The Moody Warlock's Ember Tower

Definitely not a programmer - Dragon Script for RPG maps

When I was a kid, I'd get excited when the school's one computer - a Commodore 64 - was wheeled into our classroom. It was on constant classroom rotation. Apart from games like Light Cycles, I used to enjoy Turtle Basic - a simple language that drew shapes and taught kids the foundations of programming.

In the years to come, I wrote simple text-based adventure games in Locomotive Basic on our Amstrad. It was fun and I enjoyed the logic of it. That said, I'm not a programmer. I don't consider myself one. Years of struggling with school maths tends to generate a certain self-perception.

In recent weeks, I've started drafting a simple language for rendering maps for my D&D sessions. It's very limited, messy, unfinished, and definitely the work of a non-programmer. I'm strongly considering simplifying the syntax and internal logic:

[global] _statue.random="Gargoyle", "Demon", "Living Statue", "Lizardman" _treasure.random="100 gp", "Emerald", "+1 Dagger", "92 gp", "Leather glove" _monster.random="Mutant Goblin", "Skeleton", "Green Ooze" [/global]

[room] &room=001="The Antechamber" &square=40 &portals=wdoorclosed, edooropen [[content]] _treasure _monster _monster.local="Orc" [[/content]] [/room]

[room] &room=002="The Statue Room" &square=60 &portals= [[content]] _treasure _statue _trap.local="Falling Block Trap" [[/content]] [/room]

[room] &room=003="The Dormitory" &rectangle=40x20 &portals= [[content]] _monster _bedding.local="Dirty bedding and broken chairs" _treasure [[/content]] [/room]

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All words and photos by me, a human. Not by ai.

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