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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JiffyPopTart" data-source="post: 3635874" data-attributes="member: 4881">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 CoastGames WorkshopReaperWizkidsGoodman GamesAvalon 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 nowadaysWarhammer 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</blockquote>

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