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Post by krusader74 on Jul 8, 2014 15:00:14 GMT -6
Just wanted to put in a plug for my new dice calculator, Palamedes, discussed hereSome excellent work there. I lost interest in stats and computing a while ago but I would use the statistics language R for such things, have you heard of it? Back in the summer of 2010 I started work on a similar project in R. It piggybacked off the DiscreteDistribution class defined in the "distr" library. I've put some of the R functions I wrote in a text file---see the attached file below. It includes the function to compute order statistics that we're using in this discussion. I like R, but I wanted to create something that could run in a web browser without installing any special software, so I chose to re-implement in JavaScript. JavaScript is non-typed, which has been a blessing and a curse. It makes many things simpler to implement, but also allows bugs to creep in... like the bug in the previous build which prevented the order statistics function from working because comparisons were being done on strings instead of numbers. What you are doing is user friendly for those with no coding experience but still tricky for them. It would be interesting to see if they could use it. I also wanted to make something more user friendly than my set of R functions, so that it could be used by non-statisticians. I don't think I've achieved that goal yet, but it's still a work in progress, and I hope to add more features, improve the documentation, make the web interface friendlier, and exterminate the bugs. As noted, it's still an alpha preview. My goal is to get a stable version done by the end of this summer. If anyone has more suggestions for improvement, feature requests, or bug reports, please PM me. Your EXAMPLES link is very large and perhaps should be more prominent. In the "instructions" frameset, I'll add a link at the bottom, something like, "click here to see more EXAMPLES." The EXAMPLES file itself needs to be better organized, perhaps with a table of contents that lists particular topics of interest. As I add more functionality, the file may need to be split up into a "user guide" divided into chapters. Attachments:Dice-in-R.txt (18.23 KB)
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 8, 2014 5:54:03 GMT -6
Statistically, rolling 2d20 and keeping the higher gives an average result of 13.825, as compared to 10.5 on 1d20. Just wanted to put in a plug for my new dice calculator, Palamedes, discussed here. In the latest version* I uploaded today, you can easily do this calculation with the succinct code... stats(max(2#d20)) to get the result... stats (max (2 # d20)) → {"min":1,"max":20,"mean":13.825,"median":15,"mode":[20],"sd":4.711090638058235,"count":20} which confirms waysoftheearth's calculation. The hashmark # between the 2 and the d20 means take a sample of two d20 rolls, whereas 2d20 would mean roll two d20s and sum, which isn't what's desired here. If you wanted to see a table of probabilities for each outcome, use the code... table (prob (max (2 # d20))) to get the result... table (prob (max (2 # d20))) → key value 1 0.0025000000000000044 2 0.007499999999999991 3 0.012500000000000011 4 0.017499999999999974 5 0.02250000000000002 6 0.027500000000000024 7 0.03249999999999996 8 0.037499999999999936 9 0.04250000000000004 10 0.04750000000000004 11 0.052499999999999936 12 0.05750000000000005 13 0.06250000000000006 14 0.06750000000000006 15 0.07250000000000012 16 0.07750000000000001 17 0.08250000000000013 18 0.08750000000000002 19 0.09250000000000014 20 0.09749999999999948
The average max on 3d20... which is 15.4875 Likewise, Palamedes can confirm kent's calculation (up to JavaScript rounding errors) with the code... table(stats(max(3#d20))) table(prob(max(3#d20)))
to produce the output... table (stats (max (3 # d20))) → key value count 20 max 20 mean 15.487499999999997 median 16 min 1 mode 20 sd 3.8676018086147406
table (prob (max (3 # d20))) → key value 1 0.00012500000000000033 2 0.000874999999999999 3 0.002375000000000002 4 0.004624999999999994 5 0.007625000000000005 6 0.01137500000000001 7 0.01587499999999998 8 0.02112499999999997 9 0.02712500000000001 10 0.03387500000000003 11 0.04137499999999994 12 0.04962500000000006 13 0.058625000000000066 14 0.06837500000000002 15 0.07887500000000014 16 0.09012500000000001 17 0.10212500000000024 18 0.11487500000000006 19 0.12837500000000024 20 0.14262499999999922
You can easily do even more complicated order statistics such as this: Roll four d20s and keep only the second highest. Use the code... table(stats(orderstat d20, 4,3)) table(prob(orderstat d20, 4,3))
to get the results... table (stats (orderstat d20, 4, 3)) → key value count 20 max 20 mean 12.4999875 median 13 min 1 mode 14 sd 4.010367813535776
table (prob (orderstat d20, 4, 3)) → key value 1 0.00048125000000000126 2 0.0032187499999999964 3 0.008281250000000007 4 0.015218749999999977 5 0.02358125000000002 6 0.03291875000000004 7 0.042781249999999924 8 0.05271874999999995 9 0.06228125000000001 10 0.07101875000000007 11 0.07848124999999989 12 0.08421875000000012 13 0.08778125000000009 14 0.08871875000000007 15 0.08658125000000017 16 0.08091874999999982 17 0.07128125000000018 18 0.05721874999999976 19 0.038281250000000044 20 0.014018749999999858
Or this: Roll six d24+1 and keep the fourth highest... table(stats(orderstat (d24+1), 6,4)) table(prob(orderstat (d24+1), 6,4)) Note the parentheses around the dice expression in this case. This gives you... table (stats (orderstat (d24 + 1), 6, 4)) → key value count 24 max 25 mean 15.214297740711272 median 15 min 2 mode 16 sd 4.209065650668775
table (prob (orderstat (d24 + 1), 6, 4)) → key value 2 0.00004224947287058456 3 0.0005880285192418994 4 0.002337556480543766 5 0.005734154553406843 6 0.010953644175588338 7 0.01794202304834857 8 0.02645314115882734 9 0.03608637680242087 10 0.04632431260515804 11 0.05657041154607667 12 0.06618669297960067 13 0.07453140865791641 14 0.0809967187533489 15 0.08504636788073872 16 0.08625336111981852 17 0.0843376400375887 18 0.07920375871069618 19 0.07097855974780853 20 0.06004885031199103 21 0.04709907814308467 22 0.03314900758008088 23 0.019591395583499538 24 0.008229667757764347 25 0.0013155943735799758 Anyway, I created this tool to experiment with just these kinds of computations with minimal effort. Hopefully, someone here might find it useful. * Worked these calculations in Palamedes version 1.0-a25 (20140708). Unfortunately these examples would fail in the prior version 1.0-a24, due to a regression that treated numbers as strings in certain functions. It would have worked OK in versions 1.0-a23 and prior. Note this software is still alpha quality and contains bugs! If you have issues with it, please PM me with a description of the problem and the version. Thanks!
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 5, 2014 9:12:32 GMT -6
I just uploaded a new build of the Palamedes software to palamedes.altervista.org that includes the following changes: - Added "mode" function
- Included "mode" function in "stats" function
- Fixed bug in "stats" that made expressions like "stats(abs(d6-d6))" fail. See NEWS for details
- Fixed "table" function to work with objects whose domain include non-numbers, e.g., table {"a":0.25,"b":0.5,"c":0.25}
- Changed "table" function to make decimal points line up when printing pmfs, e.g., table(prob(3d6))
- Fixed "domain" function to work with objects whose domain include non-numbers
- Fixed link to "...more..." in "Palamedes" frameset on index.html
The source code is on dropbox.
