Middle Earth secrets come to light

Middle Earth Rune Translator
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by Paul Houbart
from Micro Adventurer #6 (Apr'84)

text from Paul Houbart

THE PROGRAM, for the Spectrum 48K or 16K, will translate English
sentences into Middle Earth Runes and vice-versa. The program achieves
this by redefining the computer's character set, changing the
lower-case letters with the Runes.

Line 30 tells the computer that the new character set starts at 31743,
while line 20 redefines the lower-case characters. Line 10 copies the
entire set above RAMtop, which is reset to 31743, Lines 100 to 430
contain the DATA for each Rune, first with the character it replaces,
then with 8 numbers for that Rune.

When the user chooses "English to Runes", the computer inputs the
English in a string. It then proceeds to check through the string,
first checking for certain double-letter endings: lines 1060 to 1085,
such as 'ng' and then translates the uppe rcase of the string to lower
case. When this is printed, using a different string (line 1120), the
lower case are printed as Runes.

"Runes to English" works in the opposite way. Each Rune is chosen by a
code, which represents that Rune's position in a string (line 1225).
Double endings are checked by lines 1270 to 1310, otherwise the Rune's
code is changed to the upper case equivalent (line 1260). The English
is set up in B$, which is printed by line 1350. If the user halts the
program, then the character set is reset to point at 15615 (line 9999).

This program has many uses. One example is to have a spell on a scroll
written in the Runes, which will be translated when a certain object or
action has occurred. Another would be to have a password to open a door
written on the door, turning to English if, say, the torch is lit.
Finally, it could be used to simply give a program that special quality.

--
The program writer should contact fhe magazine so payment can be arranged.

