WotC's 2017 Convention Schedule Includes New Hascon, No GenCon

This year WotC will be attending Pax South, Winter Fantasy, Pax East, Gary's con, Origins, Pax A West, the new a Hasbro convention, Hascon, and Gamehole Con. Like last year, the company is skipping Gen Con in Indianapolis.

Here are all the convention details:

[h=3]PAX SOUTH[/h]January 27-29
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
900 E Market St.
San Antonio, TX
Chris Perkins and Trevor Kidd will be at PAX South at the end of this month. Chris will have the honor of delivering the key note Story Time with Chris Perkins on Friday morning, as well as stepping onto the main stage to serve as Dungeon Master for Acquisitions Incorporated, live for the first time from sunny San Antonio. Many Dungeons & Dragons games will be playable in the open gaming spaces scheduled through the D&D Adventurers League. We definitely won’t be playing in the basement of the Alamo, thankfully.
[h=3]WINTER FANTASY[/h]February 1-5
Grand Wayne Convention Center
120 West Jefferson Blvd
Fort Wayne, IN
Chris Lindsay will be returning to Fort Wayne for Winter Fantasy and will be available to speak about the D&D Adventurers League and Dungeon Masters Guild. We will debut a brand-new D&D Adventurers League EPIC by Will Doyle here, giving attendees the first chance to overcome new challenges and collect loot. Chris will be running unique D&D Adventurers League sessions with loot and magic items you can’t get anywhere else.
[h=3]PAX EAST[/h]March 10 -12
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
415 Summer Street
Boston, MA
Chris Perkins and Trevor Kidd will be in Boston at PAX East again this year. Chris will serve as Dungeon Master for another Acquisitions Incorporated live show with Mike, Jerry, Scott, and Pat. There will be many opportunities to play Dungeons & Dragons in the open gaming spaces of PAX scheduled through the D&D Adventurers League.
[h=3]GARY CON[/h]March 23-26
Grand Geneva Resort & Spa
7036 Grand Geneva Way
Lake Geneva, WI
We’re heading back to Gary Con in Lake Geneva again this year! Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, and Chris Lindsay will be panelists in a discussion of D&D Across the Editions. Mike Mearls will be DMing a celebrity game using his Greyhawk house rules for 5e in one of the deadliest dungeons he’s run in his personal campaign: the dreaded Path of Blades. Mearls will also run a home brew horror RPG based on the Avalon Hill board game Betrayal at House on the Hill. Chris Lindsay will head up a host of Dungeon Masters as we present the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and the Tomb of Horrors as competitive events for the first time in decades. Also, don’t miss the EPIC designed by Chris Lindsay, featuring the Keep on the Borderlands.
[h=3]ORIGINS[/h]June 14-18
Greater Columbus Convention Center
400 N High Street
Columbus, OH
Mike Mearls, Chris Lindsay, Chris Perkins, Trevor Kidd, and Jeremy Crawford will be returning to Origins for the D&D tabletop gaming event of the year: The D&D Open. Bring your favorite Adventurers League character and risk life and limb to bring glory upon your adventuring party. We’ll also have D&D board game tournaments, exclusive DMs Guild panels, exclusive Origins swag, and even more!
[h=3]PAX WEST[/h]September 1-4
Washington State Convention Center
800 Convention Place
Seattle, WA
Chris Perkins, Trevor Kidd, and many more folks from the Dungeons & Dragons team will be at PAX West. Chris will be on panels and serving as Dungeon Master for the live Acquisitions Incorporated game with Jerry, Mike, Scott, and Pat. Many of us will be around in the Dungeons & Dragons area and there will be tons of opportunities to play D&D in the open gaming area scheduled through the D&D Adventurers League.
[h=3]HASCON[/h]September 9-10
Rhode Island Convention Center & Dunkin Donuts Center
1 La Salle Square & 1 Sabin St
Providence, RI
Join us in Providence for the debut of HASCON, a new convention event in September focusing on all of Hasbro’s brands including Transformers, My Little Pony, Magic the Gathering and, of course, Dungeons & Dragons! You will get to peek behind the curtain of our characters and stories through interactive experiences, exclusive products, talent appearances, panels and much more.
[h=3]GAMEHOLE CON[/h]November 2-5
Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall
1919 Alliant Energy Center Way
Madison, WI
Mike Mearls and Chris Lindsay will return to the Midwest in November for Gamehole Con in Madison. Mike and Chris will be attending panels, serving as Dungeon Masters in unique Adventurers League scenarios, and hanging out and answering any questions you might have.

