Meetup location:
* 41.179467°, -95.861537° or
* N41°10.768′, W95°51.6921′ or
* N41°10′46.08″, W95°51′41.52″

This is in an unaccessible location on someone’s farm. Meeting postponed.

To understand the madness, look here

see more crazy cat pics

In other news, I’m back. I spent a lot of time in Sycarion land and plan to spend more time there. Really though, I’m back in more ways than one. What does that mean? That means ICoC content. That means more Bible stuff. That means asking a lot of ‘why’ questions, but not asking a leading question (negative sense of a leading question, that is). Call it an epiphany or an answered prayer. Point is, I’ve come back from this long pit. I’ll explain the reasons behind it soon.

As always, more later.

Feel free to send money or recipes. Good healthy stuff is nice as I am working my way down.

I am here, just not writing on this site. I’m still listening to the Who’s My Brother series from Chicago. One person in attendance there has said that it should not be what I expected. I must confess that I listened to Tony Singh’s presentation first, which was a pretty bad idea because of the lack of context.

I can say, however, that regardless of context, the body of scripture used has been largely used to justify any separation over ANY issue. That doesn’t make the point less reasonable, just not well-proven.

I am interesting in what a conscience family is. This is a coined term either or Steve or F. LaGard Smith. I hope it is better defined than missional, a word that has come to mean just about anything.

I am otherwise doing well and the family is working through the last round of disease going through the family. I am working with a print on demand playing card company on something for sycarion. I’m trying to play some statis-Pro Football. Otherwise, I look forward to warmer weather.

My wife is Vice-President of the Hands and Voices chapter in Nebraska. Actually, she is co-veep. We felt that we needed two to promote work in each half of the state. My wife is the veep for the eastern half. She is also soon to be published on the Boys Town website. I am very proud of her.

More later. Really. More later.

Per custom, the theme is changed for April 1st.

Um. Yeah.

How to Sew a Cloth Gift Bag

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Cloth gift bags are easy to make and last longer than paper gift bags.
The recipient will not only be flattered by the effort you put into it, but they’ll also have a bag they can reuse, either for gift-giving or for storage or carrying.
With a sewing machine that can sew straight seams and make buttonholes, and your choice of fabric, you can start making these thoughtful bags whenever you want.

Steps

1. Decide what size bag you want to make. You can do this two ways.
   • The easy way is to wrap the cloth around the object you want to wrap and mark its dimensions on the back of the fabric you want to use.
   • A more complex way is to measure your object’s dimensions (length, width, height) and add an inch or two in each direction for seam allowances. Bear in mind that these instructions are for two dimensional, rectangular bags, and that you will have to allow for all three dimensions of your gift to fit.In this example, the width of the rectangle equals the circumference of the object plus two inches (diameter times pi plus two) and the height of the rectangle is equal to diameter plus height plus two (you could add 3 or more inches instead of two for a roomier fit).
2. Cut the fabric. You can do this all in one piece or in two pieces, just remember to double the seam allowance if using two rectangles instead of one. The following pictures are for a small gift bag made from a single rectangle. If your gift is larger, it may require that you cut two rectangles and sew an additional side seam to make a bag large enough. Otherwise, the same principles apply.
3. Press a fold about 0.5″ (1cm) of fabric along the top edge.
4. Fold and press again, this time a 1″ flap (twice the previous fold). This will be the casing for the tie closure.
5. Press a vertical fold halfway across the fabric; this will be the side without a seam.
6. Unfold and mark the placement of buttonholes on the wrong side of the fabric as shown, positioned below the lower horizontal fold. These are to run the drawstrings through.
7. Make four buttonholes where they were marked. Make them about .75″ (2 cm) long.
8. Open the buttonholes with a seam ripper.
9. Sew the side seam(s) and bottom seam of the bag. It’s a good idea to clip the corner before sewing to prevent it from bunching up later. Zigzag the seam edges to prevent fraying. You can also pink the edges or sew a French seam to obtain the same effect.
10. Turn the bag right side out and turn the casing to the inside.
11. Stitch down the casing to the inside of the bag. Allow for clearance of the buttonholes.
12. Cut two pieces of ribbon, or cordage to use as drawstrings.
13. Tie your ribbon to a small safety pin for ease of threading through the casing.
14. Pull the ribbon through the casing.
15. Note: The photo shows only one ribbon, but if four button holes were made, you should use two ribbons as shown in the drawing… one “U” shape from each direction so that you’re pulling two ribbon ends from each side of the bag to snug down the opening.
16. Drop your gift in the bag.
17. Snug up the drawstring.
18. Tie a bow and add a tag if you like.

