As a local, I of course have to attend Origins.
I saw the Nicks today in their wonderful booth. They had an even bigger Coffee Dragon! Ian Lee is there playing his Vampire/Shadowrun stuff. I had a good talk with BadTroll (Scott) who came down from his gaming shop in NE Ohio.
The Nicks talked about some merit badge program I wasn't aware of. I have mostly been playing the XP Network event... It has shocked me in several ways. It seems like the NPCs are all local SCA. It seems to be associated with Origins in some way, but not by them.
You scan a QR code to get started. There are several quests. You can go to the tavern and start advancing in a class (Cleric, Wizard, Rogue, and Fighter). (Pro hint... do them all at once). They are all different, balance a book on your head, do a cypher, do jumping jacks, steal a thing without being noticed...
At some point you have to investigate a dungeon in the dealer's area. To go into the dungeon you need 1.500 XP. I am not sure if advancing to level 5 in any one class gets you to that. However, there are more quests. The most obvious one is the rune signs throughout the con. Scan all 20 and you get 2,000 XP. XP can be used to go through the 3-room dungeon or to get merch. A Wild Bills soda is 300 XP. A Nintendo Switch 2 is 350,000 XP...
The dungeon starts with 2 puzzle rooms to get "buffs". Then you fight the Dragon. It reminded me much of an RPEX dragon. To defeat it you hopefully got the fire resistance buff, and then you had better be good at corn hole. Luckily the elderly (apparently abandoned by her children at the con) woman loved corn hole and we defeated the dragon with her precision.
Note, like TD, look at everything. There are clues in the tavern everywhere. There are many side quests. Many merchants have XP quests as simple as buy anything or do a demo...
Origins seems to be better run this year, though a woman who runs a LARP event who sat next to me at the bar at Barley's didn't agree. Super wide aisles in the dealer's room are appreciated. Now we just need TD!
