Dak's Origins 2000 Report

DAY 1-I arrived at Origins to see a spectacular blimp guiding me to the greatest convention in all of Ohio.  Being a native I was excited to see what all the hubbub was about as I had never been to the Origins Game Fare before.  I was supposed to meet Clinton Nixon, Prospero from the forums, and Ed Healy, Gaming Outpost buisness man, at 10:00am.  Giving them a call on my cell phone shortly after I arrived, I discovered that they too had just arrived as well.  Perfectly executed.  First time for everything I suppose.  After I met with them we struck out in search of the all-important pressroom.

In the Pressroom I was amazed to find that Sandy Antunes, Larry Nichols, and Paul Butler were already there.  Those three, for those who do not know, are the new curators of RPG.net, and what a tension followed.  That tension burst as Paul suddenly grabbed Ed by the arm and started to twist it around in some maddening rage; grinding his boot into Ed's neck.  "Gaming Outpost sucks!" he screamed.  This was when Clinton grabbed Paul and struck him up in an unbreakable headlock.  It seemed as though Gaming Outpost had won the day until Larry suddenly sprung into action.  He grabbed his chair and started swinging.  Knocking Ed, Clinton, and eventually myself all about the room.  RPG.net had held their secret weapon to a prime point.  I blacked out as Larry started to walk over to the other two Gaming Outpost guys; security was on its way.  My last thought was how was security going to stop this mad man?

When I came to I saw Bill Walton, his wife, and two kids standing over me.  Had I been sleeping?  Everything seemed to be how it was before the fight.  Ed and Clinton seemed unscathed and the towering Larry Nichols was still sitting in the same seat that had wrecked havoc on the room only moments prior to my blacking out.  Had I been sleeping?  1:00 p.m.  That means its time for the exhibitor’s hall to open.  Thoughts of the massive battle fleeting from my mind we struck out in search of John Wick, John Tynes, and Jon Tweet.  What a John filled industry.  Of note however, we did see Jonathan Tweet rediscovering fantasy gaming.  Ah well, we had three more days.

Our first stop was Wizards Attic.  The boo-boo pile, what a concept.  I’ve never seen anyone purchase so much gaming stuff at on time in my life.  The rest of the day was spent talking to the companies who were present.  We ended up talking to Xid Creative (Providence), Hubris Games (Maelstrom), Avalon Hill, and Wizards of the Coast: most notably Jonathan Tweet and Bill Slavicsek.  After setting up an interview with for Saturday with Avalon Hill, I struck out to go find my friend at Alderac Entertainment Group, Les Simpson.  But he was no where to be found either!  Where was everyone?

To the bar: end day one, on the floor at the Red Roof Inn.

Day 2- TIRED.  After sleeping on the floor I awoke to an angry spine.  My shoulders had tried to touch each other as well.  All was sore in my body, but I had to be a trooper.  I began the day with the continental breakfast offered at Red Roof.  What a deal, great orange juice and pastries god would be jealous of.  This time I was off to find Les Simpson.  My entire goal this day was to find Les Simpson.  I know it sounds kind of kooky, but I was originally going to Origins to meet this man in the first place.   It would have been a shame to go there and miss him.  As luck would have it, Les was elsewhere at the moment.  No matter however, as I was curious to play the 7th Sea Card Game, No Quarter.  After dodging Marcello from AEG a few times, he finally had me cornered with a, “would you care to test our games?”  Of course I would I replied, and let me tell you, 7th Sea: No Quarter is a great game.  So is Legend of the Five Rings the Collectable Card Game, which I tested at Wizards booth with a kid who had seen the game played way to many times.  I swear I have seen that kid before.   I went back to AEG’s booth looking for Les yet again, and was denied with the, “This is his day off so he’s taking in the city” excuse.

Discouraged, I went to find Ed and Clinton.  Clinton had an interview with Atlas Games at 2:00 and had to talk with Bill Slavisec, the creator of the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Game, at 12:30 so I was pretty much free for the day.  Then I remembered my Avalon Hill interview the next day and decided to head over there for some research with Ed at my side.  Richard Borg, creator of Battle Cry: A new game from Avalon Hill, provided Ed and I with a great demo of his new game.  He painted up a 25mm version of his game and was doing demos all day long.  I think we were the second batch of the day.  And let me tell you, the game is sweet; from what I hear though, there is a fantasy version of the game in the works. That’s just a rumor though so don’t quote me on that.  You’ll be seeing a review of Battle Cry in about a week or so, I’ll let that explain the game in more depth.

