THE JERRY STEFEK MEMORIAL CRAWL FOR THE CURE: GAMEHOLE CON – DARK TOWER – SET HAS BEEN DEFEATED!

Posted on by caddy1071 in 2024, ACS, American Cancer Society, Crawl for the Cure, Hero, impact, Jennell Jaquays, Memorial, Smite Cancer, token

Hello all!  A brave cadre of crawl heroes played throughout the day on October 19th, 2024 to pit their heroic neophytes against the vastly superior forces of the dark god Set, and emerged victorious through their pluck and donations to the noble cause!  Through their donations in game and in raffles (of awesome arts – plushie and drawn!), we have a current total of $4,040 to give to the American Cancer Society! That is a full $1,000 more than last year’s totals minus our $2,000 angel donation; that is incredible! Additionally, That puts our Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure’s 5 years of charity events over our $20K mark, to a total of $23,452.95! Thank you to all who contributed so generously to the cause!

71 players (and some first-timers through our Golden Ticket trial characters!) ran through the DCC OAR release of Dark Tower with their 0-level crawlers, taking on this high-level adventure with their cleverness and moxy, uncovering Mitra’s Lions avatars to battle for the cause, while using the power of their donations to move the story and skirmishes forward!  The players were able to recover the pieces of the sacred Lion of Mitra statue and defeat the malevolent lich Pnessutt and his Sons of Set minions to cleanse the defiled Dark and White Towers of Set’s overreaching evil!

This force of heroes has enabled the American Cancer Society to perform their vital research and education, helping to prevent the disease and aid those afflicted in their time of need. THANK YOU, heroes, for giving your treasure to make this possible!

We do have a few things to wrap up for the event, so please read over the following:

  • We are wrapping up on items being awarded – thank you sponsors providing your awesome works! Check out the tournament prizes awarded!
  • We do have an issue with the Jennell Jaquays/Thanatar original artwork that we raffled off; the winner never collected it! We want to get this into the winner’s hands, however they did not leave any contact information on the raffle ticket. If you did participate in the Thanatar raffle and still have your tickets, the winner number was: Green Ticket 326202
    If you are the winner and can send us a picture of the ticket, we’d love to get this awarded to you. Please contact us at jerryscrawlforthecure@gmail.com. Thank you!
  • Finally, we need to emphasize our policy on sending physical rewards post-convention. We posted it this year, but it wasn’t as visible as we would have wanted, so we’ll reiterate it here for future events, as well as display it prominently:
    • We cannot send out physical rewards after the convention, shipping is costly these days, and we cannot continue the process.
    • You can pick up your physical rewards: 1) During the event throughout the day, 2) At the end of the event – we wrap up at 8 PM, 3) In the Atrium on Sunday from 12:00 PM until 2:30 PM.
    • For this round, we’re going to send the items to donors; we’ll have them pay us for shipping if they’d like to still receive them, however, we will foot the shipping cost for this year and add the collected total to this year’s donations giving an extra boost for the American Cancer Society.
    • In the future, uncollected physical items will be reserved for the next year’s event.
    • Please note this policy for future events. We want to get you your rewards for your generous donations, but the post-Con mailing is too much of a burden in time and treasure! Thank you for your continued consideration in this matter!

Finally, we wanted to thank the incredible people involved with making Crawl for the Cure Gamehole: Dark Tower possible:

  • Our incredible Sponsors!  The amount of generosity our sponsors give us to award you for your donations is staggering.  Please visit our sponsors list, review their incredible products and consider purchasing their wonderful works for your holiday and birthday shopping!  Thank you, sponsors for providing so much to encourage our donors to give! 
  • Our incredible Judges:
    • Julian Bernick
    • Gary Cunningham
    • Jason Hobbs
    • Brian Martin
    • Jim Meyers
    • Edwin Nagy
    • Keith Nelson
    • Bjorn Nelson
    • Christophor Rick
    • Paul Smith
  • Jim Meyers – “the builder” – Thank you Jim for your incredible works making the Crawl for the Cure even better!  Jim provided the awesome Judge stands to keep us organized, the Lions Statue of Mitra prop for the event, and if you rang the Gong of Doom in celebration of your character’s demise, was also from the hands of Jim Meyers! Thank you for making things awesome, Jim!
  • Peter Garancis – Peter created the beautiful Pillar of Strength, to visually display and celebrate those loved ones lost to cancer and the strength of those who have survived!  Thank you, Peter, for this wonderful reminder of the effect of cancer in our lives!
  • Bill Walters – for contributing awesome stuff from your collection for donor benefit every year AND being the main support gopher at the Crawl!
  • Keith Nelson – for the concept of the Lion Statue of Mitra, which helped cement a lot to of the mechanics together!
  • Bjorn Nelson – for taking an 8-hour day (probably more!) of Judging Dark Tower, ON HIS BIRTHDAY, taking up HIS ENTIRE SATURDAY of Gamehole Con!  Thank you SO much for your dedication, Bjorn!
  • Bridget Traut – for creating awesome plushies to raffle for the Crawl! And, she has pledged for more next year! Thank you, Bridget! 
  • Nate Marcel – Nate put together the awesome artworks of Thanator/Jennell Jaquays and Akaerrian Keenblade with a few weeks notice! THANK YOU for your incredible efforts to get them to us in time for the event – we appreciate it and the beauty contributed, Nate!
  • Thank you, Ray Teresi, for helping us with the Crawl Operations!
  • Finally, the Crawl for the Cure would not exist if it were not for Steve Seminerio and my wonderful wife Hazel Welch, spending many hours under me as task master! THANK YOU – it was a very crazy preparation time for Dark Tower this year, and the Crawl for the Cure would never have made it (nor would it any other year!) without their above and beyond, dedicated help for the event! THANK YOU!

I want to express my love and gratitude to everyone involved: sponsors, players, Judges and support staff! We continue to make this world a better place every year, and I am deeply in your debt!

Don’t forget, the second week of December (Saturday the 14th this year) we take the Crawl into the sea of bits with The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure: Ethermeet 2024! Our dedicated Judges will once again go into the wee hours of the morning to entertain you! (Take advantage, West Coast – the Luau Lou and Brian Shutter “late-night horror” events are confirmed!) It will be another awesome event with the opportunity to spread some Good to the world! We hope to see you there!

DARK TOWER – IT’S ALL COMING TOGETHER! OCTOBER 16TH, 2024

Posted on by caddy1071 in 2024, Aaron Koelman, ACS, American Cancer Society, Crawl for the Cure, Gamehole Con, Hero, Jennell Jaquays, Memorial, Smite Cancer

Posted to social media October 16, 2024.

Hello all! An update for The Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure at Gamehole Con 11, October 19th, 2024, 10 AM – 8 PM! We will be running the Goodman Games Original Adventures Reincarnated version of Jennell Jaquays’ legendary adventure, Dark Tower, as a “mega-funnel”. 0-level characters will be pitted against the full-octane adventure to fight to survive with their wits, luck and donations to the worthy cause of the American Cancer Society. ALL collected donations will, as always, be given to the American Cancer Society for research and assistance benefiting those and their loved ones in the hold of this terrifying disease.

The story will unfold on a 12’ x 12’ massive map of the Towers and dungeon, and it is HUGE. You will not want to miss this call to Adventure! Get your ticket to pick up your memorial token for the event at the link below! Can’t purchase a ticket online or unsure of your schedule? Not a problem! Place your $10 donation at the Crawl for the Cure Atrium registration table and receive your token to play!

We are happy to announce our incredible sponsors providing you with raffle prizes (digital and physical!) for your generous donations – many have heeded the call!:

  • 321Action RPG
  • Blind Visionary Publications
  • Bill Walters
  • Bridget Traut
  • Cranky Clydesdale Publishing
  • Dandyline Games
  • Dark Nebula Games
  • Frog God Games
  • Mike Badolato of Frog God Games
  • Gamehole Publishing
  • Get Haunted Industries
  • Goodman Games
  • High Dive Games
  • Hobbs & Friends
  • Horse Shark Games
  • Limithron
  • Marz Press
  • Nate Marcel
  • Ophoric Labs
  • Pacesetter Games
  • Per Aspera Games
  • Purple Pirate Games
  • Purple Sorcerer Games
  • Shield of Faith Studios
  • Stiff Whiskers Press
  • Studio 9 Games
  • Thickskull Adventures
  • Super Savage Systems
  • Troll Lord Games
  • Wayward Studios

(See all of our incredible sponsors HERE and support their awesome endeavors!)

More fun things to announce, which create delays in communication, but it is SO worth it; SO MANY GREAT THINGS TO COME!

