It’s my birthday, and I’ll raise money for charity if I want to!

Quick Links:

Stream: http://twitch.tv/thewizardllewyn
Subscribe to stream: http://twitch.tv/thewizardllewyn/subscribe
Donate to Mary’s Meals: https://www.marysmealsusa.org/en/fundraising/project/nick-ruffilo/game-for-good
Donate to Convoy of Hope: https://fundraise.convoyofhope.org/fundraiser/1092169

The Rest:

I’ve avoided my birthday for the past 20 years or so.  I’ve always felt like it was more of an achievement for my Mother than me.  Heck, all I had to do was show up!  I also have an odd aversion to attention when I don’t feel it’s earned.  But – I’ve finally found a good purpose and reason to celebrate my birthday – use it as a time to raise money for charity and give to those who need!

I’ll be doing that in the best way I know possible – by playing games with friends and creating quality content for people to enjoy.  On Saturday September 16th starting at 10am EST I’ll be hosting a 10+ hour gaming event to raise money for Mary’s Meals and Convoy of Hope.  All events will be streamed from my twitch channel although participants are welcome to stream the event as well, as long as they provide links to the charity pages in their chat.

UPDATE: I’ve added a new donation incentive.  If we reach $1000 or more in donations, I will read “The Little Prince” live on stream as a bedtime story.  If the donation goal is met before 8pm EST, I will have Dexter join me in reading it.

What’s in this post:

  1. Want to donate without paying any money?  If you have Amazon Prime, you can donate for free (details outlined)
  2. What incentives are you offering for those who donate?
  3. What games will you be playing at what time?
  4. I want to join – can I?
  5. I want to donate now – where can I?

Want to donate without paying money?  Have Amazon Prime?

I have recently become a twitch affiliate – which means people can “subscribe” to my channel.  If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can subscribe to one channel for FREE every month.  All subscriptions to my channel will be donated directly to the charity.  If you don’t have a twitch account, you can create one free.  If you want to link your twitch account to your amazon prime, you can follow these instructions.  Then, subscribe to my channel: http://twitch.tv/thewizardllewyn/subscribe and choose “prime” as your payment option.  This will not auto-renew, so if you wish to have this be a monthly donation, you would need to subscribe every month.

What incentives are you offering for those who donate?

When donating, in your donation message, you can specify what incentive you would like to donate towards.  There will be different incentives for different events, and they will be listed in the schedule below on the page.  Donation incentives start at $5 (small) $25 (medium) and large ($50+).

What games will you be playing and when?

Because this is the first major event like this I’m holding, and the schedules of players, most events will be Minecraft-related, although to keep things fresh, there will be lots of variety in the types of events.

10am EST – Noon: Ender Dragon Speedrun

Working with a group of people to defeat the Ender Dragon in as little time as possible.

Donation Incentives:

  1. $5 – Give a player 16 arrows, 1 ender pearl, or 16 baked potatoes; OR force a player to eat a spider eye or zombie flesh
  2. $25 – Give a player a stack of arrows, stack of food (your choice) or 10 ender pearls; OR force a player to survive the next night without armor.
  3. $50 – Give a player a stack of arrows, stack of food (your choice) AND 16 ender pearls; OR force a player to destroy everything in their hotbar.

Noon – 12:30pm: Lunch break and chat

Food is important.  Grab some food and lets try this “social eating” content thing.  No donation incentives during this time…

12:30PM – 1:30PM: building an arena

In preparations for the next event, players will be asked to BUILD a fighting arena.  The players will have 1 hour, in creative mode, to create an arena with mazes, buildings, and obstacles to create a thrilling fighting experience.

Donation Incentives:

  1. $5+ – Naming Rights: You can claim any building, maze, or structure and have it named (keep it PG).  While announcing the event, the announcer will use that name.

1:30pm – 3:30pm: All out brawl

Using the arena built in the last hour, players will duke it out an several different forms of melee.  Fighting with pumpkins on their heads, bows only, fish only, with and without armor, teams and free for all, there will be tons of challenges.

Donation Incentives

  1. $5 – Give a specific player a handicap or boost in the next fight.
  2. $25 – You pick the next battle conditions.
  3. $50 – TNT Launch or God Mode – pick a player and they will be forced to stand on lit TNT, or will be given a set of diamond armor for the next fight.

3:30 – 4pm: Break time

Stretch, potty, just general chatting and relaxing.  No donation incentives.

4pm – 4:30 pm: Creative Building contest #1

To get warmed up – builders will be given 20 minutes to build in a 16×16 area.  The theme will be auctioned off to the highest donor.  Winner will get a statue of them in WhoCraft.

Donation Incentives: From 4-4:10pm, whomever donates $5 or more will be able to add to theme (either a required block, or concept) and the final theme will be determined by the highest donor.

4:30 – 6pm: Creative Building Contest #2

Once warmed up, players will be on to the real challenge – a solid 1 hour for building.  Each player will have a 32×32 plot and 1 hour to fill it with a wonderful build.  The theme and blocks will be determined by donors.

Donation Incentives:

  1. $5 – Require a specific player to use a certain block (before building starts)
  2. $25 – Require a specific player to use a certain block (after building starts)
  3. $50 – Apply a constraint to all players, or require an addition to the theme (only before building starts for second one)

6pm – 6:30pm: dinner

I’m having Chinese, what about you?

6:30PM – 8PM: To be determined

This was originally going to be Worms, but the slot will now remain open and determined as the time approaches.

8pm – 9pm: Break

Stretch break, put my son to bed, and will either host someone else, or use skype to let someone control the channel.  Not sure, but we’ll see.  If the donation goal of $1000 is met by this time, I will read “The Little Prince” with my son Dexter.

9pm – 10pm: Keep talking and nobody explodes

Can we diffuse the bombs?  Possibly, but we’ll see what wrenches get thrown.  Depending on the number of participants, we will go round-robin style with players playing different roles.

Donation Incentives

  1. $5 – Forced Error – the reader must give a misleading or false clue to the bomb diffuser.
  2. $25 – Box of Sillies – suggest a voice or character for which the reader must pretend to be/talk in.
  3. $50 – Both #1 and #2.

10PM – End: Cards against humanity

Wait, I thought you were a PG streamer?  Well, I am, but I’ll make an exception to raise money for charity.  I will stream, live on air, me playing Cards Against Humanity – one of the most offensive card games ever – if we receive $1000 or more in donations by this point.  If not, the stream/event will end in a flurry of thanks.

 

I want to join – how can I?

If you want to participate in any or all events, please email me at llewyn@thewizardllewyn.com.  Let me know what event and what timeslot you would like to participate in.

I want to donate now, how can I?

I have decided to split support to two charities during this drive.  You can donate to either charity.  This allows you to choose what you’d like to support.  The first is Mary’s Meals, a charity that I’ve supported for the past few years and does amazing work providing food for those who need while helping to bolster the local communities to support themselves.  The other is Convoy of Hope, which provides meals and services to disaster areas, such as Hurricane Harvey.

Donate to Mary’s Meals

Donate to Convoy of Hope