cleaning up the home-office, found a pad a paper with this logo on it.  Classic.

Diceroller.xyz updates

 been a while since last touched, but have made a few updates

• added some quick selects, based on games I'm playing: Pathfinder 2e Fireball and Lightning Bolt, and D&D 5e Advantage and Disadvantaged d20 roll.
• simplified the to-screen selection and output: one thing to select and it just shows both HTML and text box.
• internal stuff: removed NewtonSoft Json tools since .net core 5.0 has Json support natively now.

Trainblogging

Breakfast on the Auto Train. 

 Yeah, it's been forever.  But Diceroller.xyz is apparently getting some use, so starting to pay attention to it again.

minor changes:

• upgraded the framework from DotNetCore 2.1 to DotNet 5.0
• add a Roll Again button on the confirmation page to just run the roll over again

that's it.  enjoy.

It's alive!

http://www.diceroller.xyz

give it a roll.

DiceRoller - almost done

I've made a number of improvements in usability, and it now gets its random numbers from Random.org (falling back to the internal pseudo random generator if it cannot connect.)

Just need to put some text in the Credits and Technical Details pages and create a favicon, and I'll be ready to wire it to the real URL and see able getting it noticed by Google.

Still need to add a digital signature to authenticate rolls, but that can wait (since no one really uses it anyway, but still a good thing to have.)

feel free to play with the test install at https://dicerollerxyz.azurewebsites.net/

DiceRoller - something actually usable!

Got some time to continue work on the diceroller, working on the website so actual humans can use the system.  And while it's super simple so far, there's a usable page at https://dicerollerxyz.azurewebsites.net   give it a try.

Yeah, the URL has changed again.  I haven't had much time to work on the site for a little while, due to life.  When I first signed up to use Azure, I got 30 days to use a free $200 worth of cloud processing.  When it got close to the end of that free trial time, they encouraged me to sign up for the "pay-as-you-go" system.  Since the site is in development and what's running in Azure is just for testing, no real traffic, it shouldn't add up to anything significant.  So I was a little surprised when I loaded the Azure dashboard, and it told me I had incurred about $7 in charges, and projected $28 per month charge.  For no usage.

It seems that Azure charges a token fee for each app service, even with no traffic.  About 31 cents a day.  And with my micro-service model, I already had 3 sites running, and would like stand up 2 more and the actual website.  While it's just pocket change, it would add up.  But since it was charging per app service, there was an easy solution: combine them.  Ideally, with microservices, each site runs completely separately; but I didn't want to pay 6 times more just for architectural purity.  So I combined all the microservices and the website into a single app service.  Each microservice can still call each other as if they were hosted separately, it'll just happen to be the same base URL.  So sue me. :)

DiceRoller progress

making progress!

I've completed the diceroller notification microservice and have it running up on Azure as well.  For testing, I'm running a program locally that connects to the dice roll generator microservice to get dice rolls, saves them in memory, then sends them and my email address to the notification microservice for delivery.  And I receive the email a few seconds later, very nice.

So the next steps...

I will be creating an "orchestrator" microservice, which does essentially what my testing program is doing.  It would receive a list of requested dice rolls and email addresses, and make the calls to each of the other two microservices to complete the request.

After that, I will build a website, so actual humans can enter their dice roll requests and email addresses.  Completing this would be the real, critical accomplishment for this thing running in a useful way.

Once I get this running, I'll get it working on a real web-address (not azurewebservices.net.) GoDaddy was having a sale on .xyz domains recently, so I purchased diceroller.xyz for $1, and will be using that.


After that, I will be adding a few niceties:  true random numbers generated from Random.org, and adding a digital signature to each set or rolls.  More details on these as I get to them.


p.s. the address for the dice rolls microserver has changed a little.  It's now at https://dicerollergeneratorapi.azurewebsites.net/dicerolls/  (e.g. https://dicerollergeneratorapi.azurewebsites.net/dicerolls/d20 ).

