Is Origins going downhill?
- Thread starter Glyfair
- Start date
JiffyPopTart
Bree-Yark
I was actually going to start my own thread with my Origins review, but I saw this one so I will go ahead and post my review here.
To start off...a little background. I have stayed for the full length of Origins 3 times in the past 97-2000ish timeframe, and then just drove up for a day a couple times after that. This was the first time I went back in about 5 years. I stayed the whole time (even got my badge WED night to avoid crowds).
THE GOOD
----------
Mayfair - Went out of their way to get people to try a variety of games by giving out swag for collecting all 5 Catan ribbons by playing different styles of things. Had their own hall with plenty of games ready to play and plenty more behind the counter to grab if you wanted to demo them (we wanted to try Cities and Knights of Catan - I liked the cities but hated the knights).
Paizo - The most incredibly nice batch of employees ever. I wish I could work there! Ran a little timed 15 minute dungeon crawl, as well as some couple-hour intros to the pathfinder adventures. The one we did was pretty fun and the GM (Greg Vaughan) was awesome. They were pretty good about giving out some swag with purchases.
Dorkness Rising - Saw a screening of it, and I had never seen The Gamers yet. If you like your humor DnD flavored, it will be a must-see. I watched The Gamers afterwards (friend bought it for me as a gift) and it was nowhere near as funny. Definately keep an eye out for it.
Gamers - Excepting 3 people (see THE BAD later) everyone I ran across was pretty darn cool. People were friendly, non-smelly (it IS a gamer con), and good sports.
Whoever ran the "beat up your friends with foam covered swords and shields" - My daughter REALLY wanted to try to beat me up so I took her and my wife at the same time in mortal hand to hand combat. I won best out of 3! They didn't want any money for their time and equipment and were patient with younguns.
Whoever it was that hand crafted a custom "Vicelords of Catizzle" game - It was pretty darn funny, and you got a Mayfair ribbon AND a d4 just for playing!
THE NEUTRAL
--------------
The Game Auction - This year they had an auction store as well as the auction proper. I was able to purchase about 50 old Dragon magazines for 5 bucks on Saturday. The auction itself, however, was pretty sparse compared to past years I had been there. Also, most of the items seemed to have starting bids of $5 instead of the previous $1 so you couldn't pick up some junk to sit on your shelf nearly as easy as in the past. I didn't see anything I wanted at all at any point during the auction proper (at least that I could afford. I wanted the complete set of Talisman but it ended up going for $500!)
The Hotel - Stayed at the Crown Plaza. Rooms have doubled in price since the last time I stayed. Instead of a 2nd bed I had to sleep on a pull-out sofabed. Nice location but EXPENSIVE (our hotel bill including parking was $1000 for 4 nights. I paid a third of it.
The Food Court - We used to refer to this as "Best Food Court Of All Time" as it used to have several places stay open 24/7 during the con. Now it has half the choices and most places closed down early (early for a gamer con). Prices were actually pretty decent.
The Administration - I had no problems with my pre-ordered badge. Painless checking in process. Signing up for individual games, however, was a PITA. We didn't pre-register for any games since we didn't have a pre-reg book in the mail (despite being told it was on its way twice) but we were able to get into every even we tried without problems at the con.
THE BAD
--------------------
The following game companies were NOT in attendance...and should have been...
Wizards of the Coast
Games Workshop
Reaper
Wizkids
Goodman Games
Avalon Hill (Yes I know they are tied with Hasbro along with WotC, but they have different audiences)
West End Games (Gotta get out there if you want to reclimb that mountain)
Whoever publishes Warhammer Fantasy RPG nowadays
Warhammer Fantasy RPG - Just a special shout out to the rediculousness of me not being able to find this for purchase ANYWHERE at the entire con. People had all kinds of supplements for sale but NOBODY had the main rulebook (at least not that I could find the 12 times I went around the dealer floor).
