn off the light (except if it's you that's glowing) in Enchanter.
There are signs that you were not meant to. The V-LAMP-OFF routine allows you to turn off an object that has LIGHTBIT, but if it has only ONBIT you can't:
(<FSET? ,PRSO ,ONBIT>
<TELL "It's not easy to see how. It's glowing by magic." CR>)
But V-FROTZ sets bothLIGHTBIT and ONBIT. (Unless you cast it on yourself, in which case it sets ONBIT on the PLAYER object, and sets ALWAYS-LIT to T.)
In Sorcerer and Spellbreaker, V-FROTZ only sets ONBIT (and TOUCHBIT).
If you FROTZ yourself, Sorcerer sets ONBIT on ME, PROTAGONIST and YOUNGER-SELF, as well as setting ALWAYS-LIT to T.
If you Frotz yourself in Spellbreaker, it additionally sets ONBIT on WINNER. It does not have any ALWAYS-LIT variable.
The three games of the Enchanter Trilogy are a bit inconsistent in how they handle the FROTZ spell. Let's compare them, as early as possible in the games.
Enchanter:
So there's apparently a slight bug here, because the room shouldn't go dark when I turn out the light. I'll look into that when I'm done here.
Sorcerer:
Spellbreaker:
The progression from Sorcerer to Spellbreaker seems natural to me. You've learned more about magic, so now you know how to "un-FROTZ" things. But it's strange that you can turn off the light (except if it's you that's glowing) in Enchanter.
There are signs that you were not meant to. The
V-LAMP-OFFroutine allows you to turn off an object that hasLIGHTBIT, but if it has onlyONBITyou can't:But
V-FROTZsets bothLIGHTBITandONBIT. (Unless you cast it on yourself, in which case it setsONBITon thePLAYERobject, and setsALWAYS-LITtoT.)In Sorcerer and Spellbreaker,
V-FROTZonly setsONBIT(andTOUCHBIT).If you FROTZ yourself, Sorcerer sets
ONBITonME,PROTAGONISTandYOUNGER-SELF, as well as settingALWAYS-LITtoT.If you Frotz yourself in Spellbreaker, it additionally sets
ONBITonWINNER. It does not have anyALWAYS-LITvariable.