Tips

• Suggested (finished) dimensions:
  • 15″ x 24″ will hold a typical shirt box or game
  • 13″ x 18.5″ will hold a large book or medium-size game or toy
  • 7″ x 12″ will hold single DVD or a paperback book
  • 4.5″ x 8.5″ will hold small items such as hot chocolate pouches or jewelry
• Scraps can be used to test your buttonholes.
• You could use metal eyelets instead of buttonholes. You might need to reinforce your fabric with interfacing in the eyelet area.
• An extra large bag makes a great laundry bag to send to camp with kids.
• To prevent fraying, you can use pinking shears, a serged seam, or a French seam.

Warnings

• Scissors and needles are sharp. Handle with appropriate care.

Things You’ll Need

• Lightweight fabric to suit the gift-giving occasion. (e.g., a snowman print for Christmas)
• Tool for marking fabric: could be a sewing chalk or even a pen or pencil
• Scissors and/or pinking shears
• Iron and ironing board
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Ribbon, yarn, or lightweight cordage for drawstrings
• A bodkin, yarn needle, or similar tool (a safety pin will work in a pinch) to thread the drawstring through the bag’s casing

Related wikiHows

• How to Sew a Button
• How to Machine Sew on a Button
• How to Use a Sewing Machine and Adjust the Stitches
• How to Make a Birthday Goodie Bag for Adults
• How to Wrap a Present
• How to Open a Package or Wrapper Without Damaging It

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Sew a Cloth Gift Bag. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

January 2007 began with a focus on RM unity and the hopes of an August 2007 unity conference. However, it was not meant to be. August was a bad time for many. ICoC support was minimal. RM support was strong only if it could be located in Dallas or Nashville. The ICoC(Community) church in Nashville agreed to host the event. Organizers hope that it can happen in 2008.

However, efforts began to meet with a CoC in town. Ultimately, efforts with the North Omaha Church of Christ and the Southwest Church of Christ panned out.

In my life, I discovered that out of 100 common allergens, I react to almost 50 of them. It was cold here, so I froze a gallon of Ice tea. At that time, I was posting game stuff here, but it’s been copied over to the other site.

The most powerful thing about January, though, was living a parable and being tempted to be the bad guy in the story. I’ve never seen anyone else involved since that day.

February was slow. We had a snow day at work which means my usual rant about designated personnel. I linked to an interesting article about not doing megachurch anymore. I also mentioned James Cameroon finding the Tomb of Jesus’ family.

The church I attend did meet with the North Omaha Church of Christ and we were received warmly. More on that soon.

March saw the post from my experiences with the NOCoC. I still laugh when I think about hearing the Kingdom study preached at us in such a way as to say that we were Almost Christians. We had a good time, but nothing much came of the meeting. I promised to follow up, but was unable to do so.

Per usual, I groused about the UP. I won’t link to those because it’s pretty obvious by now. However, I also began talking about a computer project at work as well as other projects. The computer project stalled on Internet connections. Lenga is all but finished. The Hebrews classes went very well and I enjoyed teaching them. As an aside, this is also the first post when I mention Dancing Bear as the online code phrase for our second child.

We had two major events occur on the same day. My wife had a unique baby shower and her grandmother transitioned to the grave. My wife still misses her grandmother. I still hug my kids every night.

In a sign of things to come, I ask for prayers. This will lead to deepening issues in my life and ultimately to seeking treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

April started off with the tail end of Teach Week. More than anything, though, my wife and I were excited about our second child due about the middle of April. This lead to the infamous Baby Pool. Dee, a co-worker, won with her prediction of 4/19 at 5:26 am. Dancing Bear was, in fact, born April 18 at 11:00pm. Her subsequent surgery was a success and I expressed much thanks to you, my online friends.

