Origins 2010 Thursday

Origins Report

Thursday June 24, 2010

The following report covers my trip to Columbus and Origins 2010.

Mark and I left Chicago at 7:15 a.m. CST and arrived in Columbus without incident at 2:15 pm EST. Wukas made all the arrangements and we ended up at the Hyatt Regency which is attached to the Columbus Convention Center so for the first time I am experiencing a game convention where I can actually take an elevator up to my room to drop off bags and take a rest before returning to the convention. Nice. Very nice.

Wukas helped run an Aerodrome game at 4 pm so I had time to get my badge and wander the Exhibition Hall, which doesn’t close till 6 pm, a vast improvement over GenCon’s 5 pm limit. I did a quick sweep of the floor and then had to stop at several booths to drop some coin. I’m a little worried that some of what is here will be gone by Saturday, so why wait? I picked up some 3.5 Eberron books and modules for half off, which was a sweet deal. I bought an old box of minis and then picked up some singles at $1-3 apiece. Finally, I picked up some Bela Sara stuff for Rebecca.

I ended up in the gaming area with some time to look through my bag of swag. It was full of some excellent stuff, including a complete Axis and Allies starter set, a Magic deck, and the annual Crystal Caste d6. This is Origins’ 35^th anniversary so there are some cool t-shirts and commemorative pins I may buy tomorrow. I’m also tempted by a convention deal Reaper is running for any 45 paint colors, a carrying case, and a duffel bag for $99, which is a sweet deal. More than half my paints have dried up so I need to replenish and this could be a great way to do it.

Mark and I went back down after dinner and checked out the evening gaming that was going on. This is another new thing for me since I have never had the chance to be at the convention late into the night. There is a TON of gaming going on. Some of the miniature games being run are very cool. I will try to upload some photos along with this post. My iPhone was running low so I didn’t get to take as many pictures as I will tomorrow.

Overall, I have to say that my impression of the second half of Day One was a bit of a letdown. First, there doesn’t seem to be many people here and while that means lots of room to move around, it also means that the energy level on the exhibition floor seems very low. The other letdown is the Exhibition floor itself. I can’t believe how small it is! Granted, there are over a hundred vendors here, but it seems so small compared to GenCon! It is also missing some key companies, such as Wizards, WhizKids, Fantasy Flight Games, Privateer Press, Topps, Paizo, and Alea Tools. There are a few mom and pop resellers but not a lot. Crazy Egor’s is here but his prices seemed high. I did find Pirate packs for $1-2 apiece but haven’t bought any. Maybe the crowds on Friday and Saturday will change this impression.

Tonight, I made my first attempt at converting a 3.5 module to 4E using the Adventure Tools portion of DDI. It went pretty well and I now have all the monsters in a Word file ready to print. Now I need to convert the traps, skill checks, and treasure. Overall, I think the Adventure Tools will allow us to convert things pretty easily.

I want to attend a couple painting seminars if I can. I am also going to the Mayfair Games booth to learn how to play Settlers of Catan. I have not gone to the hall with the RPGA and may try to get in on a 1^st level D&D game they are running throughout the convention. There is also a cool 3.5/4e D&D minis game being run by an independent group called “Monster Mash” that I may try. More soon!