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.

 

[Lanefan]

Most of the people I see get the most worked up about it are not older, many of them have little nostalgia for older versions of the game, and many of them have a huge list of other issues with Wotc and 5e.

Not guilty on all counts, m'lord; but I'm still amazed that this year of all years WotC won't be there.

Lanefan

 

[irrg]

Gen Con being D&D to anyone is funny to me, because as someone who's only been going for a few years… I can play D&D with my local group, and if I didn't have that group I could probably find another. Gen Con is every other game that I'm interested in for me. I go there to threathen to blow things up with grenades in Victorian England (Doctor Who), to try our The Strange, to see if anyone is running niche pop culture games. D&D feels too…available to be the center of anything for me.

To each her/his own, obviously.

 

[Parmandur]

Gen Con being D&D to anyone is funny to me, because as someone who's only been going for a few years… I can play D&D with my local group, and if I didn't have that group I could probably find another. Gen Con is every other game that I'm interested in for me. I go there to threathen to blow things up with grenades in Victorian England (Doctor Who), to try our The Strange, to see if anyone is running niche pop culture games. D&D feels too…available to be the center of anything for me.

To each her/his own, obviously.

Yeah, think that hits on why they don't go there anymore...

 

[irrg]

Yeah, think that hits on why they don't go there anymore...

Right. And things like Pax need it more, since it's exposing a new crowd to tabletop RPGs as a whole.

Seeing Gary Con and Gamehole on the list, though, makes me think that a) I need to check them out as they're closer to my location than Gen Con by far, and b) there's got to be some kind of personal attachment to these by the people at WotC, as they shouldn't need the WotC exposure just as much as Gen Con doesn't need it.

My personal theory is that WotC thinks Gen Con is expensive, and in' hates Paizo for their co-sponsorship and stealing half their market.

 

[ddaley]

For someone that has never been to a convention, what should they expect to see if they attended GaryCon? I would be interested in checking out RPG products and probably spending too much money on products that I don't really need... I am not that interested in gaming with people that I don't know. So, that aspect isn't very appealing.

I am hoping to check out PAX South, as San Antonio isn't too far. But, I have a feeling that convention is way too crowded for my taste.

I've been pretty impressed how fast GaryCon has grown. For a long time, I thought it was just an old school thing.

 

[Henry]

The good news is at least they're attending GaryCon, which is probably a closer spiritual successor to Gary's GenCon, since it's smaller, a lot more D&D focused (particularly older editions which means more chances to sway a few grognards into trying it out occasionally), and still based in Wisconsin.

 

[mflayermonk]

Those that are upset, I'm guessing, are older gamers feeling the pangs of nostalgia.

I have not been to Gen Con since the end of the 80s (I think 88). I stopped playing RPGs soon thereafter and just got back into it with 5th edition.

Probably more than that. WotC had fun booths in the 2000s. I would play all the demos and see what new games WotC was putting out. I can learn all of this myself, but its fun to watch or have someone play Hecatomb or Star Wars minis with you and explain the game for 5 minutes.

 

[UnsounderGnome]

My personal theory is that WotC thinks Gen Con is expensive, and in' hates Paizo for their co-sponsorship and stealing half their market.

Yeah, Paizo took the majority of the player base away for 4 or 5 years and then on top of that, took over WotC's old location in Sagamore ballroom for Gen Con. I'm sure it was tough for them to have to stomach launching 5E while relegated to the board gaming hall. Gen Con is expensive, but I'm sure it's way worse with Paizo willing to shell out massive cash for the premier spot in the convention center. And since WotC/Hasbro are not willing to try to outbid Paizo, they must figure it is better to just not go and hit up other smaller cons, rather than continue to be second banana. Of course, they would never admit this and instead try to spin it to make it sound like they are just trying to grow the game in other conventions they haven't been to before and reach out to non-rpg players. Seems like a misstep by them to not be there, especially for the 50th. Just the exposure alone seems like it would be worth it. On the other hand, this will be the 3rd year that WotC are not there and 5e and the D&D brand seem to be doing great, so what do I know.

 

[Werebat]

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.

I also live in RI, and am intrigued. Will Hascon have gaming events? I'd love to check it out, but if it's all My Little Pony cosplay then...

 

[Parmandur]

I also live in RI, and am intrigued. Will Hascon have gaming events? I'd love to check it out, but if it's all My Little Pony cosplay then...

Well, WotC guys will be running AL stuff there, looks like.