pinakidion.*

I was feeling stressed a few nights ago. I wanted a quiet place to just be. There had been a lot of thinking throughout the day and I was quite tired. My wife, though tired herself, insisted I go. I think she was hoping that I would evolve just enough to use words and phrases instead of occasional grunts and gestures.

Thag go cave.

Our son was playing quietly and our daughter was cooing and watching the trees outside our back window. It was almost idyllic - I could imagine them on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. It was that beautiful. Somewhere deep down, I was vaguely aware of it, but all I could produce were muffled gargling sounds and a weak smile.

Can you please go upstairs now?

With all quiet on the Western Front, I made a break for it. Break may be too strong of a word. I dragged my own carcass down the hall to the stairway. Because my wife has the children all day, I made it a point to avoid groaning or other Neanderthal noises that could be construed as an attempt at sympathy. I’m an devolved life form, not a complete jerk.

Finally arriving in my office chair, I attempted a quick transformation via Wikipedia. I was not successful. I tried to watch TV, but there was nothing on worth watching. M*A*S*H* is on 22 out of 24 hours in a day on some channel somewhere, but this was in that magic time slot taken up by actual programming.

Thag hate media.

At some point, I settled into the papa-san chair and watched the trees outside like my daughter. This was very successful. My daughter is smart like my wife.

After practicing a few monosyllables and even a disyllable word or two, I felt ready to rejoin the family. As I approached our living room, I heard our son talking and playing and having a good time.

Thag is happy. Talk with wife. Wife pretty.

When I came into the living room, I was greeted with something I couldn’t quite explain. It would take more than grunts, so I asked my wife to comment. My wife explained that she was feeding our daughter and had just noticed that the house had gotten very quiet. Looking around, she happened to see a tiny hand reaching up and then…

FWOOSH!!!

(It’s a big file, so be prepared)

We laughed out loud for a good five minutes. Our son would look over at us and smile with pride that he had made his parents happy. However, the Oat Rings required his attention, so he would return to cooking with them. Cooking, to my son, is pouring the same twenty or thirty from one bowl to another. Occasionally, he samples one or two to make sure the flavor is right.

Needs more mixing, he says as he begins pouring them in five different pots and pans.

Amused, I begin to pick them up and put them into a container. My wife’s son at this point decides that he will take up farming. He gracefully picks up a handful and thoughtful scatters them like a man sowing seeds. He doesn’t want to sow the oat rings he’s sitting on, he wants to sow the one I had just picked up.

I turn it into a game and he starts to help me put them into a container. However, I am slower than he, so when the container fills up, he went back to sowing seeds with both hands.

I got to sow the north forty acres by sundown

After a while, I sow oat rings with him. Why fight a good idea for having fun, I think. My wife then laughs at both of us. She must really like having two boys in the house. It is so much fun.

I don’t know exactly why it’s fun, but it is. Maybe it’s the guitar riff. Maybe it’s the ending.

Lost a bit of time on the ending.

In case you’re wondering, it is family and work friendly, I don’t do the other kind of stuff. Homestarruner is blocked at my work, but it may not be blocked at yours. Enjoy!

and ended up on the Rocky Mountain Religious Ride with my friend SpiritualTramp.

Now, I came in a bit of a bluster and couldn’t seem to land on a point. Yeah, I was rearranging the bedroom and slightly distracted. I gave away my really liberal politics talking about Iran’s democracy and the effects of religious hate speech. I brought up Falwell, but forgot to mention Pat Robertson.

Oh well. I was going to try to explain it, but I don’t think it is really worth it. I am a much better when I prepare something in advance. Next week, I’ll be better. I certainly won’t sound so angry.

I gave my religious history in thumbnail form and of course there are things I wished I had said, things I wished I had kept to myself, and so on. I also threw out the parting shot, there really is no such thing as a non-denominational church. We’ll be talking about divisions next week.

I promise I’ll be more civilized and prepared.

I want to expand on these things this three day weekend. I may even mention a few on the Rock Mountain Religious Ride, a show co-anchored by my lifelong friend, SpiritualTramp. My thanks to TTK for some inspiration for a couple of these. Thanks also to Salguod for the article he sent to me.

