Like so many of us, my site's community has a large contingent of military personnel (including many who are stationed overseas). One of my members brought the following article to my attention:

 

 

 

 

In summary, fantasy and role-playing fans stationed overseas are looking to host the first ever Gaming Convention to be held in a war zone. This is not strictly an American operation, and is open to all allied forces in the area. They, however, are quite hard up for the funds and materials needed. These things are not available in Iraq, and they are quite difficult for them to obtain.

 

My community has decided to fund raise and attempt to get what we can to help this endeavor. In addition to asking for donations from book and gaming stores, as well as obtaining financial donations from our own members, we would like to offer an invitation to any other friends who might like to help.

 

Our Philanthropy Director has already contacted the group (he is in the Navy himself, and is able to use official channels to communicate fairly quickly), and they have responded with a wish list. They are in need of:

- Dice. They need dice in a big way. 4, 6, 10, and 20 side die all needed.

- Role-playing books, campaigns, etc.

- PRIZES! With the understanding that these prizes cannot be weapons (no swords, etc.), alcohol, or anything prohibited in that country (exceptionally racy comic books might be an issue.... or pork. >> ). Books would be wonderful.

- Funds

 

 

Their gaming schedule is as follows:

 

Sunday - 1200-1600

1. GURPS

2. Shadowrun

3. XCrawl

4. Magic Tournament

5. Rifts

6. Babylon 5 RPG

7. Munchkin Card Game Demo

8. Wheel Of Time RPG

 

Sunday - 1600-1700

1. Wind up games, prepare for next session.

2. Drawings for FREE STUFF

 

Sunday - 1700-1830

1. Dinner - To Conform To DFAC Hours

 

Sunday - 1830-Finish

1. White Wolf System-Vampire

2. White Wolf System-Werewolf

3. Starship Troopers

4. MechWarrior Miniatures Demo

5. Cyberpunk 2020

6. Historic Miniatures Battles

7. CyberPunk

 

Obviously, we see that they do have a Wheel of Time game planned, which is fabulous! But we're looking to give them as much overall support we can, in addition to helping support WoT fandom.

 

From a personal standpoint....

My brother has been over there 3 times. He goes again in September. My brother in law is about to go on his third tour of duty and leaves in early June. He is a WoT fan and dungeon master. Words cannot express how excited he is to possibly be able to attend this. My best friend leaves in July. Even my "Warder" from my site is active military. I have 7 members currently in Iraq, more scheduled to leave, from several countries. Normalcy is so desperately important to these wonderful men and women. We definitely have fans in the military. I think this is especially true of the Wheel of Time series....

 

I completely understand if this is something that does not interest you, or if it is something you cannot accommodate at this time. But I did want to reach out and see if anyone might be interested. We would like to make a difference in the lives of some very important people. "Many hands make light work."

 

Even if you might consider placing an announcement on your page? This could help direct interested parties. Consider engaging your community in a fundraising effort? Wonderful. Are you able to donate prizes or supplies? This is what they seem to be most in need of.

 

Our point person can be found at philanthropy@tarvalon.net. If people are looking to make monetary donations, we have a paypal account in that name. 100% of anything donated will go towards the Con. If you are interested in sending actual goods (such as prizes, books, dice, etc.), let me know and I will send you the address of our point person. You do have the option of sending it directly to the address indicated in the article. If we go through one person, we can not only more clearly inventory, but he can also send it more directly through military mail (customs is a lot easier through this method). However, even through that method, there can be up to 3 or 4 weeks of delay before delivery. He will be doing a mailing to them in 2 weeks, so time is quite short, but I think we can definitely help in that time.

 

We do plan on contacting both specialized and major news sources about the Con and about efforts to support it. There is no guarantee the story would be picked up, but we do plan on issuing press releases, and will include the name of any companies and sites who decide to contribute.

 

Thanks for reading. J I appreciate your friendship and the business relationships we have had and continue to have. If this interests you, please do let me know at Amyrlin@tarvalon.net (cc philanthropy@tarvalon.net ). And if it isn't your cup of tea, I still appreciate you reading it, and look forward to the next endeavor we work on together.

 

All my best and well wishes for you and yours,

 

Melissa Craib

TarValon.Net