Gaming and Coding

We're playing Paizo's Kingmaker, and while the GM is MIA (taking a three week summer vacation), the rest of us will be focusing on kingdom building.  Some in person on the regular game night, but since kingdom building is mostly bookkeeping, also over email.

We can discuss our options and make choices over email, but eventually, we need dice rolls. 

We could just roll physical dice and email the results, but that lacks a certain elegance.  And since we're playing using technology, a technological solution should be used.

In the past, for similar circumstances, we've used the site http://dice.evildm.net/ where one could request certain dice rolls, and they would be emailed to the specified address(es) (i.e. the GM) along with an encoded signature that could be used to authenticate the roll(s).  Pretty nice.

But that was years ago, and that site has disappeared.  There is at least one other operational, which we used, but it led to thinking...

Professionally, I am a software developer.  So I can put together a site to do the same thing.  And I can do it right.  Not just going to throw up some inelegant blob of code, but use current methodologies and architecture.

• Micro-service architecture
• RESTful APIs
• Server-less cloud hosting

I am using Visual Studio 2017 Community Edition (i.e. free), and am developing using C# in dotnetcore.

So, I've gotten a solid start.  I have developed a RESTful API for DiceRolls.  Using the API, one can request any of a variety of types of rolls, using a special syntax, which I use Regex to parse.  The results of the randomly generated dice rolls are returned in JSON format.  And I am hosting it on my free Azure account as an App Service (no need to emulate a server, runs as needed and can scale up and down based on demand.)

It can be found at https://dicerollerapi.azurewebsites.net/dicerolls/  (This is a temporary URL for development and is free.  Once it has been fully developed, it will be moved to a proper URL.)

If you add the right code to the end of that URL, you can generate dice rolls.  some examples:

/d20   roll a d20

/10Xd20  roll 10 d20's

/5d6  roll 5d6 (fireball or lightning bolt)

/3Xd4p1  roll d4+1 3 times, magic missile)

/6X3d6  roll 3d6 6 times, character generating old school

/6X4d6DL1   roll 4d6 drop the lowest die, 6 times, character generating, not so old school

As I said, the results are in JSON, so not really meant for humans, but one can probably figure it out. But this is just the first component.  I will be writing several more: a notification service to send the result (or multiple sets of results) to specified email addresses; a Website for human to interact with the services to request dice rolls and supply email addresses; and an orchestrator service (the Website will talk to this service to convey the user's request, and it will handle making multiple calls to the Dice Roll API and then to the notification service.)  Using an orchestrator, I could also allow other front-ends, such as other websites or phone apps to use the same services.

Also, instead of using the built-in pseudo-random number generator, I am considering using https://www.random.org/ to get true random values.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know.  If you want to participate, let me know!  (I'm currently keeping the code in a private Bitbucket repository, but can easily move it to a public GitHub repository.)

Harry's Hots

look what I found...

http://www.topix.com/album/detail/rochester-ny/GHD35PNMHS4KS4F3


My Dad grew up in Rochester and used to go there regularly.  Been there once myself, back in the '80s, when we were in town for a cousin's wedding.

My Dad used to make the hot sauce all the time.  Someone posted the recipe for the hot sauce in the post, so I'll have to make some and see if it's what I remember.

I..... Raaaggee!!!

Catblogging

test post... here's a cat!

One does not simply walk into... oh, never mind.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Shire+Ct,+Reston,+VA+20191/Mordor+Dr,+Lorton,+VA+22079/@38.810111,-77.4533742,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b64868dfd87451:0x5cd3270423b9442f!2m2!1d-77.3596421!2d38.9344556!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b6548a98d6d16b:0x9067eaf237341e8!2m2!1d-77.2396843!2d38.6848213!3e2

Nobilis and Disney

Inspired by the Gameable Disney Podcast ( http://gameabledisneypodcast.tumblr.com ), I have determined that the most appropriate gaming system for the Disney Princess universe is Nobilis: the Game of Sovereign Powers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobilis  and  http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/141424/Nobilis-the-Game-of-Sovereign-Powers-2002-Edition and http://nobilis.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page )

So here are the Nobilis characters of Elsa from Frozen and Rapunzel from Tangled, along with explanations of why I assigned the attributes, etc. as I did.

