Events in Post-Pandemic Era

By Troy A. Hill

A couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of returning to the world of gaming conventions. After a year and a half of avoiding people that weren’t in my family’s inner circle, returning to events was sure to be a shock to the system.

Fortunately, the shock was minor, with some growing pains (return pains?), Events look to be back in most of the world. Here in the USA, we’re facing challenges of Freedom v. Responsibility, as our medical/scientific communities try to move our population from Pandemic stage to Endemic stage. We’ll get there. Maybe a few hiccups, but we are well on the way now.

However, one thing I noticed at the Advance The Colors (ATC) event near Springfield Ohio in early October is that Covid has left its imprint on the gaming event industry.

To be honest, ATC wasn’t the first major event I had attended. About 10 days earlier, I had returned from a smallish author conference of about 250 attendees down in Florida. That was located at a beach resort in the St. Pete/Tampa area, and mixed large ballroom lectures with close-up yet outdoor roundtable networking, and hanging out in the outdoor tiki bar after the evening.

At both events, masking of participants was optional, though organizers at the author event preferred masking. I was double vaccinated, and knew I could self-isolate once home, so I used that event as my litmus test to see if exposure to people was likely to leave me ill. I evidently didn’t roll any ones on saving throws while there, and stayed healthy following the conference.

As I headed to ATC, the convention, unfortunately, became a one day for just me due to the issue of having one car between my wife and I, and she pulling rank to get it. Most other folks got to enjoy both Friday and Saturday at the event.

Fortunately, I was able to hitch a ride over with fellow gamers from NE Indiana.

Despite being moved to a larger space at the county fairgrounds due to Covid restrictions at their normal venue, this event had decent yet small attendance. On Saturday, there were tourneys for SAGA and for Flames of War, which gave the convention about 14 tables between the two events. In addition, there were the usual HMGS style major battle games on large tables.

I’m fairly new to SAGA, with only half a dozen games in, and only in the Age of Vikings era. I went in with the idea that I was going to do a fair batrep of each game I played. That quickly fell apart as I concentrated more on solidifying the rules, and in facing opposing forces I hadn’t seen yet.

Tourney organizer Mike Demana (also HMGS-Great Lakes president) had opened the tourney across all historical periods (but not to Age of Magic). I only played one opponent with a warband from Age of Crusades (Jim’s Hungarians.) In that battle, my Scots had one unit absorb a lot of punishment. They were warriors, so I lost the Saga die from them once the unit dropped under 4 dudes. But one plucky warrior held on through assault after assault.

Mike, who hosts the Saga Ohio (SO) podcast, had set up quite a tourney to head out of the pandemic gate with. He did a good write up of the event on his SO page, so I’ll leave the

What I would like to do is look at the Endemic state of the convention part of our hobby. I acknowledge I’m working with a limited sample size (this is based on only one event I’ve personally attended.)

At ATC, masks were optional for players. Though, when we checked in, the registration staff was all masked up. Hand sanitizer was plentiful. And tables were spaced out wider than I’m used to seeing in crowded gaming events.

Since we’re in the USA, the ability to check vaccination status will be limited to certain states and localities depending on their local laws and regulations. What is required in one state, will likely change as one crosses state lines.

Masking, Distance, and Requirements

As I listen to our medical and science communities, I can see the USA (and probably most of Europe) moving into the endemic phase of this health issue. Just like assessing risk from influenza, it appears that attending events like ATC, Historicon, Origins or even GenCon, will hinge on how each gamer makes their own choice based on issues like their own vaccination status, and local policies on masking and distancing. Here in the US, requirements for proof of vaccination will be sporadic, and very localized.

We players and GMs will need to make our decisions on where and when to game, based on what we are comfortable dealing with in terms of restrictions and freedoms.

In my own case, I don’t mind wearing a mask, but they do have an adverse effect on the environment for me. With my hearing loss, and the limitations of hearing aids in crowded environments, masking makes hearing my opponent difficult. In SAGA, this plays out with hearing the commands for their units, and what dastardly effect from their battle board my opponent is about to spring on my troops. I can’t use the Chickens, Snakes and Elks on my battle board if I don’t what what is happening.