Of course, Ed stomped me in Battle Cry so we went and met up with Clinton after his amazing interview with the head of the Star Wars redesign team Bill Slavisec; you’ll be seeing that later.  Anyway, I finally went back to the Alderac Booth looking for my hero, Les Simpson, and it just so happened that he was there!  It was nice to finally meet the man who’d been helping me learn how to write better after almost a year of talking daily online after work.  We talked a bit of what we thought of the con, made fun of the people swooning the Third Edition Handbook in the bullet proof box, and got our picture taken with Scooby Doo.

Clint and Ed ran a Conspiracy X game while I went to the Origins Awards.  The Awards were very well done however I felt that there was a lack of respect on every game company’s part aside from Chaosium, Alderac Entertainment Group, and Kenzer and CO, and a few other companies.  It seemed that no one showed for what could very well be the first step in a prestigious award ceremony.  I sat by the business head for Avalon Hill, and some guy from Jolly Roger Games.  It was a beautiful Ceremony, with the Anime Room thumping its anime bass right next door.  It started getting really funny toward the end of the ceremony.  And the Award goes to, RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! EXPLOSION!  What a die-hard group we are.
 
At the end of the day we talked about our scheduled game of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition with Jonathan Tweet and played some mad Jenga.  As gamers we came up with some interesting variants while waiting for Ron Edwards to show up from Chicago.  When he arrived he introduced us to a new game of his, Elfs, and let me tell you, it’s a lot of fun.  It seemed however, that the game was cursed.  We played in a bar, and were interrupted so much that before you knew it-last call.  Some woman came up and just kept asking all these goofy questions.  Make me someone!  Make me someone!

People have issues.  Speaking of issues, that night, there was magic in the air. I slept with Ron Edwards!
End Day 2.

Day 3- I had a lot to do this day and was up at the crack of dawn preparing for my talks with Avalon Hill, Patrick Kapera, and Kevin Wilson.  I was all worked up over nothing it seems.    All of the information I needed was contained in the Press Kit I received from Avalon Hill and all I had to do was sit down and talk with the designers of the new Star Wars board game.  While I cannot say a whole lot about what I saw, what I can say is this.

The Game is every major battle at the end of Episode One, or basically when the musical piece “Duel of the Fates” starts to play.  Anakin is in the air fighting the droids, Princess Amidala is fighting in her palace trying to get to the viceroy, the Jedi are fighting Darth Maul, and the Gungan are fighting the droids as well.  It may seem a bit too much but the designers, also the designers of Stratego Legends, did this very well.  The game plays in basic form the same as Battle Cry, Cards tell you what you can do.  After this you roll dice to see if you hit.  Straightforward, to the point, I really like this game.  Look for it in stores everywhere sometime in October.  We also heard rumors of the possibilities of a Battlemasters and a Hero Quest revival.  But I have been hearing that for years.  Axis and Allies Europe was a good success which, in turn, will produce a sequel, Axis and Allies Pacific.  So what would happen if Japan had invaded the U.S.?

This was about where I hit the wall.  I dragged through the 7th Sea GM’s seminar; it was like sitting in class!  I soon perked up again when I was told we were eating dinner with Jonathan Tweet, lead designer for Dungeons and Dragons.  Jonathan Tweet is quite a guy.  To be honest I was expecting a bit of a geek, but he’s really cool!  And the killer part was that he had heard of d20 super stars over at www.gargoyle13.com.   He laughed as we told him of our picture we took of him “rediscovering fantasy gaming.”  And we learned a lot of his regrets with Everway, heard how Over the Edge was made from a game idea he made that was never to be published, and how he enjoys making games for the kids.  After Dinner we went to the Regency Bar, where N’Toth from Babylon 5 was singing about her love life, for a drink or two before retiring.

This was a long day.  My time as a man who does not need sleep has come to an end.  Being old sucks.  End Day 3.

Day 4-This was probably the shortest day.  About the most interesting event was a strange John Wick sighting with a LOT of Traveller books.  Whats up with that John?  We checked out of the hotel, packed up our stuff and gathered stuff for review.  As for the reviews, wait.  The Gaming Outpost play it before you review it policy takes time.