Category Archives: Worldbuilders

Published: December 10, 2018

Final Days, Team Pages, and Sharable Graphics Galore…

Hey there everybody,

As I write this, Worldbuilders has just blown past $900,000.

Donations have been *amazingly* strong over the last couple days, especially given that it’s been the weekend, and it’s stunningly hard to get people’s attention on Saturday and Sunday.

I wasn’t sure before, but right now It’s really looking like we’re going to hit $1,000,000 despite all the format changes we made this year.

So for all of you that have helped so far… Thank you. Thank you all for everything you’ve done. Thank you for donating. Thank you for helping to spread the word.

Because of you, kids have eggs to eat, milk to drink, warm clothes to wear. Clean water. Access to medicine. Safety and security. People’s lives will be better. Forever. Because of you.

For those of you who haven’t jumped in yet, there’s still time. But not much…

*     *     *

Today’s going to be a be a bit of a grab-bag of a blog, as I’m going to mention a bunch of things that I’ve talked about on other platforms, but not here on the blog yet.

  • Team pages.

As I’ve mentioned before, there are team pages that let you win cool prizes in addition to the 170,000 of prizes we’re giving away in the main Worldbuilders lottery.

  • Manuscript Read-and-Critiques

I haven’t mentioned The Professional Manuscript Read-and-Critique page on the blog this year yet, but it’s one of the cooler things we do in the fundraiser. Honestly? it’s something I wish I’d had access to when I was an unpublished author. If you donate there, you have a chance of winning a critique of your writing from various lovely authors and editors from the sci-fi community. (Including me.)

So if you or someone you know is a writer, be aware that for every $10 you donate on that page you get a chance to win a professional read-through of your unpublished work.

  • The D&D Team page.

In case you haven’t seen them yet, we created some really incredible prizes for our D&D Team Page.

(Click to Embiggen, and behold their full glory.)

If you head over to the team page, you can see ALL the cards. We’re producing dozens of them, featuring amazing people from Critical Role and Acquisitions Inc and The Adventure Zone and Wizard of the Coast.

We’re giving away over a thousand of these cards, including full sets. What’s more, the higher the donation total gets on the page, the more we’re going to give away.

So head over there to see all the cards, and remember, every $10 gets you a chance to win them (and all the stuff in the main prize lottery, too.)

*     *     *

Lately, a lot of people have been asking how they can help spread the word about the fundraiser. And that delights me, because the only reason Worldbuilders is the success it is today is because of y’all telling your friends about it.

So to make it easier for y’all, we decided to put together some graphics you could share on social media.

That said, if you *do* share these images on social media, can you do me a favor and share a clickable link, too? It makes it way easier for people to actually go and take a look at the fundraiser.

We made a bunch of them so that y’all could pick and choose whatever part of the fundraiser you’re most excited about, or what you think your friends and family would be most interested in.

  • Main Fundraiser Page: http://bit.ly/worldbuilders10
  • Pat’s Twitch Stream Page: http://bit.ly/wbpat
  • Oot Change Jar: http://bit.ly/ootchange
  • D&D Team Page: http://bit.ly/wbdnd

Share and enjoy. We made a LOT of them…

(To use, right click and either ‘copy image’ or ‘save image as’.)


That’s all I have for now, folks.

Thanks for being awesome. Thanks for helping to save the world.

pat

Also posted in being awesome, cool things, Worldbuilders 2018 | By Pat46 Responses
Published: December 7, 2018

A Dream of Cows….

Hey there everyone,

As I write this, the fundraiser is closing in fast on three-quarters of a million dollars and there are only three days left.

I’ve been working pretty solid 12-16 hour days for a while, and I’m starting to feel it. So today I’m going to keep it simple and share a video of my little boy: Codename Oot.

For the last couple years, Oot has had his own team page for the fundraiser because he wants to raise money for cows. This year, he had the bright idea of painting some pictures he’s going to give away on that team page, to encourage people to donate.

This is “Cow in the Morning.”

This is “Cow in space.” (I didn’t do a good job of catching the gold painted stars on this one. But they’re pretty great in better light.)

Here’s a third one: “Red Cow in the Desert.”

