Last weekend I threw myself into the chaos that is TotalCon, “New England’s Largest Game Convention.” Held in a beautiful hotel hidden away in Mansfield, MA, this was the convention’s 26th showing and it showed no signs of slowing. Their motto, “Truth from chaos,” seems appropriate as I wandered through the mass of gamers headed for games, playing games, to recovering from games.

After getting my bearing, it was off to the registration room to get my pass and learn the con’s ticket system. Tickets are purchased for individual games, $1.50 for a board/mini/card game or $3 for an RPG. At first, it seemed a bit of cheek to sell tickets on top off passes (which give you access to panels and events), but the inexpensive passes and tickets are still much cheaper than many other cons. Also, the tickets can be redeemed after the games for prizes.

My next stop, after perusing the schedule and purchasing tickets for some upcoming games, was the dealers’ room. It was a small room, but oh, the treasures it held! Perhaps a dozen local and not-so-local merchants offered a cornucopia of gaming paraphernalia: from battle maps to miniatures, t-shirts to custom artwork, from glittering hoards of dices to vintage Dragon magazines. And of course, games: new, old, classic, and obscure. There was the latest Lord of the Rings CCG as well as the One Ring RPG; there was the classic Space: 1889 and the infamous Maid RPG; the rare Time & Temps was there, as well as Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death (which my iPhone autocorrected to “Facelift: Masque of the Red Death”).

Having spent the rent money on games and dice, I made my way to the main stage to watch the Iron GM competition. Here GMs compete to write and run the games featuring “secret ingredients.” Once the secret ingredients are revealed, GMs have 1 hour to craft an adventure around them (this year’s ingredients were: Archon, Abby, and Appeasement). After that, it’s time to run the adventure for a table of strangers. A worthy challenge indeed!

Another big attraction at Totalcon is the game demos: chances to ogle the newest games and learn the rules from the creators themselves. The offerings this years included Wizkids’s “Star Trek: Fleet Captains” and the so-new-it’s-not-published-yet “Zpocalypse” by Green Brier Games. “Fleet Captains” is a big, beautiful game, with a playing field that changes every game and two dozen finely crafted Federation and Klingon starships. With its twin focus of exploration and ship-to-ship combat, and its customizable card decks featuring elements from the whole franchise, this game feels like Star Trek in a box. I will be reviewing “Zpocalypse” in an upcoming article, but I’ll just say that the game wonderfully captures the feeling of the long-term survival corner of the zombie genre.

The Game Room offered scores of tables for scheduled and impromptu board games, miniature games, and card games. Tiny battlefields covered whole tables and were the sites of medieval or mechanized carnage, settlers fought over the resources of Catan, and railroad barons raced to build their empires. And if none of the games ongoing tickled your fancy there was the game library where you could borrow a copy of “Small World” or “Albion” or dozens of other games.

But the heart of TotalCon is the tabletop role-playing games. Each day offered lots of different games in a multitude of systems. For the RPGer, it was the chance to try new systems, spar with new players, meet old friends, or just overdose on our favorite hobby. For the eternal GM, it also offered the opportunity to sit on the other side of the screen. I was able to try two systems that I was familiar with but never had the chance to play (not to mention being the ghost of a ten-year old child drowned on the Titanic). Not only was it great fun, but I increased my repertoire and learned a few new tricks.

I was only able to attend two days of this four-day con, but next year I will definitely try to make all four days. For the New England gamer, TotalCon is a categorical imperative!