Games and Geekery

Worldbuilders-Logo_Web_Smaller

This is a Worldbuilders blog.

Today’s blog consists of some awesome  games of all sorts.  Cards, role playing, and table top.  Games for kids, games for adults, and games for people who don’t fit well into those sort of categories.  And because they’re a little specialized, we’re going to offer almost all of them up as auctions for the people who really really want them.

But as some of you may have seen, we just had a sale go on over at The Tinker’s Packs, and it was extremely well received.  And since we have a few other things that people might be interested in, we thought we’d throw some up there as well.

Bring it on:

  • The Store: Dice bags of various types, and an awesome game bundle.

Dice Bags and Game Bundle

Sometimes, you just need to be a little bit cooler than all of your friends.  Here we are offering you three ways to do that.

We have eight hand-knit dice bags from Nerdbaby Creations for you to bring to your weekly game of Pathfinder.  Jennifer even pledged a percentage of her Etsy sales to Worldbuilders last month, so we wish that all her modifiers be positive.

If aluminum is more your thing, we have two chainmaille dice bags from Chainmaille by Joy for you to bring to your weekly LARP.  These are really quite impressive, and since we’ve only got two, you should jump on them before they’re gone.

And then we have a sweet game bundle (worth over $125) that we’re selling so that you still have table top games to play the other five nights a week.  It doesn’t matter who’s playing, either.

The bundle contains three games from Albino Dragon: Genegrafter, Dragon Whisperer and Ace of Spies, all card-and-token hybrids with a few spins on game play that keep things interesting.  Then for the little folk, there’s Gamewright’s Sleeping Queens, a combination memory/strategy game that’s geared toward kids but way too fun for the adults to pass up. Finally, there’s Sentinels of the Multiverse from Greater Than Games, which Amanda would self-administer intravenously if she could.

AuthorDnD

Last year we auctioned off a chance to play D&D with a bunch of awesome authors at ConFusion. We had an awesome time, so when Peter V. Brett asked me if we wanted to auction off another seat for Worldbuilders, I was more than happy to accept. I can’t make it this year, which sucks for me, because it’s always a great time.

This year’s awesome author-players will be Kelley Armstrong, Cherie Priest, Myke Cole, Wesley Chu, and Sam Sykes. Peter V. Brett and Howard Tayler will DM the game, which will be filmed and edited for release on youtube again.

Legendary ConFusion will be held January 17-19, 2014 at the Doubletree Hotel Detroit/Dearborn. The game will take place on the 18th from 9am to noon, and books, dice and other supplies and refreshments will be provided.  However, please keep in mind that this auction is just for a seat at the table.  You’ll still have to arrange your own transportation, hotel accommodation and admission to the con.

If you want to get in on the action, make sure to check out the auction and bid.

P1050258

During the 2013 Worldcon/Lone Star Con 3 in San Antonio, Texas, members of the Reddit Fantasy community carried this polished steel helm around to various authors and industry people and had them sign it. This thing is covered in signatures. They threw in a couple microfiber polishing cloths and a Lone Star Con program. They even included a handy list where the signers could write their name for easy identification. Think of the list as a key to the puzzle.

They even snagged a picture of Martin trying it on after he signed it.

Martin

They have more photos of the goings on if you’re interested.

To bid, head over here to the auction.

All the Game Bundles

There’s three auctions to choose from.  I’ve linked the titles to their respective auctions if you’re feeling clickish.

Game Salute Bundle: Sunrise City, Zombie Ninja Pirates, Collateral Damage, Alien Frontiers Factions: Faction Pack #1, and Alien Frontiers Factions: Upgrade Pack.

This is a bundle with room for future expansion. Three games you can play right now, plus three expansion packs for the popular (and now sadly out of print) Alien Frontiers. Don’t worry, though–their Kickstarter was a success and the 4th edition of Alien Frontiers is currently available for preorder. Based on the reviews of the 3rd edition, it will be awesome. Awesome.

Five Games from AEG: Trains, Guildhall, Agent Hunter, Maximum Throwdown, and Straw. There isn’t one single dud in this bundle. All five games get great reviews and together they have a broad appeal.  If you’re not in the mood for a more involved strategy game like Trains or Guildhall, Straw is quick and lighthearted. If you feel like messing up your opponents, Maximum Throwdown’s got your back. You won’t be bored, that’s for sure.