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 5, 2014 1:33:13 GMT -6
There used to be a blog over on freewebs dot com called "The Devil's Picturebook" that had a statistical analysis of tali. The site has been frozen, but fortunately it has been archived by the wayback machine. The author used "four modern-day authentic imported Mongolian knucklebones." He rolled them 100 times in each of two ways: - One-handed roll onto a Persian rug
- Two-handed drop from a height of 12 inches
Additionally, he tested four hand-carved ivory tali 100 times and one lead talus 100 times. Here is a summary of his results: Face Mongolian bones: Rolled Mongolian bones: Dropped Ivory Tali Lead Talus ---- ----------------------- ------------------------ ---------- ---------- 1 0.145 0.0975 0.0975 0.04 3 0.3425 0.375 0.39 0.44 4 0.38 0.44 0.38 0.49 6 0.1325 0.0875 0.1325 0.03
The author speculates that the lead talus was used for religious purposes rather than gambling, given the infrequency of a "6" compared with the other tali. It is unfortunate the author didn't test each bone individually (he cast all 4 at once), and that the sample sizes are so small. Nevertheless, this experiment still interests me in that it shows the irregular probability patterns of knucklebones.
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 4, 2014 7:58:43 GMT -6
One question: d6 - d6 : the difference of two d6s Can I do the signed and the absolute difference? I.e., 2 - 5 = -3 (signed) or 3 (absolute)? I just uploaded a new version of the software to palamedes.altervista.org/It contains an abs function. It also contains several other new functions (drop, inv, shuffle, sort, table, take). I also overloaded the '*' operator to do convolutions and string repetition. And there are a couple small fixes. See the NEWS file for details. In brief, you can now enter the following expression: table(prob(abs(d6-d6))) And get back these results: table (prob (abs (d6 - d6))) → key value 0 0.16666666666666669 1 0.2777777777777778 2 0.2222222222222222 3 0.16666666666666666 4 0.1111111111111111 5 0.05555555555555555 And here is the output of the shuffle example in the NEWS file that shows how to create a deck of 52 cards, shuffle them, and deal out 5: ranks ← [2..10] ∪ ["J", "Q", "K", "A"]
suits ← ["♠", "♡", "♢", "♣"]
concat ← ranks + s
cards ← flatten (map concat, s, suits)
take (shuffle cards), 5 → ["Q♠", "4♠", "10♡", "10♠", "6♠"] I still have a lot more work to do, but I wanted to announce this update, since it contains the abs function you asked about. A ZIP file with the source code is still at the dropbox address.
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 3, 2014 21:12:43 GMT -6
Is the point of knucklebones, now, that they do not each have the regularity which ensures precisely the same probabilities, whether known or unknown, from one to another? That is organic knucklebones are interesting, mass produced knucklebones are not. For me, the appeal of knucklebones is that they symbolize the mythological origins of dice, jacks, dominoes, poker, gambling, and probability theory---all of which I find fascinating. So I wouldn't mind adding a set of plastic knucklebones to my existing collection of plastic dice. It's true that the asymmetry of actual knucklebones makes it difficult to find regular patterns of probability. That said, in general, the empirical probabilities for an astragalus is roughly Face Probability ---- ----------- 1 1/10 3 4/10 4 4/10 6 1/10 And so I would hope that a set of mass produced, plastic alstragali would conform to these probabilities. But I understand how some might find the non-regular probabilities of actual bones appealing: The ancient Greeks and Romans (at least some of them) had the skills to compute tables of probabilities for their dice, but they made no attempt to do so. They didn't believe their dice were governed by probabilities. Instead they believed their dice were governed by the goddess Tyche. And that the outcome of a die roll in some way reveals her will. It's interesting to me that in modern day games, we often assign the smallest probability to best outcome. For example, in poker the Royal Flush has the worst odds (649,739 : 1). Alternatively, in AD&D we go for balance between best and worst outcomes: a natural 20 always hits, and a natural 1 always misses. But in astragali, the best outcome "Venus" is 384 times more likely than the worst outcome "Dogs". So beyond the fact that real tali lack regular patterns of probability, the game of knucklebones itself lacks game balance. And that may also be appealing to some.
"I was seeking the Venus with favorable tali, but the dam-ed dog always leapt out." -- Propertius (50BC-15AD)
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 3, 2014 19:08:24 GMT -6
Additional notes on knucklebones. Terminology. The dice themselves were called "astragali" (αστράγαλοι) meaning "knucklebones." Today the dice are called κότσια, originally a Byzantine term. The dice are carried in a pouch made of leather or cloth called formiskos (φορμίσκος). The game itself is called "astragalismos" (αστραγαλισμός). The dice have 4 sides. Two are broad, and two are narrow. Refer to this image: - The curved, small side is called "kyon" (κυών) meaning "dog"; it is sometimes called "hios" (χίος). It counts for one point.
- The wide, convex side is called the "belly" or "pranes" (πρανές). It counts for four points.
- The wide concave, side is called the "back" or "yptios" (ύπτιον). It counts for three points.
- The flat small S-shaped side "koos" (κώον) or "exites" (εξίτης) counts for six points.
The two pairs of opposite sides have the same sum in points: 6 (κώον) + 1 (κυών) = 7 = 3 (ύπτιον) + 4 (πρανές). The worst single roll is a 1 or dog (κυών), and the worst hand is four-of-a-kind called "gypas" (γύπας) or "vulture." Sources. 1. Here is a helpful PDF booklet on how to do divination with knucklebones. That's where I got the above image. Astragaloi: Greco-Roman Dice Oracles by Jenna Mortensen2. I also referenced this web page on ancient Greek toys to get the proper terminology: Asragalomantia - Knucklebones
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 3, 2014 18:11:07 GMT -6
I found this set of plastic knucklebones for sale at eBay for $3.99. The seller notes they may be used to play dice games (as I described above), to play jacks, or for divination. I have a strong dice fetish, and I don't have a set of knucklebones in my collection yet, so I might give these a try.
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 3, 2014 17:45:54 GMT -6
Three images of Palamedes, the mythological inventor of dice. All three are licensed for re-use: (1) Painting of Palamedes before Agamemnon (1626) by Rembrandt. Look closely to see a self-portrait of Rembrandt behind Agamemnon's scepter. Source. (2) Portrait of Palamedes designed as a medal from the book Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum (1553) by Guillaume Rouille. Source. (3) Statue of Palamedes by Venetian sculptor Antonio Canova (1757 - 1822). Source.
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 3, 2014 4:15:30 GMT -6
The New World Encyclopedia article on the Goblin says this: However, it doesn't cite a source for this specific proposition. The Greek word kobalos (Κόβαλος) means an "impudent rogue", or "arrant knave". The Latin "cobalus", the French "gobelin", and the German "kobold" all derive from this word. The Wikipedia article on the Kobold notes: Green clothing. In Medieval times, your social status determined the color of clothes you were legally allowed to wear: - Red for nobility
- Brown and grey for peasants
- Green for merchants and bankers
I've written at length about Medieval banking in this post, and so it doesn't surprise me that that the long-standing connection between green clothes and banking still connects the color green to greed, envy, and jealousy. Shakespeare spoke of "green eyed jealousy" in the Merchant of Venice and "the green eyed monster" in Othello. The GURPS Goblins supplement says "Greed is the first great motivator behind the actions of goblins." So perhaps even if their skin is not green, Medieval goblins may clad themselves in green, because they are envious of bankers and merchants, and greedy of the wealth they have achieved. Given the connection between clothes color and social status, its interesting to me that Medieval poets and artists began portraying the devil as either red or green. While we mostly associate the devil with the color red today, Chaucer connected the devil to the color green: the summoner of the Friar's Tale encounters a hunter who "hadde upon a courtepy of grene" and confesses himself to be a "feend." A "courtepy" is a kind of coat; this page has some nice drawings of Medieval clothing; this is what a courtepy looks like: Also, the 15th century painting "Saint Wolfgang and the Devil" by Michael Pacher depicts the devil as green: Prior to the Middle ages, the Romans associated green to Venus and sexuality. Before that the ancient Greeks and Egyptians associated green to growth, agriculture and the sea. These are positive associations, whereas the Medieval association with money, banking, and the devil is most definitely negative. Our word "green" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root ghre/ghro/ghru which means "to grow" or "to become green." This page lists the Old/Middle/Modern English derivatives (as well as German/Italian/Greek). It is important to note that all ancient languages don't make as clean a distinction between blue/green/grey as modern English---In Chinese, ancient Greek and Old Irish, green and blue were considered the same color. Perhaps this is because the archetype was the sea, which we'd call bluish-green today. Green skin. There are several conditions that can cause the skin to turn green: anemia, amenorrhoea ("the green sickness"), or sepsis. Wearing copper jewelry can cause the skin to turn green. When copper corrodes it turns green and these green copper compounds can transfer to the skin. So perhaps goblins in your campaign wear a lot of cheap, copper jewelry, and it has stained their skin permanently green?