Elsa

Aspect                  0

Domain                5              Cold

Realm                  1              “The hidden tower”

Spirit                    1              2 Anchors

Anchors:              Anna, Hans

During the movie, we do not see Elsa performing physical feats beyond that of a normal human, except possibly getting to the top of the North Mountain in only a few hours, but we can presume she spent a few miracle points to do this.

Elsa’s Estate is clearly Cold (a.k.a. ice and snow.)  Throughout the movie, she is seen creating modest amounts of ice or snow easily (if not intentionally) and frequently, therefore I think the highest score of 5, giving her the title of Regal (but then she’s already the Snow Queen.)

For Realm (control over the chancel), which I have identified as “The hidden tower”, which in Frozen appears as her ice palace, she has some low level of control.  The creation was a greater creation miracle, which used her Domain.  Once created, however, she is able to manipulate it a bit.  The ice to trap and push the Wesselton goons is a lesser creation, and could be attributed to Domain use, but we also see the palace’s ice walls changing color according to her mood, which shows some connection to the chancel, but not a great one.

Spirit determines her skills with magic and other mystical aspects of Nobilis.  There is little evidence of this in the movie, so we’ll just assign a token 1 point.

Anchors are mortals who serve the Nobilis and must be either loved or hated.  Princess Anna is loved, Prince Hans hated.

Gifts: (specialized and specific uses of power)

Build a Snowman:

                Lesser Creation                             4

                Ease of Use, Simple Miracle        -1

                Range, one local “person”            -2

                Flexibility, one trick                     -3

                                                                      --

                Total                                             -2, but minimum cost is 1

Attributes = 21 pts, Gifts = 1 pt

With 3 left over, we will increase Elsa’s starting Domain Miracle points from the default 5 to 8.

Rapunzel

Aspect                  3

Domain                1              Life

Realm                   3              “The hidden tower”

Spirit                    1              2 Anchors

Anchors:              Flynn/Eugene, Mother Gothel

During the movie Tangled, we see several things that would indicate a reasonable high Aspect score.  First, her hair is always in perfect condition.  Second, she is seen performing ridiculously difficult acrobatics, usually associated with her hair, far beyond what a normal human could do.  And whacking people with a frying pan.

Rapunzel’s Estate is Life.  However, we see her use her Estate on a few times.  Early in the movie, she performs a Lesser Preservation of Life of Mother Gothel, and that’s it until the end, when she performs a either a Major Preservation or a Major Creation of Life, bringing Flynn/Eugene back to life (Hollyhock God’s judgement on that.)  Therefore, she does not need a high score in Domain.

For Realm (control over the chancel), “The hidden tower” in Tangled would be the actual hidden tower she has lived in for so many years.  With all the decorations and painting that Rapunzel has done, she appears to have great significant control over it.

Spirit determines her skills with magic and other mystical aspects of Nobilis.  Like in Frozen for Elsa, there is little evidence of this in the movie, so again we’ll just assign a token 1 point.

Anchors: Flynn/Eugene is loved, Mother Gothel is hated.

Attributes = 24 pts

With 1 left over, we will increase Rapunzel’s starting Aspect Miracle points from the default 5 to 6.

it's an xmas meeple cookie cutter!

Santa has a Stargate!

Santa has a Stargate!

I think this is the most contiguous game of Carcassonne I have ever played.

Robot of Sherwood

Apparently, Anthony Ainley has reincarnated as Ben Miller.

Of Power and Princesses, pt 5

5. Arendelle, nuclear power

In Frozen, we are shown a magical power at a level never experienced before in the Princess-verse, several orders of magnitude greater than any others.

This is quite a claim, so let us review the level of effect other magic-users have.

First, there are the low-level powers, the fairies and witches. These characters’ powers are rather limited, minor creations (Cinderella’s dress), transformations of a single subject (Brave’s queen), or of multiple subjects but with a limited effective time (Cinderella’s coach and horses), simple blessings (Sleeping Beauty) or healings and illusions (Frozen’s Grand Pabbie.)

The Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs doesn’t actually present many powers beyond those of other witches. She transforms herself into an old woman and creates a cursed apple, in each case magic affecting a single person. She also performs some scrying with her magic mirror, but that was just using a separate magic item, not using any power of her own.

Dallben from The Black Cauldron is supposedly the greatest wizard in Prydain, but we see little, if any, actual use of magic by him. Hen Wen, the pig, seems to show greater powers as an oracle. The Horned King’s power is simply his immortality; he must use the Black Cauldron to raise his undead army, not his own powers.

Jafar purports himself to be a powerful sorcerer, but doesn’t actually do anything other than hypnotism. It is only after being granted the wish to become the most power sorcerer does he do anything of significance, moving objects, breathing fire, transforming himself and others. Even then, however, the effects are limited, a few objects moved or transformed, individual people and himself transformed.

The Genie has tremendous powers, right? But again, upon analysis, his power are not that great. He teleports himself and Aladdin a few times, which is very useful. When he grants Aladdin’s wish to become a prince, there is a great parade of people and animals leading the way for “Prince Ali Ababwa”, but in the end they all disappear, and all that is left is a new suit of clothes for Aladdin. Almost all of the Genie’s powers are just illusions, little of actual substance.

King Triton transforms his daughter into a human. That’s about it. Ursula shows a bit more promise. She does transformations as well, can transfer abilities, and a bit of hypnosis. Finally, she turns into a giant squid and it is in this form that she can cause any wide-spread damage, causing a giant whirlpool and smashing ships.

Malificent has greater powers, teleportation, curses, and hypnosis, but like Ursula, her powers only become wide reaching when she transforms herself into a fire breathing dragon.

The enchantress from Beauty and the Beast finally shows a real power, able to transform hundreds of people into household items (and one beast), and to keep this power active for many years. This is the most significant use of magic up to this point, though it is odd that it goes mostly un-noticed by the surrounding population.

But it is Queen Elsa of Arendelle who possesses a power of true significance. During the events of Frozen she is shown to spontaneously create large areas of snow and ice, create clothing and other small items, summon snow/ice elementals (both small and huge), and create blizzard conditions. She can erect a large palace made of ice in the course of only a few minutes. And finally, she was able to plunge the royal castle, the capital city of Arendelle, and the nearby villages from summer weather in July into an ‘eternal winter’, causing significant snowfall and freezing the entire fjord. This power effected thousands of people, perhaps tens of thousands. And this was done unintentionally, subconsciously due to stress and fear. Imagine how much power Elsa could channel if done intentionally, as she did in creating her ice palace.

Let us suppose that the Duchy of Weselton and the Southern Isles felt aggrieved enough to raise a naval force to bring against Arendelle. Based on powers we have already seen, she could create icebergs to ram the incoming ships, freeze the very ocean to immobilize the fleet, even lift ships out of the water altogether, knocking them over and breaking their hulls. She could summon a blizzard to blind them, a hail storm to destroy their sails and masts.

If Arendelle were to be attacked by ground troops, Queen Elsa could create ice battlements in a matter of minutes, summon an army of ice elementals to defend the kingdom, and create ice storms to harry the attacking army.

If she chose to go on the offensive, she could sail her flagship to the offending capital and plunge them into their own eternal winter, freezing their ports and making all roads in or out snowbound and unpassable. Freezing weather and non-stop snow to put the offending city under siege, burying the buildings and collapsing their roofs.

Once past the difficulties following the coronation, the people of Arendelle appear to accept their queen and her powers. She certainly appears to intend a benevolent reign, providing ice skating and air conditioning during the summer, unlike other historical magically enabled rulers, like the Evil Queen from Snow White. While Elsa may feel satisfied to respond to Weselton’s attempted regicide with simply a trade embargo, Weselton, and other kingdoms, may feel threatened by Arendelle’s potential disruptive and destructive power, probably leading to a magical arms race.

