TJSMCftC 2o23: ETHERMEET MEMORIAL TOKENS ARE ON THE WAY!

Posted on by caddy1071 in 2023, ACS, American Cancer Society, Crawl for the Cure, Ethermeet, Memorial, Prize, token

Hello all!  Greetings from the Crawl staff and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  We have finally gotten everything together and The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure 2023: Ethermeet Memorial Tokens are in the mail!  Back in December, we raised $3,291 for the American Cancer Society with your help, and this is a beautiful token of our appreciation, magnificently adorned with Doug Kovacs Xcrawl Classics artwork to add to your luck pool! Thank you for your support for this incredible cause!

The tokens were sent out late yesterday, and I apologize for the poor timing with Gary Con, but time was running short and we wanted to get these into your hands!  Expect to see them in the next few days!

We will be kicking off our planning for the next Gamehole Con mega-funnel in the near future, and we are stoked to bring it to you!  You can look forward to updates as we get the plans in place – we are stoked to bring you the next quest for Good!

Additionally, please check out Purple Pirate Games’ latest Kickstarter, the 3rd level MCC adventure Installation 665 by Julian Bernick of Goodman Games and Spellburn notoriety. Julian is a very welcome presence at our Crawl for the Cure events giving his brand of frantic and hardcore adventure to our players and viewers! On top of that, the adventure contains additional contributions from other veteran authors Stephen Newton and Daniel Bishop, and a droolful mass of artwork is brought to you in this chunky tome! Check out the link and be drawn in by the secrets of Terra AD, you will not be disappointed! 

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/purplepirategames/installation-665

Additionally, please consider supporting our other incredible sponsors of our events from our website. All of the awesome content everyone receives from their donations is fully provided by these stand-up, magnificent creators! Something else you will not regret. 

https://oursponsors-em.crawlforthecure.net/

Have an incredible St. Patrick’s Day, and thank you all again for your support of The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure, we are looking forward to the great Good we spread in the future! I hope to see folks at Gary Con, and hope to roll some dice with you!

Thanks!
Cory Welch and Staff
The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, MY FRIEND! REMEMBERING AARON KOELMAN…

Posted on by caddy1071 in Aaron Koelman, Hero, Memorial, Smite Cancer

We have lost a great warrior from our clan on Thanksgiving, November 24th, 2023. The mighty Aaron Koelman has passed from our world after an incredible and unrelenting battle with pancreatic cancer. His physical form has passed, but his spirit, kindness and legacy will always live on in our hearts. Aaron took on his battle with faith, courage and uncommon wisdom, always planning ahead for what we hoped would not pass, but fighting always for his continued life with the family he dearly loved. Thank you, Aaron, for all the gifts you gave us in this world.

I first met Aaron at Gary Con, when I was running Call of Cthulhu regularly, way back when (when I had more time to give it the proper love!), in my version of Blackwater Creek. Aaron looked the imposing hero legend: a shocking mane of long red hair and a matching mighty beard, a bulk of massive muscle, kilted and ready for battle! That image had never changed for me, mentally, whatever challenges had set upon him. I was honored to have had Aaron play with me in a Call of Cthulhu online recording (sadly, yet to be released because of technical issues I need to nail down), be a part of our award-winning XCrawl Classics tournament team, The Punxsutawney Painiacs, and he has been a stalwart supporter of The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure! I was proud to hear from Aaron that he loved playing the Crawl and he was inspired by its success! Aaron always wanted to help others and we are honored to have helped enable that.

Aaron played at the Crawl for the Cure: Gamehole Con, Take Back Tegel Manor! this year. He played the entire day supporting the event, even though you could tell he was tired and could use some rest. I was able to sit a few minutes during the run, put a hand on his back, and thank him for being there, and I treasure that. This is who Aaron was: he took on hard challenges for the greater good, he was a true hero in our lifetime with all the class and courage we all strive to possess.

I did not want to put Aaron on the spot with everything going on, but I think in his memory, it is imperative that everybody truly understand the person that Aaron was. For The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure: Gamehole Con 2023, Take Back Tegel Manor!, we had an angel donor providing us $2,000 to the American Cancer Society for the Good of those suffering from cancer. I don’t think it is much of a surprise that it was Aaron, giving back in solidarity with the community he loved to help those suffering from what he courageously endured. I pray that his spirit and will are also an inspiration for others who are afflicted: you can get passed this. Aaron fought and fought – this was a long ordeal which he made the most of and won more years with his family because of his conviction and positive thoughts; I know that others can emulate this true hero and other battles will be won. God Bless you, Aaron Koelman. Thank you for everything you have done for our community and in our lives to make this world a better place. Until we meet again… Love ya, Brother.