1. Works Greater than These
This was an article sent to me from Salguod. It was a welcome perspective on some of the struggles I have had lately.

2. Ekklesia
The following verses all contain the word ekklesia. Note, ekklesia is a singular word, even if it appears as ‘churches’ or ‘assemblies’ in the English text. (Your translation may vary.) There’s 110 of them. It doesn’t include the gospels.

Act 2:47; Act 5:11; Act 7:38; Act 8:1; Act 8:3; Act 9:31; Act 11:22; Act 11:26; Act 12:1; Act 12:5; Act 13:1; Act 14:23; Act 14:27; Act 15:3; Act 15:4; Act 15:22; Act 15:41; Act 16:5; Act 18:22; Act 19:32; Act 19:39; Act 19:41; Act 20:17; Act 20:28; Rom 16:1; Rom 16:4; Rom 16:5; Rom 16:16; Rom 16:23; 1Co 1:2; 1Co 4:17; 1Co 6:4; 1Co 7:17; 1Co 10:32; 1Co 11:16; 1Co 11:18; 1Co 11:22; 1Co 12:28; 1Co 14:4; 1Co 14:5; 1Co 14:12; 1Co 14:19; 1Co 14:23; 1Co 14:28; 1Co 14:33; 1Co 14:34; 1Co 14:35; 1Co 15:9; 1Co 16:1; 1Co 16:19; 2Co 1:1; 2Co 8:1; 2Co 8:18; 2Co 8:19; 2Co 8:23; 2Co 8:24; 2Co 11:8; 2Co 11:28; 2Co 12:13; Gal 1:2; Gal 1:13; Gal 1:22; Eph 1:22; Eph 3:10; Eph 3:21; Eph 5:23; Eph 5:24; Eph 5:25; Eph 5:27; Eph 5:29; Eph 5:32; Php 3:6; Php 4:15; Col 1:18; Col 1:24; Col 4:15; Col 4:16; 1Th 1:1; 1Th 2:14; 2Th 1:1; 2Th 1:4; 1Ti 3:5; 1Ti 3:15; 1Ti 5:16; Phm 1:2; Heb 2:12; Heb 12:23; Jas 5:14; 3Jn 1:6; 3Jn 1:9; 3Jn 1:10; Rev 1:4; Rev 1:11; Rev 1:20; Rev 2:1; Rev 2:7; Rev 2:8; Rev 2:11; Rev 2:12; Rev 2:17; Rev 2:18; Rev 2:23; Rev 2:29; Rev 3:1; Rev 3:6; Rev 3:7; Rev 3:13; Rev 3:14; Rev 3:22; Rev 22:16

3. ICoC History and Disaster comparisons
Chicago Fire? A more apt comparison might be New Orleans. Along the lines of the Chicago Fire of 1871, though, here’s a couple thoughts:

Cause of the Fire
As with any tragedy, it seems to feel better if the blame can be laid at someone’s feet. This can be done in religion by making everything Satan’s fault or God’s fault. It can also be done by finding the one person responsible. Indicting a system, or indicting inaction is much more difficult. It’s easier to have “The Enemy” pointed out and punished as an effigy of our own feelings of loss.

O’Leary was an immigrant woman and Catholic. This made her the perfect scapegoat for the fire. The man that wrote the article claiming it was her and her cow retracted the story 22 years later. It did start in the neighborhood, maybe even in the barn.

Kreite wrote the letter and he made the perfect scapegoat as someone that unleashed it on the internet in a rash decision. Truth is, he wrote it to the leaders, it was another person that leaked it to the ICCDF, not Henry. After it was already out, Henry revised it a bit and re-released it publicly.

Warnings about a Coming Fire
Warnings can go unheeded because it is inconvenient to deal with the issues.

The Chicago Tribune had been writing for months that construction was shabby and that a great fire would occur if not corrected. Even a month before the great fire, an article was published that details the unsafe construction carries out in the name of economical propserity. The business community took great offense at this.

Folks had been warning the ICC for years that we were going to have a crisis. It wasn’t until a so-called fire swept a lot of things away that the idea of change was even introduced. Of course, any critics beforehand were marginalized and labeled as being divisive. It was not convenient to address the critics at all, much less as thinking adults that may actually have a point.