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 2, 2014 3:30:57 GMT -6
Medieval DogsI was reading this review of the Kathleen Walker-Meikle book, Medieval Dogs, and it contained this tender drawing of King John and his hounds: It got me thinking about how people in Medieval Gottam would probably rely on their dogs much more than we do today. Here are some of the ways dogs would likely be used: Hunting. The elites were particularly fond of fox hunting. Herding. Hauling heavy loads. Tracking. Pest control. To kill rodents. It was also thought if you kept your dogs close, let them sleep in bed with you, then the fleas and bedbugs might prefer to bite the dogs rather than you. Pets. The Royals still love to spoil their lap dogs. Entertainment. In England, dog-fighting (as well as bear baiting and bull-baiting) were not banned until 1835. The elites were very fond of these blood sports. They were a continuation of the Roman circuses. Spectators would wager on the outcomes. While bear-baiting and bull-baiting took place in large rings, dog-fighting took place in small pits, so this blood sport was more accessible to commoners. Guard dogs. War dogs. This web page on The Dogs of War says: Rabies. The popularity of dogs also came with hazards. Of these, periodic "hydrophobia panics" were likely the worst. Rabies infects foxes, so an outbreak in wild foxes would eventually spread to dogs, then to people. Bat Hound. Writer Bill Finger introduced Bat Hound in Batman #92 (June 1955). I recently read a couple of issues of Batman from the late 50s, one where Batman uses Bat Hound to track criminals, and one where Robin uses Bat Hound to track down Batman after being transformed into a creature. Bat Hound's alter ego is Bruce Wayne's dog Ace. In the comics, Ace has been everything from a German Shepherd, to a puggle, to a Great Dane. No doubt Medieval Bruce Wayne has a dog, Ace, and Gottam Cnihtas has its Bat Hound. So consider using dogs if you're running a Medieval campaign. And don't forget International Dog Day & National Dog Appreciation Day (coming up August 26th) and World Rabies Day (September 28).
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 2, 2014 1:55:39 GMT -6
Thank you very much for your encouragement! One question: d6 - d6 : the difference of two d6s Can I do the signed and the absolute difference? I.e., 2 - 5 = -3 (signed) or 3 (absolute)? By default, d6 - d6 produces the signed difference. Writing an absolute value function is one of my todos; when its done, you'll be able to write this: abs(d6 - d6). In the meantime, you could always do this: √((d6 - d6)^2) ... or this ... {roll <| d6 - d6; lookup [roll<0, -1 * roll, true, roll]} Another one: Can I set the random number seed explicitly, so that I can reproduce the same results between sessions? This is something I wanted to do. According to this Q&A on stackexchange, Javascript Random Seeds, JavaScript doesn't expose an interface for seeding. So the solution is to write my own PRNG or use somebody else's. This is a feature I want too, so I will eventually do this. Thanks again for your support and questions!
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 1, 2014 22:16:41 GMT -6
ExampleI wanted to tie everything in this thread together by showing an example of how to use dice.js to compute probabilities for a particular instance of Knucklebones/Tali, the dice game invented by Palamedes. Remember every knucklebone is different with a different set of probabilities. Sides are not equi-probable. And dice aren't iid. But for simplicity we'll assume this game is played with four identical bones each with the following probability mass function (pmf): {"1": 0.1, "3": 0.4, "4": 0.4, "6": 0.1} We'll play with these rules: - Everybody puts 1 sp in the pot before each round. You also put 1 sp in the pot for each 1 you roll.
- Each player rolls once each round. Players decide what order they roll in.
- Hands are ordered as follows: Venus > Senio > two pair > three-of-a-kind > pair > Vultures > Dogs
- Within a hand, high score wins.
- For tied scores, nobody wins the pot this round. Everybody puts 1 more sp in the pot, and starts the next round.
This code will compute hands and scores given for this spec: hand ← lookup[max(range(tally tali))=1, "venus", max tali=1,"dogs", max(range(tally tali))=4, "vultures", max tali=6,"senio", max(range(tally tali))=3, "three of a kind", min(range(tally tali))=2, "two pair", max(range(tally tali))=2, "pair", true, "cheater!"] score ← sum tali pmf ← {"1": 0.1, "3": 0.4, "4": 0.4, "6": 0.1} roll ← 4 # select pmf To generate one random roll and compute it's hand and score, do this: tali ↤ roll; hand; score To see the probabilities and sample statistics for various scores, do this: prob(sum(roll)); stats(sum(roll)) Computing the exact probabilities of each hand is more complicated. Here's a quick-and-dirty calculation: probvenus ↤ 4! * 0.1 ^ 2 * 0.4 ^ 2 probdogs ↤ 0.1 ^ 4 probvultures ↤ 2 * 0.4 ^ 4 + 0.1^4 probsenio ↤ comb(4, 3) * 0.1 ^ 3 * 0.9 + comb(4, 2) * 0.1 ^ 2 * 0.9 ^ 2 + comb(4, 1) * 0.1 * 0.9 ^ 3 - probvenus probtwopair ↤ comb(4, 2) * 0.4 ^ 4 + 2 * comb(4, 2) * 0.4 ^ 2 * 0.1 ^ 2 probtriple ↤ 2 * comb(4, 1) * 0.4 ^ 3 * 0.5 + comb(4, 1) * 0.1 ^ 3 * 0.8 probpair ↤ 2 * comb(4, 2) * 2 * 0.4 ^ 3 * 0.1 + comb(4, 2) * 2 * 0.4 ^ 2 * 0.1 ^ 2 Confirm that these probabilities sum to 1.0 (up to JavaScript rounding errors): sum [probvenus, probdogs, probvultures, probsenio, probtwopair, probtriple, probpair] Now let's confirm these theoretical calculations by running a simulation. This code block will yield a random hand only: {tali ↤ roll; hand} This will generate a sample of 10 random hands: 10 # {tali ↤ roll; hand} Finally, this will compute a frequency table for 100,000 random hands: freq (100000 # {tali ↤ roll; hand}) These empirical results compare favourably to our theoretical results. Here are the results generated by pasting all this stuff into the browser interface: hand ← lookup [max (range (tally tali)) = 1, "venus", max tali = 1, "dogs", max (range (tally tali)) = 4, "vultures", max tali = 6, "senio", max (range (tally tali)) = 3, "three of a kind", min (range (tally tali)) = 2, "two pair", max (range (tally tali)) = 2, "pair", true, "cheater!"]