Looking back, this was the beginning of my declining mental health and faith. I do not believe that I have gotten over spending more time in the NICU or the eight surgeries that followed on Dancing Bear. Her last one was in October and we found out just before Christmas that it was probably the last one for her. Anyway, I have not really been the same since and it shows in what I chose to write about and the increasingly angry tone that came across.

My wife began to dream of building community and I joined in with my own thoughts. Little did we know that the sense of community would come to fruition with the beginning of the Nebraska chapter of Hands and Voices. We are still working to get things going. Next month will be the big kick-off.

In May, I talked about professional help in a private post that I accidentally published. Thanks to everyone that sent me encouragement after that post and to TTK that sent a great book to us. In general, I tried to use Mathematics to occupy my time, as well as the ICoC(SODM) and ICoC(CoOperating Churches). I decided to stick with math.

In the end, though, I enjoyed (and still enjoy) better living through oat rings. Brother Bear has expanded to concept to include grapes, crackers, and milk, but its still a lot of fun.

In June there were only three things of note. One was the series of articles by Roger Lamb comparing the ICoC history with the great Chicago Fire. I was mentioned indirectly in once of the articles, so I responded with the same non sequitur he asked me. The second event was a long post on Intelligent Design.

However, the one with the most far ranging effect was the first lolcat style post. Now, lolcats and similar pictures adorn almost every post. It is a disease, I know.

July saw the beginnings of work with the Southwest Church of Christ. We had a VBS with them. Later, we’d have service and a teen event together.

I spent a lot of time thinking about the Next Big Thing in religion. Despite this post and this post, I don’t think I ever got a clear idea in my mind until I saw the Unconference a few months later. I also defended my wife’s honor at a breastfeeding conference in Lincoln. Other than that, I enjoyed vacation and yet more math.

August was the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. We had a few tense days not hearing from some of my wife’s family and friends. Everyone that she knew was okay.

Lolcats posts started appearing, much to the dismay of my brother from another mother. I think my addiction at this point was beyond hope.

I delivered communion at church about Grace. Thanks to mrtool for recording it for me.

The end of the month saw the comprehensive history of the UPC, tracing its origins from 2003. One day, I hope someone more official can fill in the missing gaps.

September came with more difficult news about Dancing Bear. However, it turned out to be better than the doctor originally thought. She would not need a stent. We also discovered that Brother Bear does not have Charge Syndrome. We celebrated that news by dining out that night.

However, the same meeting made it obvious that one or both of us have a genetic issue that would lead to choanal atresia in any child we would create. The most likely culprit was me and I have a choanal stenosis (blockage) and similar genetic issues as Brother Bear. (Lack of sinus cavities on one side of my skull and other things.) I decided to have a vasectomy as soon as I could. No sense in spending yet more time in a NICU. No sense taking chances on what could be worse issues with a third child. The uncertainties were too great. The next day, my wife and I spent some time mourning that we would have no more children. We always wanted three.

This was greeted by my family as an attempt by my wife to control me. All they could ask is why she wasn’t getting fixed and why do the doctors think its my fault. They have since stopped saying these things, and I am grateful. They did, however, agree that two was plenty enough. All of us are grateful that we have one girl and one boy. They are wonderful children.

I also managed to scattershot some ideas, including hands and Voices. This lead to Mark putting me in touch with the New Mexico President of Hands and Voices. We have since met with the Minnesota President, the Colorado President, and plan on meeting with the Iowa President.

Of course, I have to mention this: KHAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!.

October had a few interesting items of note. Alan wrote about the UPC and submitted it to DisciplesToday for consideration. Instead of being considered, it generated hard feelings and libel from the editor of DToday. In the end, Alan was a class act the entire time. His apology was published. Roger’s was not. Alan’s original article was never published either.

Adventures in Unity part Two happened this month. Southwest and Omaha Churches of Christ had service together. We were welcomed as family and fellow believers. It was a fantastic time had by all. Later we went to their teen event.

Lots of other ICoC stuff happened. Not much new except the ICOC Hot News appeared. They made a big stink about an article in the Daily Trojan and won. No word on any ruckus raised about an article at Rutgers. I was wrong about this one. I thought the attention would backfire. It would take an article criticizing Raul Moreno to generate backfire, though it came from Kip.