4. Better Living thru Breakfast Cereal
Our son recently decorated the living room with an entire box of oat ringed cereal. It was about 1/4 inch deep in places. The best remedy was a good laugh and enlisting his help with the cleanup. Pictures to follow.

5. Paradox of Faithful Service
Based on Yehuda’s article mentioned in a previous post.

6. Unity through Doctrine
Can unity be achieved through doctrine? It is the clarion call from many within the RM, but is it the right call?

Keep in mind that a conservative COC mindset comes from CENI (Command, Example, and Necessary Inference) and the prohibitiveness of silence. One criticism of the CENI hermeneutic is that all doctrine eventually becomes a salvation issue. When a conservative CoC calls for unity through doctrine, it is often a unity through everyone having the same doctrine. Coming from something other than a CoC mindset, is it realistic to call for an agreement that would mean the elimination of secondary doctrine?

1 Timothy 4:16 calls us to watch our life and doctrine closely, not just our doctrine. Is there something about my life and/or the life of the ekklesia that can bring about unity? Love. The apostle John is said to have repeated “love one another” enough that some thought he was senile. Can I love my brother with whom I disagree in matters of doctrine? Love comes first, doctrine may follow some time later. God is the ultimate judge - am I patient enough to love first and hope for uniform doctrine later?

7. The Abilene Paradox
A dangerous form of groupthink common in today’s American culture and business. Link here to the wikipedia article.

One of my interest is games and I keep Sycarion around to separate my game rantings from my religious rantings. Although my interest in games is different from Yehuda’s, I enjoy reading his site. He keeps up with all kinds of board games that look interesting, especially Settlers of Catlan.

Unlike me, he does not separate content having only one site for everything. Today’s post was about the meaning of service to God. Rather than say anything now, I figured you would enjoy reading it and discussing it in comments.

Thoughts on Serving God

Not that a formula for making soda can be ‘open sourced’, but just in case you have a spare weekend or three…

How to make your own cola that tastes similar to commercial products.

Notes

• Make sure you get gum arabic from a food store, not an art store. Art store gum arabic is cheaper for a reason, it shouldn’t be eaten.
• Neroli oil is very very expensive.
• 75% phosphoric acid is some really corrosive stuff. Don’t think so? Watch hot dogs dissolve in it.
• And for the love of mike, don’t even bother with caffeine.

Or, you can just pay your $1.29 at the checkout counter of the grocery store.

Victim, Vanished or Visionary? What an amazing way to classify your parishioners. They are visionaries, or they are just hanging around using up resources. Nice.

Here we have an example of a leader bullying those that are hurting or needy. To accomplish this, life situations of those that are hurting are greatly oversimplified. This is necessary so that the trite advice given later will apply to any and all situations.

The Victim is a disciple who hasn’t recovered from past wounds and hurts.
The Vanished are disciples who’ve allowed their faith to become dull and flat and therefore have vanished from making any impact in the church.
The Visionary is the disciple who is eager to exercise his faith, to be a part of something bigger than himself and to be useful to the Lord.

From the linked article

Message to the victims - GET OVER YOURSELVES. You’ve used up the allotted time for grieving, so apparently you are not active in dealing with your pain. GET GOING!
Message to the vanished - YOU DON’T IMPRESS ME OR JESUS. Get to work!

From the article, some characterizations of the victims and vanished:

Too often, the victim or the vanished individuals look at their lives and conclude they have nothing to give to the Lord or His church. Too often, the victim and the vanished excuse themselves by letting their hearts get triggered by old terminology or unpleasant memories.

Sometimes we need to take a hard look at ourselves and draw the conclusion that we could use a spiritual makeover. Yet victims and the vanished largely refuse to travel on this thrilling road. The victims are adamant that they’re not the ones who need changing, and the vanished frankly don’t want to put the necessary energy into the process.

From the linked article

In other words, victims are blame-shifters and the vanished are lazy. There is no room for disagreement as that means, by definition, that you are playing the victim. The remedy? Stop being defeatist and get going. There is no room for people that are not doing ‘awesome’ things for the Chicago church. If you’re not awesome, you must be lazy. Anyone without a resume of recent accomplishments needs one sure fire cure - a rebuke to get to work.