RPGA - This was the bottom point of the con for us. I signed up for ONE game with my friends. We played the worst game of DnD I have taken part in in my entire life. It was supposed to be for 4th level characters, but seemed balanced for 7th or 8th level ones. The other 3 people at the table I played with were the worst role-players I have ever had the misfortune to game with. The subject matter of the adventure (called What Rough Beast I believe) was a giant "Ha Ha, its a gay joke!". HORRENDOUS. Adding to the miserableness was the fact that the hall was WAY TOO SMALL for all the DnD games going on, and I had to sit forward the entire 4 hours to barely hear my GM, as well as the fact they actually charged me .75 to get a quick play character to play in the game I had already paid $4.50 to play. GAH!
So, to sum up. My personal experience is that Origins IS going downhill. I don't know why I would want to spend my money at Origins the next time I go to a con instead of going to Gen Con, assuming I have to pick one.
DS
To start off...a little background. I have stayed for the full length of Origins 3 times in the past 97-2000ish timeframe, and then just drove up for a day a couple times after that. This was the first time I went back in about 5 years. I stayed the whole time (even got my badge WED night to avoid crowds).
THE GOOD
----------
Mayfair - Went out of their way to get people to try a variety of games by giving out swag for collecting all 5 Catan ribbons by playing different styles of things. Had their own hall with plenty of games ready to play and plenty more behind the counter to grab if you wanted to demo them (we wanted to try Cities and Knights of Catan - I liked the cities but hated the knights).
Paizo - The most incredibly nice batch of employees ever. I wish I could work there! Ran a little timed 15 minute dungeon crawl, as well as some couple-hour intros to the pathfinder adventures. The one we did was pretty fun and the GM (Greg Vaughan) was awesome. They were pretty good about giving out some swag with purchases.
Dorkness Rising - Saw a screening of it, and I had never seen The Gamers yet. If you like your humor DnD flavored, it will be a must-see. I watched The Gamers afterwards (friend bought it for me as a gift) and it was nowhere near as funny. Definately keep an eye out for it.
Gamers - Excepting 3 people (see THE BAD later) everyone I ran across was pretty darn cool. People were friendly, non-smelly (it IS a gamer con), and good sports.
Whoever ran the "beat up your friends with foam covered swords and shields" - My daughter REALLY wanted to try to beat me up so I took her and my wife at the same time in mortal hand to hand combat. I won best out of 3! They didn't want any money for their time and equipment and were patient with younguns.
Whoever it was that hand crafted a custom "Vicelords of Catizzle" game - It was pretty darn funny, and you got a Mayfair ribbon AND a d4 just for playing!
THE NEUTRAL
--------------
The Game Auction - This year they had an auction store as well as the auction proper. I was able to purchase about 50 old Dragon magazines for 5 bucks on Saturday. The auction itself, however, was pretty sparse compared to past years I had been there. Also, most of the items seemed to have starting bids of $5 instead of the previous $1 so you couldn't pick up some junk to sit on your shelf nearly as easy as in the past. I didn't see anything I wanted at all at any point during the auction proper (at least that I could afford. I wanted the complete set of Talisman but it ended up going for $500!)
The Hotel - Stayed at the Crown Plaza. Rooms have doubled in price since the last time I stayed. Instead of a 2nd bed I had to sleep on a pull-out sofabed. Nice location but EXPENSIVE (our hotel bill including parking was $1000 for 4 nights. I paid a third of it.
The Food Court - We used to refer to this as "Best Food Court Of All Time" as it used to have several places stay open 24/7 during the con. Now it has half the choices and most places closed down early (early for a gamer con). Prices were actually pretty decent.
The Administration - I had no problems with my pre-ordered badge. Painless checking in process. Signing up for individual games, however, was a PITA. We didn't pre-register for any games since we didn't have a pre-reg book in the mail (despite being told it was on its way twice) but we were able to get into every even we tried without problems at the con.
THE BAD
--------------------
The following game companies were NOT in attendance...and should have been...
Wizards of the Coast
Games Workshop
Reaper
Wizkids
Goodman Games
Avalon Hill (Yes I know they are tied with Hasbro along with WotC, but they have different audiences)
West End Games (Gotta get out there if you want to reclimb that mountain)
Whoever publishes Warhammer Fantasy RPG nowadays
Warhammer Fantasy RPG - Just a special shout out to the rediculousness of me not being able to find this for purchase ANYWHERE at the entire con. People had all kinds of supplements for sale but NOBODY had the main rulebook (at least not that I could find the 12 times I went around the dealer floor).
