Category Archives: Worldbuilders

Published: October 3, 2017

Worldbuilders: Puerto Rico and Hurricane Relief

Hey there everybody,

As I write this, I’m in a hotel room in Seattle. Tomorrow I have the first event on my short tour for the 10th Anniversary Edition of NOTW.

But it’s hard for me to get excited about the tour. This is partly because I caught a cold the day before I left, and it’s partly because I’m still exhausted from taking care of my dad in Hospice last month, and haven’t even begun to catch up on my sleep, let alone my e-mail…

But more than that. The world is just wearing me out these days. Natural disasters and mass shootings and… well… I’m sure you don’t need me to give you a list.

Gech. I don’t know what my point is here. This probably isn’t the best way to start this particular blog. But I don’t know how else to lead into this. The truth is, I’m tired, and sick, and heartsore….

But you know what? I have electricity. And clean water. I can pick up a phone and talk to the outside world. I can go to the store and buy food. And gasoline. I’m in no danger of getting cholera. My children are safe.

There are millions of people right now in Puerto Rico who have none of these luxuries.

(If you know where I’m going with all this, you can head over and donate here to help people who desperately need it without reading all the rambling that follows.)

*     *     *

Right. Okay. Let’s talk about Puerto Rico.

It’s been hit by three hurricanes lately, but the latest, Maria, has devastated the island. Millions have no power, clean water, or food. And for various reasons that I won’t go into right now, federal aid to the island has been extremely slow moving.

Debris – detail of fallen road sign – en route to San Juan captured roadside by Mercy Corps staff member Christy Delafield. 10/1/2017

I like doing charity work that builds things. There’s a reason my charity is called Worldbuilders. I want to focus on long-term solutions to the world’s problems. Sustainable agriculture. Education. Renewable energy. Solid social and economic infrastructure. That’s why Worldbuilders works so much with Heifer International. They’re the best at solving problems like that, long-term, all over the world.

But when someone doesn’t have drinking water, that’s a problem NOW. Sometimes you need to deal with a crisis fast, and worry about sustainable agriculture later.

So I went to the Worldbuilders team, because while the death totals we’ve seen out of Puerto Rico haven’t been terrifying so far…. well… A person doesn’t make a world like Temerant without a good understanding of how complex systems interact. So when I hear that millions of people on an island don’t have water and power. And huge parts of their infrastructure are destroyed, and they’re not getting sufficient help from the government, and their hospitals for the most part don’t have electricity….

Here’s the thing folks. Here’s what I’m afraid of. I’m worried when we finally do start seeing realistic death-tolls for  Puerto Rico, it’s not going to be in the dozens or hundreds. I’m worried that by the time people finally stop scrambling for survival long enough to start counting bodies, the dead will number in the thousands.

I mean, most of you are fantasy readers, right? You know why clean water is so important. Without it, things like typhoid, dysentery, and cholera are right around the corner. Then, without medical infrastructure, those things will tear through a sick population like a fire through a field of wheat.

I don’t want to wait until that happens, then tear my hair out wishing I’d done something to help.

So last week I went to to the worldbuilders team and we started investigating charities. We know when donate money to us, you’re trusting us. You want to get the biggest bang possible out of your charity dollar.

Luckily, it turns out that Mercy Corps has put their seasoned emergency response team toward helping out in Puerto Rico.

We worked with Mercy Corps in 2015 to provide aid to the Syrian Refugees. And in just a few short days we raised over $200,000 to help those people.

Today, I want to ask you to consider doing the same for the people of Puerto Rico.

More than 3 million people still remain without power and water, and expected heavy rains could further impede aid efforts in the coming days. Mercy Corps has deployed an emergency response team, some of whom arrived just yesterday, to see how their global expertise in emergency response can support the efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance and start rebuilding the communities ravaged by the hurricane.

Their approach is to support and empower existing local organizations, with a special focus on the most vulnerable and underserved populations. We expect to work with them to provide access to cash, clean water, and other urgently needed supplies.

If you’ve been feeling like I have for the last couple weeks. Scared and helpless and wishing you could do something to help make the world less shitty. Here’s your chance.

There are real people who need our help. You can help by helping us spread the word. You can share this fundraiser, and make a donation.

And before you say you can’t afford it. Please keep in mind that if you’re reading this on a computer and had a glass of water that came out of a tap today, you are doing roughly 10,000% better than the people in Puerto Rico right now. If you kick in just a bit, it can make a huge difference, because when taken all together, we are a force to be reckoned with. I don’t know how to stress this enough. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DON’T HAVE CLEAN WATER TO DRINK.

