Tomorrow I will once again be participating in the Extra Life charity gaming marathon, and I will be live-streaming 24 straight hours of dwarf fortress! Hopefully the power stays on all day this time! My live stream can be found here.

If you haven't heard of Extra Life, it's a rather fantastic charity that does this event once a year. It's similar to charity running marathons, in that the runner gets people to donate on their behalf, and then they run the marathon. The only difference is that instead of running, I'll be playing Dwarf Fortress. All donations benefit the Children's Miracle Network of hospitals, and each marathoner chooses a specific hospital to put their funds towards. I will be playing for the Seattle Children's Hospital; all money donated goes straight to them. I won't make a single penny off this.

The link to my personal donation page can be found here. I'd love for you guys to check out the charity and consider donating. Nothing is too small. $1, $5, whatever. It's all for a fantastic cause.

This year, I’m doing something extra, as well. If you make a donation of any size, I'll rename a dwarf in your honor. When making your donation, mention a dwarf profession in the "message to Andrew" section (carpenter, brewer, miner, axedwarf, etc.). I will then give a dwarf with that profession your last name or username! If there aren't any previously re-named dwarfs available, I will wait until new dwarfs become available.

And even if you don't donate, I'd love for you guys to check out my live-stream, from 8am CST October 25th to 8am CST October 26th, accessible from the link up top.

I’ve pre-generated a world and picked an embark site before the marathon begins, so I’ll just hop right in and start playing. I’ve also messed around a bit with quickfort, so hopefully this year the gameplay itself goes more quickly as well. The northern and western portions of the embark site are in a Wilderness biome. The south/southeast portion of the map is Haunted. I don’t have any real first-hand experience with the undead, but I’ve read up on them a bit on the wiki and it certainly seems like it will make for an entertaining day. 

Like last year, I will also be recording the whole deal, and then editing it into a summary video and tossing it up on youtube. That way everyone can see what happened throughout the day, and you can watch my inevitable spiral into madness, without having to watch all 24 hours. And if you feel like you want to donate but aren't able to watch the stream, you'll still be able to see the summary video and be amused by what promises to be a rather Fun day. Last year’s video can be found here.

Again, please, at the core of all of this is a great charity that helps children in need in a very real way. Every dollar helps end a tantrum spiral in real life, and generates a new one in Dwarf Fortress.