When I asked him if the red cow had a sunburn because it was in the desert, he just looked at me for a while as if he were confused. Then he said in a slightly exasperated tone, as if he really couldn’t believe I’d asked the question, “Is the cow in space blue just because it’s in space?”

So yeah. That’s fair. I’m obviously overthinking it. I didn’t question the blue cow. Why should I question the red one?

A few quick notes before I turn in for the night:

  • Anyone who donates on Oot’s Cow Jar page is also eligible for the daily prize draws and stretch goals on my page.
  • You’re also eligible for the $170,000 worth of books and games we’re giving away, too.
  • My younger boy, Cutie, has painted some pictures, as well. Including quite a nice one of a duck. We’ll be putting those up on Oot’s change jar page soon too. (I’d do that myself right now, but it’s three in the morning and I need to be up in less than five hours.)
  • If you’d like a graphic that would help you promote the fundraiser on social media, here you go:

Here’s another link to Oot’s Page, if you’re feeling like you might want to help make the world a better place.

See a bunch of you on the stream later tonight,

Spread the word.

pat

Also posted in Cutie Snoo, love, My Mom Would Like This Blog, Oot, Worldbuilders 2018 | By Pat18 Responses
Published: December 6, 2018

Deadlines, Prizes, Auctions, D&D, and… um… Poop

As I write this, the Worldbuilders fundraiser has raised over $665,000 dollars for Heifer international.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty great….

A lot of times when I talk about what Heifer International I focus on things like… well… heifers. Or goats. Or Chickens.

Part of the reason is that it’s easy for people to understand how giving a family a flock of chickens what you’re *really* giving them is a long-term supply of fresh food, and an income stream, and the ability to produce more chickens.

But Heifer international does more than just give animals to people, they also provide near-miraculous technologies that people in the developing world can use to make their lives better every day.

For example, Heifer International can help a family turn shit into money, time, food, and improved health for a family.

Here’s how:

A donation of $50 is enough to set a family up with a biogas digester. And if you donate before the end of the fundraiser, you have a chance to win amazing stuff.

 

Even more than that, if you donate on a specific team page, you have the chance of being included in *additional* prize draws that are unique to each page.

For example, if you donate on the D&D team page, you can win things that will give you a little help when you most need it at during your own tabletop games. Things like this:

Or these:

We’re giving away hundreds of these cards. Even full sets of them. That team just passed their $50K stretch goal, so we’re about to add even more cards to the prize draw AND show off the newly finished cards for those good good boys on the Adventure Zone….

Every $10 bucks you kick in over on that team page gets you a chance to win those cards as well as all the other prizes in the main lottery, too.

*      *      *

Lastly, I’m going to mention a few things on the blog you need to know about sooner rather than later. Strap in, because there’s kind of a lot….

There are over 80 auctions running: games and books and art and jewelry. Rare and Unique items. Strange and Wonderful things that you’ll never see anything else. If you haven’t headed over to look at them, now’s the time.

If you’re looking to do any Christmas shopping for that hard-to-buy-for geek in your life, you should really head over to the store and have a lookie-loo. We’ve to a bunch of new merchandise from all manner of folks over there. Including the fabulous owlbear backpack.

Amazing items such as this await your eager eyes over in the store. But if you want it shipped to you in time for the holidays, you better order soon…

  • Third, be aware that I’m streaming every day until the end of the fundraiser.

What’s more, every one of those streams will have something special going on. Games. Prizes for donors. Today (Thursday) I’ll be playing D&D for charity. Other days I’ll be having discussions like this:

(You can share this graphic around to spread the word, if you’re interested.)

*     *     *

Everything said, the fundraiser is going pretty amazingly. As I mentioned a while back, I was really nervous about a lot of the format changes we were making this year. But at this point, I feel like I can start to relax a little.

Most of all, I’m still hoping that if we push hard over the next 5 days, we can sail over the top of a million dollars.

I’d really like that.