  • The event donation and menu, prizes and special rules for the Dark Tower event have been updated
  • We have a quest for you! Keep an eye out for mysterious envelopes at Gamehole containing your free Memorial Token and your soul link to a Mitriatic Hero to ramp up your 0-level immediately! Already have a token? Give one to a friend (and keep the Avatar)! We’ll have the envelopes placed randomly Thursday and Friday, and we’ll let you know when you should hunt!
  • We have handsome CRAWL HERO badge ribbons to display your support for the Crawl for the Cure! Also, 2 lucky players per hour have a chance for SQUIRE and KNIGHT ribbons with awesome ACS magnetic pins on them that really draw the eye and has game effects!
  • Bridget Traut has donated 3 AWESOME Owlbear plushies for raffle! Open to all Con attendees, take these sweet little beasties home to adore!
  • Nate Marcel has created an awesome original artwork of Jennell Jaquays as her favorite character transforming from wizard to dragon, AND he has also done his rendition of Aaron Koelman’s alter ego, Akaerrian Keenblade! (See the teasers) The special raffles are open to all Con attendees, so tell your friends! Details link below!
  • We will be displaying memorials for our lost friends and fighting survivors this year: those who have passed this year in our community, “Adventurers’ Rest”, and Peter Garancis has created a stunning “The Pillar of Strength” honoring those we have lost to cancer and those loved ones who have survived! An optional, small donation to the event would be much appreciated to place ribbons in your loved ones’ honor upon the pillar, but not necessary. We love to celebrate and honor those affected and bring hope to others who are in need! Bring those warm memories!
  • Mike Badolato’s donated collection of Judge’s Guild commons will be returning to Gamehole for anybody who’d like to own a piece of history! Peruse and take home some old school today!
  • Your play is enhanced by the number of people playing at one time and collected pieces of the sacred Lion of Mitra Statue scattered through the dungeon and Towers! The more you collect, the more bonuses you will receive! Additionally, our sponsors have put special prizes in the dungeon for roll-off to the team that accesses them in the dungeon! Claim victories for reaching the room before other teams! (Starting rooms are randomized!)
  • An update, Doug Kovacs’ portrait of Aaron Koelman’s Akaerrian Keenblade persona will still be coming, but Doug is a busy man! We wil get you updates on the awesome artwork as it proceeds!

We hope you’ll join the cause and help us smite cancer! Watch the website for updates as the event comes closer! Thank you for your support!

Thank you!

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

THE DARK TOWER AWAITS!

Posted on by caddy1071 in 2024, ACS, American Cancer Society, Crawl for the Cure, Gamehole Con, Hero, Memorial, Smite Cancer

Social media post originally from 8/22/2024.

The Jerry Stefek Crawl for the Cure and its incredible judges are bringing back another Legendary dungeon delve, the DCC Original Adventures Reincarnated release of Dark Tower by Jennell Jaquays and Bob Brinkman at Gamehole Con 11! All the Mega-funnel you’ve come to expect from the Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure, raffle support by the best RPG creators in the industry and ALL monies collected will go to the American Cancer Society (https://cancer.org)! We return after three previous Gamehole Con events times in the past, and last year we raised an incredible $5,000, and we should break $20,000 in total collected over our 5-year history with this event! We ask for your help to make the Dark Tower event another record fund-raising year and join us for this milestone occurrence!

In an age long past, the malicious god of evil, Set, sprang forth his Dark Tower before the White Tower of Mitra to assault and irradicate the forces of good contained there. The resulting battle of evil and divine unleashed horrific magic that brought the mountains crashing down on both towers, sealing them in darkness and fading behind the veil of time.

The faithful of Mitra, have been chosen to cleanse the lost temples of the taint of Set’s evil and return Mitra back to strength through the White Tower! Join us for our next “Mega-funnel” where common 0-level characters dare to delve the overwhelming deep with their guile, objects of power found within, playable avatars of past heroes and even aid from the celestial allies of Mitra! The dark powers arrayed before you, your donations and concurrent players at the table increase your power through boons of fate and Mitra! The more players engaged by joining one of the three parties questing on the oversized 12×12 map of the towers, the more advantage you will gain in your conflict with the dark forces of Set.

Purchase a ticket for the event and join us whenever you have time for this very special event for the American Cancer Society! (Link in comments below.) You will receive a Memorial Token for the event to present to play throughout the day! Your donations will enable the American Cancer Society to directly benefit cancer patients and those affected by their suffering.

Our incredible sponsors provide hourly donation raffle prizes of their works to our players, their incredible offerings award you for your generosity to the ACS. We look forward to bringing more hours of adventure and beauty at the Dark Tower event! Visit the site for updates!

Purchasing a ticket for this event will not affect your schedule at Gamehole Con. You can play whenever you have time and there is an opening in the questing parties! Memorial Tokens for play will also be available at the Crawl for the Cure Event Registration Table in the Atrium for play and raffles; bring friends and join the quest!

