After the handoff to GAMA for the 1981 show, some additional drama between Origins and Gen Con began to expand.  On the Origins side, this could be seen in the 1982 show at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.  In the program this year, a special note was made that they would not identify role-playing games by name or company of manufacture due to concerns over being sued.  Looking through the events, however, many role-playing games had at least the game system listed, with the exception of games that one could safely assume were using D&D rules systems.  Things were particularly tense this year due to the Eastern Gaming Association, who was slated to run Gen Con East II in 1982, returning a favor to Don Greenwood who had withdrawn Atlanticon to help out Gen Con East I previously, withdrawing from running the convention so as not to harm Origins which would be hosted nearby.  Gygax found this unacceptable, and decided to use his widely read platform in Dragon magazine to blast GAMA and Origins.  He not only stated that TSR would no longer attend Origins, but that his loyal readers should boycott the convention and instead focus their efforts on Gen Con.  

Whether or not this call to boycott Origins actually had a direct impact on Origins attendance is unclear.  The following 1983 convention, hosted again by MDG in Detroit, drew between 3,000 and 4,000 attendees; fewer than the more than 4,000 attendees who came to game in Baltimore in 1982.  However, in 1984, when Origins was held in Texas for the first time, only around 1,600 people attended.  Was this due to Gygax successfully convincing D&D players to stop attending Origins?  While many people considered Origins at this time to be primarily a wargaming convention it still had a significant number of role-playing games, the majority of which were D&D.  The game was so impactful for the convention that the 1984 program dedicated 9 of its 48 pages to reprinting a Dragon article about how to get the most out of participating in fantasy role-playing game tournaments.  It is more likely the decrease in attendance came from Origins moving around the country and taking place away from the bastions of gamers within driving distance of the East Coast and Midwest.  Regardless, Gygax took the decrease in Origins attendance as a victory, seeing as Gen Con had more than five times the number of attendees as Origins did in 1984.  Gygax used this as an opportunity to say his gripe with GAMA and Origins was over, and called an end to his boycott.

It was a good thing the conflict with TSR and Gen Con was considered settled, because by the late 80s Origins needed a little help.  Attendance was dragging, and if the convention was to survive it needed a boost.  Hope came in the form of the 1988 convention, which was hosted in conjunction with Gen Con in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The show was billed as the number one strategy game fair joining forces with the number one adventure game fair.  Emphasis was placed on increasing the presence of miniature and board wargaming at the event this year, something that Gen Con normally had plenty of but wanted to boost even further for the partnership with Origins.  Anticipation for this convention was high, with many gamers excitedly talking about it in various zines and anticipating it to be the biggest gaming event ever.  The dual show paid off, with many people who typically attended Origins trying out some role-playing games, and many of the typical Gen Con attendees trying out miniature and strategy board war games that they typically eschewed.  When the dust had settled, around 10,000 people had attended the show, making this combo Origins/Gen Con the largest tabletop gaming convention to date.  This was just what Origins needed to boost future shows, the next of which was scheduled for Los Angeles, California in 1989.