Con on the Cob Question

[Litzen Tallister]

Jyrdan Fairblade and I are looking into checking out Con on the Cob this year and my Google-Fu has not resulted in a whole lot of information, other than the official website and a few other mentions (and of course, "Did you mean Corn on the Cob?"). It looks like some of the forum-goers here have been to previous ones, so I am appealing to the broader knowledgebase here as to what the con happens to be like. It's only a two hour drive from Jyrdan's, so it's a pretty simple trip, but I'd like to know more before committing to it. Thank you in advance.

[Omote]

CotC is a smallish convention, that is currently going through some growing pains. It started about 10 years ago with about 100 people, and grew to 500-600+ a few years ago. The con outgrew it's home hotel (thank god, that place was a dump) and moved to a much larger, and marginally better hotel in 2015. I think that freaked out some people so the con seemed to shrink a little bit. I think that is because it is now spread out over a lot more hotel area, and now for 2016 has moved to a time slot about a month later in November. Hopefully, the kinks got worked and this year will be bigger and better than ever. I think it will be.

Originally COTC was dominated by college-era gamers playing older RPGs (particularly Call of Cthulhu), and a dealer's room filled by artists. Gaming was a big part of the convention to be sure. Now, while still a artist and gaming convention, there has been a larger influx of modern D&D games, boardgames, and the like. It's more of a mix now between classic and modern style games. D&D 5E, Shadowrun, Savage Worlds, and Call of Cthulhu (now to a lesser extent) make up most of the types of games being run, but there are others (like us here running, playing C&C and the like). The dealer's room has diversified to have more gaming vendors then ever before, but it still feels like an artist's-style dealer's room. As the years have passed, con parties are playing a larger and larger roll in the overall convention style and landscape. Again, last year was sort of a down year for con parties because the convention relocated, but it was still worth wild.

COTC really feels like a down-home convention. It's run by fans, for fans - so newcomers might feel like there is a certain lack of direction to COTC, but it really is the most friendly convention I have ever been too.

A handful of TLG board posters have been to COTC pretty much each year for the past 5-6 years or so.

~O

[Rigon]

Pretty much what O said. The people that run the con are very approachable and great, all around folks. As is everyone involved in the operations of the con. It's been my go to con for the past 5-6 years, as it is about an hour and a half to 2 hour drive for me. Unfortunately, I would be able to attend this year. That later date makes it almost impossible for me to go.

If you do go, you will find a ton of diverse games to play, parties to attend, and generally nice people to hang out with. I wish they could have kept the same time frame as in the past, but I understand the need to change it. It's just a bummer for me personally.

R-

[Litzen Tallister]

Thanks for the feedback folks. One specific question, as far as the gaming tables go, it's my understanding that they're at least largely all in the same open space. As someone who has trouble hearing in crowded, loud spaces, how's the level of background noise in that kind of environment?

[Rigon]

It wasn't too bad. The tables are spaced out a little bit form each other. That helped.

R-

[Omote]

Hey Litzen. I also suffer from a hearing disorder that limits my ability to separate background noise from foreground noise. That being said, COTC's gaming hall (last year, and probably this year too) was in a gigantic 3-story room. The gaming tables are close together like many conventions, but what really helps is that the game tables sit in what is essentially a domed-over courtyard. This area is 100% indoors, but there is a pool in the same room which is weird, but works. Though, admittedly there was a certain amount of echo in the gaming room due to its size and openness. I had very little problems hearing, so you should be good on that front.

~O

[Treebore]

Yeah. The only area I had problems hearing was in the Savage Worlds area. They had them behind video game machines the hotel never turned off, and the noises from them caused some issue, but we still had a blast!

Unfortunately their move to November makes it highly unlikely that I will ever be able to attend again