Origins 2017
Early Conventions
Roleplaying game Conventions are where gamers gather to meet, greet, and share games and gaming ideas. The roots of roleplaying gaming conventions go back to the age of wargaming. The history extended further back and owe homage to literary conventions most notably fantasy and science fiction conventions book conventions of the 1940’s 50’s and 60’s where fans gathered to award their favorite authors. Cosplay has it roots here where book fans would dress as their favorite characters while attending such conventions. The first fantasy gaming convention that I know of is tied directly to Tekumel which was a fantasy campaign setting created by M.A.R. Barker. A number of his original gaming group is still around, Two I will mention is George Hammond and Jeff Berry, and I will definitely be publishing an article shortly about the original Tekumel campaign, and how Tekumel evolved. It will be part of my early gaming series. Here at Tamerthya you will find an archive on the early history of conventions and gaming by one of the gamers who was actually there, very close to the beginning.
Early Wargame Conventions really started growing in the mid 50’s and early 60’s where tabletop board gaming enthusiasts gathered to compete for honor and titles. While Gaming is one of the largest hobbies in existence now with hundreds of millions of ardent fans now, As part of the general population gamers were a very tiny tiny subgroup in the beginning. It was very difficult to find fellow gamers. Mostly we started by leavings advertisements at our local gamestores, and we would publish and distribute crude home made magazines via postal mail about our favorite games. The name “Fanzine” was coined for our very early efforts to build gaming communities.
Origins
A few early Conventions that I will mention today as being really critical in the evolution of RPG conventions, include Origins, a wargaming convention that was founded in 1975 in Baltimore. Origins was first hosted in Baltimore by a local wargaming club, working with the Baltimore-based Avalon Hill game company to put on the first show that year at John Hopkins University.
A wargaming company Avalon Hill had the first commercial war games in 1958. In a nod to Baltimore’s position as the home of Avalon Hill and the birthplace of the commercial wargame hobby, Don Greenwood a game designer with Avalon Hill and founder of the convention, suggested calling the show “Origins”. Over the next few years, both Avalon Hill and SPI (another wargame company) ran the show. As the show continued expanding, the Game Manufacturers Association under Lou Zocchi assumed management in 1978. RuneQuest written by fantasy RPG originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, along with Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford’s mythical world of Glorantha. Greg Stafford and authors Introduced the Runequest RPG at the Origins convention in Ann Arbor, Michigan in July 1978. In order to grow the hobby Origins and many of the other early conventions were hosted in different cities each year in order to expand the reach of the early gaming companies.
Universities also played a large part in many of the early gaming conventions, as University gaming groups would coordinate gaming days and spent time organizing gatherings of gamers for meetups which grew into gaming conventions as game companies increasingly became involved in organizing and guiding large scale events.
GenCon
Another early Convention was launched by the International Federation of Wargamers in 1967. The (IFW) organized its inaugural convention on July 15, 1967, at General Wayne Middle School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, which the organizers claimed to be the first multi-game wargaming event to encompass miniatures, chess variants, and board wargames under one roof. Led primarily by founder Bill Speer, with support from early members like Scott Duncan and Gary Gygax, the event drew approximately 50 attendees for demonstrations, play sessions, and informal tournaments focused on popular titles of the era. Although gaming activities were deemed successful, a planned banquet faltered due to low turnout, leaving organizers to cover a $200 shortfall from personal funds and IFW dues, highlighting the volunteer-driven nature of these early efforts. in 1968 it was moved to Horticulture Hall in Lake Geneva and was hosted primarily by Gary Gygax. in 1969 it was renamed GenCon (an acroynm for the Geneva Convention, no doubt.) GenCon went on to become the largest gaming convention in the world and is still hosted every year in Indianapolis. A smaller convention GaryCon named in honor of Gary Gygax and hosted by his family is still held every March in the original location in Lake Geneva to honor the original gamers and games that were played in the early days of the hobby.
DunDracon
The first gaming convention on the West Coast was Dundracon and was founded in 1975. Of course the University with a gaming group for the early NoCal conventions was primarily Berkeley.
” It was summer of 1975, or thereabouts, when Clint Bigglestone told me that he and Adrienne Martine were going to put on a convention at the Claremont Hotel for D&D players. What’s more, Adrienne said that SF writer Fritz Leiber was a D&D player and had a dungeon he would run at the convention. There was no Internet, but there was Alarums and Excursions – the role-playing APA compiled by Lee Gold which was exclusively D&D at the time and is still going strong, with an expanded interest agenda, to this day. Some of us contributed to A&E (which also came before the Cable TV channel) and spread the word. We also sent announcements to the new magazine from TSR, the Dragon – or perhaps its predecessor newsletter, The Strategic Review.”
~History of DunDracon
~Steve Perrin
In this area of the website I will continue to write articles about the gaming conventions I have attended, as well providing history and insight on various unique gaming conventions that continue to be hosted even to this day. A few other early gaming conventions of interest I will mention today.
PrinceCon
PrinceCon – originally founded in 1976 at Princeton University, Still going strong with an annual Convention after forty-nine years and still hosted at Princeton University.
OrcCon
Southern California’s first gaming convention dating back to January of 1977. You might know it these days as StrategiCon
GhengisCon
Colorado’s first gaming convention, started in June 0f 1979. First hosted at Denver University in the Student Union.
DragonCon
Dragon Con was launched in Atlanta in 1987, as a project of a local science fiction and gaming group, the Dragon Alliance of Gamers and Role-Players (DAGR).
World Fantasy Convention
Launched in 1975 in Providence Rhode Island. Primarily a literary convention with a crossover group of followers for RPGs and Cosplay
WorldCon
The earliest convention, This is the literary science-fiction convention launched in 1939. Hosts the annual Hugo awards. There was Tekumel Cosplay in the 1960’s where M.A.R Barker’s gaming group would dress up in full costume while attending the show. Also with a crossover group of followers for RPGs and Cosplay
Historican
Little Wars, the wargaming and miniatures convention hosted by the HMGS (Historical Miniatures Gaming Society) founded originally in 1984. Hosted usually in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.