I’ll see y’all soon.

pat

Also posted in panels, The Art of Letting Go, Warm Fuzzies, Worldbuilders 2018 | By Pat9 Responses
Published: December 5, 2018

Science, Books and Geeks doing Good

Hey there everyone,

If you hadn’t noticed, the Worldbuilders fundraiser is in full swing. In fact, as I’m writing this, our current donation total is over $625,000…

That’s a lot of goats. A lot of chickens. A lot of fruit trees and honey bees. It’s a lot of happy children with full bellies. It’s a lot of parents who get to sleep easier, knowing that they will be able to feed their children in the future.

Together we’re doing something amazing here. And if you’ve already donated, I can’t thank you enough. Every year the generosity of the geek community absolutely knocks me over.

You might also have noticed that I’m not blogging about the fundraiser nearly as much this year. Part of the reason for that is because this year we’ve launched the fundraiser with all the prizes immediately visible in the lottery where you can go and marvel at their glory. 

The other reason I haven’t been blogging, is that I’m to spread the word to *new* people about Worldbuilders. And I’m guessing if you read my blog, you already know most of what I have to say (because I say it on here every year.) So instead, I’ve been focusing on doing interviews and podcasts. Getting the word out to new audiences about the fact that we’re giving away thousands of prizes worth more than $170,000, to people who donate.

That said, I thought I’d make a point of reminding you of a few key things:

  • All auctions are ending Thursday.

There are dozens of auctions, featuring rare and often truly unique items. They’re a great place to do some holiday shopping for that hard-to-please geek in your life. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you really should.

  • We have a lot of cool team pages this year.

A lot of them offer prizes that are unique to each individual page (while still entering you in the main lottery.)

There’s a full list of the pages over here.

  • I’m livestreaming every day until the end of the fundraiser.

There’s a full schedule of streams over here. We’re doing some specialty streams too, like a geek parenting talk with Felicia Day and Clint McElroy. A game stream with my little boys. And an after-dark panel where we talk about the similarites between D&D and BDSM.

(If you follow my twitch channel, you’ll be notified when I go rogue and do unscheduled streams, too.)

  • I did science to books.

Witness the terrible majesty of our $80,000 stretch goal that we recently hit on my Twitch Stream page.

Be warned: Once you watch it, you can’t un-watch it.

If you’re looking for an easy way to spread the word about the fundraiser while traumatizing your friends, sharing that video is about as easy as it gets….

*     *     *

We only have 5 days left in the fundraiser. So if you’re interested in saving the world while winning fabulous prizes, now’s the time to head over and jump in.

If you’ve donated already, I’d love to hear about how it made you feel in the comments. I’ll be honest, stories from donors are what keep me going this time of year. If you’d be willing to share your experiences, I’d really appreciate it.

More news every day from now until the end. Stay tuned.

pat

Also posted in babies, calling on the legions, Warm Fuzzies, Worldbuilders 2018 | By Pat36 Responses
Published: November 30, 2018

On PAX Unplugged and D&D Awesomeness

Hey there everybody,

As many of you know, the 10th Annual Worldbuilders Fundraiser is going on.   We’re three days in and we just passed $400k.   As I’ve mentioned before, this year’s the fundraiser will only be two weeks, but we are packing a whole lot of awesome into them.

Throughout the fundraiser I’ll be streaming daily doing everything from playing games to doing Q&A to hosting panels with some really great people.  

If you want to catch a stream, here is my schedule:

If you follow me over on Twitch and turn on notifications you’ll get a heads up on when I start.    (Also, there might be some late night streams I do outside of this and that’s the best way to find out about them.)

You’ll notice starred events are streams of events I’m doing at PAX Unplugged, which leads me into…

I’m going to be in Philadelphia this weekend at PAX Unplugged.   I’ll be doing a talk, some signings, and playing some games.   

Here’s my schedule.

  • Saturday, December 1

Acquisitions Incorporated Live
8:30 – 11:30 PM in the Main Theatre

  • Sunday, December 2

Acquisitions Incorporated: The “C” Team
11:00 AM – 1:30 PM in the Main Theatre

Pat Rothfuss Signing
2:30 – 3:30 PM

If you haven’t heard about it yet, we’re doing some really cool D&D stuff in the fundraiser this year.   I’ve been working with so many wonderful people in the roleplaying community to make buffs and boons…

Here, let me just show you….

(And there’s more to come.)

