Ziggaurat Con: Supporting our Troops in a Whole New Way

We've been talking about geeky games a lot the last few days, and I've spent a lot of time reconnecting with my inner gamer (and introducing him to my wife, now that she can't really run away screaming from me. Ha! Sweet.)

I had a great time at my Friendly Local Game Shop, and I've really enjoyed reading reviews and forums at BoardGameGeek, but more than anything else, it's been wonderful to participate in this huge, global community of gamers who are all so excited to share their favorites with each other and welcome new gamers into the fold. (If you're an RSS reader, you really owe it to yourself to come on over and read the comments in these posts; the geekiness is real, and spectacular.)

So it is with that global community of gamers in mind that I share the following, which I picked up at John Kovalic's Live Journal:

Supporting Our Troops in a Whole New Way

When President Bush ordered troops to Iraq, he probably never imagined that he would be ultimately be responsible for what very well could be the very first D&D convention/game day ever held in a war zone. Ziggurat Con, being held June 9 from 1200 to 2100 hours at Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase, is open to all allied military personnel and civilian contractors in Iraq.

KBR and MWR (the army’s Morale Welfare & Recreation Department) have graciously allowed service members to use part of the Community Activity Center to hold the Game Day. The Ping Pong room will be set up for RPGs (Role-Playing Games, not to be confused with the rocket propelled grenades which share the same acronym), and the DVD Movie room will be playing Anime Movies all day in support of the event.

The con will  be called Ziggurat Con, and is scheduled to happen on June 9 at Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase in Iraq, and organizing it is as big a challenge as you'd think:

The largest problem with running a Con in Iraq, of course, is that there are no local stores or game publishers, and few game books on the post. Even dice are in short supply, with many soldiers breaking the unwritten taboo held by many gamers and (gasp!) sharing dice. Thankfully, many game publishers have also lent their support, and have agreed to supply game products to help the Con along. aethereal FORGE, Sovereign Press, Final Redoubt Press, Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Steve Jackson Games are among those that have thrown in their support for the convention. But Amberson indicated that the soldiers could definitely use more.

"This convention is currently in drastic need of prizes and giveaways for the troops," he said. "Everything donated will go directly to the troops, or to MWR to use as loaner books for the soldiers."

For more information, contact SPC David Amberson at the following address: david.amberson (at) iraq.centcom.mil

Donations can also be sent to SPC Amberson directly at the following address:

SPC David Amberson
A Co 86th Sig Bn
APO, AE 09331

I think it's going to be fantastic for these soldiers to have at least
one day where RPG doesn't mean rocket propelled grenade. Since many of
them have just had their tours extended (again) if you can do anything
at all to help make this con better and more memorable, do it, mmmkay?

I'm going to send some books and things to be given away as prizes, but you can help, too: do you know someone in the games industry who could send some games and stuff over there? Do you have that box of sourcebooks that you're really not going to use again? How about a second copy of a game that you've been meaning to take back to the store? Do you own a business that could provide some sort of prize? There's a ton of ways that we gamers can support these members of our gaming community who have a hell of a lot more on the line than we do when they have to make a saving throw.