This article and the ones from the previous post spring from two glaring omissions in recent years. One is making any change at all in how we view discipleship. The other is how we misconstrue the ekklesia, commonly referred to as the church.

Jeff Jornigan wrote in an older article about misconceptions of discipleship

Misunderstanding #1: Spiritual accountability can be imposed.
Misunderstanding #2: Accountability means that someone leads and someone follows.
Misunderstanding #3: Accountability focuses on performance.

The conclusion of the matter, to quote the article:
Our accountability relationships are to encourage one another and to have a ransoming effect by “buying back” lost intimacy with Christ. Then we are free to pursue righteousness, wooed by love and not hounded by duty.

Also, discipleship on a timeline just doesn’t work. I hope to read this book, soon. From the sample chapter:

So, if your agenda has time tables on it, throw it away…. I have found that it can often take a decade for a person to decide to follow Christ, to manage to overcome the major problems in his or her life, and then, finally, to begin to bear fruit in the lives of the people around him or her. “Oaks of righteousness” do not grow up overnight.

As for ekklesia, there’s not enough space to address that. Look up the word in Vine’s. It means “the called out ones”. It has been translated “church”. Substitute ‘called out ones’ for the word church and you’ll see what I’m getting at.

More later, gotta run.

But Diotrephes is at it again.

Calling for all of us to get along and tear down the wall of hostility has got to be the epitome of chutzpah. How can he blame a group of people for creating a wall that he created himself? Remember the prayer to plant churches in 5 cities with dead and dying ICOC congregations? (House of Prayer, 2004. No longer online.)

Then again, in a quest for one-up-manship, the new MOAC has been announced.

The focus of the conference this year will be to encourage, equip, challenge, and inspire church leaderships to build dynamic and growing churches that will effectively reach all generations and last for all generations. When we look at Jesus’ ministry, his impact was multi-generational and spanned future generations. We will explore the vision, the courage, the passion, the humility, and the sacrifice that will be required of all of us to have that same impact now and into the future.

For All Generations advertisement

On side side, we have one church in LA that wants to evangelize the world in one generation. They are ’sold-out disciples’, This means that they are apparently more intense than just a regular ‘disciple’. Now, we have a Courageous-Passionate-Humble-Sacrificial disciples that will reach all generations. This apparently means that they are not as short-sighted as the ’sold-out disciples’.

Considering that both leaders think the ekklesia extends only as far as their respective calling circles, the impact they will have for generations is different than what they intended.

You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.

Psalms 44:14

And now, the world’s fastest furniture.

I think about a 92 mph sofa and it reminds me of a 151 mph motorcycle. I don’t think I’m ever late enough for work to try either one.

Yehuda at Jerusalem Gaming blog has an idea to spice up Rummy with Action Cards.

The article is here

Enjoy!

Blogged with Flock

I’ve had a habit in recent years of using Calculus or any other kind of math as a way to relax. It used to be that I would grab a copy of my old Calculus book and read couple chapters or do a few problems. Sleep would be upon me before I could say…

Sorry, I dozed off thinking about it.

In any case, one of my hobbies is probability. I will lose sleep trying to determine certain odds. For example, if I roll three dice, what will be the most likely roll (10 or 11) and what are the odds in rolling it (one in eight for both). For a variation of that, I did some number crunching using modulus, a function that serves as a basis for a lot of number theory. Modulus, is simply the reaminder (for my purposes). So, the modulus of 10 divided by 3 is 1. Stated another way, MOD3 of 10 is 1.

For what it’s worth, I put some stuff on Sycarion dealing with modulus and the result of rolling three dice. I know, you’re thinking I need to get out more. Truth is, it is one of the things that helps me deal with tension. It’s why I can post angry posts one day and pretty level posts the next. Give the brain something to do and the heart can catch up in processing things.

I’m sure many would not consider MATHWORLD a vacation, but it feels like one to me. Thank goodness for wolfram.com.

Now, what are the odds of rolling an 7 on a six-sided die and a four-sided die added together…

Blogged with Flock

I have criticized HOPE Worldwide in the past for two main reasons. One, is the cash that local branches must pay the central office in the form of management fees. (This allows for creative accounting of program expenses). The second reason was that it had become a quagmire of middle management.

