Jack Radey, former head of Peoples Wargames, and whom I Tuckerized years ago as president of Communist America in an alternate history story, writes:

Dana Lombardy had someone send him your review of Origins, and he passed it on to me. Sic transit gloria. Incidently, Origins HAD a program, that featured speakers, controversial panels, etc etc, it was called the War College. For a while it was run by Uncle Lou Zocchi, until close examination discovered that some of the "speakers" only served at his table at the show, while some of the actual speakers couldn't get reimbursed for their travel and hotel... Good old Gulf pirate. I do love Uncle. And I liked his saw playing very much. Professional, my, now you're sounding like Randy Reed... couldn't resist, sorry.
Any rate, Winston Hamilton (the late lamented, of GAMA, GDW, GR/D, the Communist Party, the US Army, and various other things) arranged for, as he put it, my rehabilitation from the Gulag, and I was appointed to head the War College (WC). To guarantee I didn't hijack it and fly it to Cuba, John Hill was appointed as my co-dean (no pun intended). John of course working for an Other Government Agency who dares not speak its name, but hates being referred to as the Cocaine Importing Agency. We worked together splendidly, and we hammered out a deal with GAMA (who, despite what it says in your article) were in charge of Origins all along. Of course they farmed it out to various people, it finally coming to rest with WoTC. The deal was simple. We are not 14 year old dungeon masters. We are retired colonels, active duty colonels, geezer game designers, historians, etc, and in many other venues we would get an honorarium for participating, to say nothing of putting on 4 seminars and participating in a panel. Instead we wanted two things: half a hotel room each (find a room mate or pay half), and our travel expenses to be reimbursed, in cash, at the show. For this they got some forty seminars and three or four panels, and a lot of people who came to the show for no other reason than to hear. Since we ran two seminar rooms in tandem (highest attendence in one was 75 or so, lowest 1, but we averaged 30 or so), many people complained that they couldn't be cloned to go to two at once.
Each year, something went wrong. Each year, a new person was chosen to liase with us, and each year I had to patiently explain that, no, we were not 14 year old dungeon masters... and what the deal was. While Winston lived, he ran interference for us. Often they forgot to mention us in the pre-reg publicity, even though we were often the first to get our schedule in. Every August, John and I, or Rich Muller and I when John had a triple bypass and could no longer do it, would ask for a report on attendence, gate, comments, if they wanted us back next year, what we could do better, feedback, etc. Each year a ringing silence. Then usually in February we would get a phone call, "We need your schedule by Friday to make the pre-reg book." It usually came on a Thursday. Each year we came through, and got rave reviews from both our speakers and the audiences. Our attendence didn't noticeably drop the year they left us out of the program, people told me, "We figured you would be there, so we came."
Meanwhile the show was getting less and less like the old Origins of my youth. But a few familiar faces. Every year I took the opportunity to get loaded with John Prados and Kevin Zucker, which was a joy. But more card players, more live action Vampire, (cool with me, people having fun is fun, and since the Gideons were booked into the convention center right after us, watching the vanguard of the Gideons encounter the rear guard of the live action Vampires was a joy to behold all in and of itself).
Then two years ago we came to a crunch. Hasbro had scratched its corporate head and asked why WoTC was running this show, which bled money in all directions. I mean, why had they paid thousands of dollars for a large blimp suspended from the hall advertising the show? Did they think it brought in ANYONE? Why hire Darth Vader to make radio ads, volunteers told me they had lots of calls asking about the scifi con, and had to patiently explain about it being a gaming con... The idiots running the show were full of that LA PIZAZZ spirit, and hadn't clue number 1 as to who was coming to the show or why. Figured they were all TV addicted idiots.
So the show landed in GAMA's lap. Fine, the first year went OK, although, again, they left us out of the pre-reg booklet, and ignored Rich and my offers to get them a list of history departments, military bases, and wargame contacts to advertise by email our truly stellar line up of presenters. No interest, what kind of dice do you use in your seminars?