It was also my wife and I’s third anniversary. We had a quiet dinner and great conversation. The best two gifts anyone could have. My wife is truly wondering and continues to tell me every morning “I believe in you.” I am blessed beyond measure.

November’s big event was the Naming Ceremony for our children. The church I attend allowed us to basically take over the entire service. Brother Bear didn’t have a good time, but everyone else did. The day before was a great time of family, food, and fun. It was the first time everyone had been together since the wedding. I was surprised to see my niece there. We had everyone there except my brother-in-law’s new son.

The other big event was a trip to Minnesota. All the children and grandchildren on my wife’s side of the family were in one place at one time. There is photographic evidence of five children (all under 3) sitting together nicely.

Where It Is

Eventful, no? This doesn’t even include turning 36 or Christmas, both fun events.

Months of therapy later, I am functional and somewhat able to handle things as they come. The main thrust of my counseling is akin to “taking every thought captive” through a cognitive approach. It means a few overall changes that have helped some thus far.

The number one change is having more fun. I am having more fun. I got an Omega Chess set for Christmas that I love. I play Statis-Pro Football online occasionally. I design a few games now and then. Brother Bear and I spend about two hours a day together alone. (Dancing Bear and I get about 1.5 hours).

Number two change is being more active. I have been irregular with workouts. They are generally an hour long with most of the time on a bike. I always feel good the day after a workout. In January, I should be able to go everyday again from 5:30 - 6:30 am.

Number three change is removing certain things from my life. The financial strain of our first two years of marriage has eased considerably. We are able to do some special things and my wife can actually shop for a few articles of clothing for herself. Thanks to my wife’s hard work, we are down to one bill for Dancing Bear. This was after a 5% decrease in pay because of an increased pension contribution. (I had no choice.)

I’m also removing the ICoC from my life. I went to Delphi one last time last night. Then I removed all bookmarks and links to anything remotely ICoC. I haven’t read DToday in a few days. I try not to read HotNews or even MissionMemo. Over the next few days, I hope to eliminate all of them from my routine. I know, pass the popcorn. Like Arnold, I’ll be back. Maybe I will. I hope not.

I really hope not.

Even with these changes, though, the one big issue still remains: the succession of NICU visits. None of these changes address the fact that I am still upset that both children have genetic issues. None of them address the anger that I am somehow genetically defective and can only have children with worse issues than what I have. This is the biggest battle and it won’t go away with changes to lifestyle. Like Jesus said himself, some demons only come out through prayer and fasting.

The Future

The future is the quest for an authentic faith. I want to read the Bible and not see the ICoC/RM theology in every verse. I don’t want to see an theology in those verses. I want to hear the voice of God. I don’t hear Him anymore, though I know He hears me.

The future is having fun with a people over seemingly trivial things like chess, board games, and sports.

The future is seeing my children grow up. Dancing Bear will take her first steps in 2008. Brother Bear will start his first spoken sentences and first signing sentences. When the cold is over, we can all run and jump in the park. They will visit my homeland in March. I cannot wait for Brother Bear to see the ocean.

The future is community. I don’t mean just Hands and Voices, but building various interconnected communities. One is Hands and Voices, another is the family of faith. Yet another is the community of Benson, the area where we currently live.

Happy New Year!

I wish you a very Happy New Year. May God bless you and stand with you in all the empty places where you must walk.

no lolcat for this one

As always, at the end of the year, any post that went unfinished is now a Semithought post. It is dated today because I didn’t publish them correctly. As a result, a whole lot of posts showed up at once. I cannot undo it, but oh well.

Nothing scary this year like the Halloween one a couple years ago. Just random thoughts.

Year in review later.

Recent Comments work, now. I know you just love reading about Babbage’s Engines, but now you’ll have to stick with recent comments on this site.

Of course, this means that the feeds from the other portal sites are broken. I’ll see if I can get them working without breaking other plugins.

Normally, I’m not the type of card carrying English major to correct mistakes, but I couldn’t resist this little correction.

Literary Illusions

Turns out that I didn’t buy the book at all. My wife wants to wait for a better time to read it. So, no trip to the airport. (Turns out the grocery store had copies at $20.99.) All the critical stuff has been spoiled for me already.