I’ve also linked to the good things that they do, and here is another one. DisciplesToday is carrying an advertisement for aid workers in the Kabul Office. These are pretty specific needs that cannot be filled by just anyone. This shows me that my second objection, the middle management quagmire, is improving. In the past, someone would have been assigned by the World Sector Leaders. Here is a real ad for a real need. The local office has pushed for something and word is getting out. This is great.

Real help is being delivered on the ground in Afghanistan. There are a lot of challenges in a place like this and not a lot of charities are doing work there. I hope that they will get the workers they are asking for very soon. I wish that I could go and help myself, but I don’t meet the qualifications very well.

Just passing along a good word for Monday.

Blogged with Flock

I’ve been home for over a week. Home, of course, means that I go to work and then come home immediately without a six-hour pitstop at the NICU. In many ways, life is good.

I have not been able to go to church events for quite a while, and I miss folks a lot. I really do. It’s strange to think that folks haven’t seen me for two weeks and then I show up as a substitute teacher on Sunday covering Hebrews 7. Still, the outline isn’t mine and I hope it generates a lot of discussion. I’ve always tried to be more of a facilitator, anyway. Things I feel like I need to say, I say here. Class is an organic experience of people to me, not a captive audience.

I digress.

Folks have sent me lots of wonderful gifts, emails, prayers, money, clothes for Dancing Bear, and more. One couple got us a double stroller. That allowed me to get a really good rocker glider for my wife. We are very blessed with good friends.

I feel better, in part, because of a more ‘normal’ life. I’ve been able to talk to the minister and to friends and family. Sharing the experience helps to deal with the myriad things I feel about it. I know that people are there when circumstances send me off to the Ozone. (O God, where are you? O God why did this happen? O God when will it end? O God how is this your will.)

A friend sent me a book by Stormie Omartian. I had never heard of her before I read this book. I had to skip to the chapter that interested me first before reading it through. I struggled through the theology to arrive at what I knew to be true, but didn’t want to admit.

You don’t get to find out why.

Two passages address the why in some way.

John 9:2-4 deals with a common presumption. A blind man came to Jesus and his disciples. The disciples ask, “Who sinned?” It’s easy to say that the circumstances a person is in is due to their own sin or error. However, he was born blind for God’s purposes alone. Jesus made it clear that sin did not do this to the man. God allowed it/ordained it for this moment in time that His own purposes.

Yes, I still struggle with this passage because the man was blind for years. I thought about the things he missed, the 20 years of the community assuming that there was some great sin in the family, the 20 years of mistreatment. Ugh. Why would this be allowed/ordained?

Yet, it’s important to remember that the man was not incomplete because of his blindness. I have to remember this with both our children. Our son has a hearing loss, but he a whole person with diminished hearing, not a person missing 10% of himself. He is not damaged or incomplete in any way. He doesn’t need to be fixed as he is not broken. He loves to entertain, he would crawl out in the middle of the NICU and get the nurses to laugh. He will laugh at you until you laugh back. Actually, he chuckles at you. This chuckle is his own trait, it doesn’t come from either one of us.

It’s true that cutting-edge technology will probably arrive here in a year or so that will implant his hearing aid and give his close to 100% hearing. But better hearing will not make him a better person or more complete.

Sometimes we think that we have to be spiritually perfect to be useful to God. We see ourselves as incomplete, at least I know that I do. If I could overcome this struggle, if I could quit eating emotionally, if I could go to seminary school, if I had more money, if I had more patience, if I had the gift of discernment, etc. etc. Before the Holy Spirit, we were not whole, we were separated from our creator. With the Holy Spirit, however, we are whole. The gifts and talents we have do not make us whole. Our battle against sin is not what makes us whole. Our struggles do not make us whole - with the Holy Spirit, we are already complete. We have everything we need to admonish, encourage, instruct, and love one another. This is not because of some great gift outside the great gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul asked why he had a persistent problem, a thorn in his flesh. God answered him saying, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Paul had everything he needed already, even though Paul thought that he was somehow hampered in his effectiveness for God.