The sore point was Colonel David Glantz, founder of the US Army's Foreign Army's Research program, preeminent authority on the history of the Red Army, our biggest draw, and an author with more than a dozen books out. He also self-published a lot, and sold his stuff at his seminars, which went over VERY well with the audiences. But Dave, who lives in Pennsylvania, had an elderly mother with Alzheimers at home, and had to pay to put her in a nursing home for the week, which ain't cheap. We had cut him a special deal, allowing him to have a whole room for himself and his wife. He had also been screwed nearly every year, with the con refusing to pay him what it promised for travel on time, or lousing up his hotel reservation, or something. I would scream and yell and pound the table, suggest breach of contract lawsuits, etc, and eventually he would get what he was owed, but it was a hemorrhoid every year. Although he was tired of the bullshit, he loved the audiences.
I had warned him when I invited him that while some of the audience would be pretty intelligent and well read in the field, there would be a certain amount of ... drooling idiots. "Just like the War College at Carlisle," he replied. When he had given a few, he was in ecstasy, "Seventy five people, who are passionate and well informed on the subject, that ask great questions, and not ONE of them was ordered to be there!"
But the money was getting to be a problem. He had sold most of the books he had to the audiences, and the same people were coming year after year and the revenue was falling, meaning that he was out of pocket for the weekend to provide care for his mom. So he asked for a guarantee of $600. He was our biggest draw and most prestigious name, I agreed to fight for it. Called GAMA. Was told, no, no can do, and in fact the whole deal of paying hotel rooms and travel was also out the window.
So I fought it, as you can imagine. I was reasonable, and I was also quite... ah... undiplomatic. Rich and I decided we were not going to ask our people to go out of pocket to come to Origins. The people I was dealing with seemed to think that a free ticket to the show was a cool deal. The 14 year old dungeon masters go for it, and they sleep four to a room, when they sleep. What's your problem?
The problem was we were the chamber music quartet at the circus. No one knew what to do with us, although everyone was sure we were something very special, whatever we were.
They pointed out our revenue didn't cover our expenses (our budget had been $6,000 for 12 years in a row). We pointed out that based on polling our attendees we could easily charge more for the WC, more like $25 per than $15 (for 20 seminars and three or four panels with prestigious speakers that's one fuck of a bargain). They responded the previous year by dropping the price to $10. We suggested trying to bring in more people by publicizing it to the history departments and military. They responded by suggesting they have a girl in a skimpy bathing suit cut a ribbon opening the show. They were very concerned with a logo, with getting some great name, like Tom Clancy, or Schwarzkopf (Schwarznegger?), we suggested just putting out our schedule, with its really exceptional list of topics and speakers would actually draw the people who would come to the show for just that.
No dice, and we were told to fuck off, and not very politely. So Pete Panzeri put on a War College lite, including speakers that John Hill and I had blackballed (the McDonut Brothers, USN) for really having not much to say, and some other crap, whoever would work for substandard conditions. I agreed not to stand in their way, and forwarded Pete's invite to my "faculty." A few friends of mine, who needed to go to Origins anyway for business went ahead and presented (the word that comes to mind is scabbing but... let it go.)
Never got a thank you, job well done, how can we work together to make this happen better, any way you can reduce your budget? Nah, just fuck off.
So for the last two years I have not been at Origins. Can't afford to go, and can't think of any reason to justify it. I am living here in Eugene, Oregon, happily remarried, raising chickens and occaisional hell, singing, painting miniatures, making forays into political activism now and again, and watching the planet slide into the dumper. Although W may precede it by some margin, the future looks worse to me than it ever has, I suspect the race has run its course. If I'm lucky, I'll be gone by the time the roof falls in, my poor kids, and everyone elses.
Peace,
Jack Radey

posted by Greg at 1:27 PM 3 comments