Winter Fantasy is an annual

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playin ...

convention that takes place in the USA every January or February.

History

The convention was held as early as 1977 under the name Winter Fantasy. In 2007 the convention was renamed to D&D Experience (often abbreviated as DDXP or D&DXP). In 2012

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

announced it would now use the title D&D Experience for the events it held at the Gen Con convention. Baldman Games, the company currently operating this and other conventions for Wizards of the Coast, decided to continue the tradition and brought back the name Winter Fantasy for the 2013 convention. The convention has been closely tied to the

RPGA The RPGA (also called the Role Playing Game Association and the RPGA Network at various times), was initially part of the organized play arm of TSR, Inc and later of Wizards of the Coast. From 1980 to 2014, it organized and sanctioned role-playing ...

, and was sponsored by the RPGA from 1989 until TSR went bankrupt. Winter Fantasy has played host to a wide variety of tournament and organized play games. These include popular

living campaign Living campaigns, or shared campaigns, are a gaming format within the table-top role-playing game community that provide the opportunity for play by an extended community within a shared universe. In contrast to traditional isolated role-playing ...

programs such as Living City,

Living Greyhawk Living Greyhawk ("LG") was a massively shared ''Dungeons & Dragons'' Living Campaigns, living campaign administered by RPGA that ran from 2000 to 2008. The campaign setting and storyline were based on Gary Gygax's Greyhawk, World of Greyhawk setti ...

, and Living Forgotten Realms. The 2013 convention included

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Society games run by

Paizo Publishing Paizo Inc. (originally Paizo Publishing.) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing game ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Pathfinder''. The company's name is derived ...

in addition to Wizards of the Coast organized play events. Winter Fantasy has often featured special events either not available elsewhere or with a limited release. 2013 included a special Pathfinder scenario and multi-table battle interactive events for the Living Forgotten Realms and Ashes of Athas campaigns. Ashes of Athas is a

Dark Sun ''Dark Sun'' is an original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (D&D) campaign setting set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic desert world of Athas. ''Dark Sun'' featured an innovative metaplot, influential art work, dark themes, and a genre-bending take o ...

campaign, which started at Winter Fantasy 2011 and concluded at Winter Fantasy 2013. The location of the convention has moved over the years. It is currently held in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, a site it has held since 2009 and also several times in the past. The first Winter Fantasy was organized by Rob Kuntz and held January 8 to 9, 1977, at American Legion Hall in Lake Geneva, WI. Other locations have included Milwaukee (1992),

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

(2004), and Washington, DC (2005-2008).

Timeline

Scheduled future events

References

External links

Winter Fantasy official site

Wizards of the Coast reviews 2013 events
{{D&D topics Gaming conventions