Origins 2017 was last week and I was able to attend all five days of wondrous excitement. Origins used to be a gaming convention where there were lots of new products released, but publishers seem to wait for Gencon to make their big releases now. I did see a number of new products underdevelopment and was told I could purchase them at Gencon, or later. A very fun boardgame for four called Dragoon lets you play a rampaging dragon who is out to accumulate gold through tribute, conquest or pillage. The components and gameplay are both excellent and although it was not available for sale at Origins the folks at the booth told me it could be purchased at Gencon. A new card driven tabletop role play game from Catalyst called Dragonfire played well in the demo and I will be also looking for it at Gencon. Dragonfire is I believe a Wizards of the Coast licensed D&D product and the card engine is based on Catalyst's Crossfire (Shadowrun) game.
I mostly go to conventions to play games and I was able to get 11 RPG sessions in during my five days at Origins this year. Three of them were Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG games run by Brendan LaSalle (hoping I got his name correct) who runs an excellent table. I believe the four adventures were his own creation so I won't give away story details here, but they really captured my imagination. The Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG rules capture the weird and fantastic elements very well and it is a good tool for playing those type of games. A lot of my friends enjoy Pathfinder, so I played four games in the Legends of the Shining Jewel living campaign. I also joined a friend in a Shadowrun game.
Free RPG Day was Saturday and I scored a copy of Chaosium's RuneQuest Quickstart. Two of my event sessions were with the Chaosium folk's running the new RuneQuest Quickstart rules. As a long time fan of the RuneQuest system and Glorantha, the default setting for the current version as well as 1st and 2nd edition RuneQuest on which the current version is based, I am pleased that RuneQuest is back and being supported again. The additions to the rules seem positive to me and include scores in passions and rune affiliations. Both runes and passions may be evoked to assist the PC in situations where they would apply. The rules for magic have been slightly altered and PCs have magic points as well as the Power attribute score. Casting spells, both spirit magic and rune magic involves making a successful die roll now as well as expending the magic or rune points. Overall the power level of the RuneQuest PC seems to be a bit greater now than in 2nd Edition.
Gaming conventions are an excellent way to meet new people, reconnect with old friends, see what new is being worked on and try games for the first time. Whether it is a big con or a small one I find the gaming experience about the same. Gamers everywhere are friendly and eager to share the games they love and it is hard for me not to enjoy myself at the game convention. For someone like me who prefers the older games, flexibility and a willingness to try something new definitely helps. There is an overall expectation of having fun together and that usually carries through to insure that everyone at the table is entertained. I have found games I really enjoy and want to definitely play again, and I have discovered that some games are not my favorite, but I have rarely regretted having sat down at the table and spent a few hours playing a game once. We play the role of adventurers and investigators in our games. I find adventuring out and investigating something new in the gaming hobby can be very rewarding.
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