So please. Join us. Together we are awesome. We can help.

Mercy Corps has become our go-to charity for disaster relief. Their seasoned emergency response team has been deployed to provide supplies and assistance, and are working tirelessly to aid the people of Puerto Rico. Mercy Corps has a long history of both emergency relief and rebuilding communities struck by disaster, and we know their assistance will help Puerto Rico back to its feet.

And if it will help nudge any of you into joining in. I’m going to put my money where my mouth is. My dad left me some money, and I’ve got some royalties coming from the 10th anniversary of NOTW. So I can afford to put up $50,000 in matching money. That means whenever you kick some money in, more water, more food, more helping hands, more medicine, more supplies, more long-term solutions. Together, we can do twice the good.

Join us, and help in the relief, recovery, and rebuilding process.

Donate here.

Posted in Worldbuilders | By Pat22 Responses
Published: June 9, 2017

Making Change

Heya folks,

We’re four days into this year’s Geeks Doing Good fundraiser. I hope you’ve been enjoying it as much as I have. I’ll admit that I spend a lot of this week refreshing the fundraiser page to see how much we’ve raised.

(Hint – right now we’re at just over $90,000 dollars. Which is pretty good for four days….)

Today I’m going to talk about one of the items we’re trying out for the first time this year: Change Jars.

I’ve talked on the blog before about my own change jar. For the lion’s share of my life, you could tell a lot about my financial well being by the state of my change jar. If it had quarters in it, you know that I was doing pretty well for myself. But more often, those were picked out for laundry, or even to pay for food. During the leaner times there weren’t many dimes in there either….

So these days, when I look at my change jar seeing all those quarters is a constant reminder of how well I’m doing.

A couple years ago, I practiced counting with Oot, my young son, and then recorded a video with him where he really suprised me.

Here it is for those of you who haven’t seen it:

I’m sorry about the vertical nature of the video. I was hoping to catch a teachable moment on video with my son, explaining to him that we could use our change to help people. But he beat me to the punch with almost every point I wanted to make. (You can see the unedited version of the video here if you’re possessed with the strong desire to see me break down crying.)

Anyway, ever since then, the change jar in our house has been referred to as a Cow Jar. Whenever Oot would find a coin, that’s where he would put it. If someone gave him some money, he would typically put it there. The enterprising little guy even set up a store in our house, selling the candy he got for Halloween so he could get more money for the Cow Jar.

After two and a half years, Oot was sure we had enough for a cow. So we took my change jar, Sarah’s change jar, the change jar in my office…. pretty much all the change jars in the house, combined them, and we ended up with this video….

We didn’t end up with quite enough for a cow. And while Oot was a little disappointed, he has redoubled his efforts to save enough money for a cow by Christmas time.

I was thinking about this when we were developing our product ideas for this year. Every couple days when I put my change into a bowl by the door, I smile and think about buying a cow. What’s more, I think about how much fun it will be to count out the change with my little boys. It’s a good way to sneak a little math into a project, while getting them to think about giving to people less fortunate than themselves.

I thought it might be fun to share this family tradition with you.

Back in December, we worked with some local Wisconsinites to make Eolian Mugs. Those worked out so well that they’re making stone Eolian coasters for this year’s fundraiser…

So I asked them if they could come up some change jars, for those of you who… I don’t know, really. Maybe for those of you who have kids and would like to show them that thinking about helping others can be part of your everyday life. Or maybe you’re a fan of Worldbuilders, and putting saving up for a goat will make you happy. Maybe you’re more high-class than I am, and you want something more attractive for your loose change than the cereal bowl I’m currently using.

Or maybe you’d just like to join Oot in his quest to gather change and make the world a better place. I think we might have a “Oot’s Change Jar” team this year during our holiday fundraiser, where everyone who has been saving their pocket change can join forces and be awesome together.

And here’s some jars you can use if you want to do it with some style….

We’ve got three different sizes. My people did some unlikely maths to figure out how big each jar had to be in order to fit approximately the right amount of change for each of these. But in the end, we have:

A smaller jar that fits around $20. Enough for a flock of chicks. That means eggs for eating and selling every day. To say nothing of the fact that chickens themselves improve crop yields, as they eat bugs that cause problems in gardens and small farms.

There’s a medium sized jar that should hold $60 for some tree seedlings. Trees can provide fruit and nuts that a family can eat or sell to gain financial security. Trees also provide shade, and greatly improve sustainable agriculture by preventing soil erosion.

There’s also a large jar that hold enough for a goat: $120.

