Origins Experiences

[MichaelSomething]

For me, anything big enough to be worth going to requires travel and hotel; which makes it a wash.

You don't like small, local events? Those are probably in desperate need of expert DMs such as yourself.

 

[Lanefan]

You don't like small, local events? Those are probably in desperate need of expert DMs such as yourself.

The only repeating local event I'm aware of is a yearly anime convention; I don't think it has an RPG element, and I'm not an anime fan.

Also, I go to cons to shop and have fun, not to run events.

 

[aramis erak]

Battlestations was a huge mess,with a dozen players of whom only 3 knew the rules with minimal GM introduction or oversight.

Battlestations works well with up to about 6p who know the basic rules and have cheatsheets available for the actions.
Above that, the time per turn is near exponentially worse.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Also, I go to cons to shop and have fun, not to run events.

But running games can be fun!

So many Enworlders here are adamant about WOTC driving D&D off a cliff yet they refuse to take any action to correct course?

How will people learn about the true essence of D&D besides from playing a game run by a person who understands it themselves?? Do you want to leave new players with the DMG and Matt Mercer to teach them???

I should fork this to another topic later...

 

[Gorgon Zee]

Different genres of games, in my experience, do have their own pitfalls. For Call of Cthulhu, I have been at a number of tables with similar experience to yours. CoC is strong on narrative, and so it attracts GMs who want to tell a story, and tend to forget about the "game" part of roleplaying games. And those GMs, as yours was, are great at the "presenting a narrative" side, but they neglect to let the players join in. They have a compelling story, and dammit, you are going to experience it their way.

Some of my best con experiences have been CoC, but also it has had some of the worst. I've been on a spaceship where I made one roll to fix something (if I had failed it would have taken longer ... with no other effect) and decided to hide when the monsters came and so they went away. End of scenario. I've followed the GM through Berlin and into a time-shifting pyramid where the only consequential rolls were to see if you escaped death. This mode of failure seems common in CoC.

For more gamist systems, the failure mode is more of very slow GMs who don't know the rules well, or who are unwilling to risk a "wrong" call or allow you to do anything not listed in the powers on your sheet. I've never had as great games playing Pathfinder as I have with CoC, but not as bad ones either. At least in a gamest system you have agency and can have some fun with that.

So now, when I go to cons, I try and look for systems that have a good narrative / gamist balance (I have zero interest in accurate simulation games) like Fate Core, 13th Age and GUMSHOE. They don't seem to attract the extremist story-telling GMs nor the "if it's not in the book you cannot do it" GMs that others do.

 

[Retreater]

I'm sorry to hear about the bad experiences at Origins. (Most of mine were pretty enjoyable.)
I have had one tremendously bad experience at a GenCon one year that I've written about on here. Quick synopsis was a WEG d6 Star Wars game rated for Teens. It ended up turning into an adventure where the villains were kidnapping pregnant women to kill them so their unborn children wouldn't be born.
Pretty dark concept for a Star Wars game rated for Teens. especially when that had no mention of these themes in the description. Couple that with my friend at the table who was having conception issues and whose wife recently had a miscarriage, and it was clear time for an X card.
I pulled the GM aside during a break and explained the situation. But when we returned, he wanted to be edgy and double down on the concept. Even though I encouraged it, my friend didn't want to walk away (he's one of those guys who paid for a ticket, so he's getting his moneys worth.) But I did turn in a complaint about the guy that night and officially through the GenCon channels.
Again, I hate that you and your daughter had a bad time. It makes the hobby look bad. Maybe you can still turn in a complaint? Or for future reference, do what I do. Have a code prepared with whoever you're going to a game with to ask if they want to leave. You're welcome to use mine. It is all leading up to Jeremiah locking himself out of the room. You leave when you check your phone: "Ah man, Jeremiah has locked himself out of the room! We need to let him in."
If you're not feeling a game (or suspect your friend isn't having fun): "Does Jeremiah have a spare key?"
If you get to the point, asking about Jeremiah, where he is locked out - you leave the game. You've gotta help your friend, after all.
(Note: I have used this excuse while Jeremiah himself was sitting at the table.)

 

[MichaelSomething]

Origins Game Fair: Official Discussion Group | Facebook

GAMA Origins Group Rules Welcome to the Origins Game Fair Official Discussion Group! Your moderators are the GAMA Staff and David Havelka (Dedicated...

www.facebook.com

Here's their facebook page from their home page. You can go post your complaints there. Or can I post a link to this topic???

 

[Celebrim]

Origins Game Fair: Official Discussion Group | Facebook

GAMA Origins Group Rules Welcome to the Origins Game Fair Official Discussion Group! Your moderators are the GAMA Staff and David Havelka (Dedicated...

www.facebook.com

Here's their facebook page from their home page. You can go post your complaints there. Or can I post a link to this topic???

I have no interest in starting a fight. If I wanted to start a fight, I would have directly contacted the organizer.

Also, what really is there to say? The event was not to our taste and my daughter was very angry and frustrated by the experience because it wasn't to her taste either?

The GM is in some sense a real gem. I like the GM well enough as a person. I'd be happy to have the GM as a player at my table. I just think that they run a game that isn't as advertised and is so far from traditional play that it probably qualifies as an RPG only because the term itself is vague, and again my daughter found the games to be dull and a complete waste of her time because of her inability to meaningfully participate in such a game - an opinion shared by myself and two other people with me but not everyone. I don't think there is an actual remedy; I just needed to vent my frustration.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I have no interest in starting a fight. If I wanted to start a fight, I would have directly contacted the organizer.

Also, what really is there to say? The event was not to our taste and my daughter was very angry and frustrated by the experience because it wasn't to her taste either?

You can give negative feedback without starting a fight. In order for conventions (or anything for that matter) to provide a good experience for you, they need to know what is working or not working.

As for convention play (note that I'm not using the term organized play), I'm not sure how to reform the process to improve it. Well, without requiring a lot more manpower that conventions are already short of. It's not like someone will volunteer to interview every GM that wants to sign up.

Too bad people can't get an "EnWorld Seal of DMing Quality" certificate to show that they're good. I would totally trust Morrous to set up a process that would gauge how well someone can DM!

 

[Retreater]

Too bad people can't get an "EnWorld Seal of DMing Quality" certificate to show that they're good. I would totally trust Morrous to set up a process that would gauge how well someone can DM!

That gets tricky. In my case, I know I've run games that people have said were among their favorites, and other times they've been duds.
I think of myself as the Little Caesars Hot N Ready of GMs.