The Heart Monitor

$10,000 raised for Extra Life
Karington Hess Karington Hess

$10,000 raised for Extra Life

Open Heart Games just passed a major milestone and it is all thanks to you, our generous donors. It is my honor to announce that since the creation of Open Heart Games in 2020, together we have raised over $10,000 directly benefiting our local children’s hospital, Carilion Children’s right here in Roanoke, Virginia!

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New Incentives for our Extra Life United Marathon!
Karington Hess Karington Hess

New Incentives for our Extra Life United Marathon!

For our next 12-Hour Charity D&D Marathon we are introducing new incentives, which players and viewers can purchase in order to help (or hurt) our party and of course, the biggest reason of all, to help us raise more money for Extra Life and meet our year-end goal for 2023 of $5,000!

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Adventurers Wanted! (Or how you can help raise money for Extra Life and our local children’s hospital!)
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Adventurers Wanted! (Or how you can help raise money for Extra Life and our local children’s hospital!)

For 2023 we were inspired to set the bar even higher—we hope to raise $5, 000 for our Extra Life Charity—and we can only do it with your help! We are adding an additional 12-Hour Charity Marathon this year in honor of Extra Life United. On April 8, from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, I will run one of my favorite modules: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and will live-stream it on our Twitch channel.

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Extra Life Game Day Recap!
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Extra Life Game Day Recap!

Extra Life Game Day 2022 is officially in the books! Thanks to a very generous last minute donation, we have exceeded our goal for 2022 by raising over $4,000 for our local children’s hospital, Carillion Children’s.

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Extra Life Game Day 2022
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Extra Life Game Day 2022

In honor of Extra Life Game Day, and by popular demand, we are bringing back our 12 Hour Marathon and continuing Against the Giants (the classic Dungeons & Dragons module [updated for 5E])! This module is an adventure pitting players against several giants whom the players have been hired to defeat, and this time we will be continuing our battle against the Fire Giants!

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Extra Life Tabletop Appreciation Day Recap!
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Extra Life Tabletop Appreciation Day Recap!

It’s official! Extra Life Tabletop Appreciation Day 2022 is in the books! As of the writing of this blog, we are just shy of the halfway point to beat last year’s total of $4,061! All of the funds donated benefit Extra Life and our local children’s Hospital Carilion Children’s here in Roanoke, VA!

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OMG! OHG!
Karington Hess Karington Hess

OMG! OHG!

Extra Life Game Day 2021 is in the books! To describe our marathon as anything less than a roaring success would be an understatement. We began the event $55 short of our goal of raising $2,000 for charity and finished the night nearly doubling our goal!

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For the Kids! Extra Life Game Day 2021.
Karington Hess Karington Hess

For the Kids! Extra Life Game Day 2021.

As of today, we have raised over $1,700 towards our goal and have become the largest Extra Life donor in support of our local children's hospital, Carillion Children’s. All of this is possible due to the support of our friends, family, and our wonderful community of gaming fans. A heartfelt thank you to all. And while we are close to our goal, we still have work to do. So make plans to join us once again as we venture into the dungeon on Saturday, November 6th at 10am EST. FOR THE KIDS!!

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The Giants are Back! Extra Life Game Day 12 Hour Marathon!
Karington Hess Karington Hess

The Giants are Back! Extra Life Game Day 12 Hour Marathon!

In honor of Extra Life Game Day, and by popular demand, we are bringing back our 12 Hour Marathon and continuing Against the Giants. . .this time with Frost Giants! The event will take place Saturday, November 6th from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm EST and will once again be live-streamed on Twitch! Registration for this event will open October 1st and will be limited to 7 players.

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A Heartfelt Thank You
Karington Hess Karington Hess

A Heartfelt Thank You

We had such a wonderful time running and streaming 12 hours of D&D 5E: Against the Giants. We’d especially like to thank our players for making it so much fun, Jeff with World Gone Geek for helping us stream, Josh with Obelisk Productions for helping us to get set up and showing us the ropes and designing our overlays (the photo credit of which goes to Taylor of Taylored Photography), and Josh K. for helping monitor our chat! We would also like to thank everyone who donated, tuned in to watch, or shared their support for Open Heart Games on social media. We’ve got such a great community here. Thank you all.

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Extra Life 12 Hour Marathon Survival Guide
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Extra Life 12 Hour Marathon Survival Guide

Here we are, folks! Just days away from our first 12 Hour Marathon benefiting the Extra Life Charity! We have our players. We have our brand-new Twitch channel all set up. And fortunately, this is not my first rodeo; I used to run 12 hour marathons at the Malted Meeple also to benefit the Extra Life Charity. Therefore, I have decided to share some of my wisdom and answer the question: what can you do to prepare for a 12 hour marathon of gaming?

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Lots of Irons in the Fire
Karington Hess Karington Hess

Lots of Irons in the Fire

Greetings, friends! Today’s blog isn’t really much of a blog at all but rather an explanation of today’s lack of a blog. We have so many irons in the fire right now and we are super excited about each and every one of them. However, they are keeping us extremely busy at the moment.

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12 Hour D&D Marathon: Against the Giants!
Announcement, Event Karington Hess Announcement, Event Karington Hess

12 Hour D&D Marathon: Against the Giants!

Charity is at the heart of what we do. Since our inception, we have been working with Extra Life to raise money for our local children’s’ hospital, Carillion Children’s. Every month, we donate a portion of our sales to this terrific organization and cause. Today, we are extremely excited to announce our newest event—A 12 Hour Marathon! The event will take place Saturday, August 21st, in celebration of Extra Life Tabletop Appreciation Weekend! The marathon will begin at 10:00 am EST and will end at 10:00 pm EST. And this time, we are not just donating a portion—the entire ticket price will go directly to Extra Life! We won’t touch a dime!

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