The other passage is from Hebrews 12:5-6. The Lord afflicts those whom he loves. The text literally says that he trains (as in discipline) his children and he scourges them. mas-tig-o’-o means only one thing, to flog. Many take it figuratively and translate it to mean ‘chastise’ or even ‘corrects’ as it says in the Message Bible. I disagree. In this specific case, affliction is a mark of love. There are many that serve God and lead lives of affliction. I think of the late John Paul II and all that he did while literally crippled. I think of the apostle Paul and his beatings, emotionally and physically. I think of Jesus himself who spent periods of time homeless and moving around. Betrayed in the end by a selfish friend, and abandoned by all but the women.

Jesus’ affliction serve to heal us, but also to demonstrate his ability to be the perfect High Priest. He learned obedience in his suffering (Heb 5:8). He not only relates to what we feel, but he goes through it with us. God the Father allows/ordains the events of life, God the Holy Spirit comforts and empowers us in our troubles, God the Son walks with us as we go along. Sometimes I forget the roles of each person of the Trinity and blanket it all on God the Father. I forget the distinct and separate person of Jesus that sacrificed everything, travels with me, and speaks to the Father on my behalf through his perfect blood.

I still struggle with what all of this means. Affliction = Love is an equation I feel like I escaped from when I left the ICoC. (We Oppress you and control you because we love. Please don’t be angry at us because we love.) Sometimes, I feel like Christianity is akin to the drug dealer’s “The first one is free” tactic. (Forgiveness, Grace, Eternal Life were all given freely at the cross, but now that you are hooked on God and dependent on Him, everything else is going to cost you.) Praying this whole time has felt very strange and disconnected. (Well God, since you have already ordained/allowed everything since the creation of the world, I guess I’m just saying this for my own mental health.)

Yet, there is something that will not let me give up entirely, though I’ve said it dozens of times recently. I’m not like John Paul, or Paul, or Jesus because of what has happened. I just hope to be more like them as I deal with it. I want to be able to say and mean, “The Lord Gives and the Lord Takes away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord.”

Heads up English Majors and other mathematically challenged folks! MOD7 Dice Sheets are now available on the Downloads page and at the links below. (I have an English Literature Degree by the way.)

The frequencies of each roll are given at the bottom of the page. They are generated completely at random, but you may decide to use a different sheet based on the frequencies given.

As noted on the sheet, it only works well if you start on the upper left corner and move down the columns. Remember to cross out numbers already used.

Major MOD7 Rolls | Minor MOD7 Rolls

As always, there may be a name change as I discovered a company named MOD7 and I do not want to harm their business (though I don’t think I really could. I have four readers.)

Changes in DEF Ability

Because MOD7 uses a smaller range of numbers to determine success (0-6 instead of 3-18), changes have to be made in DEF and in many Traits. DEF is changed to 3+REF from 10+DEF. Without this change, an average person (Stats and skills of 3) could never successfully attack successfully.

For example, Joe, an average guy is in a fistfight at a bar with Andy another average guy.

Old Rules: Joe uses STR + Unarmed Combat Skill + Roll. Andy uses DEF + REF. Since both are average guys, Joe is trying to meet or beat a TN 16. (DEF = 10 + REF or 10+3. REF = 3) He had a STR of 3 and a skill of 3, meaning he has to roll a 10 or better to strike Andy. Using 3D6, Joe had a 0.625 chance to hit Andy.

Because a MOD7 roll cannot go higher than 6, Joe could never hit Andy, even if he surprised him.

New Rules: Joe uses STR + Unarmed Combat Skill + Roll. Andy uses DEF + REF. Since both are average guys, Joe is trying to meet or beat a TN 9. (DEF = 3 + REF or 3+3. REF = 3) He had a STR of 3 and a skill of 3, meaning he has to roll a 3 or better to strike Andy. Using a MOD7 roll, Joe has a 0.574074074 chance to hit Andy.

