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.
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…
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