Other Conventions...

[Necron 99]

Out of curiosity, being a former loooooong time attendee of DragonCon, I took a peek at its RPG (non campaign) offerings. This is some pretty sad feces. For a con that boasts well over 100K in attendance, there were less than 80 games on the schedule. Mostly 5e, of course. No (A)D&D, Ars Magica, C&C, DCC, GURPS, HackMaster, HarnMaster, MERP, Mythras, WFRP, etc., etc., etc.

From a gamer's perspective, its sad to see how far a con that was based on gaming and comics has fallen by morphing into playing dress up as its primary focus. *Le Sigh*

I've thought about this and I think a lot of it comes down to lack of player support. Sure the elephant in the room will have a presence, but "gamers" as a group, just aren't stepping up and running games at conventions not specifically held for gaming. Heck, even at some of them, i.e. Origins, the offerings for RPGs vs other table top games is rather mediocre.

I think what we see is simply a decline in table top roleplaying games in general, except were we've seen the boom in 5e players, but I think this is just a fad for most of the fan base. I think we'll see a decline in players at some point. People will get tired of "D&D" and while some may migrate to other RPGs, I think others will just move on.

These days there are far too many other forms of entertainment to keep one occupied, the electronic gaming hobby being one of them. Back in the 70s and early to mid-80s, all you had for entertainment was table top miniatures, board games, and role-playing games. Console video games were just coming out, there was no interwebs. The lack of mass communication and electronic entertainment meant more people were "into" playing RPGs.

RPGs have become so fractured, it's near impossible to find players willing to try anything but the main stay systems, especially the older games. Once our generations have passed on, I'm fairly certain we'll be carrying a lot of the old school RPG gaming, with us. Sure there may be some pockets here and there, but we were and are, the ones really carrying the torch.

[Ancalagon]

Out of curiosity, being a former loooooong time attendee of DragonCon, I took a peek at its RPG (non campaign) offerings. This is some pretty sad feces. For a con that boasts well over 100K in attendance, there were less than 80 games on the schedule. Mostly 5e, of course. No (A)D&D, Ars Magica, C&C, DCC, GURPS, HackMaster, HarnMaster, MERP, Mythras, WFRP, etc., etc., etc.

From a gamer's perspective, its sad to see how far a con that was based on gaming and comics has fallen by morphing into playing dress up as its primary focus. *Le Sigh*

I've thought about this and I think a lot of it comes down to lack of player support. Sure the elephant in the room will have a presence, but "gamers" as a group, just aren't stepping up and running games at conventions not specifically held for gaming. Heck, even at some of them, i.e. Origins, the offerings for RPGs vs other table top games is rather mediocre.

I think what we see is simply a decline in table top roleplaying games in general, except were we've seen the boom in 5e players, but I think this is just a fad for most of the fan base. I think we'll see a decline in players at some point. People will get tired of "D&D" and while some may migrate to other RPGs, I think others will just move on.

These days there are far too many other forms of entertainment to keep one occupied, the electronic gaming hobby being one of them. Back in the 70s and early to mid-80s, all you had for entertainment was table top miniatures, board games, and role-playing games. Console video games were just coming out, there was no interwebs. The lack of mass communication and electronic entertainment meant more people were "into" playing RPGs.

RPGs have become so fractured, it's near impossible to find players willing to try anything but the main stay systems, especially the older games. Once our generations have passed on, I'm fairly certain we'll be carrying a lot of the old school RPG gaming, with us. Sure there may be some pockets here and there, but we were and are, the ones really carrying the torch.

Emphasis mine.
Yep. People gotta step up and run games at conventions for gaming to have a presence. Even with 5e having the lion's share of the events, its still disappointing to see the dropoff in the number of events. I started attending what was once called the Atlanta Fantasy Fair in the late 80s which eventually morphed into DragonCon. I attended every year but 2 or 3 up until 2009. Gaming still had a decent presence at that point but the play dress up crowd had established itself. Judging by the DC site, pics, and YT videos, its all about the play dress up now.

[Necron 99]

Yep. People gotta step up and run games at conventions for gaming to have a presence. Even with 5e having the lion's share of the events, its still disappointing to see the dropoff in the number of events. I started attending what was once called the Atlanta Fantasy Fair in the late 80s which eventually morphed into DragonCon. I attended every year but 2 or 3 up until 2009. Gaming still had a decent presence at that point but the play dress up crowd had established itself. Judging by the DC site, pics, and YT videos, its all about the play dress up now.