score ← sum tali
pmf ← {"1":0.1,"3":0.4,"4":0.4,"6":0.1}
roll ← 4 # select [1, 0.1, 3, 0.4, 4, 0.4, 6, 0.1]
tali ↤ roll → [4, 4, 3, 3] hand → "two pair" score → 14
prob (sum (roll)) → {"4":0.00010000000000000003,"6":0.0016000000000000007,"7":0.0016000000000000007,"8":0.009600000000000004,"9":0.01960000000000001,"10":0.03520000000000001,"11":0.08160000000000003,"12":0.10720000000000005,"13":0.14720000000000003,"14":0.19260000000000008,"15":0.14720000000000005,"16":0.10720000000000005,"17":0.08160000000000003,"18":0.035200000000000016,"19":0.019600000000000006,"20":0.009600000000000004,"21":0.0016000000000000007,"22":0.0016000000000000007,"24":0.00010000000000000003} stats (sum (roll)) → {"min":4,"max":24,"mean":14.000000000000004,"median":14,"sd":2.4083189157584557,"count":19}
probvenus ↤ 4! * 0.1 ^ 2 * 0.4 ^ 2 → 0.03840000000000002
probdogs ↤ 0.1 ^ 4 → 0.00010000000000000005
probvultures ↤ 2 * 0.4 ^ 4 + 0.1 ^ 4 → 0.051300000000000026
probsenio ↤ comb(4,3) * 0.1 ^ 3 * 0.9 + comb(4,2) * 0.1 ^ 2 * 0.9 ^ 2 + comb(4,1) * 0.1 * 0.9 ^ 3 - probvenus → 0.3054
probtwopair ↤ comb(4,2) * 0.4 ^ 4 + 2 * comb(4,2) * 0.4 ^ 2 * 0.1 ^ 2 → 0.17280000000000006
probtriple ↤ 2 * comb(4,1) * 0.4 ^ 3 * 0.5 + comb(4,1) * 0.1 ^ 3 * 0.8 → 0.25920000000000004
probpair ↤ 2 * comb(4,2) * 2 * 0.4 ^ 3 * 0.1 + comb(4,2) * 2 * 0.4 ^ 2 * 0.1 ^ 2 → 0.17280000000000006
sum [probvenus, probdogs, probvultures, probsenio, probtwopair, probtriple, probpair] → 1.0000000000000002
{tali ↤ roll; hand} → "pair"
10 # {tali ↤ roll; hand} → ["senio", "three of a kind", "three of a kind", "three of a kind", "senio", "two pair", "senio", "three of a kind", "senio", "senio"]
freq (100000 # {tali ↤ roll; hand}) → {"three of a kind":0.25925,"two pair":0.17235,"pair":0.17307,"senio":0.30498,"venus":0.03891,"vultures":0.05134,"dogs":0.0001}
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 1, 2014 21:59:18 GMT -6
Virtual dice rollersI'm a purist---I would never use a virtual dice roller at the game table. However, I think they're fine for online use. And even better for experimentation with new dice methods. For the past few weeks, I've been developing a virtual dice roller. I eventually plan to call it Palamedes in honor of the mythological inventor of dice. There are already plenty of dice rollers out there. But this one is written in pure JavaScript. That way I can run it in a web browser or run it in a console using node.js. Here are some screenshots of it running in firefox and in a console: It is also 100% free with a GPL license. It's feature list goes beyond a lot of virtual dice rollers---it may be used as a calculator or probability calculator. Currently, the code is still in the early alpha stage. There are plenty of bugs and idiosyncrasies. If you are interested, you can try it online at: palamedes.altervista.org/index.htmlOr you can download a zip with the complete source code from dropbox. To get an idea of what it can do, I'll quote the beginning of the README file. The remainder of the README contains info on how to build it and run it in node.js. And it has a manifest of all the files and documentation... READMEdice.js is a javscript dice roller and probability calculator. UsageHere is a small sample of supported dice roll expressions: d% /* roll a percentile die */ 6#3d6 /* roll 3d6 six times (D&D abilities scores) */ d20>=11 /* roll a d20 and check if greater or equal to target number (D&D to-hit roll) */ 4#d6>=5 /* roll four d6s and check each if 5 or 6 (Chainmail to-hit rolls) */ max(2#d6) /* take the maximum of two d6s */ d6 - d6 /* the difference of two d6s */ In addition to being a dice roller, dice.js also allows you to compute exact probabilities (up to JavaScript rounding errors). Quickly find the probabilities for these simple expressions: prob (3d6); prob(3d6>=10); stats(3d6); cdf(3d6); ~cdf(3d6); sum(prob(3d6)) Or arbitrarily complex ones, such as this expression to create a function to generate gems in accordance with the rules on page 40 of OD&D Vol. 2. Here is an implementation of Aher's theoretical method of computing exact gem probabilities from the thread Analysis of OD&D treasure types: gemvalue ← {"10":1,"50":2,"100":3,"500":4,"1000":5,"5000":6,"10000":7,"25000":8,"50000":9,"100000":10,"500000":11} gemprob ← censor (prob (geom (5/6) + select [1, 0.1, 2, 0.15, 3, 0.5, 4, 0.15, 5, 0.1])), 1, 11 Then you may enter gemprob ∘ gemvalue /* Generate the gem probability mass function */ stats(gemprob ∘ gemvalue) /* See descriptive statistics for gems */ 10 # select (gemprob ∘ gemvalue) /* Randomly generate 10 gems from the distribution */ TMTOWTDI. See the EXAMPLES file for a straightforward procedural method to compute gems. Roll four d6, keep the highest 3 and sum. Here are two alternative ways to do it: 4d6k3 sum(high 3, (4#d)) Roll two dice, find the pmf of the minimum. Two ways to do it: prob(min(2#d6)) orderstat d6, 2, 1 Roll three d6, reroll 1s and sum. Again, two different ways to do it: choose[2..6]+choose[2..6]+choose[2..6] sum(3#choose[2..6]) Roll one die randomly chosen from the set of platonic dice. Two ways: d(choose [4,6,8,12,20]) [d4, d6, d8, d12, d20] ∘ (z5) More ExamplesSee the EXAMPLES file for lots more sample usage along with more detailed accompanying explanations. Included there you'll find: - Reaction rolls (page 11 OD&D Vol. 1)
- Men Attacking (page 19 OD&D Vol. 2)
- Ability scores and starting gold with labels
- Alternate methods of character generation
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 1, 2014 21:36:08 GMT -6
KnucklebonesAstragaloi remained popular through Roman times. The Romains called it Tali, which is the Latin name for Knucklebones. And the game remained popular through Medieval times too. If you play in a somewhat historically based ancient Greek, Roman or Medieval campaign setting, Tali is ubiquitous. You'll find people playing it on every street corner, alley, temple, and pub. In a Medieval setting, you'll find dicing guilds, forerunners of present day casinos. You'll find a treatment of Knucklebones in the booklet Medieval Games and Recreation. A knucklebone is somewhat 4-sided. Each of the 4 sides has a distinctive shape. Long before most people could read, write and do arithmetic, they could recognize these distinct shapes. When labelled with numbers, the sides of a knucklebone will be marked 1, 3, 4, and 6. The innumerate and illiterate masses will simply recognize which sides are which, and they will play games based on pattern matching, e.g., four of a kind, three of a kind, two pair, or all sides different. More educated folks will use the patterns too, but they will also supplement them with scores, i.e., the tally of the numbers on the 4 tali. In this way, the game somewhat resembles poker. Each knucklebone is unique. Look at this picture of a set of knucklebones: Therefore each one will have its own unique probability distribution. Do not assume a knucklebone works like a d4! This is likely the main reason nobody attempted to formulate a theory of probability until Gerolamo Cardano wrote Liber De Ludo Aleae (or How to Shoot Craps) in the mid 1500s. The work remained unpublished until 1663. It's important to note that this and all the other early work on probability theory was inspired by dice games; for a review of this literature, see the this paper. The earliest knucklebones (and the most commonplace) were literally made out of animal knucklebones. (Maybe Trolls and Ogres use human knuckles?) However, they can be made out of anything: wood, glass, metal or even expensive gems. As a result, it was common to see knucklebones used as money. Besides gaming, knucklebones were used for divination. This would likely involve tossing a handful of knucklebones into a Situla---a vase filled with water---and divining the pattern in the dice after they came to rest at the bottom. Greeks would attempt to divine the will of lady Fortune, Tyche. Besides the Greeks, there are many examples of this kind of divination in the Bible, for example to determine guilt or innocence; see the Wikipedia article on Cleromancy for a list of specific examples. It's worth pointing out that the Situla continued to be used by Medieval Christianity as a vessel to hold Holy Water; see the odd74 thread on Holy water creation. I've been calling knucklebones a game when in reality it is a loose family of games. Players will agree to a specific set of rules before they begin. Emperor Augustus used a very simple set of rules for Tali. Each player rolls four knucklebones each round: - For each 1 you rolled, you added 1 sp to the pot. Four 1s are called Cani or Dogs and that's the worst thing you can roll.
