Origins Game Fair, GAMA’s tabletop gaming convention, returns September 30th to October 3rd, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. This gathering is their first in-person convention since 2019. Like UK Games Expo (July 30th through August 1st) in Birmingham, United Kingdom, Dragon Con (September 2nd through the 6th) in Atlanta, Georgia, and Gen Con (September 16th through the 19th) in Indianapolis, Indiana, this convention is eagerly anticipated by its fans after its 2020 absence. As they countdown to opening day, what should they expect at the 2021? The pandemic continues to take lives so Origins decided early on to make masks mandatory. While there will be some differences from prior gatherings, the most notable being the dates, headcount, and masks, the essence of the show is unchanged. Expect games, publishers, fans, friends, and fun.
Among the differences is the attendee headcount. So far in 2021, conventions have seen a notable, but understandable decline in attendees due to the pandemic. UK Games Expo had 10,671 unique attendees in 2021 (down from the 2019 high of 25,704). Dragon Con had 42,000 in-person attendees (down from the 2019 high of 85,000). Gen Con had 35,000 unique attendees in 2021. Each of these shows had roughly half the number of fans in attendance than they entertained in 2019. Again, this is not the fault of the convention, it’s a byproduct of the pandemic. On the up side, as a result of the decrease, the convention should be easier to navigate, especially in the dealer’s hall.
Alongside fans, many tabletop RPG publishers plan to attend. Each of the publishers had hard choices to make in 2021 since many of the tabletop gaming conventions were compressed into a short timeframe. Every two weeks from Dragon Con at the beginning of September to Gamehole Con the weekend before Halloween, there’s a tabletop convention. Despite the deluge, many publishers made sure that Origins was on their list. As a result, I reached out to several to learn where they would be, what they were bringing, and their thoughts on Origins.
Chaosium Inc. Rick Meints, President of Chaosium Inc., shared this. “We bring most of our range of current products for RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, and 7th Sea. We will have the RuneQuest Starter Set and the 40th Anniversary Call of Cthulhu Leatherette book at Origins.” The RuneQuest Starter Set was one of the hot items at Gen Con two weeks ago and Chaosium will have copies available at booth 623.
Steve Jackson Games. Philip Reed, CEO of Steve Jackson Games, shared some of the items they plan to offer during the convention. “In addition to our usual catalog, we will have a few newer items including Gelatinous, Old School Monsters and Adventures 2 for The Fantasy Trip, and Roman Polyhedral Dice Set. We are running Car Wars Sixth Edition demos at the show.”
Atlas Games. Travis Winter, Sales Manager of Atlas Games, said this about Origins. “I love this show. It allows us more opportunity to run games for folks since it is not as crazy as some of the others.” In addition, he shared some of the products they plan to have at the con. “I will have all the core books for Feng Shui, Ars Magica, Over the Edge, and Unknown Armies. I will also have the Magical Kitties Save the Day hometowns and the two new supplements for Feng Shui (Burning Dragon and Apeworld on Fire).” These will be available at GG200 in the Game Hall. For RPGs, Atlas will run Magical Kitties Save the Day.
Imagining Games & Penny for a Tale. Mitchell Wallace, Head Writer and marketer for Chew: The Roleplaying Game (Imagining Games), talks about what he’ll bring to the con as well as the show itself. “Heading over to Origins this coming week to showcase more of Chew with one shots of the “Long Long Man” and “Chicken Run.” I will be at the IGDN booth helping to sell other things as well including Arium written by Will Munn. I will also be running some of Necrobiotic too as we are almost done with editing and going to layout. Origins is one of my favorite conventions. I enjoy the city and the smaller feel of it. It’s a place where I can relax and enjoy time with the other exhibitors and industry professionals. As someone who has lots of hats in the TTRPG it’s the perfect place for me to showcase them and get others on board with my adventures.”
9th Level Games. Heather O’Neill, CEO of 9th Level Games, shared her thoughts on Origins. “Throughout the entire year, the Origins staff has done a good job of keeping us informed of the safety measures being taken on their end.” For the con, she provided a list of products and games they’ll have at the convention. “Here are the ones for 9th Level Games: Rebel Scum RPG (new), Kobolds Ate My Baby RPG, The Excellents RPG, The Excellents Game Diary, Business Wizards, Mazes fantasy zine set (while supplies last). and board games Meeple Party, Schrodinger’s Cats, [and] Pavlov’s Dogs. So many games are being run, see the list here.” Swing by booth 821 to check out their work.
