I’m doing a thing: D&DF16

In case you’ve missed the subtle hints, I’m a bit of a geek.

Sci-Fi? Love it. I will not share how many times I’ve watched Star Trek episodes movies seasons everything. I’ve had to have spent a quarter of my life watching/re-watching Star Wars.

Fantasy? Working on a sleeve for my favorite series, Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen. (Haven’t heard of it? Stop everything you are doing right now to go look it up.)

Comics? Ask the three long boxes I’ve got stashed for a rainy day.

Video games? I got some Platinum, if you’re interested.

D&D? Pshhhhh. Okay, well, technically, I’ve mostly played some good ole fashioned World of Darkness (White Wolf was started in my home state), but you’d better believe I can roll some D20’s.

So when I heard that Nerdforce was doing a little something called D&DF16, I immediately starting buttering up John and Nana to let me play. And by that I mean I asked if I could play, cited my experience, and NOW I AM PLAYING D&D WITH AMBER BOAZ, BRIAN KWONG, JOHN GRAF, AND MARK ROSS!!

Let me introduce you to Trailblazer, a dwarf Ranger (from the Midwest), via this quick and not-very-detailed sketch of said character and her trusty mountain goat friend! (Disclaimer: due to D&D build rules, she is not actually a Beast Master archetype, but it goes with the whole aesthetic.)

Maybe I have should started with this…if you are unfamiliar, John and Nana are the two rockstars that run the Nerdforce blog and podcast, and they put together a few wicked awesome fundraisers for this year’s Dreamforce.

All of these activities and fun are supporting Extra Life, part of the Children’s Miracle Network.

First is the Dreamcrate, a bounty of Salesforce and geek swag worthy of Mordor! You can bid on it NOW. Be warned, there is a TON OF STUFF, so it might make you encumbered. Pro tip: pool money with friends, win the crate, split the loot.

Next is our D&DF16 campaign. We’ll be streaming live on Twitch on Tuesday nights, and you’ll also be able to watch recordings. What’s more – you can donate to the cause! When you donate to Extra Life, you can mention one of our characters, assigning them points that can be used to help in a pinch. But there’s more info about that here.

All of this *amazing* culminates on Thursday, October 6th at the PREMIERE NerdforceCon, sponsored graciously by Apttus. We’ll be playing games and geeking out in the best way possible at everyone’s favorite time of year. All of these activities and fun are supporting Extra Life, part of the Children’s Miracle Network; it’s geek with a feel-good twist, and I am all about it.

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Here’s the thing. It is hard to find a job that you love. And it’s impossible even harder to love your job every single day. The benefit of being part of this community is that, even when you’re not head-over-heels for your job, you have backup. You have people who totally get it; they will nod sympathetically when you tearfully explain that you have told users about the help text hundreds of time, why are you still getting emails asking what information they should put in the Name field??

They also do things like this. My friends at Nerdforce are just one example of this community coming up with ways to give back. It just so happens that this is sort of my thing, you know?

I am so proud to be part of this experience, to be part of this community. I love knowing that I can spend time volunteering at Dreamforce, that I’m surrounded with people who just want to do good, who want to leave the world a little better than they found it. I don’t know anyone else – outside of my old coworkers at Goodwill and friends at nonprofits – who gets to be part of something like this…and get paid to do it!

So if no one else has said it yet, THANK YOU John and Nana for putting this show together, for doing something truly epic in celebration of your first year on air, and for being the lovely people that you are. I am honored and humbled to know you both and be part of this with you.

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Woah; that got heavy.

So here’s a link to a song that sums up, well, so many things. It has some NSFW language. #noregrets