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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Melfast" data-source="post: 6315606" data-attributes="member: 17870">Origins - WOTC Presence Underwhelming and DisappointingTo the earlier point on death bells in the Morningstar demo -- I played in the Morningstar demo, and ran a couple of 13th Age sessions just outside the ballroom where WOTC was running their demos and Morningstar was also being demo'd, and there were death bells a plenty when we played and I could hear them while I was running my games. They told you when you started not to get too attached to your character and that if you died you'd be able to roll up a new one in a trice and get back in the game (and the software did make it a quick process).On to my major point -- WOTC's presence at Origins was a major disappointment and looked poorly put together to me. Compared to Gencon last year, they were nearly invisible. I did not see any posters or advertising in the building encouraging you to come try out the game.  The area they were playing almost looked deserted, with none of the things you'd expect from a major game company bringing out their signature product.  Unlike Gencon, there were no castle walls, no large creatures, no merchandise sale area, etc. Really underwhelming. I've been to Origins in years past, and their presence was much larger and more well put together.Mearls and company gave two presentations on Saturday on 5e, and they were just in a corner of the anteroom outside a Ballroom with about 20 chairs set-up in front of a table in a corner.  No DND flash or cool stuff to catch your eye and tell you what was going on.  There was no big push to come hear them, etc. from what I could tell. I was running my games at the time they gave their presentations (though in the same area), so I could not attend. However, I could see them on the other side of the room.  Again -- no big displays, advertising, etc. for what I would think would be a major push to excite people at the second largest gaming convention in the country. At Gencon last year, these kinds of seminars were hyped and very well attended.Pathfinder had multiple ballrooms of packed players, signs, posters, etc.  Shadowrun was everywhere, advertised all over the convention center, and very well attended.  Multiple companies had pushes out for less known games. The gaming on demand room was busy. This tells me that while Origins may have a reputation as a board/tabletop/war gaming convention, there are a lot of RPG gamers there looking for games and DND could have had a huge presence. It seems like a major opportunity to engage with gamers and media, etc. and get us excited to play DND was lost.</blockquote>

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