 

[DM_]

Rhode Island!? Yeah, most of us will see you there Hasbro <\sarcasm>

As a native of the Ocean State I am very excited for this personally. Hoping one day the symbols of Hasbro around the state will include more WOTC, maybe get a Tiamat statue rather than just the potato heads.

 

[eiglos]

What about UK/Europe? Have WOTC in any Official capacity ever visited a Convention in UK/Europe?

Yes, the GenCons held here in the UK in the past.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Well thats more than Australia has ever got.

 

[wedgeski]

Yes, the GenCons held here in the UK in the past.

Yup, Bruce Cordell and (I think) Rodney Thompson came to Reading in 2007. There hasn't been a GenCon UK since 2008.

 

[Gorath99]

Yes, the GenCons held here in the UK in the past.

Wizards had a nice presence at GenCon Benelux in 2000. I strongly suspect they also attended some of the GenCon's in Barcelona.

 

[Mecheon]

Rhode Island!? Yeah, most of us will see you there Hasbro <\sarcasm>

I mean their head office is there, plus one of the better Botcons was there...

Oh who am I kidding, I just hope Hascon can live up to the legacy of Botcon. Because us Transformers fans are ravenous

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

Add me to the chorus who think it's weird that the biggest company in RPG's seems determined to distance from the biggest con in gaming, the one most strongly tied to RPGs. I wonder what the business reasoning behind that decision could be. Typically you see that it's "not cost effective" but that's also typically coming from much smaller companies.

It's still strange.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

THe problem you have is that little cons can become big cons and that pushes against the people who only attend because its a small con. Some people dont want the big con issues with lines and ticket issues and accomodation issues. We seem to live in some strange culture where big = better.

Gary Con's system of Platinum/Gold/... badges and 'currency' to secure game table slots dissuades me from wanting to play or DM there.

 

[Jer]

As this is the 50th GenCon and thus will likely be playing up its history and the parallel history of RPGing - as it should, really - and as WotC are now custodians of much of the early part of that history via their purchase of TSR never mind being themselves responsible for much of its recent history via rebooting D&D with the 3e release, their non-attendance this year can be summed up in one word:

Disgraceful.

Lanefan

Meh. GenCon is huge and expensive to go to. Last year Wizards decided to go to a number of smaller cons instead of putting all of their eggs in the Gen*Con basket and it seems like it worked for them. (I don't claim to know the backstory behind this but as a business decision the idea to go to a lot of conventions around the country instead of one convention in the middle of the country seems sound).

Frankly to me their attendance at GaryCon probably more than makes up for not going to GenCon from an "RPG History" perspective. GaryCon is a very appropriate place to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Lake Geneva Wargames Convention. After all, it is the one actually being held in Lake Geneva this year.

Add me to the chorus who think it's weird that the biggest company in RPG's seems determined to distance from the biggest con in gaming, the one most strongly tied to RPGs. I wonder what the business reasoning behind that decision could be. Typically you see that it's "not cost effective" but that's also typically coming from much smaller companies.

It's still strange.

Let's remember that the RPG group in Wizards is basically as small as a tiny company as far as staff size goes. And as far as the money they bring in from RPGs (not incidental licensing, but the games themselves) they're probably doing allright but not in the moneymaking area they were in, say, 2001. It makes some sense that their budget for travel to cons would be limited and that there would be a higher perceived benefit in going to a lot of smaller cons instead of one giant one.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

“Exclusive Origins swag.” I really hate to kvetch about free stuff, but hopefully the swag is better this year – the tote bag was the best part, not the pieces of cardboard within. Wouldn’t have cared as much if I hadn’t had to wait in line so long for it.