In early June my family and I attended Origins (a gaming convention in Ohio). This was our second year going. It would have been our third time, but we had the teen rpg club scheduled the same day. The first year we were there we got the one day Family pass ($15 for the whole family). We went with some other members of our gaming group. Being experienced gamers and con veterans they took us under their wings and showed us around.
My brother and I were like kids in a candy store “ooh, ahh” “what’s this” “that’s so cool”. For our mother though, well, let’s just say she was out of her element. She was very wary of what to expect. Now that I think back on it we really didn’t do much. We just looked through the vendor hall (didn’t buy anything), went around to the booths to get free little trinkets with our coupons, ate, painted minis, and gave good wishes to our friends before they entered the Larp Dungeon. You know what though, it was still flippin awesome. It’s the experience that counts.
This year I got a normal one day pass ($20 per person) which is a step up from last year. With this you have more access to events etc. We stood in the line for the onsite registration, which was not too bad, but we did have to wait a while. After the registration process we ventured into the vendor hall. For some reason it looked like there were less booths then there were last time. Apparently there were some other cons going on at the same time, so that might have been a factor.
I got myself some board games, board game expansion, and an rpg. Tiny Epic Kingdoms is a small, quick 4x game. Alhambra is a card (money) management and tile placement game. Then I got an expansion for Carcassonne (tile placement) Builders and traders. Did you know that my love for board games came from my interest of rpg’s. I had played uno, sorry, life, etc when I was a kid, but that’s all I thought there was to board games. One day I was looking online for rpgs and found some videos of board games that I had never heard of. I was unaware that there was a whole world of board gaming. Don’t you just love the gaming hobby, rpg’s, board games, card games etc. I’m so glad to be a part of it.
I got the Golden Sky Stories rpg, it’s a Japanese anime/manga themed game. It’s very light hearted and story driven. In this game you are an animal who can take on the form of a human. You go into town and help out the humans with their everyday problems etc. I had seen this on kickstarter a year or so ago and thought that this was something I wanted to get. I love anime and manga and then you go and combine it with my love of rpg’s, you can bet that I’ll be all over that. The thing was I didn’t plan on buying it. I looked at it and was amazed at all its glory . . . . Then I put it back and left . . . . Then the guilt started to sink in. (slaps face twice) “what the heck are you doing Dez? You can’t leave that book of awesomeness. You know you want it, how long are you going to wait. Just buy it already!” So I did and I am so glad that it’s in my collection. I am super pumped to read it and play/run it. I will be doing a review of it in the future.
There were some people I wanted to meet at the convention. One person being Evan Jeshka, you might recognize that name. She has submitted some articles for RPG Knights. Evan happened to be there the same day I was, but unfortunately I didn’t see her. Another person I really would have liked to have met is Tiffany from TheOneTAR (YouTube channel). She does board game review videos and I always enjoy watching them. There is one person that I can check off my list of celebrities. That would be Mr. Rodney Smith from Watch It Played. I spotted him through the crowd and I was like “OMG its Rodney Smith” So I went up to him and shook his hand. We talked for a little bit then I thanked him for everything he does on his channel and that I enjoy watching it. If only I had gotten a picture with him, oh well maybe next time, ha ha!
Then we decided to go do some free play. We went over to the Rio Grande Room and sat down and played some of their titles. First we played Airlines Europe which is a game where you all are investing in different airline stock. The more you build up the airline the more points you get. The person with the most points at the end of the game wins. My mother was the winner of that game. When that game ended it was around 8pm and my mother wanted to go home, but I persuaded her to stay a little bit longer. There was another board game that I really wanted to try out and that was Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre (the five villages) is a pick up and deliver game. In it you’re farmers who harvest different produce and then you go around and sell them to the five villages. You get points for completing orders. The person with the most points wins. My brother was the victor of that game.
Ah so many memories and I had such a great time, totally better than last we went. I can’t wait till next year, Origins 2016 to come. Next Year I will do preregistration so I don’t have to wait in any lines and sign up for some events. I really want to play some rpg’s and some board games, meet new people in the community. I would also like to sometime go there for more than just one day, and then I can experience more things. I also thought about maybe volunteering and helping them out at the con. Another thing I thought about is getting a GM badge and running some games. I run games for teens and for my own gaming group, but I want to test my skills as a GM to a variety of people and see how far I’ve come. That way I can get some feedback on things I’m good at and things I need to work on some more. When summer comes back around and you’re in the US and want to check out a gaming convention, I recommend Origins. And if you did happen to go to Origins this year let me know what all you did and all your interesting stories and memories you made that week.