I’m not shy about the fact that I love goats as a Heifer gift. A goat can easily produce more than a gallon of milk a day, enough to supply a family with some left over to sell. They’re known for having twins when they give birth, so the families are that much better at Passing on the Gift of a baby goat to other families in need.

If you already have a beloved change jar, (or if you’re just not that into pottery) you can still join Oot on his quest to turn pocket change into cows…

We’ve designed a sticker to affix to your existing jars at home for those of you who would prefer more of a low-impact way. It’s just a couple bucks over at the fundraiser….

Here’s another link to the fundraiser if you’d like to pick up a change jar, or look at some of the other things we have available there. Like signed books, cheap games, and new types of tak pieces we weren’t able to produce for the Kickstarter. (Stone and metal pieces, specifically.)

And you can also pre-order a signed copy of the 10th anniversary edition of The Name of the Wind, too. If you’re into that sort of thing.

There’s also t-shirts and… well… kind of a lot of stuff. Too much to describe here.

I just peeked over there and saw that the total is over $93,000 now. I’m hoping we can make it to $250,000 like we did last year.

But remember, there’s only a few days left to get on board…

Later space cowboys,

pat

Also posted in Geeks Doing Good, Heifer International, Oot | By Pat22 Responses
Published: June 5, 2017

Geeks Doing Good 2017

It’s that time of year again, folks. Time to make the world a better place while buying some delicious geeky swag.

For those of you who are new around here, (or who just missed it, because it only lasts a week) for the last couple years, Worldbuilders has held a Geeks Doing Good fundraiser in the summer.

During this campaign, we throw up a ton of new merchandise on Indigogo. Sometimes we’re giving you an early shot at items we’re developing for The Tinker’s Packs, sometimes we’re giving away rare things we only have limited quantities of, sometimes we’re just experimenting, and making things available that you’ll never see again….

It only lasts a week (June 5-12 this year), and we have all manner of geekery to show off.

  • New Creators in The Tinker’s Packs

For the last couple of years, we’ve been slowly gathering seducing creators into letting us make cool things for them in Tinker’s Packs. And we’ve had some good success. For example, we’ve done Jim Butcher t-shirts for two years now…

But this is the year where we’ve really managed to make some stuff happen….

This year’s fundraiser features products from Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Holly Black, Myke Cole, as well as the fabulous comics Bitch Planet, Sex Criminals, and Rat Queens.

We have t-shirts, tank tops, tote bags, hoodies, coffee cups, stickers, and so much more.

There’s signed, special edition copies of books, too.

If you want, you could just stop reading now and swing by the campaign and see what we’ve got. My feelings wouldn’t be hurt at all. There’s more going on there than I can showcase here in a single blog…

Or, if you like, I can show you some of the highlights….

  • Tons of New Shirts

As you already know from recent blogs, we ran a t-shirt design contest.

When the time came to vote, we had two clear fan-favorites battling it out through the week of voting, never more than 10 or 15 votes apart.

But I’m not the only one who’s got new shirts in this year’s fundraiser. Far from it, as a matter of fact.

We have a new t-shirt from Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files; two new shirts from Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles; two Bitch Planet t-shirts; and a shirt from the ever-knowledgeable Myke Cole, presented in awesomely overkill handbook-speak. All of these shirts are under the umbrella of “t-shirt” on the fundraiser page, meaning to order any of these shirts, you’d select  the “Your Choice of One T-Shirt” perk.

Or, if you are understandably overwhelmed with the choices and feel the need to grab more than one shirt, we also have a t-shirt 3-pack where can grab any three of those shirts and save some money at the same time.

(If you want to buy even more than three shirts, because you’re possessed of more than the usual levels of style and good sense, you can just buy multiple shirt 3-packs, then you’ll just get the discount again and again.)

Also, we have a few non-t shirts, if you see what I mean…

Rat Queens and Sex Criminals are both doing tank tops, which people have been asking us to produce for a while now. We’ve also got a cool raglan for Sex Criminals. (I had to ask what a raglan was, apparently it’s a baseball-type shirt.)

Because these aren’t t-shirts, each of these is its own perk, so they won’t be part of the One Shirt or Three Shirt perks,  so keep that in mind when you’re deciding what to order.

  • Tons of Tak

Ever since we ran the kickstarter, I’ve been itching to bring more Tak stuff into the world, and now we’re able to do just that.

For almost a year now, we’ve been researching and prototyping, so now we’ve got a bunch of new Tak products to expand your collections. Or, if you’ve never played before, this is your chance to start playing the game with unprecedented style….

