Steel_Wind
Legend
Hi fellow ENWorlders. I've a big favor to ask of you. You need to read the below in order to make sense of it, but please take the time to do so. I would also ask for forbearance from the moderators of ENWorld. This is a highly unusual request, but please take the time to read through the post and allow it to live on the general forum for a few days (or weeks) if you can. This isn’t a scam – it’s just exactly what it appears to be.
Here’s the story: On the Paizo forums about one month ago, a guy named Keichiku posted about his new Pathfinder campaign he was running. He explained that he had been running a gaming group in Cuba for about six years. His group had played version 3.5 and 4E and was experimenting now with Pathfinder RPG.
[In a later private e-mail, Edward told me that his group has not had access to Star Wars: SE or Mutants and Masterminds or CoC, but he’s interested in those games too. Anyways...]
Keichiku (whose real name is Edward) also explained in his first campaign log, in a by-the-way manner that the biggest problem for his group was acquiring gaming materials. He was NOT looking for a handout. Yes they can (and have) got hold of pirated .pdfs. Being able to afford to actually print those out is very difficult for them and expensive. Personal computers are rare in Cuba and having people sit around the table with laptops is not going to happen. They have printed out one copy of the 4E Core rules right now. That’s it.
Here’s the big thing: they can't even buy dice. Cost is one factor, but availability is the main factor.There are no polyhedral dice to buy in Cuba for neither love nor money. For over four years, Edward's group used a broken hard drive for their “dice". They took it apart and painted the spinning platter to use as a roulette style spinner to randomize 4/8/12/20 sided results.
When we saw that post, my fellow podcast host, Azmyth and I both decided we were going to do something to help these gamers in Cuba out. Apart from crushing poverty, the economic restrictions and trade sanctions between the USA and Cuba meant that there was no ability to buy ANY gaming stuff in that country at all. These guys in Cuba were literally printing out grids on an old dot matrix printer and gluing that on to cardboard and taping over it for a kludged battlemat. They have seven D&D plastic minis from the 2004 base set to use. Otherwise, they use plastic buttons for monsters/PCs.
Later, it emerged that about 2 years ago, they managed to acquire 2 sets of Chessex dice from a relative abroad and a single booster box of D&D minis. I have attached to this message the sum total of their gaming stuff in one shot.
In response to all this, at the Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast, we started up Gamers Without Borders and solicited donations of gaming stuff and PayPal donations from listeners. The idea was to gather used stuff, battlemats, some polyhedral dice, maybe some books and plastic minis and we would send this to Edward’s group in Cuba in time for Xmas. If we got a few donations - we might buy a core book or, what we were told would be most appreciated, a Chessex Pound ‘o dice. I decided I would sell off a spare copy I have of Pathfinder#1 Burnt Offerings - which goes for about $100-150 on eBay to pay for shipping. That was our plan.
To say that it was successful is a considerable understatement. You would not believe the level of generosity from listeners. One listener from Texas sent a box of new gaming material yesterday that was literally worth over $500.00. There have been several other listeners who have sent $100-200 worth of stuff and several others who have contributed $50-100 worth. PayPal wise, we collected $100.00 so far. To be honest, we weren't pushing the PayPal donations nearly as much as we should have, in retrospect. I've never done something like this before and my best-case scenario was nowhere NEAR as "best case" as it has turned out to be.
As a lack of dice was a critical shortage, we received 4 sets of new Chessex dice from one of the listeners and we ordered in a Chessex Pound 'o Dice at Black Diamond Games which the owner agreed to supply us at his cost.
We have in the meanwhile received a vast number of books. Blow you away numbers both in terms of quantity and quality. We now face the very real problem of how to be able to afford to get this material to Cuba. I live in Canada, so I'm able to send parcels to Cuba. The cost of shipping a 2'x2'x2' 30 lb box to Cuba is $175.00. Right now, we have one box full and another rapidly filling.
If you have any books for 4E or Pathfinder (or Star Wars: SE, CoC or Mutants and Masterminds), Dungeon Tiles. flip-mats or especially, plastic minis of any kind for any system to contribute, we would sincerely be thrilled to receive them. Wet erase pens and dry erase pens would also be appreciated.
We have already received more 3.xx D20 / OGL books than we can afford to send. Please refrain from sending anything like that -- as we are maxxed out on that material, okay?
The address where to ship donations to a mailbox in the USA, or to an address in Canada is in the first post on the Gamers Without Borders thread on the Chronicles: PFPC Forum, located here.
But above all, what we need right now is PayPal donations to help pay for shipping this stuff to Cuba.
The thread is noted above and the PayPal donation link is on the front page here: Justice Radio.Net The Voice Of Gaming - Home
Heart-warmingly, I will post these responses from Edward in his private e-mails to me. He's just a gamer in a country where there are few opportunities, a lot of poverty, and no gaming stuff to buy whatsoever -- all while living in a situation where the pure fun and escape that gaming provides is truly precious.
"Hello friend. You rock. In another plane of existence. More like in another dimension. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
THANK YOU, you rock more than the Rolling Stones."
In another e-mail, Edward wrote:
"Have you seen Futurama? In the episode where Fry becomes billionaire he collapses in the bank when he learns the amount of money he owns. I'm collapsing right now. Just like Fry.
