Origins 2023 Recap

I had an excellent time at Origins this year. Figured I'd do a recap with pictures.

I ran 8 four hour sessions with Lurking Fears. These cats are amazing. They're friendly and just all around amazing GM's. Initially known for running Call of Cthuthlu, the group has expanded and we run games for several publishers including Chaosium, Wet Ink Games, Free League, Bloat Games, Mongoose Publishing and a few others. We also let our players vote for session MVP's which allows them to pick some great prizes donated by our sponsors. We are also an open and inclusive group. 

I ran six different adventures over the course of the con (using 5 different systems). My Wasted session was awesome. The group had a blast even if one was turned into a moonshine drinking zombie. The Arwhich Grinder is always a blast. I had folks that played in my session last year bring it up when the say me. A few folks in my session were from (near) back home, which was cool. They even got my email address and stuff so they could look for my games next year. I didn't run my planned Dark Places and Demogorgons adventure (because I'm bad and haven't finished it), but I did run two session of the upcoming DP&D OSE adventure Yer Gonna Need A Bigger Boat. Both groups had a lot of fun and one of them fell in love with the game, which is really why we run things. I also ran two sessions of a new to me game, Necrobiotic. It's a fascinating game that I don't think I can do justice here. Check out the games page and expect a review in the future. I was gifted a physical copy of the book and am looking forward to diving into it. I ran one session of Survive This!! Zombies! 2nd Edition. I used the old All Flesh Must Be Eaten adventure, Coffee Break of the Living Dead. I had an amazing group that come up with some great tactics I'd never seen before. My final session was Valor Knights: Chaos at the Hooper Dam. Going to be honest, it wasn't good. I didn't remember the rules as well as I thought I did and got my times confused and ended the session early. Most of the players still seemed to have a good time, but it was definitely the black mark on my gaming record (and the surveys we do show that).

Honestly, the highlight of the convention is always seeing friends that I normally only get to see at places like Origins. My Lurking Fears fam is amazing, but I also got to hang out with Matt and Brandon from Wet Ink Games, Dieter and Judge Jen from Goodman Games, and even had dinner with the two handsome gents from Limitless Adventures.

Speaking of Limitless Adventures, I had them sign my copy of Carbide City #1. 

I had a pretty decent haul (and didn't spend nearly as much as the images make it look like).

• Three smaller DCC releases from Breaker Press Games: two tri-fold encounters for their Stennard setting and a new class
• The Hangman's Garden DCC monogram, honestly mainly just snagged it because my dude Dieter wrote it
• A collection of amazing looking Magic the Gathering tokens from a local Columbus artist, Andrew Thompson. 
• I snagged the last copy of the DCC Free RPG Day adventure thanks to Judge Jen.
• Already talked about Horror: A Roleplaying Game and will review The Diner soon.
• Snagged several Free RPG Day books, including Dragonbane, which I knew nothing about but am super stoked for and will be posting about soon. 
• The Horror at Fort Orc'igin is a 5e tournament style adventure by DMDave Publishing that was an Origins 2023 exclusive and (obviously) inspired by The Thing. I plan on reviewing it at some point.
• Mork Corp was described by the author as the worst Mork Borg zine ever, so I got. When characters die they go to Mork Corps, an infernal company. There's content. It's funny. No Country For Old Kobolds was a free book I got for buying the zine. It's a Powered By The Apocalypse game I'm donating to the campus Nerd Club.
• I love Pirate Borg. Grabbed a tri-fold navel encounter and a map/adventure for the system. Also snagged the 5e version of game's bestiary because I love 5e pirate stuff. 

• I've had the pdf of Teenage Mutant Dirtbags for a bit, but wanted it in print. I love TMNT and the game is simple and fun. Also got a preview of the Storypath Ultra from Studio 2 Publishing when I snagged it. 
• Had to get my Origins d6. Also grabbed the GoeyCube business card which is also a 5e item card.
• Ultra Pro released some legendary dragon stat cards for Free RPG Day. 
• I know have two different Doug Shute trading cards. Doug is the US Free League Con guy and runs Victory Condition Gaming.
• More Free RPG Day stuff. I love that there's a Transformers/GI Joe crossover adventure. 
• Finally I love patches and got the 2023 exclusive Vast Grimm patch. 

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So yeah, my Origins 2023 rocked. Can't wait for next year's!