USP At Origins 2021, a Retrospective

A few weeks back (maybe more like a month or so now), we put up a blog post letting you all know that USP would be represented by our A-team (Aaron, Alex and Andy) in person at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio, at the end of September/beginning of October. Well, the con has come and gone, and we are back and (mostly) recovered from our foray into convention gaming. It’d been over two years since we’d had the chance to run games at Origins, and I will say that, while it was worth the wait, it definitely could have happened sooner. 🙂

I just want to take some time before we get to our recap to thank those that came out and joined our games, endured our sales pitches, had a great time with our games and maybe decided to join in on watching our Live Plays either live on Twitch or replayed on YouTube. Now, on to the recap!

Thursday:

Unlike other years, Origins started on a Thursday rather than a Wednesday. So, right off the bat a bit different, a bit shorter, but I think we all jumped at the chance to test the convention waters, (hopefully) see some friends we’d made at past cons and make some new ones.

For USP, the day started off at 12 as the show opened with Aaron running the third game of his Mutants & Masterminds-based Disney adventure series, this one titled Farewell to the Magic Kingdom. We followed that up with my game at 1pm, an anime inspired Super Hero game set in a world of my own creation (also using M&M), titled Shattered Spotlight. Both of these games went off with wonderful players and grateful GMs for the chance to tell these stories to a new audience. The evening was rounded out by Alex’s first game of the con, and a bit of a departure for him, as he ran an Avengers game using Mutants & Masterminds, titled MODOK Family Reunion, and my game, set in the universe of Syfy’s Warehouse 13 series, titled A Con to Remember. This marked the first (but not last) game not using M&M for our team, as I ran this one using the Savage Worlds: Adventurer’s Edition rules. I know there were a few hiccups, as can happen at any con game, but overall both of these games were well received by the players as well.

Observation: I don’t think I’d done that much talking in a mask at all during the pandemic. While it took a bit more focus to be able to hear the players at the table, and hydration was more key than usual (even if it was a lot more difficult), getting back into running games in person was a bit like riding a bike after a hiatus: a little rusty at first while you get your bearings, but then once you’ve got them your off and moving. For the con itself, the dealer hall wasn’t open (yet), and it was a lot more spread out than usual with less attendees, but we were back in person running games with a bunch of other GMs and players, which was awesome.

Friday:

The USP day started bright and early at 8am, with Aaron and I both running games in what is typically the opening RPG slot time frame. Aaron continued his foray using M&M, with a game based on the show Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, called Miraculous-Less: Tales without Ladybug and Cat Noir, and I ran a game using Things From the Flood, Free League Publishing’s take on the 90s, titled The Shepherd’s Burden (Fun note: come back in November/December when we do our end of season one-shots if you’re interested in this one, I’ll be running it for our streaming audience).

Alex took over for us in both the afternoon and evening slots, running a game in his Titan City book universe at 2pm, titled Big Trouble in Little Moscow, and then at 7pm he finished the night off for USP with another foray into the Marvel-verse side of things with Sinister Six: Symbiosis, a villain based game (both games using M&M). Another good day in the books for running games. Happy gamers, happy GMs, even if we did need plenty of tea and sore throat drops.

Observation: The dealer hall was open today. More gamers out and about milling around, more games being run. It felt a little livelier, a little more like a regular Origins. Alex did have a fun little moment in his Sinister Six game; a player pulled the fire alarm at the Daily Bugle, and at that moment in the convention center, the fire alarm went off as well. An eerie occurrence to be sure.

Saturday:

Once again Aaron started off the USP day with another offering of his Disney game, this time in the opening slot at 8am (I should have gone down, he had some no shows after we couldn’t get in during registration, but it was just so hard to get up and go!). Alex took the afternoon slot with another of his Titan City book universe games, titled The Jordanow Mysteries at 2pm, and then he and I closed out the night, with him running a game based off the Mummy franchise (the Brendan Fraser films), titled The Lost Library at 7pm, and I ran a game based on the film The Rocketeer, titled Rocketeer Corp: Valley of the Red Gates, using the Hollow Earth Expedition ruleset, at 8pm (note to self: never again run a game that late; I was super tired after this one).

Observation: Saturday definitely felt the busiest at the convention, the dealer hall was bustling, saw a lot more people wandering around having a good time. Masking was enforced each day, though I rarely saw anyone not when they weren’t eating or drinking, and gamers seemed to have no issues complying with the rules or instructions of the con staff (we all know how bad it is to fail a Fortitude Saving Throw). For me, Saturday was shopping day at the dealer hall, with plenty of new board games picked up for play (some of which happened that afternoon, as I unfortunately had a no show for the only RPG I ended up with on my schedule).

Sunday:

Aaron was the last USP GM to run a game for the con, as he finished off the convention with another offering of his Miraculous-Less game. With that in the bag, we at USP had successfully completed our gamut of games for Origins Game Fair. All in all, USP GMs ran 12 games for the convention. We had a great time meeting all the new players we had, seeing familiar friends, and just putting out a new set of stories into the world. We’re already looking forward to next year, and we hope you’ll join us in early June when Origins happens in 2022!