Changes in Traits and Modifiers

Needless to say, traits that give +3, +6, +9 modifiers to skills or attributes would present a similar problem. Rather than list the specifics, here is the general guideline:

Traits that affect skills are +1 (Convenience) +2 (Edge) +3 (Gift)
Traits that affect initiative are +2 +4 +6
Traits that affect health or damage remain unchanged

For example: Hard to Kill remains unchanged +2 TGH, +4 TGH, +6 TGH applied to piercing damage. However, Athletic is changed to +1, +2, +3 to all Athletic Group skills.

Fast Reflexes is partly the same and partly changed. Convenience is still +2 INI, but +1 to Awareness Skill Rolls. Edge is +4 INI and +2 Awareness rolls, Gift is +6 INI and +3 Awareness rolls.

Fast Healer is also only partially changed: progression on the Time Chart remains the same, but skill bonuses at the Edge and Gift levels are +1 and +2 respectively.

Full list comes later.

As far as modifiers are concerned, modifiers to Initiative are the same, modifiers for attacking or any other skill roll are reduced by 2/3 rds rounding up. The numbers aren’t easy rounded, so a full chart will be created at some point in the future. Below are examples:

Combat modifiers for size:
Target Size ………………………………………………. Modifier
Gargantuan, 32m or more (ship, bridge) ………………. +4
Huge, 16m or more (whale, house) …………………….. +3
Very large, 8m or more (city bus, big mecha) ………….. +2
Large, 4m or more (horse, car, tree, sm. mecha) ……… +1
Medium, 2m (human) ………………………………………. 0
Small, 1m or less (dog, barrel) …………………………… -1
Very small, 1/2m or less (cat, head, limb) ………………. -2
Tiny, 1/4m or less (mouse, bullseye) ……………………. -3

Damage rolls are still the same

If a greatsword does 4D6 damage, it still does 4D6 damage. Theoretically, it would be four Major MOD7 rolls added together, but that would be impractical. Roll (add together 3d6, divide by 7, find the remainder) 3 + roll (add together another 3d6, divide by 7, find the remainder) 2 + roll (add together another 3d6, divide by 7, find the remainder) 0 + roll (add together another 3d6, divide by 7, find the remainder) 4 for umm, err. 12 points of P/L damage. Hah! Take that thou varlet!

It slows down play and besides, it’s a whole lot of trouble. It’s one thing to do that for one roll (Skill roll, initiative, etc.) it’s another to have to add a series of Mod7 rolls together.

However, if you do want to still use MOD7 rolls for damage or any other rolls, Dice Sheets will be provided with pregenerated Major and Minor MOD7 rolls. Simply add up as many as you need down the column to get your total and then cross them off the sheet. The numbers are created by a True Random Number Generator to provide dice rolls. Then three dice rolls are added together and modulus 7 is taken from the total, just like any other MOD7 roll. In short, it saves you from the math. Using a TRNG prevents the biases to low number that occurs in many spreadsheet programs with Psuedo-Random Number Generators in them.

I’ve done quite a bit of work in exploring dice mechanics in various games. Here, I’m writing down a different mechanic for a role-playing game that is different from what I’ve seen. If someone has already developed this idea, then please let me know. The name MOD7 comes from the mathematical operation called modulus. The modulus is the remainder after you divide two numbers. For example, 16 divided by 5 is 3 with a remainder of 1. Another way of saying it is the remainder of 16 divided by 5 is 1. Still further, the modulus 5 of 16 is 1. All three are different ways of saying the same thing. Modulus is a term used when you only care about finding the remainder.

So the name MOD7 means we are looking for the remainder of something after dividing it by 7.

Basic Mechanic:

If Attribute + Skill + MOD7 roll is equal to or above a target number, the action has been performed successfully.

MOD7 Roll:

There are two kinds of MOD7 roll, a major and a minor roll. A Major roll is the modulus 7 of the total of rolling three regular six-sided dice. In other words, roll three regular dice, find the total, and figure the remainder after dividing that total by 7. A Minor roll uses two regular dice instead of three. Most players will only use a major MOD7 roll.

Too Much Math?:

At first, it seems like a lot of work to get a number. It becomes automatic after a few rolls. However, if you want a table to make things easier at first, here it is:

3 — 3
4 — 4
5 — 5
6 — 6
7 — 0
8 — 1
9 — 2
10 - 3
11 - 4
12 - 5
13 - 6
14 - 0
15 - 1
16 - 2
17 - 3
18 - 4

Why bother?

