What was your first gaming convention and what stood out about it?

[kenobi65]

-- Meeting a real-life game designer (the guy who did the original Top Secret game)

That would have been Merle Rasmussen.

 

[grodog]

If you're wondering what Atlanta Fantasy Fair 10, 1984, 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.

I also attended the first DC, Wayne, which was my first trip away from home, far away, on my own: I was there to meet Moorcock for the first time, and it was at that show that I also met Rob Kuntz, starting our long friendship I won the AD&D Team Open (RJK and EGG were running Rob's "To the City of Brass" tourney), but was never able to get my plaque from Ed Kramer

 

[Aesthetic Monk]

That would have been Merle Rasmussen.

Yes, it was. I guess I could've said that because I knew it. Merle was very nice and ran a group of us through a Top Secret/SI game. He also autographed my copy of what I think was an equipment guide for SI that he'd written.

 

[amazingshafeman]

'93 at a little local con at a college in Kalamazoo, MI. The big adventure I remember was set in Thieves' World, and through the luck (or unluck) of the draw, I played the only female in the group. Had to pretend I was just a young boy (easy enough, I was 16), but when our employer ran a brothel and insisted on our meetings being there, things got embarrasing when the working girls took considerable interest in me. Fortunately, the DM was a pretty attractive college girl, so RPing those encounters wasn't too rough at all. I got her phone number and a brand new Ravenloft boxed set out of the deal, but unfortunately, neither item got used more than once.

 

[Mycanid]

For me it was a local convention in Rochester, NY in ... ohh ... 1985? I forget the name. I really enjoyed it, went in costume, played at the tables, etc., etc. I had no bad gaming experiences there at all - lucky I guess. I went with a friend who dressed up as a wizard while I dressed up as a guy off the front cover of the first Thieves' World novel.

Other than that I was at the first GenCon event that took place in Indy. I was in Indy doing other things, and only popped up one evening to go and visit a friend of mine who works for Alderac Entertainment Co. (actually, now that I think of it he no longer works there as of this year, but he still did back then). No time to do actually gaming then.

 

[loki44]

I remember seeing you there...you were the guy in the t-shirt, right?

No, that was me. My first convention was Gen Con 1981 at UW-Parkside. Went every year after that until the second year after it moved to Milwaukee. Never been back since. Drove up from Chicago with about 6 buddies. Stayed in the campground near campus. Somebody mentioned a guy shouting at night...it was pretty raucous. Nothing like gaming around the campfire. Rush, Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult were popular music choices. It's all sort of a blur now. The drinking age in Wisconsin was 18 at the time and nobody ever got carded so we took full advantage of it. The Con itself was a bit of a mess. Long lines and events that didn't start or end on time. We still had a blast. Mostly played D&D, including a TPK in the RPGA event, but I also remember playing Bushido and a game where each of the characters was a Norse deity. I, ahem, played Loki and screwed the rest of the party. Purchased a bunch of miniatures that weren't so easy to find at hobby shops back then.

 

[Zander]

Hello, MM

I think it was somewhere like the Royal Horticultural Hall or somewhere like that in central London.

That would make sense. My first con was Dragonmeet '84 which was part-sponsored by Games Workshop. It was definitely at the Royal Horticultural Society Hall in the Victoria area of central London.

IIRC the entrance was above the show floor (you had to go down a few stairs) so you got a birdseye view of the entire con as you entered. I remember being amazed at the number of people, all of whom knew what an RPG was!

I went to Dragonmeet the following year and bought a Lone Wolf T-shirt that I still have. And yes, after 21 years, it still fits.

 

[The Hound]

My first gaming convention was Simcon III at the University of Rochester. 1980 I think.
The thing that stood out about it is that I only stayed 5 minutes, before I had to leave town. I was only visiting the University, you see, and stumbled upon it while walking through the lobby of a building. But I did grab a program book and some advertising flyers

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

My first gaming convention was MidSouth Con in Memphis, Tennessee... 1990. It SUCKED. I didn't go to another Con until GenCon 2004. It ruined my views of conventions that badly.

 

[Mark]

What was your first gaming convention and what stood out about it?

I believe I was 14 years old in 1977(?) when GenCon included some stuff in Lake Geneva proper and some just outside of town at what later became the Marriot Resort but was, at the time, the Playboy Resort. At that age, I wasn't tall enough to look the Playboy Bunnies in the eye, or so I explained to my father when he repeated cleared his throat, nudged me, and warned me how impolite it was to "stare" at them. Oh, and I think I recall some gaming or something was also happening that weekend.