29
Jul/2008
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OGC article in Nashua Telegraph
OGC received some press coverage this year. The following article was published in the Nashua Telegraph on Sunday, July 27th. Thank you to Michael Brindley from the Telegraph for coming out to cover the event and thank you as well to all of those who were interviewed and quoted.
Published: Sunday, July 27, 2008 Your imagination plays a role in these games NASHUA – If you've never rolled a 20-sided die, cast a level-five spell or been a dungeon master, you probably wouldn't fit in.
The Open Gaming Convention is being held at the Courtyard at Marriott Nashua this weekend. The annual convention, which started Friday and ends today, is "held by and for gamers," and there were players of all ages, both male and female.
A few players were in costume, but for the most part, the gaming community is filled with regular people who share a common interest, said Lisa Sussenberger, the organizer of the convention. "There's a mind-set out there that we're all antisocial or a bunch of nerds, but it's really not true," she said.
Checking in at the registration desk, it was clear this wasn't your typical convention.
Miniature purple and orange dragons adorned each side of the desk. There was also a small chest on the desk labeled "Evil Dice Exchange."
"Do your dice hate you?" it asks. "Leave them here and give some other dice a roll. Perhaps they'll like you better."
You're given a badge and asked to fill in both your real name and your "alter ego."
When asked to describe the role-playing-game world to a newcomer, 36-year-old Tim Harrigan of Merrimack, who came to the convention, put it simply: "It's impromptu acting slash imaginative storytelling."
Harrigan has been playing role-playing games since he was 10. He said he likes it because it provides an opportunity to think out of the box, creating detailed characters with specific powers.
It's a big part of his life, he said.
"For my son's eighth birthday, I bought him his first set of dice," Harrigan said, laughing.
And each Friday night, he hosts a game that can draw as many as 17 people.
But Harrigan said he doesn't take it too seriously.
"It's all really tongue-in-cheek," he said.
The convention started Friday afternoon, and Liam Fitzpatrick, 14, was one of the youngest players there. He said he has been playing role-playing games "since I could read. I was sort of brought up with it."
"Dungeons & Dragons is, has always been and will always be my favorite," said Liam, adding that he'll try just about any game once. But he says he likes Dungeons & Dragons because "it allows me to use my imagination instead of sitting in front of the TV all day."
Liam was sitting at a table where Joe Pandolph, 36, was setting up one of the first games of the afternoon Friday. Pandolph said playing a game is like a social event. It's also a creative outlet, he said.
"I can come up with my own stories, my own ideas," he said. 
Staff photo by Corey Perrine
Steve Wall, 22, of Nashua, grimaces at his hand while playing Pimp the Backhanding on Friday in Nashua. Sussenberger said people enjoy role-playing because it can give you a chance to be someone else for a few hours. Like most of the gamers, Sussenberger said she got hooked playing Dungeons & Dragons.
"It combined my love of writing and drama with a kind of social scene," she said.
And it was the only role-playing game around 30 years ago, she said. Now there are hundreds of games out there, she said. Mutants & Masterminds, Aces & Eights, Star Wars and Spycraft are some of the more popular role-playing games out there now, she said.
Sussenberger said this is the fifth year the event has been held. She started it when she was working at the Wizard's Tower, a gaming store that had been located in Nashua.
The owner of the store helped pay for some of the cost, she said. The store has since closed, but Sussenberger said she keeps the convention going. She also runs an anime convention.
Sussenberger said there is an online role-playing community, especially with the "World of Warcraft" boom, but people who play those games exclusively tend not to show up at conventions like this one.
"Online gamers tend to stay online," she said.
The convention wasn't limited to role-playing games. Don Higgins and his daughter Meghan were matched in a game of backgammon in one of the side rooms.
There were also sessions of Scrabble, Monopoly and cribbage scheduled.
Higgins, an artist from Londonderry, had set up shop at the convention, selling T-shirts. One shirt read: "Dwarf rolls natural 20; Bear eats dice and dwarf; Bear wins." Higgins confesses it's a T-shirt only a true gamer could appreciate.
"Hey, I sold three of them today," he said.
Higgins also does artwork for stories. Many of the gamers at the conventions are also fiction writers, and Higgins said they sometimes will collaborate.
In one of the ballrooms, Douglas Akin, 33, was running a game of BattleTech. The players were Robert Cobit, 17, and Dennis Busse, 29. The game involved miniature robots (called "mechs") being moved strategically across a battlefield.
"I've always been a fan of strategy," said Cobit, and that's why he likes BattleTech.
Akin said a typical game could go on for several hours or could be an "all-day event."
There was also a room for video games, where a Nintendo Wii and "Guitar Hero" were available to be played. There were more than 100 games and events at the convention, as well as several vendors and local writers.
Most of the gamers were from New England, but Sussenberger said one person came from Germany. She said she expected about 250 people to attend this year.
Tags: Ogc Convention Newspaper
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