After much searching and experimentation, we have found a way to make stone piece sets available. (Ceramic, actually, but let’s not quibble.) We also have some limited edition handmade capstones, and new board drawn by Echo Chernik…

And metal pieces folks. It took a long. LONG time to find someone who could make quality metal pieces for any sort of sensible price. But we did it. And they’re made here in the US, too.

What’s more, we’ve worked with Wyrmwood to come up with an entirely self-contained travel Tak set.

It’s small, but still has full-sized pieces and a board big enough for a 6×6 game. And as with everything Wyrmwood makes, it’s a thing of beauty. Also? It’s hingeless. It hangs together with magic. Or magnets. Or both. They’re pretty much the same thing.

We’re offering two versions, so you can pick whichever one fits your pocketbook and personal aestetic better. What’s more, if you’re strapped for cash, we’ve made it so you can buy just the board without the pieces, which knocks a chunk off the price. Then you can either use your old pieces, make new ones, or… I dunno, just use this as a stylish and deceptive way to carry around your gear….

  • A Cabin on JoCo Cruise 2018

Yet again, the folks from JoCo Cruise have contributed a cabin on the next cruise to support the fundraiser.

I’ve been on Joco three times to far, and it’s one of my favorite conventions by far. It’s everything I enjoy about going to a convention, plus I get to go snorkeling. Plus all night gaming. Plus getting to hang out with cool geeks. And there’s karaoke, dance parties, cabaret performances, panel discussions, cocktail hours…

The price tag for a 2 person cabin may seem a little steep. (Though it’s not that bad if you consider that it includes meals and drinks and entertainment for the duration of the trip.)

But even that doesn’t matter in this particular instance. I know a lot of you don’t have a ton of money, so here in the Geeks Doing Good fundraiser, you can throw your hat into the ring for 5 dollars. That’s right. For five bucks, you have a chance to come along on the cruise with us.

You can enter as many times as you buy the perk. We’ll get in contact once a winner is selected, and in February you’ll be sailing high seas with the cool kids.

Seriously guys. It’s a ton of fun, and this is a great opportunity.

  • A Signed, Pre-ordered 10th Anniversary NOTW.

I mentioned a while back on a livestream that this year my publisher is releasing a special 10th Annivesary Edition of The Name of the Wind.

It’s got a bunch of new stuff in it, including beautiful new illustrations….

New maps that I’ve been slaving over with Nate Taylor. A long rambly authors note, and a series of appendixes where I share all manner of secrets from the world, including explanations of the Aturan calendar, an exhaustive pronunciation guide, historical notes, and a long, freaky description of the currency system with illustrations of the coins by Nate Taylor.

It will be released later this year, and if you want a copy signed by me, we’re going to give you the chance to pre-order it here, so you can get a signed book AND splash some money toward a good cause at the same time….

Ordering the book here doesn’t mean you’ll get it sooner than anyone else. We’ll be shipping these out the day before publication, so the soonest they’ll arrive is on the pub date itself.

But that’s pretty much the soonest you’ll be able to get a *signed* copy. And while doing that, you’re helping out your friendly neighborhood geek charity, and that’s always a win.

  • More Book and Game Bundles

As has become tradition, we’ve included some mystery bundles of books and games for you.

These are always a resounding success, and we’re always happy to provide the opportunity for folks to get new geekery in their lives.

This year, we even have a mystery kid’s books bundle, so if there’s a kid in your life you can’t buy enough books for, we’ve got you covered.

  • So much other cool stuff

Please keep in mind that I’m just scratching the surface here….

There’s coolness from Storiarts. There’s an all-Worldbuilders-supporter True Dungeon Run.

We’ve got water bottles, wristbands, miniatures, change jars, and so much more. We’ve even got tiers for you to buy a goat, if you already have enough stuff in your life, and you’d rather just chip in some money to make the world a better place.

So go check it out.

Seriously. Go.

pat

P.S. I’ll be doing some livestreaming to promote the fundraiser and show off some of the cool new merch. Exactly *when* I’ll be streaming is a little up in the air right now. But if you head over and follow my channel, then set your account to get updates, you’ll get a heads-up when I go live…

Also posted in calling on the legions, Geeks Doing Good | By Pat27 Responses
Published: February 17, 2017

Humble Bundle: Fantastic Fiction

Hey everyone,

Thanks for a successful Q&A a couple of weeks ago. I had a surprisingly good time on the livestream, with more than 3500 people watching at one point, which beats my previous best livestream by a factor of three.

For those of you who don’t have any real desire to watch a video where I talk almost non-stop for over two hours, (and I can’t blame you, really) I’ll mention that I made an announcement at the end of the session. Specifically, that we’ll be releasing a 10th Anniversary Edition of The Name of the Wind later this year. If you really want more details, well…. *glances up at link to the video.*

I’ll do an official blog about that at some point in the future. Hopefully showing off the new cover and talking in more detail about what will be included in the edition. But that’s probably down the road a bit. Today, I thought I’d let you know about two other things.

