Origins aftermath

[Bryan Stewart]

I was not able to go, so I am again living vicariously through you. Well how was it? I have heard complaints and compliments, just wondering how your experience was and what all did you pick up?

[Travis Reynolds]

Origins was interesting. All in all I had a good time, which I always do. We taught lots of games to new folks for the three companies we represent at Origins (Eagle/Gryphon, Days of Wonder and Jolly Roger). The vendor hall was packed which is great for Origins. Attendance sounds like it was up. GAMA is doing a great job at restructuring and reorganizing how things work with Origins and with GAMA as a whole. Kudos to John Ward for all he is doing.

Even though attendance was up, it didn't really feel like the game halls were more full or even as full as years past. A large part of that might have to do with a massive rearrangement of things that they did. I had a similar feeling with the vendor hall. It was sold out, but there were some large spaces and things felt kind of 'thin'. I think it was a very good selection of vendors, but maybe the new layout made it feel that way.

The big negative overtone of Origins was the date change. It certainly is not good for me and I had a hard time finding anyone who felt like it was good for them. I understand and respect the need for a change. I do wish they had taken the time to do a survey of attendees BEFORE instead of after the change, but it still makes me a little bitter. Now if I go, I can't take my kids next year. I suspect that they will eventually move it back out to around 2nd week in June, but in the mean time...blah.

All in all, a good convention. Lots of fun.

TR

[Bryan Stewart]

As i can understand the date change is for the next two years and then they go from there. A lot of people are upset about the date change and think that it is going to cause the con to go under or put it in a danger zone.

[MediumSexy]

I only went up for the day on Sunday, so I can't give an account of the entire con. Speaking of which, though. Sundays are generally a good day to hit the dealer room, as the closer it gets to 4pm you can usually wheel and deal for some bargains. On the flip side of this, the more rare the item you're looking for, the less likely it is to still be for sale in the dealer room, lol

From what I've heard, several cons have been getting smaller over the last few years, Wizard World East in Philly and Origins among them.

I'm definitely heading up to Indianapolis for GenCon this year, and *hopefully* I'll be able to drive down to Atlanta for the next Dragon*Con (which I must say is MUCH more fun to visit when you're not playing in a ccg qualifier all day!)

That said, CharCon can't come soon enough. I wasn't able to attend last year, so I've got some making up to do!

[Bryan Stewart]

Yeah Sundays are good days for deals because they don't want to pack up all the stuff lol. I have never been to Dragon*con or Gencon, but i have been to Origins and Charcon...and i cant wait for charcon :)

Speaking of deals and such, were there any premiers at Origins or are they being saved for Gencon?

[Doug James]

I've been holding off posting about it because I wanted time to digest it all. I also don't want to sound negative. Everytime Travis or Nick or Dave asked me how I was enjoying the con, it seemed like I was complaining about something. I HATE being that guy.
Fact is, we understand that our first time was going to have issues and now that we know a lot of the ins and outs as well as the lay of the land, we expect it will only get better.

My overall impression was that it was disorganized and chaotic. I know that's counter to what some people think, but that was our perspective from standing on the ground looking at each piece in turn if never the overall big picture. It was little things like the lady at the RPG HQ table telling us there were no Four E DnD games at the con even though there was an entire ballroom full running all weekend and spending twenty minutes at the info desk while the guy made phone call after phone call trying to find out where and when the costume contest was.

That said, it still went off. I understand very few games were cancelled. The vendor's hall was a huge success. And just about everywhere I looked were gamers having a good time. You can't argue with that.

I'd like to go back next year but i don't know yet if we can. If we do, I know i'll be better prepared by this years experience.

[DharmaOne]

Well this was the best year (for me) so far.

Played games almost non-stop. Saw some new fun titles (bought a few - watching some others). Got to game with some good friends. Everyone I met was super friendly.

Now that I learned where the North Market was, I ate so much better than last year (and felt much better). Though one night we were so into it, we forgot to eat dinner.

A few little things here and there were off. But it went very quickly. And as a true geek, this was my summer vacation, so I made the most of it.

And if Nick's around, ask about Coalie and the Shiner Miner!

-fitz

[johnadkins]

Lissa and I had a great time. We played a ton of games and brought home a car load of new stuff. We even dressed up this year. For a bit more info on all of the great games we played see my posts at http://johnandlissasgamingblog.blogspot.com/.

[Bryan Stewart]

Sorry I haven't replied but I have heard a lot of people complain. My first time i went I suck around with my friends for 75% of the con, so that helped me a lot. Matter of fact my bad experiences mostly happened when I was alone.

I have been to Origins in the past, so here is my two coppers. The bigger the con in my experience, the less the little things are managed. With that said it was a learning experience. I liked the personal touches most of the booths had, I like when booths are staffed by actual company people. I loved visiting the Twilight creations booth because Todd and Kerry Breitenstein staffed the booth so I got autographs and got to play Zombies!!! with them. Don't take it the wrong way I know staff can't be there at all the cons to manage the booths but when they do, they add to it. Then there are the Booth Babes you gotta love the booth babes...ok the best booth babes I have seen were the White Wolf booth babes. Then there was the X-crawl booth babe, she was hot but it was her first con because she started scantly clad and then as the con went on more cloths were put on...I don't think She was expecting the ogling. Then you have Swag (I did not know swag stood for Stuff we all get...well that's what i heard lol) Free dice, bookmarks, posters and so on. Who doesn't love free stuff. Though I heard that this years origins was lite on the swag.

As for food, I mostly ate at Max and Erma's because at the time they had epic chocolate silk pie that went well with a bottle of wine...I think me and friends drank 4 bottles of wine and 2 pies the whole trip. I did eat at subway once and I have a sad/funny story about it...The guy taking my order was blind in one eye. He turned around to grab my bread just as a girl opened the oven door and almost hit him in his good eye. He turned around and our eyes met and we had a moment of realization that he almost lost his good eye. Sad to say I have never eaten at the North Market but I hear great things about it.

[Lou-Dawg]

I had a blast at Origins, but I would have had more fun if Derek had been there...and it had been World Cup time...etc...

It did seem a lot less organized than last year and the Board Room wasn't HALF as good as in the past. Also, our location left much to be desired. The noise was infuriating and the space we were in was too big so foot traffic wasn't as much as last year. We ran some great events but I have to believe that our attendence would have been much higher if we had been over where Game Day 7 was.