What was your first gaming convention and what stood out about it?
- Thread starter Glyfair
- Start date
Philotomy Jurament
First Post
Archon in St. Louis, some time in the mid-eighties. I got in trouble for carrying a crossbow as part of my costume (it was a home-made one fashioned of wood, with a steel bow, but wasn't strung).
I went to Games Fair 91' in Reading, England.
I was a soldier in Germany and decided "what the hell" and flew to GB, then took a train to Reading. Me and a fellow G.I. were the only two American's out of a couple of hundred. I met life long friends with two couples of the Brits' and have a standing invitation to visit them anytime I like.
The people were the best and nicest group of gamers I've ever played with. Their was a pub right at the con (it was at Reading University) and they kept buying me beer after beer. What great memories!
I got great swag too!!! I still have it.
I was a soldier in Germany and decided "what the hell" and flew to GB, then took a train to Reading. Me and a fellow G.I. were the only two American's out of a couple of hundred. I met life long friends with two couples of the Brits' and have a standing invitation to visit them anytime I like.
The people were the best and nicest group of gamers I've ever played with. Their was a pub right at the con (it was at Reading University) and they kept buying me beer after beer. What great memories!
I got great swag too!!! I still have it.
My first was Arcanacon, some time in the early 80s. I don't think it was Arcanacon I. It must ahve been Arcanacon II, in 1984.
I remember discovering that in Melbourne hamburgers come without onion or beetroot, unless you order them as an extra. (Jeez I was poor back then!). I remember that a heel broke off one of my boots as I was running down the stairs into an underground railway station, and the overcoat I was wearing meant that I couldn't move my arms to break my fall, so that I tumbled downthe stairs. I remember that I went in a 'Cosmic Encounter' tournament and won it though i had not played the game before.
I remember discovering that in Melbourne hamburgers come without onion or beetroot, unless you order them as an extra. (Jeez I was poor back then!). I remember that a heel broke off one of my boots as I was running down the stairs into an underground railway station, and the overcoat I was wearing meant that I couldn't move my arms to break my fall, so that I tumbled downthe stairs. I remember that I went in a 'Cosmic Encounter' tournament and won it though i had not played the game before.
glass
(he, him)
Continuum 2004 was my first and (so far) only Con. What struck me was how friendly everyone was, and how high the male-to-female ratio was, and that I was the only person wearing a football shirt!
Continuum 2006 in a couple of months will be my second.
I'd love to go to GenCon one day, but the price of transatlantic tickets mean that day will only come when I rather richer than I am now. I could go to the UK version, but it's still pretty expensive and I don't really fancy challets in November! :\
glass.
Continuum 2006 in a couple of months will be my second.
I'd love to go to GenCon one day, but the price of transatlantic tickets mean that day will only come when I rather richer than I am now. I could go to the UK version, but it's still pretty expensive and I don't really fancy challets in November! :\
glass.
Eridanis
Bard 7/Mod (ret) 10/Mgr 3
Some great stories here in this thread.
My first con was one that I actually helped organize (in partnership with the FLGS) while in high school in Carmel, NY; had to have been around 1987 or 88. I continued the trend by organizing Magic and D&D gaming days while working at Waldenbooks in Wayne, NJ from 1990 to 1993. I remember that one of the attendees had connections in the RPGA, so we were able to run RPGA modules for the AD&D con we held in 1993. Very fun!
First real con would have been the one run over Labor Day weekend in San Francisco (don't remember the name) in 1998. Staying up till all hours playing games - priceless!
First GenCon was 2000. We were moving back to Chicago from San Francisco, and I made abso-damn-lutely sure that we had a three-day layover in Milwaukee so I could attend my first GenCon and get my hands on the 3rd edition PHB. One of the best weekends of my life, for lots of reasons.
My first con was one that I actually helped organize (in partnership with the FLGS) while in high school in Carmel, NY; had to have been around 1987 or 88. I continued the trend by organizing Magic and D&D gaming days while working at Waldenbooks in Wayne, NJ from 1990 to 1993. I remember that one of the attendees had connections in the RPGA, so we were able to run RPGA modules for the AD&D con we held in 1993. Very fun!
First real con would have been the one run over Labor Day weekend in San Francisco (don't remember the name) in 1998. Staying up till all hours playing games - priceless!