Yes, the site looks different. It is different, too.

Besides the new theme is an upgrade to the latest release version of Wordpress. The other major thing that is different is that all the other Wordpress based sites (PrairieComber, Sycarion, etc.) feed into the posts here. In other words, when a post appears on Sycarion, it will also appear here. (It’s like Slashdot in a way. Each subdomain has its own theme, but the repository for all of them is here.

Coming soon, the site that deals with philosophy, the ICOC, and all things weird (like lolcats) will move to religion.pinakidion.org. No need to change the bookmarks as all the posts there will appear here. Clicking on the post title will take you to the religion site, in case you don’t particularly want to see posts about Lenga.

I put quick tags on the comments for easier link creation. I tried to implement threaded comments as well, but they are not working.

Enjoy!

Thinking about a board game based on this machine. Just jotting down a few ideas:

Move proceeds around a board as player assemble pieces to construct their machine. The first to make it to the patent office with a working analytical engine wins. Players first make a difference engine and either patent it or build one by commission. Pieces from difference engine funds analytical engine.

If a player builds one for patent and not commission, he or she can use all the pieces of the difference machine to build analytical machine. Everyone else can only reuse their original (before being commissioned) pieces.

There are three pieces - spacer, cog, and rack.

The rack is a piece that allows the machine to be built ‘up’ a level. Presumably, the more racks, the more variables that can be calculated at once, but also the longer it takes to finish the machine.

The spacer allows the machine to be built ‘out’ a level. Presumably, the more spacers, the more decimal places that can be calculated for each variable. Once a spacer is added, it is added to every level.

Cog is a bit of machinery that fits on the grid created by racks and spacers. For example, a machine with 5 racks and 8 spacers would require 40 cogs to complete.

There would need to be a funding source, so I guess each player is a hobbyist until if and when a company commissions a machine to be built. Each would have different specifications and different advantages (more cogs per turn, alternate build rules, etc.)

Upon completion, they would get paid and then start to build the analytical engine.

Need to add in bonus or random elements like:

Ada helps your project (build at twice the rate)
Building trouble (destroys rack or spacer)
Lose funding. Keep your pieces, lose those purchased by company commissioning the machine.
Cogs go bad and must be replaced. or only red cogs go bad.
An entire rack goes bad and must be replaced.
A green rack goes bad or a red rack goes bad.

Piece would be two different colors to distinguish pieces built by you, the inventor, and those purchased by company commissioning you. Say Green are built by you and red built by company. When difference machine is finished, you can use only the green pieces to start analytical engine. (Thus if you built it entirely yourself, you could reuse all the pieces.)

Analytical Engine would need fourth piece, don’t know what to name it. Maybe replace cogs or modify cogs. Maybe analytical cogs cost more, but difference cogs can be modified very faster. For example in one turn you may get an analytical cog or convert three difference cogs to an analytical cog.

Building rules:

Rack pieces can only be removed from the top down, not the bottom up.
Removing a spacer affects every rack. The cogs lost cannot be reused. (Someone may remove a spacer in order to finish their machine faster.)
When you start on your analytical engine, you must add at least one rack and one spacer.
A difference machine must be at least 6 racks by 6 spacers.

Unless directed by card or company paying you (difference engine only), you can only add the piece you land on while moving your token around the board. If you are being paid to build, it must be a red piece. If you are going it alone, it must be a green piece.

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

The article is here

Enjoy!

Blogged with Flock

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

I have been fascinated lately with variations on chess. The one played by many in Europe, including current Grandmasters, is Janus Chess. The board has two extra spaces (10 x 8 board) and each side has a Janus, a combination of a knight and bishop.

Having a combination piece means that a player can be checkmated with a Janus alone.

Reading about it, though, I stumbled upon a website with many, many different chess variants. People have combined pieces of all kinds, including ones from Shogi (chinese chess) and Tamerlane. Folks come up with some wild variations, including some rather unplayable ones. There’s a rabbit that can make as many knight moves in a counterclockwise fashion as it can. (Am I in check from your rabbit? Let me check.) There’s variations of the knight that make the “L” longer, wider, or both. There’s a checker piece that captures by jumping. The list is really large at chessvariants.org.

