Christmas poem

Still going through old papers: from the evidence of the names on the Christmas card list on the back of the sheet of paper, I was in high school and probably about thirteen when I wrote this. It's a greetings-card verse of the type I used to compose in the days when I made all my own cards, but a bit above the level of the average Hallmark product; I always did have a knack for balladry :-p
For some reason I went to the trouble of marking the metrical feet in the first verse, possibly in an attempt to replicate the metre for the last stanza...

Announce that Christmas-time is here!
Let the bells resound!
Let such things as bring good cheer
Be scattered all around!( Read more... )

Combat description generator

Judging by the Russian composition on the back of the page, I was busy programming a more literary form of dice-roll combat description in the first year of my A-levels! I'm not sure it ever got beyond the flowchart stage (although I have lists of reserved line number allocations for 'good failure', 'poor success' etc), but I clearly had great fun devising varied snippets of text that could fit into such outcomes as if ytot high then if (ytot-tot negative and rr high) print "but" good failure otherwise print "but" poor failure. (rr appears to be the opponent's attack roll and ytot your attack roll -- sadly I can't work out what the vital tot to which it is relative refers to!)

Your opponent:

Good success

• aims a skilful blow
• seized by a paroxysm of fury, stabs at you wildly
• attacks furiously
• launches a ferocious attack
• attacks with incredible skill
• rains savage blows on you
• makes an almost unbeatable attack
• sends a mighty blow hurtling towards you
( Read more... )