I didn’t realize until masking became the norm just how much my hearing loss was pushing me to use visual clues from lip reading to fill in the audio gaps. Put me in a noisy environment and cover mouths, and I’m completely out of the loop. No idea what you said.

So, I’m unlikely to attend a fully masked event. Without the visual clues, I won’t be able to hear my opponents, nor understand group conversations.

Fortunately, with the social-distancing table spacing at ATC, and none of my opponents masking at our table, I was able to understand them. And they could understand me whenever I yelled CHICKEN OF DOOM!, and played the Reach ability from my battle board. It requires a common (snake) and an uncommon (chicken) symbols on the saga dice – hence the Chicken of Doom name.

As I spoke with gamers, and there were quite a few still wearing masks throughout the event, I learned that most gamers did have masks in their kit. And, all were willing to don them if their opponent requested. Many gamers kept that six foot social distance rule going. Occasionally it shrank to four feet if small clusters formed near the dealer areas. Sometimes, we were shoulder to shoulder at the dealer tables. This is why masking as personal choice is important. When I saw someone masked, I tried to give them extra space despite being double vaxxed and symptom free.

Big Vs Small Conventions

To get a feel for how the larger conventions are recovering, I contact Warlord Game’s own Jon Russell. He was home for 72 hours in between the last two stops on a six-week run of conventions. I’ll paraphrase Jon’s comments since we were having phone connection issues and I left the computer behind as he and I jockeyed for the best locations in our homes to both hear. It was a case of each of us adjusting the proverbial rabbit ears to limit the “snow on the telly” type of cell-phone connections.

Jon summed up 2021’s Jam Packed Fall Convention season as good, and going to be better next year. He indicated that the normal etiquette among convention organizers of not stepping on each other’s calendar was ignored this year. Trying to cram a year’s worth of conventions into a four month time period meant the larger events had to overlap on the same weekends. After all, the gaming conventions were competing with all of the other convention and events who scrambled to get any event on the calendar in this last quarter-plus of 2021.

The larger conventions took suitable precautions, with both GenCon and Origins severely reducing their attendance, spreading out fewer attendees into areas with more elbow room for social distancing. Organizers of each promoted mandatory masking, which Jon said was hit or miss as people fought the noise, even in the slightly quieter gaming and dealer rooms.

However, enthusiasm was at an all time high. People were just glad to see others face to face, shake hands, and pass out the occasional hug for comrades of the gaming table. Games were full up across most tables, with a lot of enthusiastic players: whether it was one-off games, historical scenarios, or tournaments. The desire to roll dice in a convention hall, see old friends, settle grudge matches, or tell war stories, put a smile behind all of the masks.

Jon added that one benefit that will likely arise out of the last 18 months is that organizers learned that virtual events can happen. From streaming seminars, to playing games virtually through game engines such as TableTop Simulator or Roll-20 is a way to bring in players from out of the area, or even other continents, into a live event to compliment face to face gaming.

Immediate Lessons and Practical Application

For gamers hoping to hit your first or second convention post 2020, I can offer the following advice:

• Listen to and respect the convention organizers. They have to deal with local and state regulations, as well as the rules of the venue they’ve secured. In addition, their liability insurance may have stipulations about masking, vaccinations, and/or attendance numbers.
• Just like working out terrain and other variables with your opponent before rolling dice, do the same with masking. Some players are participating, but may have underlying health issues that increases their risks. Respecting their safety zone, or even masking when around them helps include them in the event.
• Like I’m going to ask our readers to do in the comments here: Leave the politics at home. Just attend the events, play the games you are comfortable with. If you cannot mask, or don’t want to, respect the events/players who ask you to do so.

We’re at the top of the hill where we get to put the last 18 months behind us. The convention season is a tad wonky in 2021. We’re all hoping we can get back to something resembling normal by the end of 2021.

Both Jon Russell, and the other gamers and game store owners I’ve talked to, see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In the words of Red Green, Remember, we’re all in this together. I’m pulling for you.

 

Troy is the editor of NDNG and a longtime gamer. If encountered in the wild, you may have to talk loudly. He can usually be kept from telling stories by feeding him donuts, cookies, or licorice. Instead of worrying about finally painting his last mini perishing, he is more afraid that his pile of unpainted minis may topple and crush him.