Every $10 donation to the D&D Team Page gives you a chance to win a few or even a set of all of these cards.   Let me tell you folks, the odds are good.   You can see all the cards and donate on the D&D Team Page here.  

Beyond that, if you haven’t checked it out yet, we have some really great stuff in the lottery this year, including another hand-crafted walnut Wyrmwood gaming table and a cabin for two on the JoCo Cruise.   (Any donation to the D&D Team will put you in for the general lottery as well.)   

I’ll talk more about Heifer in a future blog, but for now if you’re curious just jump in and look at the cool stuff we’re giving away.

I hope to see some of you soon,

pat

Also posted in conventions, Worldbuilders 2018 | By Pat14 Responses
Published: November 26, 2018

The Coming Storm

So. Tomorrow we launch our yearly fundraiser. It’s our 10th anniversary. A big milestone.

Worldbuilders is my pride and joy. It has changed my life, and I’m as proud of it as I am of my own sweet children, and I love it as much as I love my children. It is a force for good in this weary world, and I’m so proud of the fact that over the years beautiful geeks of all nations have come together, raised nearly 8.5 million dollars, and made the world a better place.

We’re going a lot of new things to mark our 10-year anniversary. We’re pulling the trigger on a plan I’ve been slowly assembling for years. (It has to do with D&D) I’ve been mulling it over for ages, and I’ve finally figured out how to make it work…

On top of that, I think this is the year I’m going to pull an arrow out of my quiver that I’ve been keeping in reserve for a *long* time.

But the biggest news of all is that we’re changing the format of the fundraiser itself. Worldbuilders isn’t going to be a four weeks long (plus a little) this year. This year we’re doing the whole fundraiser in two weeks. Less than half the time we normally use to let it all play out.

It’s big stuff. And we’re making all these changes for good reasons. And they’re good choices. I have high hopes for this year. I think it’s going to be our best year ever.

So now, tonight, I should be writing a blog where I rile y’all up. I should do some cheerleading. Get you excited about what’s coming….

And that’s the blog I sat down to write tonight. But I’m not feeling it.

So instead, tonight, at 2:17 am, I’m going to tell you the truth. I’m not excited. I’m stressed.

No. That isn’t even the real truth.

The truth is, I’m scared.

It should come as no surprise to any of you who have read this blog over the years that I hate and fear change. There’s a reason I still live here in Stevens Point. There’s a reason I still wear the same coat I bought in college. There’s a reason I still use my beloved, 30-year-old Model M keyboard.

(This keyboard has seen some shit, y’all.)

We’re changing the fundraiser this year. And I know it’s for the best. But… I don’t like changing things that work. And the truth is, Worldbuilders has worked amazingly well for almost a decade now… We’ve raised over 8 million dollars to help people all over the world. We’ve helped tens of thousands of families. We have saved lives. We have given families hope and peace. There are children out there who are fat and happy because of us.

And still, tonight, the evening before the fundraiser, I’m scared.

I’m scared people won’t like the changes we’ve made. I’m scared people will be confused. I’m scared we won’t be able to get the word out to new people. I’m scared donors from previous years won’t come back….

I’m worried people won’t realize the fundraiser is *so* much shorter this year until it’s too late. I’m worried that they’ll show up on December 13th, when we’re normally still going strong, and realize they’ve missed out on everything.

I’m worried I haven’t done enough to prepare, and this year will be a failure, and it will be my fault.

Aaand that’s it. I don’t have a sudden reversal to end with. No big closer. No ray of light.

I was kinda hoping if I started this blog I could write my way out of this feeling, but it’s still here. I’m worried that it’s all going to be a trainwreck, and thousands of kids will go to bed hungry because I screwed up.

I just literally sat here for five minutes (It’s 3:05 now) wondering what I can possibly say to pull this blog up into something inspirational.

And I got nothing.

But what else can I do but put my head down and bull forward? My little boy has been filling up jars with change so that he can have enough money to buy a cow for Worldbuilders this year. So we’re going to do that. (I feel a little better thinking about that.)

(He’s so much older than this now, but I love this picture.)

Also, y’know what? Here’s a picture of him with a fake mustache because it’s my blog and I an post pictures like this if I want.

Also, here’s my littler baby dressed up as a bug.