  • The Activism Primer.

I wrote a blog about a week ago about how a few members of the Worldbuilders Team were dealing with the current political climate. At the end of the blog, I mentioned that I’d been thinking of putting together a newsletter for people who want to stay informed and/or learn how to engage in effective activism.

Problem was, I didn’t know if that’s something people really wanted, so I put up a google form, and… well… And as of right now about 2100 folks have signed up. So it looks like I’ll be putting a team together to make that happen.

  • A new Humble Bundle.

Good news! Humble Bundle and Subterranean Press have teamed up again to offer some cool books in return for a donation to charity, and they’ve selected Worldbuilders as the charity of choice.

SubPress_BlogImage

For those of you who don’t know, Humble Bundle lets you pay what you want for a bunch of cool DRM-Free books. The more money you donate, the more books you get. And if you donate over 15 bucks, you ALL the books in the bundle.

And this is good stuff too. Books by Jim Butcher, Tim Powers, Mira Grant and Kevin Hearn. Not to mention plucky up-and-comers like John Scalzi and Clive Barker….

If that’s not enough for you, well don’t fret. They’ll be adding even more books in a couple days, so the bundle will only get better.

Perhaps coolest of all, as with all the Humble Bundles, you’re able to decide exactly where where your money goes. For example:

25_wb and subpress equal

Or, for another example:

25_wb awesome

I don’t know about you, but that sort of freedom of choice delights me. It’s one of the things I love most about Humble Bundle.

And if these books aren’t enough to slake your terrible thirst for cool geekery, Worldbuilders is now one of their official registered charities, so you can support us in the Humble Store.

Support Worldbuilders Humble Store

They’ve got a ton of games and other cool things in there if you want to wander around a take a look.

There are lots of ways to help out and get cool stuff in return, but be careful. The Subterranean Press bundle will end on March 1st at 11am Pacific Time.

See you later Space Cowboys…

pat

Also posted in Subterranean Press | By Pat6 Responses
Published: November 11, 2016

Being a Trouper

Hey there everybody,

I’d meant to post a fun blog earlier this week. I had a couple cued up and almost ready. One was full of Kingkiller tattoos I’ve seen over the last year, another was pictures of babies that have been named after characters from my books. The one I *really* wanted to post involved the story of how I snuck some underage chicks into Max Temkin’s hotel room at Gencon.

41f23fed1b92a824ced03db71d8b4a9c(Like this. You pervert.)

But, as everyone knows, the election happened. Anyone who watched my election-night twitch stream might have an inkling of how I felt about that. And those of you who didn’t watch it can still probably guess.

And I’m guessing a lot of you feel the same way.

Interesting fact for those of you who feel shattered about the results: What you’re feeling now? That’s what a depressive episode feels like. At least it does to me. The pisser about depression is that you can feel desolate hopeless dread of exactly this sort even when nothing bad has happened.

Anyway, as a result, I couldn’t bring myself to finish a fun blog earlier this week. In fact, I’m not in the mood to write a blog now, either. I’ve been writing this thing for TWO HOURS and this is as far as I’ve gotten. It’s like trying to walk with a broken leg.

How the hell am I supposed to feel hopeful right now? How am I supposed to launch this year’s fundraiser and be enthusiastic about the cool news I have to share? I feel like everything is crumbling.

Earlier today, I found myself wondering what Auri would do in this situation. Well… that’s not actually true. Maybe it’s more that I wish I could ask for her advice? I wish she could just… help me. Like maybe she could give me a seashell or something and I would put it in my pocket and then I’d feel a little better.

Hell. You know you’re not doing well when you wish a fictional character would help you out. What the fuck does it even mean that I want help from the person who is arguably the most broken of all my characters? Is this it? Am I finally having a nervous breakdown?

No. I’m not. I’m depressingly sane.

Maybe it’s that Auri never lets it get to her. Not really. Not deep down. She’s a fighter, and despite everything, she always has a tiny flame of joy burning inside her. We’re very different in that regard.

I keep thinking of this picture and I don’t know why….

a-and-e-brazen

One of the things I share with Auri is that we both want to fix the world. Maybe that’s why I wish she could give me some advice. I can’t see a way to fix things right now. I am all unkilter.

Shit. I’m doing an awful job of this. I should just erase everything I’ve written and start over, but that would feel dishonest. I don’t want to lie to y’all. I don’t want to pretend I have my shit together. I don’t. I’m not doing great right now.