- If someone rolls 4 distinct sides that's called a Venus and that player wins the pot.
- Before the game and each time somebody wins, everybody puts 1 sp in the pot.
In more complicated games, we may get hands besides Cani and Venus. Here is a more complete listing: - Four distinct tali are called a Venus and that's always the best you can roll.
- Anything else with at least one 6 (except four 6s!) is called Senio.
- Four tali with no 6s (except four-of-a-kind) may be broken down further:
- Two pair beats three of a kind
- Three-of-a-kind beats a pair
- Four-of-a-kind of anything except 1s but including 6s are called Vultures and that's the next-to-worst thing you can roll.
- Four 1s are called Cani or Dogs and that's the worst thing you can roll.
If the dice are numbered, then scores may be computed by totalling the numbers. In general, if players get the same hand (say a pair), then the one with the higher score wins. Bear in mind there will be exceptions to these rules. Every locale and every group of players has its own customary house rules.
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 1, 2014 21:35:36 GMT -6
PalamedesThe poet Homer credits Palamedes (Greek: Παλαμήδης, pronounced: /pal-uh-meed'-eez/) with the discovery of dice during the siege of Troy. Specifically, he invented the dice gambling game called Astragaloi (or Astragals) by the Greeks. He dedicated the dice he invented to Tyche (Greek: Τύχη), the Goddess of Fortune, but the goddess did not protect him when he fell a victim of slander. Palamedes was a prince sent by his father to force Odysseus to make good on his vow of fealty and bring him to help lay siege to Troy. Odysseus was warned by an Oracle that if he went to Troy, he would not return for 20 years, so he feigned madness. But Palamedes was wise and he saw through this ruse. Odysseus grudgingly went to Troy, but he never forgave Palamedes. Palamdes was wise and intelligent. Palamedes was one of the few able to write; in fact, he added 11 letters to the Greek alphabet (others say: 16 letters). He is credited with discoveries in the field of wine making. He was also one of the few Greeks who was able to count. While laying siege to Troy, he counted the Greek forces and the Trojan forces, and then recommended the Greeks go home. Odysseus used Palamedes smarts against him---after Palamedes recommended going home, Odysseus claimed Palamedes was a traitor. Odysseus planted fake evidence against him: - He forged a letter from King Priam to Palamedes
- He planted a phony letter from Palamedes to King Priam on a dead Trojan
- He planted Trojan-minted gold in Palamedes's tent
As a result, Palamedes was tried and condemned to death by the Greeks. Some say he was stoned to death by the whole Greek army. Others say: Odysseus drowned him in a fishing net. The moral of this story is: No one forges his own fortune. No matter how wise you are or how much of a contribution you make, nothing can save you from misfortune. Tyche feels no compassion for her victims, and it is pointless to try and supplicate her. There are some memorials to Palamedes. The high peak Palamidi was named after the unlucky hero Palamedes. Polygnotos (5th century BC) made a vase painting, which depicts Palamedes and Thersites playing dice. There are also a few other vases decorated with the figure of Palamedes. In these paintings, Palamedes is beardless and wears a Phrygian cap and himation embroidered with stars over the lower limbs. I couldn't find that painting, but here is another famous vase painting from the Vatican museum; it depicts Achilles and Ajax playing at dice:
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Post by krusader74 on Jun 14, 2014 3:26:56 GMT -6
The following details would overwhelm a typical game of D&D. But they may prove useful in a campaign with a lot of emphasis on religion, for example, if you are Adventuring in the time of the Crusades... WAYS TO USE HOLY WATERThere are two main ways I'd let a PC use a holy symbol like holy water: 1. For a cleric to cast any spell or turn the undead, he must make use of some kind of religious symbol. Any of the following will do: - Holy water
- Crucifix
- Rosary
- The scapular with the investiture
- St. Benedict's Medal AKA "the devil-chasing medal." These were used as early as the 11th century. The reverse side of the medal carries the "Vade retro satana" ("Step back, Satan") formula.
These objects must be properly sanctified by a village priest (3rd level cleric) or higher, using the appropriate blessings from the Rituale Romanum. Such a ceremony would actually take 45 minutes or more. The priest must be attired appropriately; so he must first bless his vestments. The vessels containing the water, salt, chrism, ashes, wine, etc. to be used must also be blessed. Finally, the water, salt, etc. must themselves be blessed. In these prayers, the objects being blessed are called "creatures" (they were created by God), and the blessings contain an exorcism to dispel evil spirits from them, e.g., "God's creature, water, I cast out the demon from you, in the name of ..." 2. Clerics may also use holy symbols (like holy water) as a magic item just like magic-users use scrolls and potions, namely, to store a spell for later use. The cleric must have the appropriate level, and spend the appropriate amount of time and money, i.e., - 100 Gold Pieces/Spell/Spell Level/Week (a 5th level spell would require 500 GP and 5 weeks.)
- Healing: 250 Gold Pieces + 1 week
The actual preparations often include rituals influenced from earlier pagan practices., e.g., the priest will drop silver coins into the water, add herbs like hyssop, and use incantations from the Lesser Key of Solomon. None of this is considered witchcraft, because there are no appeals to dark powers and the underlying intentions are good. So a cleric might want to add one of the following spells to a vessel of holy water: - Purify food & water (Cleric-1) for 1 dozen people
- Cure light wounds (Cleric-1) restore d6+1 HP
- Protection from evil (Cleric-1) +1 Saving throws, -1 HD of attackers, 12 turns
- Bless (Cleric-2) +1 morale, +1 attacks
- Cure disease (Cleric-3)
- Protection from evil 10' (Cleric-4)
- Cure serious wounds (Cleric-4) restore 2d6+2 HP
- Neutralize Poison (Cleric-4)
- Dispel evil (Cleric-5) 3" radius, 1 turn
FOUR KINDS OF HOLY WATERNote that there are 4 distinct kinds of holy water: - Holy water per se, of the kind found in the stoup, which has been blessed with a small amount of salt as a preservative. This is the holy water used in aspersions and blessings. The prayers used to sanctify the salt and water are listed here in the Rituale Romanum. Another account of the process used to sanctify holy water can be found in this article on Traditional Holy Water.
- Baptismal holy water, to which a slight amount of chrism (anointing oil) and the oil of catechumens has been added. This is used in church baptisms. Epiphany water commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by St. John. There's an account of the ceremony used to prepare it here.
- Gregorian water, also called the "water of consecration." It is used by bishops at the consecration of a church. It contains small amounts of wine, salt, and ashes. N.B. priests and bishops need the permission of a patriarch to make Gregorian water. An account of the ritual used to prepare it may be found here.
