Columbia Games at Gen Con

This year is the 30th anniversary for Hârn. Columbia Games celebrated by returning to Gen Con for the first time in ten years.

Tom of Columbia Games showing off one of their Historical Block Games

I have been to Gen Con twice in the past. The last time I attended was when it was in Milwaukee in 1993. I went with a company called TRI that some college friends had started. We made 3D game pieces for RPGs and wargames. Sculpted and cast in resin, we offered various models for the table top games, ranging from fantasy to sci fi to historic models. We were not around too much longer. 1993 was also the year that Magic cards were introduced. I thought it was a crazy then- kids playing Magic in every corner of the building and in all the hallways in between. Gen Con has since moved to Indianapolis and the attendance has doubled.
There were over 49,000 people packed in to this years Gen Con to collect, play and check out all the latest games.
Our booth was pretty modest in comparison, but we have a loyal fan base that came out to support us. A few even were dress up in costume from the Harnic fantasy world. They came in, roughed us up, stole our women and left.
But Seriously- there were no women.

A priest of the Fuming Gate and Knight of the Cooper Hook

A few Hârn Games were played at the Con. One was officially on the schedule. The other two were pick-up games, one of which I got to sit in on.
I dropped in on every game, handing out the fancy Hârn Maps to participants. A testament to the game and the GM's was that everyone that played in a Hârn game, and was new to it, came back to the booth to purchase something Hârnic.

Walt's Red Caravan Hârn adventure in action.

We ended up selling all the HarnMaster, HarnWorld, and all the kingdom modules we brought. Brent, the editor and I had brought our own personal kingdom modules with us with all the extra kingdom articles- we ended up selling those too. I would say most of the customers were familiar with our products, but it would be great to expand the fan base.
The block games also sold well. People were going crazy over the card game Slapshot. It sold out and we were taking orders for more. I got the iPhone app for Slapshot and finally won a game last night.
It was a great time and we were excited to be back. Next year we will have a bigger booth in a more visible location. Hopefully we can get more games and demos offered through out Gen Con in 2014.
Another view of the booth shows another fascinating part of the Con; Tons of people in costume. Here you can see the corner of our booth with Spock taking a photo of someone posing with Batman.
Seems Logical.