Correct, the dress up thing is definitely an existing fad in the hobby and culture. And it's not really even LARPing any more, at least those folks are/were attempting to do some sort of "gaming". In my opinion, the people that dress up, do it simply for the attention and the "wow" factor, I would even go so far as to say it's a mild form of narcissism. It's like the people who dye their hair purple, pink, green, etc., it's just another way to try and stand out and say, "look at me, I'm not one of the normal folks".

But as the old adage goes:

[Ancalagon]

Nice pic.

[Ancalagon]

Here's another convention I found that has possibilities when combined with activities in the surrounding area.

https://wagoncon.com/

Its a small con, only 2.5 days but its in The Dalles, OR which is about 80 miles east along the Columbia River from the Portland airport (PDX). This would be a good opportunity to combine a con with a few days of getting outdoors, walking, hiking, seeing waterfalls, the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood (55-60 miles from The Dalles), and Mt St Helens (about 100 miles away).

Here are some pics of the Columbia River Gorge area....
https://www.google.com/search?q=columbi ... 9&biw=1704

[Necron 99]

Nice.

Still waiting to hear from the Trolls, see if they plan on following through with TrollCon in 2024. I kind of hope they do, it could be a lot of fun.

[Ancalagon]

Nice.

Still waiting to hear from the Trolls, see if they plan on following through with TrollCon in 2024. I kind of hope they do, it could be a lot of fun.

I definitely hope they do! No updates at present...

[Necron 99]

I realized that they mentioned 2024, but now that I think about it, I'm doubting they will offer it. Because of it being the 50th anniversary of D&D with Luke and Co. putting on a big deal for GaryCon, I'm going to bet the Trolls hold off until 2025 before throwing out TrollCon. Just a feeling.

[Ancalagon]

The events list for Origins should be available sometime this week, or next. I noticed they opened up hotels via an Origins reservation link, did some playing around with dates and such to get an idea of room costs for attending. Arriving on Tue the 7th and leaving on Sunday 12th, runs about $900-1000 for a room, staying til Monday would push it to over $1000 for the stay. A much higher cost than attending GaryCon, for sure, room to room comparison, but when you tack on the cost of a car rental for GC, to drive in from the airport, then I imagine the overall costs are probably about the same.

Food and such is going to be about the same either way.

Badges, $95 for all events at Origins; $90 for a Silver at GC and $195 for a Gold...seems like the cost of attending GC has increased considerably. I mean, hell, almost $200 for a Gold badge now used to be $130 and Silvers used to be $65.

I'm really starting to wonder whether or not gaming conventions are even worth the price and hassle of attending anymore. I've had my fair share of fun, no doubt, but hell, with rising costs and fighting crowds for rooms and events, idk anymore.

Emphasis mine.
Quoting the post from 5/3/22 for price comparison for GC 2024 with silvers at $115 and golds at $250. Gold level is turning in to a semi-luxury event like pro sports games and some concerts. So I figure since we spoke about it yesterday, I'll post about Gamehole Con (and gawds that is a terrible name) info for info purposes.

https://www.gameholecon.com/

Venue info here: https://www.gameholecon.com/attend/venue

Alliant Energy Center, Exhibition Hall
1919 Alliant Energy Center Way
Madison, WI 53713

Gamehole Con is very pleased to host our event at the Alliant Energy Center, one of the regions truly premier convention facilities. The Clarion is attached to the Alliant Energy Center via a heated walkway and several others including The Madison Sheraton and Holiday Inn Express which are less than one block away. For more information about other hotels in the area that are partnered with Gamehole Con, go here. https://mmxreservations.com/fer/#/Madis ... oleCon2023

Attached hotels and others within easy walking distance are similar to how Origins is set up.

[Necron 99]

Another thing I found out, is that there are two badges, a General Badge and a VIG badge ($150, which is similar to the Gold badge at GaryCon). And, the price of the badges do not include events, you still have to pay for events you register for, which is why the badge prices are lower than GC.

Unfortunately, I also looked them up on Facebook but was a bit put out at a couple posts from the person that heads up the event. Pretty divisive posts dealing with social current events during last month and "the message" was pretty clear.

It's not a deal breaker for attending the con, but I do wish people would just game, that's all, just run/play games and have fun, leave everything else at the door. At least when Luke and Co. made their post, they did it tastefully and in a non-divisive way.