- Easter water, which is distributed to the faithful on Easter Sunday for use at home. Note that it is impermissible for a priest to sanctify holy water on Easter or Pentecost.
NON-CLERICS MAY SOMETIMES MAKE HOLY WATER TOO!It's not always the case that a cleric is needed to bless holy water or other objects. For example, sometime between 310-403AD, St. Epiphanius (Contra haeres., lib. I, haer. xxx) wrote So the house-rule I would use is: Any person may sanctify water just like a priest if he meets the following criteria: - Lawful (good) alignment
- Sin-free (hasn't committed any sins since his last confession)
- Wisdom 13+. And he must pass a Wisdom check, i.e., d20 <= WIS.
In addition, once per month, there is a small chance that such a lay person may be able to impart one of the spells listed above to the object being sanctified: - Wis 13-15: 5% base chance - spell level.
- Wis 16-17: 10% base chance - spell level
- Wis 18: 20% base chance - spell level
E.g., a Wis 13 character has a (5-4)=1% chance of imparting Neutralize Poison to holy water; i.e. a 5% base chance minus the spell level 4. He may only try once per game month. There is a +5% bonus for attempting this on the night of a new moon. He won't know if the ritual succeeded until he tries it out. WHERE TO GET HOLY WATERThere are three places where PCs can find fonts full of holy water: - Stationary fonts, placed at the entrance to churches. These are usually made of bronze, marble, granite, or any other solid stone, and also terracotta. They consist of a small tub or basin sometimes detached or resting on a base or pedicle, and sometimes embedded in the wall or in one of the pillars of the church (called a stoup).
- Portable fonts, placed for aspersions and sacramental rites.
- Private fonts, in which holy water is kept in private houses.
WHO MAY TAKE HOLY WATER FROM A FONTUnfortunately, not everyone is allowed to use water from any font. PCs will often encounter inscriptions like the following: Roughly: only clerics and knights may dip their fingers in this font; peasants and laborers go elsewhere. Even worse, in the 1200s, it was feared that heretics, witches and satanists were taking holy water to be used for blasphemy and black magic. As a result, the Constitutions of Archbishop Edmund Rich (1236) prescribe that Therefore, PCs may have a great deal of trouble getting holy water unless a member of their party is a 3rd level cleric and has enough time to sanctify it. COLLECTING THE HOLY WATERThis site has pictures of terracotta flasks which pilgrims used to take holy water with them to the Holy Land circa 480-650AD. Priests sprinkled people entering the Church by dipping branches into the font. For this purpose hyssop, palm, and boxwood, or wisps of straw were employed. Later, the tail of the fox replaced the branches. In French the fox was called goupil, hence the word goupillon for holy water sprinkler. By the 1200s, it would be considered a serious breech of protocol if someone simply went up to a font and collected holy water in a pot or a waterskin or some other profane vessel. Holy water was held in such respect that it was not taken from the font unless by means of an aspersorium (holy water sprinkler), attached by a small chain: WEAPONIZING HOLY WATERI've heard stories that Crusaders would use aspergillum as weapons. They look very mace-like. An aspergill has a handle with a metal ball at one end. The ball has a lid. The lid was opened and it was filled with water. There were tiny holes at the tip where the holy water would sprinkle out. The idea was that you could baptize your opponent as you bludgeoned him to death, so that he would go to heaven. Here is a photo of an aspergill: HYGIENE AND HOLY WATERHoly water fonts have been identified as a potential source of bacterial and viral infection. In the late 19th century, bacteriologists found staphylococci, streptococci, coli bacilli, Loeffler's bacillus, and other bacteria in samples of holy water taken from a church in Sassari, Italy. According to this recent report, Most holy water contaminated with fecal matter: study, One of the commonly found microbes, campylobacter, causes inflammatory diarrhea.
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Post by krusader74 on May 20, 2014 4:20:16 GMT -6
The very earliest Batman stories would serve as the best fodder for campaign material, I think, particularly Gardner Fox's "French trilogy" -- the two-parter with the Monk, followed by Le Duc D'Orterre -- which would need very little modification to turn them into fun dungeon romps. ~Scott "-enkainen" Casper Here's an adventure seed that pays homage to writer Gardner Fox. It's inspired mainly by his script for Justice League of America Vol 1 #10, but the villains from his French trilogy also have cameo roles. The plot may be summed up as a mashup: Batman + Lord of the Rings + Time Bandits I call it, "The Lord of the Ring of Time." It's the year 1201, and Bruce Wayne is visited by a man calling himself "Silvianus." He claims he was born in the year 2700 BC in Egypt. He became Imhotep, the priest of the god Ra and a student of medicine, fascinated by the healing effects of a good night's sleep, and the dangers demons pose to sleep, dreams and health. He developed the sleep temple, the forerunner of the hospital. Chanting, meditation, yoga, breath control and hypnosis were all used in these places to help heal the body and the soul. Upon his death, as a reward for his good works, Ra elevated him to the status of a god. The Egyptians knew this god as Tutu, guardian of the sleeping from danger and bad dreams; master of demons. The Greeks knew him as Hypnos; the Romans as Somnus; the Celts as Nodens; the southwest native Americans as Manit. Somnus's avatar and chief priest Silvianus, a 4th century Roman living in England, successfully battled the biggest threats to sleep, dream, and prophecy---The Demons Three (Abnegezar, Rath, and Ghast). He imprisoned them in three artifacts: - the Red Jar of Calythos
- the Green Bell of Uthool
- the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath
However, their imprisonment was at best temporary, so Somnus entrusted these artifacts to the three primordial deities---the Timeless Ones (Chronos and his children Aether and Chaos). Chronos cast the artifacts through the Aether, down into the Chaos, and into three separate spacetime locations. He encoded these locations into a ring which he gave to Somnus for safekeeping, the ring of Silvianus. If the three artifacts should ever be brought together and the bell rung while the wheel is spun and the red incense in the jar released, it would set into motion an unstoppable process whereby the Demons Three would escape 100 years later. But for that century, the one who freed them could possess all their awesome power---control over sleep, dreams and prophecy. The ring of Silvianus itself is a powerful artifact. Not only does it encode the locations of the three artifacts, it also allows its possessor to travel through time. Back in the 4th century AD, an assistant priest named Senicianus at the Roman sleep temple of Somnus at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire stole the ring from Silvianus. So Silvianus cursed the ring. He inscribed a curse tablet that reads: which translates to: Though sickly as a result of the curse on the ring, Senicianus began to master the ring's time-traveling power. At first, he simply used the ring to pull off heists and robberies to enrich himself. He calls himself the " Lord of Time" and "Epoch". He hid himself in a fortress in the radioactive wasteland of post-apocalyptic Gotham City in the year 3786. He used the wealth from his heists to buy bodyguards---mutants, led by the vicious mutant leader. He discovered that although he was sick, he couldn't die, and he realized this was due to the curse, ironically---he must be preserved albeit in poor health until the ring is returned to the 4th century Roman sleep temple in England. Soon, the ring began to speak to Senicianus about the Demons Three and their locations and their powers. He devised a grand plan that would allow him to gain the powers of these demons without having ever to relinquish them. He would use the ring's time-warping power create a "freeze point" in time in the year 3885, a temporal singularity. He would steal the artifacts imprisoning the Demons Three and bring them to his fortress. He would perform the ritual to release them in the year 3786, but the singularity would "stretch out" time and make the next century seem to last forever. So the Demons Three could never regain their powers from him, because time would effectively be frozen at the end of the 100 year process. Senicianus desired nothing less than to conquer all space and time. Happy with his plans for conquest, he inscribed the words on the ring. This roughly translates to: "Senicianus lives in godhood." Without the ring, Silvianus has no power to stop Senicianus or travel through time. He doesn't even know what Senicianus will do with the ring, but he suspects Senicianus will attempt to collect the artifacts and gain their power. As a cleric, Silvianus can pray to Chronos once per day and ask for the power to send one person to any location in time. He