Awesome 9 Game bundle: This auction is exactly what the title suggests, 9 awesome games in one go. You get the 8-bit style, classic video game inspired Boss Monster from Brotherwise Games and one of a small pool of strategic wine making games (seriously, there is more than one, but this one is the best), Viticulture from Stonemaier Games.

There’s also the cooperative adventure board game Legends of Andor from Fantasy Flight Games, three Albino Dragon games (Genegrafter, Dragon Whisperer and Ace of Spies), and three games from AEG (Guildhall: Job Faire, Maximum Throwdown and Straw).

Some of these games are available in The Tinker’s Packs game bundle, most are not, and all of them are worth checking out.

Starcraft-Veronica-Books

If your tastes run less board-game-ish and more swag-ish, there’s another trio of auctions (again, each auction is linked to their title).  Speaking of swag, I recently found out it’s an acronym. Seriously.  The word “swag” stands for “Stuff We All Get”–like tee shirts, coffee mugs, and other standard souvenirs. This sort of etymology gives me little shivers.

Solar backpack from Techzilla’s own Veronica Belmont:  Veronica sent a solar backpack full of fun goodies she knew you’d like, including:

Revision3 branded solar backpack with charging tips for iPhone 4 and most Android phones
Fitbit Zip Activity Tracker (poking out of the front pocket, there)
Sword and Laser white fitted women’s tee shirt (Size: Medium)
Gibson Guitars men’s tee shirt (Size: Large)
Gibson Guitars black knit beanie with embroidered logo (Size: head)
Monster Inspiration headphones with changeable Apple/Android ControlTalk cables.
The 4-Hour Chef by Timothy Ferris (Hardcover)
The 2013 Literary Pin-Up Calendar

The auction has more detailed writeups of this stuff, but you get the idea. It’s a sweet batch of stuff lovingly compiled by an awesome woman.

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty signed by the Blizzard development team: Classic space strategy. You know the drill–it’s Starcraft 2 with its expansive universe, online multiplayer and rich community, but with a box signed by everyone responsible for making this game awesome. If you’re a fan of the franchise, treat yourself to an autographed copy and unlimited bragging rights.

Ultimate History of Video Games & Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures: These two books were chosen by Game of Books creator Aaron Stanton as his favorite books on video games. The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent is a fascinating look inside the video game industry that starts with Pong and runs all the way through the current game industry. Aaron says, “For a time, a good 50% of all my most amusing game-related anecdotes came from this one book. I’ve read it several times.”

The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventure Games by Kurt Kalata is a reference tome for all games texty and adventuresome. It has interviews with the developers and concise illustrated writeups of a ton of graphic adventure games like Sam & Max, Maniac Mansion, King’s Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and, of course, Zork. This is more of a book for browsing instead of reading cover-to-cover, but it’s chock full of interesting stuff about classic, old-school games.

  • Auction: Custom Playing Card Deck Designed by Shane Tyree

ShanesDeck

This is a great offer, guys.  Shane Tyree is the artist that brought us Albino Dragon’s Call of Cthulu deck and the Name of the Wind deck. His work can also be found in products from Fantasy Flight Games, Alderac Entertainment Group, Catalyst Game Labs, Wizards of the Coast and more.

Shane is offering up something a really cool to the highest bidder. Shane will draw a unique playing card deck, including custom court cards and card back, for the winner of this auction. The cards will be created digitally, and manufactured through Palaimon cards. Shane will incorporate your feedback into their design, making this a unique piece of functional artwork. If you play cards, collect them, or know someone who does, this would be a great keepsake.

It’s only for individual purposes, so it won’t be distributed commercially.  You should probably go bid on it while you still can.

(P.S. If you’re as much of a fan of Shane’s work as I am, I’m guessing you’ll be excited to hear that he’s doing another Cthulhu-themed kickstarter: Call Of Cuthulu: The Writhing Dark. Not only will there be a new deck of playing cards, but he’s doing a set of Tarot cards too. I heard a rumor that a certain beardy fantasy author will be appearing as the Emperor in that deck…

If you are interested, be warned, there’s just four days left to his kickstarter.)

* * *

Okay, that’s it for now.

