Post-Origins Game Fair Thoughts
An old school report on my thoughts on Origins Game Fair.
One of my friends does this thing where after going to a convention, he does a whole write-up of his thoughts on how it went. Having just been to Origins Game Fair for the first time, I thought I’d borrow the idea.
Highlight: Hanging out with a friend I hadn’t seen in over 13 years.
Low light: Waiting 15 minutes for an event that didn’t fire and no one knew what was going on.
Best bargain (had to buy, no freebies): A set of full size metal dice for under $50.
Best freebie: Jon the bard fig for Wander or Shadowrun GM screen.
Most welcome surprise: How beautiful Columbus is and getting to see the Jim Henson exhibit.
Most unwelcome surprise: The exhibit hall not opening until Thursday. If we had realized, we would’ve scheduled more events to do on Wednesday.
Best game: Shovel Knights, it got my non-board game friend to want to fund the Kickstarter when it hits.
Most interesting game: Shovel Knights, the guys at Panda Cult Games managed to make a side scroller board game that feels like the video game.
Sleeper game: Tea Dragon Society, it’s a really cute, chill deck builder that is perfect for teaching kids how to play a deck builder.
Strangest moment: Actually gaming at a convention. Most of my time at previous conventions was spent in the Writer Symposium. But because events didn’t sell out super quick, I was able to game with my husband and friends.
Games played: Shadowrun, Oceans, Shovel Knights, Tea Dragon Society, Battle Tech, and Call of Cthulhu.
Bought: Wander: the Cult of Barnacle Bay (note to self: don’t purchase the 9 pound game first thing in the morning because you have to lug it around all day), Tea Dragon Society, Borderlands Tiny Tina’s Robot Party, Tiny Epic Quest, and a crap ton of dice.
Things to pick up after the con: Shadowrun. I feel like that was the only thing I really wanted to pick up that I didn’t.
Memorable quote: “Your character is now tripping balls.” Said to my husband after his character fell face first into drugs in Shadowrun.
Final thoughts: I actually liked this convention a lot more than I thought I would. It was more chill than Gen Con and there were less people. I didn’t have a single anxiety attack the entire week. We are going back next year. The only thing I really missed was Writer Symposium.
Weekly Goals
Write 7K words: Failure, someone forgot to pack their flash drive with their story.
Read one book: Failure, I barely read all week with the exception of my morning chapter of my non-fiction book.
Go to the gym twice: Success, I went up to the gym at my hotel a couple of times to get in my Couch to 5K runs in.
Go to class: Success! The stars aligned and I got to go.
Sew 10 dice bags: Failure because we were out of town, but I did turn in the order I worked on last week.