But still, I have some news to share. And it can’t wait.

Today I heard someone say, “We have to soldier on” and while I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t think there’s any way I can think of myself as a soldier.

I’ll be a trouper instead. How about that? The show must go on, right?

Okay, I’m taking a mulligan and starting over. Ready?

*     *    *

Hey there everybody,

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you probably know that this is the time of year when we do our big annual Worldubuilders fundraiser.

Last year we raised over 1.2 million dollars for Heifer International. We sent little girls to school in Nepal and fed hungry kids in Haiti. We gave people clean water and education. Medicine and self-reliance. The work we do literally brings light into the lives of people all over the world.

And no, I’m not misusing the word “literally” there. One of the many things Heifer does is teache people to make biogas digesters.

biogas-diagram-990x1024This miraculous contraption turns animal waste into fertilizer and methane. Then families can use that methane as a clean, cheap source of light and heat. Cooking over gas is much safer and easier than using a cookfire. That’s a big deal in parts of the world where electricity is expensive or straight-up unavailable.

It’s like real-life alchemy, folks. Heifer teaches people to turn shit into gold.

Over the last 8 years Worldbuilders has raised more than $5,000,000 to make things better all over the world, in Ukraine and Uganda. From Peru to Appalachia.

This year’s fundraiser is launching Monday, and we’ve got some big news. News I’ve been sitting on for months. And despite the fact that I’m a tease of epic proportions, I’m actually going to tell y’all that news today.

1. Story time with Neil Gaiman.

Two years ago, Neil Gaiman red us Green Eggs and Ham. While last year people who donated got to vote on what Gaiman would read. Jabberwocky beat out Where the Wild Things Are and Goodnight Moon, so he shot a video of himself reciting it from memory to help us spread the word about the fundraiser.

If y’all had any thoughts about what would be fun for him to read this year, I’d love to hear them in the comments below. Personally, I think The Monster at the End of This Book would be great. I’d love to hear him do Grover’s voice.

2. More livestreaming on Twitch.

Last year, I experimented with livestreaming on twitch to help spread the word about the fundraiser and it worked surprisingly well. So this year, not only will I be streaming again, but Worldbuilders is reaching out to the streaming community in general, and providing tools so that you can do fundraising for us on your own stream.

If you’re a streamer and you’d like to help out Worldbuidlers, contact us at [email protected] and we’ll work with you to make that happen.

And now the big one….

3. A Million Dollars of Matching Money

This year, with Heifer’s help, Worldbuilders has access to a million dollars worth of matching money.

That means that if you come in and donate $10 to Worldbuilders, this anonymous benefactor will double that money, turning it into $20. You donate enough for a goat? It becomes two goats…

dollar-panarama-704155

This is a HUGE deal. And it means we have the chance to absolutely destroy last year’s totals.

I mention this to y’all in advance with the hope that you might be are willing to come in swinging in the early days of the fundraiser. If we manage to get some good donations early on, then double them, I’m hoping the total will be impressive enough that we can get some coverage in the media. That means people will find out about worldbuilders who otherwise would never have noticed it.

If that happens…. well… it means we get to feed a *lot* of hungry kids.

And that’s what I’m really in the mood to do right now.

If you have any suggestions for the upcoming fundraiser, or if you have a clever way of helping us spread the word, please drop those in the comments below, too.

Thanks much.

Take care of each other,

pat

Also posted in Acts of Whimsy, calling on the legions, cool news, Uncategorized | By Pat108 Responses
Published: June 10, 2016

Geeks Doing Good: Foxen Nightlight, Draccus Plushy, and BatManda

Hey there everyone. As I write this, our Geeks Doing Good Fundraiser has been running for about four days, and we’ve raised about $97,000 so far to make the world a better place.

However Because we only go for a week, this means the fundraiser is more than halfway over. It’s ending on Monday, June 13th.

That means if you want to jump in and buy some of our book or game bundles, you better do it soon. Ditto if you’d like to help us spread the word to your geeky friends and family.

Today I’m going to show off some of the things that we added late to the fundraiser, or that we just haven’t put pictures of up in the blog yet.

For example:

  • Cloaks

This is something people have been asking for for years, so we’re finally giving it a try. These come in two different sizes, but they both have a bunch of little pockets, and that’s the important thing.

cloak

Also, I would like to add, that when I added this picture to the blog, I discovered it was called BatManda.

  • Terri Windling Prints

 

dryad

(Click to embiggen, really)

I love Terri‘s art, and she was nice enough to send us some of her signed prints for the charity. These are hard to get ahold of, and we only have a few. So if you want some of this beautiful art in your home, you should grab one over there.