RPGA - This was the bottom point of the con for us. I signed up for ONE game with my friends. We played the worst game of DnD I have taken part in in my entire life. It was supposed to be for 4th level characters, but seemed balanced for 7th or 8th level ones. The other 3 people at the table I played with were the worst role-players I have ever had the misfortune to game with. The subject matter of the adventure (called What Rough Beast I believe) was a giant "Ha Ha, its a gay joke!". HORRENDOUS. Adding to the miserableness was the fact that the hall was WAY TOO SMALL for all the DnD games going on, and I had to sit forward the entire 4 hours to barely hear my GM, as well as the fact they actually charged me .75 to get a quick play character to play in the game I had already paid $4.50 to play. GAH!
So, to sum up. My personal experience is that Origins IS going downhill. I don't know why I would want to spend my money at Origins the next time I go to a con instead of going to Gen Con, assuming I have to pick one.
DS
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Toben the Many
First Post
I'm surprised to hear that Origins is going downhill. The reports from the roleplaying sector said their numbers actually were up from last year, which was a good year for Origins as well.
But that's only one aspect of gaming in general. Yeah, having it right up against the 4th of July was poor scheduling choice.
But that's only one aspect of gaming in general. Yeah, having it right up against the 4th of July was poor scheduling choice.
FATDRAGONGAMES
First Post
Having it in early June might help, but only five weeks from Gen Con is just way to close.
Jolly_Blackburn
First Post
I posted elsewhere that I thought Origins Rocked. I've been going for over 17 years.
In my opinion it simply grows/contracts as the gaming industry undergoes the same changes.
For me those are headaches/problems that are dealt with behind the curtain.
As long as sales are strong in the exhibitor hall (and they were) and the gaming and events are good (and they were -- at least from what I saw) it's all good.
I'm sure GAMA would have liked a stronger attendance. But the show was awesome all the same.
KenzerCo will certainly be there next year. I know we don't have as far to travel as some companies (about a six hour drive) but it's definitely worth our time to turn out.
I know fewer exhibitors in the dealer's room is a bummer for attendees. But for exhibitors? It's give and take. Less competition for gamer dollars certainly made for some great sales at many booths.
I heard a rumor Origins is thinking of not charging to let folks into the dealer hall next year (no badges). No idea if it's true. And there was an open bar at the party I heard it at.
But personally I think it's an awesome idea.
In my opinion it simply grows/contracts as the gaming industry undergoes the same changes.
For me those are headaches/problems that are dealt with behind the curtain.
As long as sales are strong in the exhibitor hall (and they were) and the gaming and events are good (and they were -- at least from what I saw) it's all good.
I'm sure GAMA would have liked a stronger attendance. But the show was awesome all the same.
KenzerCo will certainly be there next year. I know we don't have as far to travel as some companies (about a six hour drive) but it's definitely worth our time to turn out.
I know fewer exhibitors in the dealer's room is a bummer for attendees. But for exhibitors? It's give and take. Less competition for gamer dollars certainly made for some great sales at many booths.
I heard a rumor Origins is thinking of not charging to let folks into the dealer hall next year (no badges). No idea if it's true. And there was an open bar at the party I heard it at.
But personally I think it's an awesome idea.
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Crothian
First Post
Jolly_Blackburn said:
You guys had a great booth this year. It was not too big but had a look of being spread out and not over crowded with stuff like for instance the Steve Jackson booth always is. You have friendly people and I always end up talking to someone about your games there.
I had a great time. I had pretty much avoided D&D games at past Cons, as they tend to be RPGA-heavy, and played instead M&M, GURPS and a half-dozen other systems. This time I bit the bullet and signed up for four RPGA games (Xendrik Expeditions), as well as four or five other random games, and had a *far* better time than I expected, since I've heard all sorts of horror stories about the RPGA, which didn't seem to apply this time, at least.