Man, THANKS. Just for giving up some of your time for a bunch of stranger in the other corner of the world. Even if all came out wrong for any reason just now, I'm happy. Just for the human factor.
Edward"
I thank you all for your time and consideration concerning this unusual request.
Here’s the story: On the Paizo forums about one month ago, a guy named Keichiku posted about his new Pathfinder campaign he was running. He explained that he had been running a gaming group in Cuba for about six years. His group had played version 3.5 and 4E and was experimenting now with Pathfinder RPG.
[In a later private e-mail, Edward told me that his group has not had access to Star Wars: SE or Mutants and Masterminds or CoC, but he’s interested in those games too. Anyways...]
Keichiku (whose real name is Edward) also explained in his first campaign log, in a by-the-way manner that the biggest problem for his group was acquiring gaming materials. He was NOT looking for a handout. Yes they can (and have) got hold of pirated .pdfs. Being able to afford to actually print those out is very difficult for them and expensive. Personal computers are rare in Cuba and having people sit around the table with laptops is not going to happen. They have printed out one copy of the 4E Core rules right now. That’s it.
Here’s the big thing: they can't even buy dice. Cost is one factor, but availability is the main factor.There are no polyhedral dice to buy in Cuba for neither love nor money. For over four years, Edward's group used a broken hard drive for their “dice". They took it apart and painted the spinning platter to use as a roulette style spinner to randomize 4/8/12/20 sided results.
When we saw that post, my fellow podcast host, Azmyth and I both decided we were going to do something to help these gamers in Cuba out. Apart from crushing poverty, the economic restrictions and trade sanctions between the USA and Cuba meant that there was no ability to buy ANY gaming stuff in that country at all. These guys in Cuba were literally printing out grids on an old dot matrix printer and gluing that on to cardboard and taping over it for a kludged battlemat. They have seven D&D plastic minis from the 2004 base set to use. Otherwise, they use plastic buttons for monsters/PCs.
Later, it emerged that about 2 years ago, they managed to acquire 2 sets of Chessex dice from a relative abroad and a single booster box of D&D minis. I have attached to this message the sum total of their gaming stuff in one shot.
In response to all this, at the Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast, we started up Gamers Without Borders and solicited donations of gaming stuff and PayPal donations from listeners. The idea was to gather used stuff, battlemats, some polyhedral dice, maybe some books and plastic minis and we would send this to Edward’s group in Cuba in time for Xmas. If we got a few donations - we might buy a core book or, what we were told would be most appreciated, a Chessex Pound ‘o dice. I decided I would sell off a spare copy I have of Pathfinder#1 Burnt Offerings - which goes for about $100-150 on eBay to pay for shipping. That was our plan.
To say that it was successful is a considerable understatement. You would not believe the level of generosity from listeners. One listener from Texas sent a box of new gaming material yesterday that was literally worth over $500.00. There have been several other listeners who have sent $100-200 worth of stuff and several others who have contributed $50-100 worth. PayPal wise, we collected $100.00 so far. To be honest, we weren't pushing the PayPal donations nearly as much as we should have, in retrospect. I've never done something like this before and my best-case scenario was nowhere NEAR as "best case" as it has turned out to be.
As a lack of dice was a critical shortage, we received 4 sets of new Chessex dice from one of the listeners and we ordered in a Chessex Pound 'o Dice at Black Diamond Games which the owner agreed to supply us at his cost.
We have in the meanwhile received a vast number of books. Blow you away numbers both in terms of quantity and quality. We now face the very real problem of how to be able to afford to get this material to Cuba. I live in Canada, so I'm able to send parcels to Cuba. The cost of shipping a 2'x2'x2' 30 lb box to Cuba is $175.00. Right now, we have one box full and another rapidly filling.
If you have any books for 4E or Pathfinder (or Star Wars: SE, CoC or Mutants and Masterminds), Dungeon Tiles. flip-mats or especially, plastic minis of any kind for any system to contribute, we would sincerely be thrilled to receive them. Wet erase pens and dry erase pens would also be appreciated.
We have already received more 3.xx D20 / OGL books than we can afford to send. Please refrain from sending anything like that -- as we are maxxed out on that material, okay?
The address where to ship donations to a mailbox in the USA, or to an address in Canada is in the first post on the Gamers Without Borders thread on the Chronicles: PFPC Forum, located here.
But above all, what we need right now is PayPal donations to help pay for shipping this stuff to Cuba.
The thread is noted above and the PayPal donation link is on the front page here: Justice Radio.Net The Voice Of Gaming - Home
Heart-warmingly, I will post these responses from Edward in his private e-mails to me. He's just a gamer in a country where there are few opportunities, a lot of poverty, and no gaming stuff to buy whatsoever -- all while living in a situation where the pure fun and escape that gaming provides is truly precious.
"Hello friend. You rock. In another plane of existence. More like in another dimension. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
THANK YOU, you rock more than the Rolling Stones."
In another e-mail, Edward wrote:
"Have you seen Futurama? In the episode where Fry becomes billionaire he collapses in the bank when he learns the amount of money he owns. I'm collapsing right now. Just like Fry.
Man, THANKS. Just for giving up some of your time for a bunch of stranger in the other corner of the world. Even if all came out wrong for any reason just now, I'm happy. Just for the human factor.
Edward"
I thank you all for your time and consideration concerning this unusual request.
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