06/16/17

Origins Convention Report – Red Raven Games

What’s up with Ryan Laukat and #RedRavenGames at #Origins2017 ~

Michelle Owczarski, 16 June 2017

Ryan Laukat, designer with Red Raven Games took a few minutes from his busy booth to talk about Near and Far, their newest release.

Near and Far is related to, but not a direct sequel to Above and Below, released in 2015. Characters may be shared across games, but where Above and Below predominantly a village-building game, Near and Far is more about exploration and storytelling.

Gameplay centers on books: there is an atlas, which is essentially the game board, and the adventure book which is consulted according to map instructions, much like a Choose Your Own Adventure series book. Characters, cards, and resource management round out the mechanics.

Of particular interest, the design is based on a ten game campaign. In the vein of “legacy” style games, though non-destructive and replayable, you follow your character’s development across multiple exploration sessions.

This is Red Raven Games’ first booth at Origins, though they have shown at GenCon and other conventions previously, and have been Origins attendees in years past. Ryan noted that the show has grown considerably since his last visit in 2012.

Near and Far is a convention exclusive until the end of the month, when it launches at retail.


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06/16/17

Origins – Day Two Gaming

A big-ol’ gallery of photos from #Origins2017 ~

GrogHeads Staff, 15 June 2017

The first full day of Origins saw a non-stop melange of all things gaming, from full-scale escape-room style fantasy LARPs to hex-and-counter wargaming, and everything in between.  There were world maps as carpets for WWII, hand-crafted fantasy minis, racetrack jalopies, space aviation shootouts.

Watch for our company interviews coming soon.


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06/15/17

Origins – First Day!

What’s happening on the first day of #Origins2017 ~

GrogHeads Staff, 14 June 2017

The first day is usually a quiet time of preparation as vendors set up, gamers play pick up some free play opportunities, and registration lines extend into the Short North (OK, OK, the third one was just last year).

However, with more and more organized games – and vendors! – in the main gaming hall, which opens at noon on Wednesday, the first day is now a blur of action.

 


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05/31/17

A Look at the Nexus Game Fair

If you’re a large plains-roaming land mammal, or a driving cat, and you just can’t make Origins, there’s always the local convention  ~

Jim Owczarski, 31 May 2017

Milwaukee has missed GenCon since the day it changed lodgings in 2003.  I know.  I’m from here.  The mass of local gamers that were left behind have created other events and some have seen remarkable success, but none have approached the grand madness that is the mother of all American gaming conventions.

Still, I love the convention experience and was looking forward to checking out the Nexus Game Fair when it rolled into town late last week.  Most importantly, I was wondering if there would be anything at all for a grognard to do.  What follows are a few thoughts and a fair number of photographs documenting the experience of Friday and Saturday.

Hosted primarily at the downtown Hyatt, evident on the Milwaukee skyline by the spaceship-like restaurant perched at the top, Nexus seems to have kept its ambitions modest.  Attendance ran to the hundreds rather than thousands and there was rarely a press of crowds despite the smallish space.  It was, however, a professionally-organized operation with a well-designed program and a strong staff of workers managing registration.

Two beautiful days and I’m going indoors to play with little soldier men. (That’s the new Bucks’ arena going up.)

Continue reading →

05/22/17

Origins 2017 Coverage – Your Opinions, Please!

What do you want to see from this year’s Origins? ~

The GrogHeads Team, 22 May 2017

As we ramp up for our coverage of Origins this summer, we’re doubling the number of journalists we’re bringing to the show, so we’ll have a dedicated photographer, plus a dedicated writer, in addition to the staff pitching in their thoughts.

But we’d like to know your thoughts on where you’d like them to focus on coverage.


also, we’ll be posting live/real-time updates to our Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/grogheads/


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