proposes to use this power to send the World's Greatest Detective to each of the three locations where the artifacts are thought to be hidden. Neither Silvianus nor Senicianus can know the exact location of these items, merely the vicinity where they were deposited---they may have been subsequently moved. Silvianus will send the Bat Man to each location and allow him to investigate. He will be able to communicate with the Bat Man through dreams---he is the god of sleep, dreams and prophecy after all. First spacetime coordinates: Dead Mule, NM 1868. This leg of the adventure is based on the Boot Hill module BH2: Lost Conquistador Mine by David "Zeb" Cook, Tom Moldvay. Dead Mule, NM is rumored to be near one of the famed Seven Cities of Cibola that Coronado failed to find. Quoting from the module: One of the ex-Confederate soldiers and bounty hunters passing through Dead Mule will be Jonah Hex. He will aid the Bat Man on his quest, grudgingly. Another traveller will be Le Duc d'Orterre, a prospecter originally from New Orleans, Lousiana. He speaks in a French-English creole: "Eh. Mes Amis! Bring this thing to my temple. I shall be amused for a little while." He is a self-styled "Master of the Apaches," and has a band of Jicarilla Apache warriors backing him up---they are the brothers and father of his new Apache bride... Le Duc d'Orterre stole Dutch Jack's Apache bride, burned his face off, and stole his fortune, which includes the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath. For more info on Le Duc d'Orterre, see Detective Comics Vol 1 34. The Lord of Time is bound to show up at the worst possible moment and sieze the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath. For conversion rules from D&D to Boot Hill, see the "Sixguns & Sorcery" section of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide, pp. 112-3. Second spacetime coordinates: 1940 Paris, France. The Green Bell of Uthol is rumored to be in a delapidated monastery on the edge of town. The rumor is true. Unfortunately for the Bat Man, The Monk who possesses the bell is a vampire and he is protected by a pack of wolves and a small band of monks who are werewolves. Also, some of the women in Paris who will attract Bruce Wayne's attention are also thralls of the vampire Monk. For more info on The Monk, see Detective Comics Vol 1 31, "Batman Versus the Vampire, Part 1." Worse than vampires, there are Nazis in Paris! It's June 22, 1940, and Hitler is touring Paris after conquering it. Hitler is interested in occult artifacts and may try and steal the Green Bell of Uthol. Again, The Lord of Time is bound to show up at the worst possible moment and sieze the Green Bell of Uthol. Just as I would play out the last leg of the adventure with Boot Hill, I'd probably play this leg with Gangbusters or Call of Cthulhu or another system that's closer to the setting. Third spacetime coordinates: Present-day Gotham City, USA. This leg of the adventure is based on DC Special Series Vol 1 27, "Batman vs the Incredible Hulk." This is a DC/Marvel crossover. Bruce Banner is working at a division of WayneTech, assisting in the development of a gamma-gun, designed to cure diseases. The gun is powered by the Red Jar of Calythos. No one at WayneTech knows the true nature of the jar, only that it provides a powerful source of energy for the gamma-gun. Banner hopes the gamma-gun may provide a cure for him from periodically turning into the Hulk. The Lord of Time has already infiltrated this epoch and has allied himself with The Joker, who steals the gamma-gun. Together, The Time Lord and The Joker plan to use the gamma-gun on Somnus, to make him lose his ability to absorb the dreams of others, denying himself an outlet for his powers, cutting him off from communications with the Bat Man, and potentially driving him insane. Afterwards, The Lord of Time will dismantle the gun and take the Red Jar of Calythos for himself. Bat Man 1201 may ally himself with present-day Batman and the Hulk. I would play out this leg of the game with the Classic Marvel Superheroes RPG from TSR. Here is a conversion of Batman to MSHRPG. Final coordinates: Post-Apocalyptic Gotham City in the year 3786. I would use the Gamma World rules to play this out. The AD&D DMG has conversion rules in the section "Mutants & Magic" on pp. 113-4. The Lord of Time has his fortess here. It is protected by the mutant leader and his followers (think: The Dark Knight Returns). This is the Bat Man's last shot at stopping the Lord of Time, recovering the artifacts imprisoning the Demons Three, and retrieving the Ring of Silvianus and restoring it to the sleep temple in 4th century England. Here is a chart that shows the important spacetime coordinates used in this adventure seed: Epilogue: True story... In 1929, the archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler excavated the sleep temple at Lydney and connected the ring bearing Senicianus's name to the the curse tablet bearing the same name. Wheeler called upon a philologist named J.R.R. Tolkien, a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, to investigate the etymology of the name "Nodens" referred to in the curse...
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Post by krusader74 on May 2, 2014 2:08:23 GMT -6
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 30, 2014 1:49:17 GMT -6
Another idea would be to create a Master Index for the Original D&D Discussion, modeled after the Dragondex. Take a look at the Dragondex's subject index. We could compile a list of subjects odd74 users find most interesting together with a list all the pertinent threads/posts. Subjects might include things like: Alignment, Armor, Classes, Combat, Hit Points, Settings, Spells, &c. Looking at the number of replies and views in each thread provides clues about which subjects deserve mention in the index; as do the number of "likes" associated to each post; it's certainly possible to create a webcrawler to analyze the board and identify the hot topics to index.
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 30, 2014 1:21:20 GMT -6
A similar question got posted to Hacker News 9 days ago --- Ask HN: how do you keep track of interesting stuff online? Here is a quick summary of the responses there so far: - Email yourself with "idea: <...>" or "note: <...>" in the subject. Amend it later by replying in the thread. Collaboration is already built-in: just cc a friend.
- Spreadsheets: Excel files with tons of links.
- toread.cc - an email-based free bookmark service
- Pocket - an app for mobile devices, browsers and eReaders to save stuff for later
- kippt - collect research, stories, inspiration and notes
- pinboard - social bookmarking for introverts
- instapaper - "A simple tool for saving web pages to read later on your iPhone, iPad, Android, computer, or Kindle."
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 29, 2014 23:05:52 GMT -6
50th anniversary of BASIC on May 1, 2014The year 2014 not only celebrates the 40th anniversary of D&D, it's also sees the 50th birthday of the BASIC programming language. There is a long, in-depth article about it in TIME magazine: Given how ubiquitous BASIC was on all the PCs (Apple’s Apple II, Commodore’s PET 2001, Radio Shack’s TRS-80, IBM's PC) of the late 1970s and 1980s, did anyone here on odd74 ever write or use a BASIC program as a D&D aid?
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 29, 2014 22:58:04 GMT -6
The Electric EyeRichard Garriott's DND-1 BASIC program listing reminded me of Mark Herro's column in Dragon Magazine called "The Electric Eye," where he often presented BASIC programs to help run D&D games. For example, in Dragon Magazine #41 in September 1980, "The Electric Eye" presents three BASIC programs: - Time Keeper - tracks "dungeon time" and makes wandering monster checks for dungeon levels 1-6
- Town - randomly generates an entire medieval town
- Royals - rolls up a feudal hierarchy about the size of the feudal system in old France
The Random Wizard's blog has a post fondly remembering "The Electric Eye" along with a reconstruction of one of Mark Herro's BASIC programs. The Dragon Magazine Index lists the following installments of "The Electric Eye": Subject Title Author Location System ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dice "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 45(56) -- Dungeon Master utilities "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 41(44) D&D "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 49(76) D&D Glossary of terms "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 39(40) -- Home "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 46(70) -- Programming: BASIC "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 40(46) -- Purchasing "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 50(70) -- Quiz "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 54(74) -- Answers "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 55(48) -- Software "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 36(62) -- SPACE GAMES-3 "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 43(70) -- Sports games "Electric Eye, The" Mark Herro 47(70) -- There's more info about "The Electric Eye" in the Game Index at RPG.net.
