The Origins Rundown
How I spent my time
At the Origins Gaming Convention, I worked for Baldman Games. If you get a chance and love DnD (4e or DnD Next), check them out. Wednesday I was almost late for my first slot. After a frantic drive across Ohio, I made it to the show just in time. I ran Show Special 5-3 Wednesday night. Spec 5-3 and Spec 5-4 are adventures set in the Living Forgotten Realms (LFR). LFR is an awesome living campaign that features a large catalogue of free adventures set in the faerun. Afterwards, I went and met my roommates and passed out. Thursday, I ran Special 5-3 at 8am. In between slots, I ran as fast as I could to the con floor to get the most exclusive item of the con: the Shadowrun 5e rules! I was able to get there in time and get my books signed! At 1pm and 7pm, I ran a new adventure, Show Special 5-4. The next day, I ran Spec 5-4 at 8am and 1pm. That night I ran Living Divine Intro 1-7. Living Divine is another 4th edition living game. In this game, players take the role of goddlings who are discovering their power. Check out the games here. Saturday, at 8AM I was back to playing LFR with SPEC 5-4. That afternoon and evening, I ran my first battle interactive. For those who have never played in a living campaign, a battle interactive (BI) is when several tables are all playing concurrently on a joint adventure where they can interact with one another. Holy Cow, that was the most fun and stressful time I have ever had while DMing. We stated at 1PM and went till 12AM with an hour break. If you get a chance, try a BI. Its a great feeling of community when everybody is working together at a hobby they all love. Sunday, I was off! Great working for Baldman Games, but I wanted to spend a bit of time seeing the sites. First things first, win a con exclusive for my brother at Kings of Tokyo. With that done, I headed off to the sales floor. Here I spent way to much money and talked to a bunch of different companies. Great to see so many high ups at the con. I learned a bunch of information about the con and had a ton of fun seeing how the business works. I had a blast, but eventually had to head home. I can’t wait till next year.
My thoughts on all the companies I met along the way
Wizards of the Coast and Paizo
The big two! Its kind of sad, but neither had a sizable presence in the dealer hall. Both had their wares on display as local dealers sold both stuff, but I like to see high ups in the company. Next year be here! You being here is 10 times better than having your grunts like me run your living games. It makes me think you care if you talk to me at the smaller of the big cons.
Catalyst Games
These guys won Origins. Hands down. Why? Well they got the most of my money. They released a small print run, only for Origins, of the new 5e rules. Heck, the guy who sold me my copy was the guy who wrote the damn book! Seeing a big company have that much interaction with the fans; you win. That’s it. I plan to run more of your living game (Shadowrun Missions), especially because the guy who sold me the adventure book for Shadowrun Missions 5th edition wrote the book and worked the register. I also met Talon the Catalyst booth guy and gave him some crap as I bought at T-Shirt. He took it in stride and that kind of fun always makes me like a company.
Rather Dashing
I was about to write these guys off, but they made me love them so much harder. I joined their kickstarter and was waiting for my game copy in the mail. I saw them selling copies in the dealer hall and had not received my copy yet. I was about to start some serious crap in the dealer hall, but when I mentioned I kickstarted the game they asked to see proof. I showed them my phone and they gave me a copy. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. That made me love them. No run around, no emailing, done! I talked about the steampunk motif of things and they told me about an upcoming novel. So here’s the deal Rather Dashing, you kickstart that, you get my money. You make an RPG in that world you’re making, you get more. Great guys, heads of the company shilling their stuff. Win all around!
Albino Dragon
Here is the first small company I want to highlight. These guys were great. Cash Only, but great. They were marking down items on the last day of the show and that drew me in. I bought a T-shirt and Cthulhu playing cards from them. Then they told me about some of the games they have previously made. They offered a deal on Ace of Spies and Genegrafter. I bought them right away. I can’t wait to check them out.
Z-Man Games
Here I got to meet Zev Shlasinger head of the company. Remember what I said about meeting company heads and me buying things? I recently heard about Dungeon Petz and I wanted to buy a Vlaada Chvatil game. They had it and they were marking things off. Done and done. Can’t wait to play it.
Stronghold Games
Here I got to meet Stephen Buonocore. More company heads! I wanted to buy CO2, but they were out. I will have to wait till later!
Iello Games
Great games from these guys. My brother LOVES Kings of Tokyo. Took me 5 times, but I won the con exclusive standie for the game. Great game. Looking for more and will buy the expansion for his birthday.
Ubisoft
Well this is new. They guys had a online card game. I’m somewhat conflicted on what I think about this. Its called Duel of Champions. They gave away cards with in game gold. I’ll give it a shot.
Gamelyn Games
I met Michael Coe. He’s the founder of the company of the company and he sold me a copy of Dungeon Heroes. Its a simple dungeon crawler. I can’t wait to play it. Good times.
And that was my con. Looking forward to seeing the games I bought and can’t wait to play the RPGs.
Throat Punch Games 