It’s not just returning publishers this year. There are new companies that will experience Origins Game Fair for the first time. I spoke to two of them to see what they’ll bring to the show.
Inkwell Ideas. Joe Wetzel, President of Inkwell Ideas, shares his expectations and what they’ll have available. “Inkwell Ideas will make its first appearance at Origins this year. We will have all our NPC Portraits Decks available at the booth. Each card in each deck is a vibrant NPC with a portrait, personality, background, quirks, and story hooks. These were recently named part of Sly Flourish’s essential tools. Inkwell Ideas will also have our new Deck of Beasts II–A boxed set of cards covering all the creatures in Kobold Press’s Tome of Beasts II book. In the past, Inkwell Ideas made cards of all the creatures from the Tome of Beasts I and Creature Codex and will have them at the booth as well. Rounding out the booth (#448) will be Inkwell’s Sidequest Decks and DungeonMorph Dice.”
Gooey Cube LLC. Alphinius Goo, High Archmage of Gooey Cube, shared his thoughts on the con. “Gooey Cube is excited to be a part of Origins! We have never been before and all of us are so looking forward to meeting the gamers and being a part of this most famed convention!
At the con, along with the first three chapters of The Red Star Rising campaign and our World Lore Book, we’ll also be bringing forth our new West Verdestia Lore Book for the continent of West Verdestia.
We’re also now offering the Map Pack for the West Verdestia Continent which consists of eight 17” x 22” maps that when put together, form an 8’ x 4’ map of the Wesverd. They are hand illustrated and wonderful works of art that you your players will love!” I spoke to Alphinius at Dragon Con and he’s a fun creator. You can connect with Gooey Cube and talk all things 5e at their booth 405.
These aren’t the only publishers planning to attend the show. Crystal Caste will have Origins branded dice for collectors. Free League Publishing, hot off their latest ENnie Awards and the announcement of the upcoming Blade Runner RPG, will be there with with a list of great RPGs to choose from. Green Ronin Publishing have some great Mutants & Masterminds products as well as some great AGE system RPGs. Pelgrane Press plans to be there and they’ll have GUMSHOE and more. Rock Manor Games will be playtesting the RPG version of The Few and Cursed. This is just a sampling of who will attend. Expect many more RPG creators and publishers to be at the show. If you’re attending Origins Game Fair this year, there are many RPGs, publishers, dealers, and creators worth meeting, talking to, buying from, and gaming with. I hope to see you at the show!
UPDATED 2021-10-01: Unfortunately, Infinite Black and Creature Curation will not be at Origins 2021. After attending a different gaming convention than Origins, one of the crewmembers with Creature Curation/Infinite Black (they attend conventions together) tested positive for Covid. While no one else from their companies tested positive, in the interests of safety and following CDC guidelines, they are not able to attend Origins. I wish their sick teammate a speedy recovery.
Infinite Black. Brian Colin, creator of Vast Grimm (Infinite Black) who we’ll hear more from below, shared this about IB’s plans. “Infinite Black is excited to be in its largest Origins booth to date, located at booth 547. Owner and cosmic horror artist, David LaRocca, will be there with the rest of the IB crew. Infinite Black will offer a wide range of Elder Dice, dice trays, and other amazing gaming accessories. Rare items, previously only available on Kickstarter, like DOOM Edition Elder Dice sets have been discovered in the Infinite Black archives and will only be available for convention-goers to purchase.”
Creature Curation. Brian Colin, founder of Creature Curation, talked about what he’ll display. “Creature Curation is excited to be in its largest Origins booth to date, located at booth 655. I’ll be there with copies of my 5e campaign setting, World of Revilo, inspired by my sculptures. This will be the first time I have RPG Squeeze, blind-box squishy monsters and Creature Curation’s RPG plushie line at Origins. Our RPG Pin & Patch line has grown since our last time in Columbus with even more well-designed accoutrements. Along with all of the fun new products, there will be at least one of my sculptures from Vast Grimm, the first RPG to crowdfund on Gamefound.”
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Disclosure: While Egg Embry pays for his travel, hotel, and food, certain conventions discussed in this article provide complimentary entry to their cons because he registers as a member of the press/media. Egg’s written about the return of conventioning in 2021 at d20 Radio (here, here, and here) as well as past conventions (Dragon Con 2019, Gen Con 2019 [here and here], Origins Game Fair 2019, among others).
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