Come witness the “towers of meat” containing your replenishment of brave 0-levels in your quest for good, gold and glory! (Courtesy of https://purplesorcerer.com!) Take your place in cleansing the darkness of the towers for the return of the Light! We’ll see you there!

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

LONG OVERDUE THANK YOUS WHICH MUST BE GIVEN!

Posted on by caddy1071 in 2023, ACS, American Cancer Society, Crawl for the Cure, Gamehole Con, Hero, Judges, Team, Thank You, Volunteers

Hello all! I did want to make sure I gave some explicit thank yous to the people who make this event happen – as things have been getting bigger, it’s been vastly more challenging, and these folks have made sure you have a fun event that raises money for good! THANK YOU for making these events possible – I am eternally in your debt!

THANK YOU:

  • Matt Robertson (A.K.A. Grape Ape or the Master of R.A.W.!) – A special thanks to Matt for jumping in remotely a throwing tons of creative ideas into the mix to make it a better event! We couldn’t use them all, but he definitely made things cooler and inspired ideas for future events! Thank you, Matt, for all the awesome contributions from afar for this and past events! You are awesome!
  • Sean Murphy – Sean and Edwin are the RPG charity superpowers in my eyes. Thanks for always being there to provide great examples and ideas for us to learn and create from! You rock!
  • Jim Meyers – Jim was there in the morning and late in the evening setting up and breaking everything down, making up because we were up all night preparing and not on time. (SOMEDAY I’ll fix this. 🙁 ) THANK YOU, JIM! Your incredible work ethic to push past the tired and whirl circles around me in a zombified state and keep things on schedule was astounding! (And then run many hours throughout the day AND build out his personal Gong of Doom the weekend before for an awesome addition of fun and setting… You sir, are amazing!)
  • Keith Nelson – Another who was there for set up, take down and ran the majority of the day so we could collect the awesome money we did for the American Cancer Society! Additionally, wandered the parking lot with me late in the evening after the event when I was so tired I hopelessly forgot where my car was. Thank you, Brother, for taking care of an exhausted Judge and taking the time to chat about the old school with me for a bit in wind-down – WAY awesome ending to an excellent event.
  • Chris Zank – Chris was the face of the event to many who walked up with his cheerful expertise! He knew our sponsors’ products cold and spread enthusiasm throughout the event wowing our ops staff all the way through – THANK YOU!
  • Gary Cunningham – Gary has been dedicating hours running for the Crawl for the Cure for many years now, however confusing I make the additional rules for the event! THANK YOU for all your help in running an awesome game for our supporters!
  • Bill Walters – Bill is incredibly generous in his support for the Crawl! He helps throughout the days, contributes awesome and very valuable prizes (just check the prize list – scheezooey 😉 ), provided additional awesome Frog God Games silk screens of Tegel Manor for the event, and even orchestrated the “donation bells” acquisition so you got your raffle tickets in good order! You are awesome, Bill! THANK YOU!
  • Peter Garancis and daughter Kylee – (not on the crew, just awesome player volunteers!!!) SPECIAL thanks to Peter and Kylee!! They were stalwart players and were there setting up for us – talk about excited players! Pete also donated the Funky Dice Trays from his company, Dark Nebula Games. THANK YOU, Pete and Kylee for your efforts and donations to the campaign!
  • Alex Kammer, Josh Hoyt and Gamehole Con – Thank you for always supporting my crazy events and making them possible! Your trust and support are so appreciated and honored!
  • Our sponsors – Just amazed – this community rocks. Please support them.
  • Edwin Nagy – Edwin is a mentor to me in all of this and I always, probably annoyingly, ask him for advice and ideas on these events. Additionally, he lent the awesome Frog God Games toys (battlemat-scale size map of Tegel Manor!) to make this spectacle possible! It was awesome! THANK YOU, Edwin!
  • Steve Seminerio and Hazel Welch – The people who without there would not be a Jerry Stefek Memorial Crawl for the Cure! While I come up with the gaming ideas, Steve and Hazel do all the real work of how we work the raffles and donations in the background, set up the OBS for the event, etc! As well as putting up with Stress Cory and the massive amount of work preparing and winding down the event. Thanks and love for everything you do to make these insane events possible! It would be impossible to do without your grit and support!

The Jerry Stefek Crawl for the Cure often gets labeled as “Cory’s project” – I hope it’s very clear that there is an army of support behind this event to bring you incredible gaming experiences that provide Good for others! THANK YOU, ALL, for your support of the Crawl for the Cure and the Good and hope we help provide for others in need! I am so happy we can share these successes together!

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