Cory

TAKE BACK TEGEL MANOR! HAS PASSED, THE VILLAGERS HAVE RISEN TO PUSH BACK THE TIDE OF EVIL, AND THE MANOR HAS BEEN RUMP FAMILY MENACE HAS BEEN QUELLED…FOR NOW!

Posted on by caddy1071 in 2023, ACS, American Cancer Society, Crawl for the Cure, donations, Gamehole Con, impact, Memorial, Results, Steve Strecker, Tegel Manor, Thank You

On Saturday, October 21st, 2023 at Gamehole Con X in Madison, WI, players came out in force to combat the plague of Rump family which imposed their evil machinations upon them at the Take Back Tegel Manor! event! Our 18 seats were filled most of the day (and sometimes with a line!) with players with a sense of adventure and giving, as we raised an amazing $5,000 in donations for the American Cancer Society! Our total impact from these events over the past 4 years is over $16,000!

A special thanks to everybody who made this possible: Our incredible sponsors (The Holidays are coming, everybody – please consider them!), our incredible Judge and support staff, and ALL the players and their generous donations pushing their Mighty Deeds to this level of Good for those in need! We are staggered by this success, and we will do our best to continue providing top-notch, fun and extraordinary events! Thank you!

The game was played as a full-octane, high-level haunted house with 0-level funnel characters… With a twist! Characters in the twilight, necrotic pocket dimension summoned by the Rumps for their evil plans could contact the souls of formerly defeated enemies, allowing them to come back as avatars of higher levels to fight the terrible family! However, the peons would have to discover these spirits by searching the Manor in their fragile, peasant forms, with much adventure and drama to be had! A wonderful time donating for survival and story led us to an incredible amount that we raised for the ACS!

WITNESS the Treasure Room and the Mighty Monster Donation by a single donor, which is worthy of the giant’s trophy, the Halbard of Broll from the Great Hall of Tegel Manor! The donor contributed $2,000 to the cause to help others! We are honored to accept this for others in need! Thank you!

We have received so many compliments about how much fun our players had, we cannot wait to get back next year with our next adventure! Our sponsors were so generous in their giving to our donating players, I cannot say enough: your donations will get you some pretty sweet loot as you play! Please mark a block to drop in – your deeds do not go unrewarded! Please take look at the INCREDIBLE prize line-up we gave to our players for this event! Thank you, sponsors, for your generosity!

Thank you, all, for your support and enthusiasm for The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure events! We are honored to bring these to you in the memory of Jerry, and other friends and family members of the community who have gone on to their next adventure over the span of the years. A special farewell to Steve Strecker, good friend and gaming buddy of Michael Spredemann of 2 Old Guy Games. We lost Steve this year, and the pictured 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft module, Neither Man Nor Beast was contributed from his collection to the event, to help those in need, in his memory. This community is incredible and we are proud to be able to enable your generosity for the aid of those less fortunate! Thank you, for all of your support!

Please look for us online the second weekend of December (the 9th), for Ethermeet 2023! We’ll have the same level of awesome gameplay you expect and we’ll get our sponsor list out in the near future so you know what to expect for your contributed treasure! It’s just around the corner and we look forward to seeing you there!

IN MEMORIAM: STEVE STRECKER

Posted on by caddy1071 in 2023, Crawl for the Cure, Gamehole Con, Memorial, Steve Strecker, Thank You

Michael Spredemann, half of the illustrious 2 Old Guy Games and faithful supporter of The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure, would like to say a few words about his good friend Steve Strecker, who tragically passed away recently. Thank you, Steve, for being the type of person who would give such a fine item up for a raffle for the Good of those affected by cancer! Without further delay, Michael’s words – Thank you!:

Steve Strecker: Dungeon Master, Overcautious Thief, Cleric of Mohag, and Wielder of the Hammer of Minimal Damage

Steve worked for TSR as an accountant back in the day and he shared many stories of those times with his fellow players. A shrink-wrap copy of the Ravenloft adventure Neither Man Nor Beast was donated from his personal collection in his memory for The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure at Gamehole 2023.

He is remembered by his players in college as having a great intelligence and humor about the game. With a sly smile, he presented new challenges and obstacles but often showed mercy as the table’s very benevolent deity not wanting to take them and their character completely out of the game.

After a many-year break, he rolled his dice again with D&D 5e becoming Arjen Callas the Half-Elven Rogue and Mohag the Dwarf Cleric in over several years of adventures. Sadly his group was unable to finish Curse of Strahd with him when COVID cut their game short. He would have relished cutting off Strahd’s head like he did with every monster all because of that one zombie that got back up.

Arjen Callas