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 25, 2014 18:35:39 GMT -6
I'd also like to suggest some kind of web annotation software. There are lots of systems to choose from. One that I'm looking at using is Scrible. It has the following features: - Bookmark webpages in the cloud
- Save a copy of webpages in case the originals are deleted
- Highlight and annotate webpages
- Build a library of favorite webpages (...exactly what you're trying to do!)
- Apply filters and tags to webpages to quickly sort through your library
- Full-text search your bookmarks, saved webpages and annotations
- Share annotated webpages via email, Facebook and Twitter
- There's a Chrome extension for Scrible; it works on iPad; and the developers are planning mobile apps too
There are several online reviews of Scrible here, there, and there.
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 25, 2014 18:00:34 GMT -6
Here's an interesting article on The Early Roman Calendar. It begins: Then it talks about the addition of the months of January and February and the leap month of Mercedinus to better approximate the solar year. It shows what a Roman calendar ( Fasti) looks like. (It links to a more detailed article here.) And how to read a Roman calendar: Initially, there were no "days of the week". The calendar was based on the lunar cycle. And there were three special markers... - Kalends --- First day of the month; new moon.
- Nones --- First quarter moon
- Ides --- Full moon
In the fifth century B.C., the calendar was divorced from the lunar cycle, month-lengths were fixed, and Ides became the 15th day of months with 31 days; the 13th day otherwise. In the Fasti shown above, you can see that the Romans used code letters to indicate religious observance or legal business on specific days of each month. This is explained in the article. There's a short discussion of this article on Hacker News.
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 23, 2014 23:36:24 GMT -6
Don't forget about Proboard's bookmark function... Step A. When you see a thread with cool ideas you want to use later, click the "Actions" drop-down list at the top of the thread and select the "Bookmarks" option (shown below, circled in green): Step B. When its time to review all the cool ideas you bookmarked, click the "Bookmarks" link on the main toolbar (shown above, circled in red). You'll see a list with all your bookmarked threads, like this:
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 21, 2014 14:17:04 GMT -6
Richard Garriott (aka Lord British), the video game designer of Akalabeth, Ultima, etc., etc., is having a contest to resurrect his first video game, DND-1, a program he originally wrote in 1977 in BASIC for the PDP-11. I'd call it a roguelike game, except that rogue didn't exist until 1980. The game is basically an interpreter and editor for a 25x25 ASCII map that describes a dungeon: 0 = empty space, 1 = wall, 2 = trap, 3 = secret door, 4 = door, 5 = monster, 6 = gold, etc. You can play a fighter, cleric or wizard. You can take simple actions like move, fight, use magic, search for secret doors, etc. The interpreter knows about 10 kinds of monsters. The goal of the contest is to get this program running in either Unity or as a plugin-free browser app. There are prizes for the winner and runner-up in both unity and browser categories. The contest already started; it runs April 15 to May 15. Contest rules and details are here: Richard Garriott’s D&D #1 Contest!Someone has transcribed the BASIC code for DND-1 on github. There's also a remastered PDF version of the original scans here. And there is a discussion of this contest on hacker news.
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 15, 2014 2:45:43 GMT -6
The year 2014 not only marks the 40th anniversary of D&D, but also the 75th anniversary of Batman. Batman first hit newsstands March 30, 1939 in a six page story entitled "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" in Detective Comics #27. DC Comics has an URL dedicated to Batman's 75th anniversay with links to videos, press releases, promotions and a sweepstakes: www.Batman75.comJust as Wizards released a new boxed edition of OD&D this year, so DC is releasing a new hardcover containing classic Batman tales, many long out of print: Batman: A Celebration of 75 Years. DC's website lists the contents as DETECTIVE COMICS #27, 83, 211, 216, 327, 359, 395, 442, 474, 574, 633, 711, 757 and 821, BATMAN #1 (first appearance of the Joker), 49, 181, 497, BATMAN #2 (THE NEW 52), WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #94, DC SPECIAL SERIES #21 and BATMAN SPECIAL #1. This Gottam Cnihtas campaign setting thread is an attempt to wed the Dark Knight to D&D to create double happiness! Hopefully you'll find something here to inspire you to try adding the Caped Crusader to your D&D campaign!
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 11, 2014 22:38:10 GMT -6
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Post by krusader74 on Apr 7, 2014 3:54:39 GMT -6
Zarro the space pirate(Another adventure seed for the Gottam Cnihtas campaign setting.)In the year 1200... What if... This strange sight had appeared over the skies of Gottam, rather than York? While Hans Lippershey (1570-1619) of Holland is credited with inventing the telescope, the truth is that Lippershey was merely the first to make the device widely known. In fact, Bruce Wayne invented the telescope, and kept it a secret. You see, Bruce Wayne has studied all of Alhazen's books on optics. In addition to his telescope, Bruce has a "reading stone" (i.e., magnifying lens), a device which became popular in Europe in the 12th century. And he also uses a burning glass in his experiments. So Bruce uses his telescope to observe this strange scene over the skies of Gottam. He is amazed to see what appear to be four giant man-made ships in the shape of owls attacking one giant man-made ship in the shape of a bat! The "bat" is the infamous Batship, a pirate ship, commanded by Zarro the Pirate. The "owls" are naval vessels from Greyspace that have been tracking and hunting the pernicious Batship for years. The Owlship is like the Hawkship, except that it has been modified so that the two claws and beak function as weapons. Additionally, Owlships are armed with a greek fire projector. These Owlships are commanded by amir-al Ah'av. He is from Lopolla, the capitol city of Ket on Oerth in Greyspace. He has been ordered by his ruler Beygraf Nadaid to destroy the Batship at all costs, because it has been disrupting trade. Bruce sees that the "many stars about" these "five moons" are actually the warships exchanging fire with each other. After an hour of fierce fighting, the Owlships finally prevail, but at a cost: Amir-al Ah'av is struck by a harpoon fired from the Batship as it crashes into Gottam Moor near Manor Wood, and he is dragged down to earth with the wreckage. After the crash, the four Owlships depart, heading back to Greyspace. Gottamites witnessing this crash simply think they are witnessing a meteor. The woman at the Batship's helm, Burnayette Skyansdanya, suffers severe head trauma as a result of the crash, and she falls into a coma. The other crew members consist of the dread pirate Zarro and 10 surviving crewmen. Since the crew is stranded without their helms-woman, they will likely raid the nearest town, Gottam. In Chainmail terms, they fight as one Hero (Zarro) and one (10:1) MF figure. Amir-al Ah'av is barely alive. He will be able to explain what happened and the basic principles of Spelljamming before he expires, but he only speaks his native tongue, a quasi-Arabic that can be understood by Arabic speakers on earth. Presumably, Bruce is fluent in Arabic, having studied Alhazen's works. The Jester is also fluent in Arabic, having studied under Averroes in Cordoba. The Jester may have witnessed this crash too and may be heading to the crash site from his hill fort ruins. Can The Bat Man stop Zarro the space pirate? Can he repair the Batship? And what will he do once he has the ability to travel through wildspace and beyond the Crystal sphere of Solaris?Comic book basis. Bill Finger created Zarro and his space pirates in Batman #59, Vol 1 (June, 1950) in the story "Batman in the Future." Here's an excellent synopsis of the story. And here's a copy of the cover: Spelljammer. If your Bat Man gets the Batship working and decides to set sail through space, then you'll want to take a look at these Spelljammer resources:
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