First GenCon was 2000. We were moving back to Chicago from San Francisco, and I made abso-damn-lutely sure that we had a three-day layover in Milwaukee so I could attend my first GenCon and get my hands on the 3rd edition PHB. One of the best weekends of my life, for lots of reasons.
jcfiala
Explorer
Hmm. I think I'd have to say Origins, about 1986, I think. This would have been at the Baltimore Convention Center, and I remember having a blast. I bought what I think was 2nd edition GURPS, played a game of D&D (or something) where I got a glow in the dark d20, and played a hilarious game of Toon where I think I played a robot. We were trying to put on a convention, and put the convention building on a parking lot with meters so we'd have underground parking. 
It was a lot of fun.
It was a lot of fun.
Aesthetic Monk
Explorer
My first and so far only con was Omacon (sp?) in Omaha around 1989. I couldn't convince anyone to road-trip to GenCon, so we went to Omaha instead. We made that trip a few times. Most of my memories of those cons blend together and are hard to parse out, so I'll just throw a few out there and they're "close enough" to being "first":
-- Staying 6 guys to a room in the Holiday Inn and pretending there were only 2 of us
-- Meeting a real-life game designer (the guy who did the original Top Secret game)
-- Running my first (and only) adventure for a con, "Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, Bat-Clone!" for 2nd ed. Paranoia (about when the Keaton/Burton movie came out) and not finishing the dern thing (too much extracurriculur killing of party members for "sanitary" reasons)
-- Having my first serious exposure to alcohol (I was a late bloomer)
-- Joking with my friends about "stealing whatever we could find," then realizing one of our group thought we were serious and swiped some businessman's briefcase (not a good memory, that--it got returned)
-- Realizing everyone else had bought food to bring with them and I really hadn't
-- Too many hours in the movie room
-- Playing mini golf and video games in the Holidome (tm)
-- Failing to advance in a tournament because my paladin hadn't gone right after something clearly evil (my first real exposure to other people's play styles)
-- Staying 6 guys to a room in the Holiday Inn and pretending there were only 2 of us
-- Meeting a real-life game designer (the guy who did the original Top Secret game)
-- Running my first (and only) adventure for a con, "Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, Bat-Clone!" for 2nd ed. Paranoia (about when the Keaton/Burton movie came out) and not finishing the dern thing (too much extracurriculur killing of party members for "sanitary" reasons)
-- Having my first serious exposure to alcohol (I was a late bloomer)
-- Joking with my friends about "stealing whatever we could find," then realizing one of our group thought we were serious and swiped some businessman's briefcase (not a good memory, that--it got returned)
-- Realizing everyone else had bought food to bring with them and I really hadn't
-- Too many hours in the movie room
-- Playing mini golf and video games in the Holidome (tm)
-- Failing to advance in a tournament because my paladin hadn't gone right after something clearly evil (my first real exposure to other people's play styles)
WayneLigon
Adventurer
Atlanta Fantasy Fair 10, 1984, at the Omni hotel. GOH was Larry Niven. This had a lot of memorable events. My first time driving outside my home town, the first time I ever stayed in a large hotel like the Omni, the first time I ever saw a science fiction writer and heard them speak about their craft, the first time I ever saw anime, etc. I forget if I actually played any games there. My first peice of Con Swag was a Buckaroo Banzai headband, which I still have.
If you're wondering what this con was, it is no more as far as I know. By, oh, 1995 or so it had been pushed out of the running by Dragon*Con and was banished to the Perimeter, where it died not long after. I went to the first Dragon*Con when it was a little bitty thing and was held in October. (That was a memorable Con because we got turned around and missed a turn-off or something, sending us down Techwood after dark). That was a much more enjoyable trip than what DC has morphed into.
If you're wondering what this con was, it is no more as far as I know. By, oh, 1995 or so it had been pushed out of the running by Dragon*Con and was banished to the Perimeter, where it died not long after. I went to the first Dragon*Con when it was a little bitty thing and was held in October. (That was a memorable Con because we got turned around and missed a turn-off or something, sending us down Techwood after dark). That was a much more enjoyable trip than what DC has morphed into.
MonsterMash
First Post
Games Day 1977, when Games Workshop were still a power for good. It had a lot of different stuff, e.g. RPG, Tabletop Wargames, trade stands and I think it was somewhere like the Royal Horticultural Hall or somewhere like that in central London.
Don't remember it too well as it is 29 years ago. What strikes me is that for once I've managed to do something before Diaglo and the other grognards.
Don't remember it too well as it is 29 years ago. What strikes me is that for once I've managed to do something before Diaglo and the other grognards.
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