  • Foxen Nightlight

Foxen Nightlight Replica 8-1280

If you see this Foxen nightlight and haven’t immediately wanted it, I cannot help you find joy in life, because you don’t have the physical capability.

  • Secret Cubby Books

CubbyBook

The same is true for these cubby books. You absolutely need this thing in your life.

  • A Freaking Puzzle

puzzle

It’s so cool. The art for this is by Matt Rhodes (concept artist for Dragon Age: Inquisition), and we thought it made an awesome puzzle. It’s our first foray into puzzles, though, so if that’s something you’re into, check it out.

  • So Many T-Shirts

We’ve got all manner of shirts this year….

Shirt_RatQueens

There’s a shirt from Rat Queens, a comic I love with a fierce love. I’m so glad they were willing to come in and help out the fundraiser.

parkour_shirt

We’re teaming up with Jim Butcher again on another Dresden Files shirt, this one all about PARKOUR!

Shirt_Ademic

A new shirt from Temerant. Fair Warning: this one will be available ONLY during this fundraiser – after Monday, you won’t be able to get your grubby little paws on it ever again.

Shirt_WB

And for those of you who have been asking for a Worldbuilders shirt, here you go. A nice, subtle way to wave your geek flag and show the world that you’re an awesome, generous, kindhearted person to boot.

Note: If you order three shirts, in the Indigogo fundraiser, you save ten bucks….

  • Eolian Mugs & Coffee

CoffeeAndMug

These stoneware mugs are made right here in Wisconsin, but they look like something you might find at the Eolian. It’s a 22 oz. mug that can hold enough of your beverage of choice to get you through the day. And if your beverage of choice happens to be coffee…

We have three coffee blends: the standard Imre blend, a dark Tarbean blend, and an exotic Tinuë blend. The Worldbuilders team loves the coffee shop we worked with, and spent some quality time with the blends to make sure they matched the cities in the series. I know, I ask so much of my team, making them drink coffee.

  • Doodled Slow Regards

DoodledSlowRegard

Last year, we asked Nate Taylor to draw in a few copies of The Slow Regard of Silent Things. We figured he’d do some quick sketches or fun doodles, something small but unique. As usual, Nate went above and beyond, this time with full-blown ink illustrations. We asked him to illustrate a few more books for us this year, so we have 10 remarqued Slow Regards available, and they’re already starting to go…

  • Doodled Princess Books

DoubleSignedPrincess

The last time Nate was in town, I dug through our vault and brought out some of the long-gone first edition/first printings of the first Princess book, and had Nate doodle in some of them. We’ve got five of those available now, each one with a different character doodle. The first editions are rare enough as it is, but one that’s double-signed and doodled is a rare treat.

  • Jonathan Coulton Picture Book

PrincessWSHCoverWe’re bringing this picture book based on Johnathan Coulton’s song back into print. My kids love it, and even if you don’t have kids, I’m guessing you’ll love it too….

  • Perfumes and Soap.

FragranceAndSoapMockup

In case you’re wondering, everyone agrees that Bast smells wonderful….

  • Draccus Plushy.

DraccusPrototype3

What’s almost as cute as the plushy itself is watching Amanda lose her mind over how much she loves it in this outtake reel…

Okay. I’ll stop there. That’s all I’m going to put in the blog, but you should know that just *some* of the stuff we have up in the IndiGogo. There’s book bundles too. And the chance to buy a *ton* of games super cheap.

If you want to see the rest of the stuff, it’s all over here.

And if there’s anything you have questions about, be sure to hit us up in the comments or via email at fundraiser (at) worldbuilders.org. The team is working hard to answer them, and the fundraiser only has a few days left, so you don’t want to miss out.

Thanks for chipping in, folks. Thanks for spreading the word and helping to make the world a better place.

pat

Also posted in cool things, Geeks Doing Good | By Pat15 Responses
Published: June 6, 2016

Geeks Doing Good: A Birthday Coup

Hey guys. Amanda here hijacking the blog again.

See, I think it’s time we start a little coup here. I’m forcing my way into the blog via hotel wifi for what I think you’ll all agree is a very good reason: Pat’s birthday.

See, Pat doesn’t want to talk about it, and he’d definitely never tell you about it himself. It’s just not his way. But Pat is very important to me, and I want him to have an excellent birthday. One where he gets exactly what he wants out of the day.

What he really wants, more than anything, is to have an exceptional fundraiser. He loves watching everyone come together over the common love for geekery and charity. He loves watching this thing he started in his living room grow and evolve into something amazing.