This is shaping up to be a pretty awesome year for Worldbuilders, guys.  I hope you’re as excited as I am.

To be eligible to win any of the cool books and prizes in the lottery, head over to our Team Heifer page and donate.

Remember, you can see everything we’ve got in the lottery so far over at the Lottery Library, and hear about on what’s going on in Worldbuilders HQ on the Worldbuilders website.

If you want to watch these auctions and more, keep an eye on our eBay seller page.  We post new auctions every Thursday so there’ll be something new for you soon…

This entry was posted in Worldbuilders 2013By Pat10 Responses

10 Comments

  1. justajenjen
    Posted December 5, 2013 at 5:27 AM | Permalink

    Ooh, you guys got a better pic of the bags than I did. Thanks for putting them up there.

  2. Thaxll
    Posted December 5, 2013 at 5:42 AM | Permalink

    There’s something wrong with the seat at the author D&D auction link.
    And the link for the signed SC2 game (both of them) links to the gaming books auction.

  3. Posted December 5, 2013 at 11:27 AM | Permalink

    so many cool things of course!

    I gotta remember to save my christmas shopping next year and do it here. I’m kinda pissed at myself for already having it done now.

  4. ericturner29
    Posted December 5, 2013 at 1:57 PM | Permalink

    Question for the worldbuilders team:

    Is there a way to opt out of the Heifer mailing list?

    The reason I ask is because I get EPIC amounts of junk mail from them. I have a strong preference for the money that they spend on mailing me stuff go to helping people instead. I know they’re a charity, and one of the primary ways they get money is soliciting people, but they’ll be getting my money whether or not they generate and send me reams of paper.

    Thanks!

    • Posted December 6, 2013 at 6:52 PM | Permalink

      I kinda feel this way too. I feel really bad that most of it just gets tossed in my recycle, I’d love to know if their is an opt out for the mail. I only really like getting the magazine.

      I don’t mind the calls so much. If I have something to donate I do, if not I just tell them I can’t and they’ve never badgered me or anything like some telemarketers.

  5. DragonSoul
    Posted December 5, 2013 at 6:02 PM | Permalink

    I have followed your blog as a lurker for the past 5 1/2 years, but I just created an account because I feel so strongly about seconding ericturner29’s question. This is my number one pet peeve when it comes to charity organizations. It really eats away at me when I feel that the money I donated only went towards ways to beg me for more.

    I apologize if there was some way to opt out that I haven’t found yet, but I honestly haven’t participated for the last two years because I got so much mail and received so many phone calls from Heifer. Knowing how much work you put into this, I feel very bad about that. As a small attempt to make up for it, I and my family/friends have made purchases from the Tinker’s Packs and backed the NOTW Kickstarter. (I would have backed the author calendar as well if I had been on Kickstarter then.)

    I asked Heifer to remove me from their mailing/call lists and I have to tell you that I am still receiving catalogs, postcards, etc… I don’t know if they still try to call because I no longer have callerID and I don’t answer numbers I don’t recognize any more.

    Pat, bless you. I love that you give so much of your time and money to help a worthy organization and I really want to participate, but there has to be some way to let them know we don’t want them to waste trees by trying to get money from people who have already donated.

  6. Marcus Cox
    Posted December 6, 2013 at 9:43 AM | Permalink

    Just wanted to take a moment to say that /r/fantasy is one of my favorite online fantasy communities. A lot of great people, quite a few of them authors hang out there and there is always fun stuff going on. http://www.reddit.com/r/fantasy

  7. trufantastic
    Posted December 6, 2013 at 9:42 PM | Permalink

    The “Worldbuilders Website” link is broken, it goes to “http://www.worldbuidlers.org/”. (Typo in builders).

    Incidentally, while I’m in agreement with some other commentators that the mail Heiffer sends can be a bit much (especially given that I know when and what I’ll be donating regardless every year), it isn’t really any worse than any other charities I donate to do, and I certainly wouldn’t expect you to have any sway over that no matter how successful Worldbuilders is. Personally I just figure that sort of solicitation comes with the territory for any charitable donation.

Post a Reply to Amanda Cancel reply

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • RSS info

  • Visit Worldbuilders!

  • Our Store

  • Previous Posts

  • Archives



  • Bookmark this Blog!

    (IE and Firefox users only - Safari users, click Command-D)