(Cutie AF)

Oh. Wow. When I was scrolling through the files in my media library, guess what I just found.

This:

Hell. Every once in a while I can really put some words together, can’t I?

I guess I’ve got to take my own advice, don’t I? I’m not as good at this as I’d like to be. I’m not as organized or as clever or connected as I wish I were. I’m scared all of this is going to fall apart around me and that the fundraiser will fail.

But what can I do? I guess I’m going to Bilbo it up.

So when I wake up tomorrow (Monday) I’m going to e-mail people and call in favors and do interviews and pull strings and contrive every of trick I can think of to get eyes on the fundraiser this year. Because we’re giving away some *cool* stuff, and I want the geeks of the world to come donate money, make the world a better place, and win some cool shit while they’re at it.

I hope you’re ready, everyone.

I hope I’m ready too.

Either way, I’ll see you soon.

pat

Also posted in boding, Heifer International, hubris, the man behind the curtain, things I shouldn't talk about, trepidation | By Pat101 Responses
Published: November 7, 2018

Madison Wisconsin – Signing, Convention, and Livestream D&D

Hey there everybody,

I wanted to let you know that I will be in Madison Wisconsin starting tomorrow.

I’m mostly there for Gamehole Con, but while I’m there I thought I’d stop by Room of One’s Own and do a signing. They’re an awesome indie bookstore in downtown Madison. (Just off state street).

Room of One's Own | Madison, WI

(I’m also fond of them for other reasons, but that will be a blog for a different day.)

This isn’t related to the convention at all, so anyone can stop by.

If you can’t make this time, you can even pre-order some of my books at this link.

Deets:

Room of One’s Own (website)
3:00-4:30 PM on Thursday, November 8
315 W Gorham St

*     *     *

Beyond that, I’ll be doing several events at Gamehole Con on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are required for the GHC events, and currently all are sold out except the Friday D&D game. That said, tickets are free and become available every so often so keep an eye out if you’re interested. (Also, if not everyone shows up you might be able to get in, but there are no guarantees.)

  • Friday, November 9

Assembling Imagination
1:00 – 2:00 PM in Waubesa

I’ll be talking worldbuilding with Matt Finch, Peter Brett, and Matt Forbeck.

More details here.

Maze Arcana’s Inkwell Live: Tip of the Quill
3:00 – 7:00 PM in Monona – 233

I’ll be playing a game of D&D with Satine Phoenix, Adam Bradford, Todd Kenreck, and Eric Lang with Ruty Rutenberg DMing.  You can find tickets here.

  • Saturday, November 10 

An Afternoon with Pat Rothfuss
1:00 – 3:00 PM in Waubesa

For An Afternoon with Pat Rothfuss you can expect me to do some reading, storytelling, and some Q&A. And then I’ll tell more stories. Also cursing. Also? Just whatever I feel like at the moment.

More details on this here.

Live Stream D&D Game run by Chris Perkins
8:00 PM – Midnight in Monona – 233

Chris Perkins will be DMing as Elisa Teague, Gaurav Gulati, Peter Brett, Amy Vorpahl, Matthew Mercer, and I play a live streamed session of D&D for children’s charities.   This will be made more interesting by allowing donors to influence the game by doing everything by choosing character names/races/classes to gifting re-rolls to summoning monsters.

For those not at the con, you can catch this on my Twitch channel.

(To be sent a heads-up when we go live (and when I stream generally) be sure to follow me over there and turn on notifications.)

If you want to participate in the charity element of the game, you can donate on my page, or donate to the other participants using these links:

For event details at Gamehole Con you can click here.

*     *     *

Speaking of charity, the Worldbuilders fall fundraiser is coming up in a few weeks starting November 27. This is our tenth anniversary. And this year Worldbuilders is pulling out all the stops.

One of the biggest changes is that this year, the entire fundraiser is going to be two weeks long. Seriously. Only half as long, but we’re filling it with twice as much awesome. Just you wait.

I’ll be posting more about this soon, but in the meantime check out the Worldbuilders blog post here.

Hope to see some of you this weekend, online or otherwise….

pat

Also posted in conventions, Geeks Doing Good | By Pat43 Responses

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