Sep 28, 2024
"Maybe there is something to this fantasy nonsense." (Comic signed Swenston & Stafford -- presumably Steve Swenston and perhaps Greg Stafford, Dragon magazine #11, December 1977, showing 2 men in traditional business suits behind the Avalon Hill booth at Origins '77, surrounded by fantasy characters)
The first two Origins Game Fairs were held in Baltimore, Maryland, home of board wargame publisher Avalon Hill, which co-ran those early conventions. The "Origins" name paid respect to Avalon Hill as the publisher of the first modern commercial wargames in the 1950s. The third Origins was held in July 1977 in Staten Island, New York, by which time fantasy gaming was becoming a more dominant part of gaming business and culture.