I was in the same adventure that got mentioned above, and my roommate got into a second group running the same mission (as our characters ended up duplicating other characters in the respective groups, so we split up). He, an inveterate RPGA-hater from the old, old days, had a great time and enjoyed regaling me with tales of how his group dealt with the adventure. Our group did pretty well, and had some cool players, except for one single player who insisted on messing up every encounter, and got us TPK'd in the end. Listening to my roommate talk about how his group breezed through it and had a great time roleplaying their utter lack of morals, I realized that the adventure itself wasn't a problem, just the single PC that had spent every encounter trying to get us killed, and finally succeeded.
The other three XE games I played all moved along well, and I had fun in all of them. Heirodule, a few posts up, was in one of the games I was in, and was an awesome player. It was a pleasure gaming with the Gnoll that I called 'Boot-of-Anger,' because I couldn't pronounce his name. (Ungavengr?)
It's my third Origins, and I like the Con better than GenCon. The convention center is nicely laid out, the people are very friendly and I had a lot of fun and got to hang out with and / or game with some cool people (including Jack Emmert, designer of City of Heroes, who showed up as a player in an M&M game I signed up for). We had stuff signed by Steve Jackson, Steve Kenson and some other people I don't remember...
That's probably my only complaint. Not enough hours in the day! I gamed from 8 am to midnight, and squeezed Dungeon Delves into the odd hours between games. I barely remember what my hotel room looked like... My roommate even got us invited to some 'midnight madness' game with the GMs of some of the RPGA games, but sanity prevailed and we chose to get a few hours of sleep each night.
There were, as always, games I didn't end up enjoying, and systems that I walked away thinking, 'Never again.' But that's my favorite thing about Cons, exploring new systems that I would otherwise have to spend $100 buying books to determine if I like or not. It's hardly Origins (or GenCons) fault if I end up not caring for System X.
I was in the same adventure that got mentioned above, and my roommate got into a second group running the same mission (as our characters ended up duplicating other characters in the respective groups, so we split up). He, an inveterate RPGA-hater from the old, old days, had a great time and enjoyed regaling me with tales of how his group dealt with the adventure. Our group did pretty well, and had some cool players, except for one single player who insisted on messing up every encounter, and got us TPK'd in the end. Listening to my roommate talk about how his group breezed through it and had a great time roleplaying their utter lack of morals, I realized that the adventure itself wasn't a problem, just the single PC that had spent every encounter trying to get us killed, and finally succeeded.
The other three XE games I played all moved along well, and I had fun in all of them. Heirodule, a few posts up, was in one of the games I was in, and was an awesome player. It was a pleasure gaming with the Gnoll that I called 'Boot-of-Anger,' because I couldn't pronounce his name. (Ungavengr?)
It's my third Origins, and I like the Con better than GenCon. The convention center is nicely laid out, the people are very friendly and I had a lot of fun and got to hang out with and / or game with some cool people (including Jack Emmert, designer of City of Heroes, who showed up as a player in an M&M game I signed up for). We had stuff signed by Steve Jackson, Steve Kenson and some other people I don't remember...
That's probably my only complaint. Not enough hours in the day! I gamed from 8 am to midnight, and squeezed Dungeon Delves into the odd hours between games. I barely remember what my hotel room looked like... My roommate even got us invited to some 'midnight madness' game with the GMs of some of the RPGA games, but sanity prevailed and we chose to get a few hours of sleep each night.
There were, as always, games I didn't end up enjoying, and systems that I walked away thinking, 'Never again.' But that's my favorite thing about Cons, exploring new systems that I would otherwise have to spend $100 buying books to determine if I like or not. It's hardly Origins (or GenCons) fault if I end up not caring for System X.
Jolly_Blackburn
First Post
Crothian said:
Thanks for that.
Mark Plemmons is the genius behind the layout this year. He came up with some different ways of making back product available without having it spread out everywhere. Worked out nice.
We genuinely had a great time. Usually at the end of a show we're crawling. But this year I was a bit sad packing things up.
Speaking of Steve Jackson it was nice seeing him running demos near his booth. I sure this is a normal thing but like most dealers I don't get away from the booth nearly enough during hall hours.
I think that's what I like most about Origins. Everyone is really accessible.
I had lunch on Sunday with Matt Forbeck, Larry Elmore and Rick Loomis.
At the SAME table.
The fanboy in me could be contained.
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