Once it is widely known that Arendelle is peacefully ruled by a sorceress, it will likely draw other magic-users who will see Arendelle as a haven, where they can live free of the widely felt belief that magic equals evil, especially powerful magic. However, other kingdoms, feeling threatened by Arendelle’s power, will also be seeking powerful magic-users, for their own defense. However, powerful magic is rare, and none come close to Elsa’s power. These kingdoms run the risk, of course, that once someone like Malificent has been recruited, she may decide to take over.

Hostile kingdoms would likely need to resort to more stealthy approaches, poison apples and assassination, rather than direct conflict. With an increase in inter-kingdom espionage, and a race to acquire greater magical powers, Frozen has shown us the beginning of a (pardon the pun) cold war in the Princess-verse.

Of Power and Princesses, pt 4

4. Magic, and the public perception

Most likely, in the Princess-verse, there many other users of magic, we just don’t have movies showing us their boring exploits. While we’ve seen four fairies helping out Cinderella and Aurora, there have probably been many others helping out other random people and the occasional princess or future princess; we’ve just haven’t had the privilege of seeing it. And equally so, there have probably been other enchanters, sorcerers, wizards throughout history, for good and evil, and again, just no movie for us to see. Jafar and Dallben appear to be educated in magic, and likely learned their magic from other wizards and enchanters, though it is not common enough to merit any kind of Hogwarts-style school. Others, perhaps like Malificent and Elsa, just discovered the inborn powers, and struggled to learn to control it. And, of course, there’s a countless number of witches, so they probably have their own guild.

While not common, magic appears often enough that the population of the Princess-verse knows about, either from stories and legends, or potentially, by direct contact. So what does the public feel about these people?

There are both good and evil magic-users in the Princess-verse, as I’ve already listed. However, among those garnering public attention, it’s mostly the evil ones.

Good fairies are casting their charms privately, and only on a person or two. So-call great wizard Dallben has hidden himself away on a pig farm. Triton lives under-the-sea. And that’s about it. The Genie will grant wishes to anyone who has his lamp, and the Beauty and the Beast enchantress probably thinks she’s doing good, but takes things way overboard, hurting a lot of people in the process.

Then the rest: Evil Queen, tyrant, narcissist, and murderer; Malificent, narcissist and fire-breathing dragon; Horned King, king of the undead; Jafar, Machiavellian political manipulator and, of course, narcissist; the witches from Brave and The Black Cauldron, tricksters with a bad attitude; and Ursula, user, manipulator, and power-crazed giant squid.

Finally, we have Frozen. Little Princesses Elsa and Anna are playing, Elsa using her magical snow and ice powers, and Anna is hurt by a misfired ray of cold. Off to the trolls, where Grand Pabbie is able to heal Anna, but also feels it best to remove her memory of Elsa’s powers. Why? And after advising Elsa that she needs to learn to control her powers, her parents, the King of Queen, decide it would be best to shut the doors of the castle and teach Elsa to hide and repress her powers. Why?

As an audience in 2013, these choices seem backwards. We live in a society that does (or is evolving to) accept differences, revels in people’s uniqueness, and loves super-heroes. Elsa should have been taking regular trips into the mountains to practice making snowballs and ice sculptures.

But in the Princess-verse, the people have learned that with great power comes great evil. Sure, the occasional fairy or troll elder is harmless, but if you have any real magical abilities, so are destined to cause great trouble. When, after arguing with Anna during the coronation ball, Elsa fires off a wall of ice to keep the crowd away, the Duke of Weselton yells out “Sorcery!”, and not in admiration, but in fear. He calls her a monster instructs his thugs to kill her, given the chance. The crowd in the castle courtyard back away from Elsa in fear when she freezes the fountains. These are the reactions of people who fear magic powers.

So while Elsa herself was an innocent child, she was cursed with magic, and so Grand Pabbie troll and King Agdar both felt that hiding her abilities to be the correct choice, to protect her from the world that believes that magic power leads to death and destruction. And, of course, it nearly does.