I just got forwarded some interesting info from the Eugene chapter of Browncoats.
To be held at Camp Adler/Kalil Airbase near the Ziggurat of UR.
That's their subtitle, not mine. Its a gamer convention put on in Iraq by the US soldiers! Since there aren't any FLGS's or anything up there they are asking for private donations to the event from gamer-patriots.
From the Ziggurat con staff/creators:
"We're pretty much looking for anything gaming related.
Source books for AD&D, Shadowrun, Gurps,Nrifts, Xcrawl, Magic
theGathering cards(9th edition sealed deck and boosters), miniatures, dice, dice bags, play mats(for the miniatures), mechanical pencils.
Anything vaguely gamer related.
The only thing you shouldn't send would be anything with pictures of topless or nude women."
It takes 8 to 11 days to get a package to Iraq so in order for things
to get there in time for the con; they need to be in the mail by May
26th. All involved (including me as I write the post) recognize the
time constraints on this. We implore you, DO NOT LET THE TIME FRAME DAUNT YOU. Stuff sent after the con will still be used, as the gathering will surly encourage new gamers.
You'll be boosting the morale of your fellow geek.
The ultimate goal of the Con is to give every coalition service
member, and civilian contractor in attendance at least one item to
take home and keep.
Another great idea, they need some art! Very few things are
grimer than a military tent/hut.
They're also really happy to get snacks, DVDs and videos
Snacks have to be able to survive 120 degree heat
Mentioned specifically are:
Jerky
Caramel popcorn
Nuts
Drink Mix
Twizzlers
Ramen Noodles
Cup of anything nukeable"
Donations can also be sent to SPC Amberson directly at the following address:
SPC David Amberson
A Co 86th Sig Bn
APO, AE 09331
A Co 86th Sig Bn
APO, AE 09331
As soon as I got this I knew I had to donate some books I never get to play of games that are totally playable. For some reason the American Military produces the largest group of gamer jocks than any other profession. Unfortunately I'm just finding out about this on May 24th, and to get stuff in the mail by May 26th we have to quick-step into action (though you can send stuff after, I do want my stuff to be at the convention). Fortunately I'm a DM so I have two things in my favor to enable short-notice sending; 1) I buy loads of campaign guides and rpg books that I never get to play and 2) All my books are in immaculate condition (ever notice how player's books are always worn down and soda-stained yet DM's books are always mint condition?).
So Mary and I are sending the following to Ziggurat Con (plus snacks and pencils not pictured):
That's right, that's the Star Wars rpg campaign guide in the upper left. Fantastic book and great game, and it'll be better served with the soldier-gamers (warrior-poets?) in Iraq than it will be sitting next to the Autolycus mint-in-box action figure on my bookshelf. Along with that they're getting all my Star Wars minis with stat cards, the Star Wars Revenge of the Sith miniatures starter set (with two d20s), the two Lord of the Rings Dwarves of Khazad-Dum supplements, the super-excellent Goodman's Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics (I highly recommend all of Goodman's Games 3rd party stuff), and the Horizon Virtual rpg campaign book (kind of a matrix-y d20 rpg).
I got rid of a lot of my rpg books on ebay before I moved to Oregon, so only have my favorite books left to choose between to send. Also that's all that will fit in the biggest fed-ex box with some side room for snacks. Oh yeah, the post office back in late 2003-2004 whereabouts decided that flat-rate Fed-Ex boxes can be sent to APOs at the normal "within USA" rate, so it only costs $9.00 to send the biggest one of the flat rate boxes to Iraq! You may not know about this if you haven't sent anything to Iraq since Brando got back, as they started doing that after he was deployed, but its ultra-cheap to do it now. So to all you readers of Scantabulous, it will only cost you between $4-$9 to send food, games, or whatever for this very worthy gamer convention.
They're doing their part! Let's do ours and tell 'em thanks!
UPDATE: Mary just brought home two bags of turkey jerky, honey roasted peanuts, honey roasted cashews, a bag of 10 mechanical pencils, and a big bag of red nibs to throw in there. Score for gamer snacks!