My favorite, however, is Chess with Different Armies. Four different armies have been playtested by the inventor and it is fascinating to see a game being played. Both sides are pretty much equal, but the tactics of each of definitely not the same. I imagine a tournament where players can switch armies between matches. I imagine two variant armies squaring off will be the most exciting matches.

If I ever live out my fantasy of opening a store, I’d like to create and sell Chess with Multiple Armies. It could be like the release of Deadwood with new armies every year. Heck, I may do that anyway.

Of course, I also like Arimaa, designed to confound computers. Enjoy the wikipedia reading.

The entire text of a post is contained in the RSS. I already know that the entire text of the comments are in their respective RSS as well.

Just though you’d want to know.

Welcome to the website. I use this site as a handy journal to record my thoughts and feelings. The difference, of course, is that I do not write privately. Some of my posts are angry and some are sad, but some are happy. I do not apologize for what I write, but I will discuss anything. If I am wrong, I will do what is necessary to make it right, if possible.

There’s been a few changes over the past three years to the site. The biggest change recently, besides the upgrade, has been the addition of several subdomains. This site serves to discuss Christianity, the ICoC subculture, my life, some philospohy, and the occasional miscellany ranging from politics (very very rare) to games to computer culture to Chick-Fil-A(TM). As far as Chrisitianity goes, I come from a Methodist background from childhood. In college, I studied several religions without participating in them. I considered myself Christian with no real denominational ties. I joined the International Churches of Christ in 1991. In the spring of 2006, I asked to be considered a non-member of the church I attend. I am still active in this church and its events because I want to be in this community of people and raise my children here.

As far as theology or philosphy is concerned, I can be pretty ambivalent. However, I do believe in a few things very strongly:

• I believe in the righteous cause of those that cannot defend themselves.
• I believe in challenging authority that hurts people under the guise of religion.
• I believe that honesty is its own reward and one of the highest ideals.
• I believe in the inherent good of individual people.

From left to right on the top of the page, the auxillary sites are:
Dira - The world of Dira is a role-playing fantasy setting loosely based on the Roman Empire. Development here is being moved to another site, so this may disappear in the future or change locations.

D/I - The dev/itreegulars site is for news that matters to Geeks. Feel free to comment or post, it’s under construction but has fun things.

Sycarion - Sycarion Diversions is home to anything games. This can be card games or board games, but especially focuses on role-playing games. A major project ongoing there is Lenga, a generic fantasy setting for the Action!-System rules.

My Family - Old website my wife and I set up for our wedding. It will change sometime in 2006 into a site for both of us.

Computer Biz - My associate(mrtool) and I have done some computer work and used this name. Our original concept was to manufacture a self-repairing workstation for use in rental properties that offer internet service. We still build computers when we can. The fate of this site is uncertain at this time.

Study Hall - This site was created for a friend and I to study the Bible together. Emails became more useful. However, I intend to publish a few expositions of various books of the Bible there.

Prairiecomber - The Prairie Comber will hold my writing efforts including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. For now, a lot of the material is very old (and it shows!). As I get more serious about writing, it will contain more stories and poems.

For My Son - This site hold information about parenting hard of hearing children. As we are sorting through the wealth of information we have, I hope to post it here.

Feel free to comment on this or any of the other auxillary sites. And again, welcome to my diary.

I know, I know. Working on it.

UPDATE: March 19 - It seems to vacillate on and off. Not sure why. Even one of my websites with STATIC pages goes down.

It has come to my attention that another role paying game used the term ‘Hesperian’ to refer to a Roman-based society in an alternate future. Although I came up with Hesberian independent of them, the folks at Steve Jackson Games came up with it quite a bit earlier than I did. I do not want to infringe on their trademarks at all. It’s obvious to me that as they have prior art (I know it’s not a copyright thing) I need to change.

So, the Hesberian Empire material I came up with will have its name changed again. I am making certain that there are no duplication of specific people mentioned in other products. Awrelius will have a name change to Cutelium, but others with different names should be okay.

Henceforth, the empire that dominated Dira and influences Lenga is known as the Bedrian Empire.

NKQB

Nabrolus Kenuraque Bedrianus

For the Senate and Ken of Bedriana

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