DrivethruRPG is doing something incredibly great. Right now, you can head over there and pick up a mega-bundle of PDF RPG products for only $20. That $20 goes entirely to Doctors Without Borders, an excellent charity providing disaster relief for Haiti. In return, you get what has to be the best deal I’ve ever seen in RPG PDFs.
Just a sample of some of the over $1,000 worth of product for a $20 donation:
- 4e Book of Races
- Kobold Quarterly 11
- Dork Covenant (the first Dork Tower collection)
- 3:16 Carnage Among the Stars
- Several Fat Dragon tile sets
- 4e Paragon Counter Collection
- Serenity Roleplaying Game
- Open Game Table v1
- Trail of Cthulhu Player’s Guide
- And many, many more.
No matter what game you play, I think you’ll find something in here you’ll like, and the money goes to a great cause. So get to it!
Full press release below. Updated on Jan 21, 2010 with additional press release.
Gamers Help Haiti! DriveThruRPG Offers a Mega-Bundle to Spur Donations
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
DriveThruRPG announced a major incentive to the roleplaying gamer community today to incite donations to aid in rescue and recovery in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Called the “Gamers Helping Haiti Bundle,” the product includes over a hundred products totaling over $1000.00 in retail value. For a simple donation of $20 – all of which goes to Doctors Without Borders to support their post-earthquake Haiti relief efforts – RPG fans can have this once-in-a-lifetime collection of gaming products.DriveThruRPG already had opportunities to donate up and running within a day of the disaster. When publishers began asking how they could support the cause, the bundle was created to be an all-inclusive shared effort. Those who donated at the lesser levels won’t be left out, however; gamers who have already donated $5 or $10 will be receiving a special coupon code that lets them pay the difference from their initial donation to get the bundle.
“We are humbled by the generosity of both our customers and our publishers,” said Sean Patrick Fannon, Marketing and Communications Manager for DriveThruRPG, “all of whom have stepped up at this time of terrible tragedy to offer aid to a desperate people. We are also very proud to facilitate these collective efforts, providing the necessary tools and technology to bring it all together.”
More than tools and tech, though, DriveThruRPG is really putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak. “We have always believed in the power of giving and sharing to make the world a better place,” said Steve Wieck, President and co-owner of the site. “To that end, we are matching funds with everyone who’s making a straight donation at the $5 and $10 level.”
There is no set date for terminating the donation efforts, though the bundle will only be available until the end of January.Anyone wishing more information about this effort, or about DriveThruRPG overall, should contact Sean Patrick Fannon at sean@onebookshelf.com or his mobile, 614-946-9371.
Additional press release:
???Thursday, January 21, 2010
In an effort to hurriedly engage publishers and fans in a charitable relief action for the people of Haiti and the Dominican Republic (following the earthquake that devastated the region), DriveThruRPG put together the single most amazing bundle of products ever seen in the RPG hobby’s history. For a $20 donation, fans are given over $1500.00 in RPG books, music, and more.
It killed their servers within hours of going live.
As one fan put it, “I’ve never been happier to get an error message.” The generosity has been utterly overwhelming, and the collective patience of the customer base has been greatly appreciated by the folks at DriveThruRPG.
“It is an embarrassment of riches of the highest order,” said Sean Patrick Fannon, Marketing & Communications Manager. “We simply had no idea how huge this would get, and how quickly it would become a massive sensation throughout the gaming world. I’ve never been more proud of my community or my job.”
In order to resolve the server issues, DriveThru employed a “coupon solution” that enabled customers to gain a code that would let them select each of the products in the original bundle for free download. With well over a hundred products, however, this became a tedious and frustrating process, and the customers rightfully complained.
As of now, a new coding has been employed, and now customers are getting all of the products that go with the bundles automatically added to their download lists. The folks at DriveThruRPG care immensely for their customers, wanting the experience to be as easy and enjoyable as possible. While the main focus is to get help to Haiti, DriveThru also wants to leave a positive and lasting impression on everyone who comes to the site.
As of this press release, DriveThruRPG has collected well over $56,000, which will be going to Doctors Without Borders for their efforts in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The “Gamers Help Haiti $20 Mega Bundle” will be available until January 31st. Other relief efforts may continue as needed.
For more information, contact Sean Patrick Fannon at sean@onebookshelf.com. Go to www.drivethrurpg.com to obtain the bundle and learn more about what DriveThruRPG is doing to help Haiti.
This offer is (understandably) getting them a lot of traffic, so if you get an error message, be sure to try back later.
heh. Yeah, it’s definitely resulting in a massive hammering of their site. What a great idea, though…
It might easy the server some if they would just put all the PDFs in a zip file to download. It seems now to get the PDFs you have to add them to your cart 1 at a time. When there are 12 pages of PDFs that’s quite a pounding on the server for over 1000 people trying to download.