The reasons behind this mechanic are:

1. the chance to roll a zero
2. a way to give players a small advantage that is fairly invisible
3. a more equal chance of rolling any number

Rolling Zero
The chance to roll a zero is to add some variety. Rolling a zero is not an automatic failure. It merely represents those times that ‘luck’ isn’t on your side. The good news is that players have a better chance of rolling anything rather than a zero. Folks that use a minor roll (usually controlled by the game master) have a better chance to roll a zero.

Invisible Advantage
The major roll has more chance of success than a minor roll, but it isn’t apparent from anything other than the number of dice thrown. The advantage isn’t huge, but it’s enough to make a difference. In the math section, you can see the breakdown of exactly how much of an advantage the major roll provides.

Even Distribution of Rolls
Rolling three dice and using the total alone tends to give you average rolls. In other words, you’ll roll average rolls more often than small or large rolls. This is seen by many experienced rpg players as giving an advantage to players with powerful characters. Although the distribution isn’t as even as just rolling one die, the distribution of rolling 1 through 6 is the same, only rolling a zero is different. For a major roll, roll tend to be something other than zero. For minor rolls, they tend to be zero.

Target Numbers:

Setting a target number for an action is up to the Game Master, though some guidelines are provided later on. To give some meaning to the numbers, descriptive adjectives are provided in order to give a sense of scale.

TN 5 - Easy
TN 8 - Tricky
TN 11 - Difficult
TN 14 - Challenging
TN 17 - Demanding
TN 20 - Extreme
TN 23 - Legendary
TN 26 - Mythic

Those familiar with the Action! System should recognize the adjectives. The MOD7 system uses some terminology from the Action! System game as provided by the OGL.

THE MATH:
Nothing extremely technical here, just the percentages of rolling certain things.

Major roll
Roll — Chance to Roll — Chance to = or exceed
0 ——- 0.138888889 ——- 1.000000000
1 ——- 0.143518519 ——- 0.861111111
2 ——- 0.143518519 ——- 0.717592593
3 ——- 0.143518519 ——- 0.574074074
4 ——- 0.143518519 ——- 0.430555556
5 ——- 0.143518519 ——- 0.287037037
6 ——- 0.143518519 ——- 0.143518519

Minor roll
Roll — Chance to Roll — Chance to = or exceed
0 ——- 0.166666667 ——- 1.000000000
1 ——- 0.138888889 ——- 0.833333333
2 ——- 0.138888889 ——- 0.694444444
3 ——- 0.138888889 ——- 0.555555556
4 ——- 0.138888889 ——- 0.416666667
5 ——- 0.138888889 ——- 0.277777778
6 ——- 0.138888889 ——- 0.138888889

As some of you know, I wrote a post about my current anger and frustration over recent events, then removed it. I began writing it as a public post, but decided to make it private at the end. I had been writing it for a few days, but just couldn’t take out a lot of the vitriol. At the end, I was still pretty upset and I forgot to make it private.

To those that read it I just want to say that my feelings do not come from a lack of support or prayers from anyone. I am truly grateful. I feel very loved and accepted. It has been wonderful sharing this difficult time with you.

I am angry at God alone, not any one of you. This is nothing new for God and me, unfortunately, but it is new that it is this intense. As I said, I will probably seek professional help soon. I am not well at all.

To anyone that wishes to offer advice, I only ask that you do not say or imply “God is in control”. He was in control when we were given a rare genetic syndrome that is transferable. This means our children may have children with worse predicaments than they have. We are awaiting confirmation of the diagnosis of Townes-Brocks syndrome. If confirmed, we are certainly done having children and I will have to break the news to our children when they are adults that having children for them is a large risk. If it is not confirmed, we may a very rare (only 11 known cases) form of Goldenhar’s syndrome that is hereditary.

Others have been through worse, I’m sure. This is, however, more than I can handle at this present time. I will probably not post anything for a while.

Work has a limit, so rather than have the email guys yell at me for eating up bandwidth, I’ll post them here.

Two pictures, one is a close up of our daughter. The other is me holding our daughter.
Our Baby Girl
Me and She