We’re launching our Geeks Doing Good charity fundraiser today, and we’re all really excited about it, especially Pat.

geeks doing good dates

Pat was going to wait until tomorrow or Wednesday to write a blog about it. He was going to skim right over the fact that it was his birthday, and that he spent the entire day travelling home from Phoenix Comicon.

Since he’s going to be so busy today, I think the best thing we can do for him is overwhelm him with how awesome the fundraiser is doing.

There’s something in it for you, beyond giving Pat an awesome birthday surprise. We have so many cool things that I’m about to go broke buying from our own fundraiser. Just look at all of the awesome.

  • A Draccus Plushie

DraccusEvolution

Everyone here at Worldbuilders HQ is pretty obsessed with this little guy, but none so much as me. Every time I look at him I get distracted. I giggle, and say “look at ‘im!” for entirely too long before I can move on.

He’s going to be $30, and I love him.

  • So many new t-shirts

So-Many-Tees

There’s the shirt from Sam Sykes with probably the best writing advice ever. He tweeted it to Pat, and when Pat demanded one on a t-shirt, Jeff one of the Worldbuilders Team, made it for him. Pat and Sam both loved it, and so did a lot of other people, so we’re doing as we’ve been asked and selling them.

We’re teaming up with Rat Queens on a shirt, which everyone in the office is excited about, but especially Pat. We’re bringing back a design they used to have, but has been sold out for a long time.

Jim Butcher agreed to do another Dresden Files shirt with us, this time depicting a certain Warden keeping busy and practicing his PARKOUR!!

And those are just shirts we’ve teamed up with other folks for. Our more traditional fare includes the much-requested Worldbuilders t-shirt, and a convenient chart of Ademic emoji to bring with you wherever you go. The Ademic Emoji shirt is a fundraiser exclusive, so if you want one, you should hop on that train now, before it’s too late.

  • Text-based wearables

Pat teased that we’re doing another shirt with Litographs, but the art wasn’t finalized yet. It is now, and guys…this shirt is wonderful.

Litographs

In addition to the t-shirt, it’s going to be on a tote bag (which Brett talks about pretty eloquently in the launch video).

Plus, the fine folks over at Storiarts have printed select text of Name of the Wind onto gloves.

Gloves

They’re beautiful, comfortable, and the perfect thing to wear for a long evening of writing.

  • Things to make you smell good

FragranceAndSoapMockup2

Last year we debuted Auri’s Most Perfect Soap in the fundraiser, and this year we’ve worked with Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs to bring you the other soap mentioned in Slow Regard: Auri’s Sunny Summer Soap. According to Auri, it smells like sunlight, summer, and cinnas fruit, and even though those are ephemeral (and in one case completely made up) concepts, Black Phoenix absolutely nailed it.

While they were working on this scent, they sent over some samples of perfumes based on characters from the books. The smells of Bast, Kvothe, and Denna were not things I had expected to experience in my life, but they’re truly wonderful. You can get one, or you can get a 3 pack, which has been discounted to save you some money.

  • An actual children’s book

PrincessWhoSaved

For those of you who’ve read The Adventures of the Princess and Mr Whiffle books, you know that they’re not really for kids. The good news is that we’ve teamed up with Jonathan Coulton and Greg Pak to bring you a much better book to share with the wee ones in your life.

The Princess Who Saved Herself is based off one of Jonathan Coulton’s songs, and it’s a wonderful story. Parents and non-parents here love it, and it sends a really awesome message. It was originally printed for a Kickstarter campaign, and we’re helping bring it to a wider audience and get this book into as many hands as we can.

If you have a tiny human in your life, you should really consider picking this up.

  • So much other awesome stuff

SoMuchMore

We can’t begin to cover all of it here, but there’s a lot. You can get randomly-written-in copies of Name of the Wind. You can get Coffee from Imre, Tarbean, and Tinue. You can get Vintish Court Rings with YOUR NAME on them. The perks go on, and we’ll be adding more throughout the week.

As in years past, for those of you looking to participate who don’t have a credit card, shoot us an email at fundraiser(@)worldbuilders.org. We’ll help you figure something out, and make sure you’re able to participate as much as you want to.

See if something piques your interest. We have a little bit of something for everyone in this year’s fundraiser, and I think it’s our best yet.

And maybe leave a little bit of love here, or on the campaign page, for Pat on his birthday. He loves you all, and I think he’s going to love seeing the campaign off to a good start when he gets home late tonight.

Thanks guys,

Amanda

Also posted in cool things, Geeks Doing Good | By Amanda36 Responses

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