How did you find your gaming group?

[Irysangel]

Hey everyone!

Amidst all the discussion of WotC contest, and all the other stuff has recently made me miss gaming. My group broke apart a few years ago (one joined the navy, one went to college, one moved away & the rest scattered) and I've only played a one-nighter or two since, and I REALLY miss it!

I was looking at the boards on here, but I'm not sure how reliable they'd be to post that I'm looking for a group in a certain area, and I know some comic shops post "Looking" boards, but I haven't seen any in my area....that, and I live in terror that I'd show up and it'd be all munchkins or worse, guys that treat me weird because I'm a female player (happened the last few times I played). My original group was all family/friends since before high school, so it wasn't a stretch to fill seats then. But now they're all gone and I'm...lonely!

So I guess my question is, how the heck did you manage to find your group, and would you recommend it to someone else? I don't really have a big pool to draw from. Work is rather stiff and sterile, and most of my friends have moved away.

Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[Xarlen]

Other.

I went onto a Muck that was set up for gaming, because I was in an RP thing online, and I found a group there, and ended up DMing.

Good group.

 

[Psion]

Of my current gamers

1 was an old friend that I bumped into at the D&D movie. We are both from a town in Idaho (the same one where poster Number47 now lives) and we are now working at the same naval base (I'm a contractor, he's in the navy) in Maryland.

1 was a friend he knew, and his wife

I found another gaming couple through an ad I put up in the game store

1 I found on a gaming bulliten board. (Actually I have found several this way, but most of them wash out...)

 

[Agamon]

They were left in a basket on my doorstep. I just couldn't turn them away.

Seriously, they are all friends or friends of players already in the group. One is a returned player from my very first group, 19 years ago. And I just lost one that was an original and gamed in every group I DMed since (he moved away). The group is 50-50 vets and newbies (if you can call players that have played for 3 years newbies...)

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Wow--I'm the only one who found his group through an ad at a gaming store.

Well, the only one who answered the poll that way.

I really like my group, too. Only two of us players are still in the group, but we're going strong with three other people that joined the group after the first session.

 

[jhanzur]

It's a shame I was born near Dallas and never met you...

Here's to acccckkknowledging your wishes. I've met most of my group online through a message board that I couldn't find again if I tried. Although, one is a friend from HS that I used to game with, the only other one out of our original HS group who took this game somewhat seriously. The other three seem as interested in "older age gaming", but with a different likeness to the game. We still get along well, though, even if there is much to work on; mostly communication between the players who DIDN'T play in the same group before. Ok, I'm zzzz now.....

 

[Teflon Billy]

I originally met the other founding member of my group at Westercon 44 in Vancouver. We played in a giant GURPS Cyberpunk scenario GM'd by Steve Jackson himself.

Our team won the scenario, and we all went drinking and had a great time getting to know one another in the heady "post victory" atmosphere.

It seems the other founder (from this point forward known by the code name "Fraser") worked in the gaming section at a local comic shop, where we crossed paths a few weeks later.

It seemd that Fraser had plans to start a weekly gaming group with the (then) astonishing idea of demanding a committment to showing up weekly from prospective players.

We collected others we felt might be appropriate including a local actor (who felt that the game gave him a good opportunity to practice his improv) the late Game Designer Nigel D Findley and a variety of other people who turned out to be great on about a "one-time-in-three" schedule.

We took it from there, and our huge gaming scene has sprung from such humble beginnings.

So, to make a long story short Satan led me to Them

 

[King_Stannis]

i've been gaming with my one friend since the early eighties. another friend was recruited - he used to just come over and watch tv or do other things while we played. he decided to give it a go, and is actually one of the best players.

another was a former co-worker of the first friend, and yet another was the husband of one of my wife's co-workers. confused yet?

the final piece of the puzzle is my wife. i met her drunk off my ass at a bar. if anyone ever tells you that you won't meet a good woman at a bar they are full of s#%t!

i like the fact that i can hang out with my group and discuss things other than the game. all in all, it's a strong group i've been blessed with right now.

 

[Psychotic Dreamer]

The way I found the last group I gamed with I posted on these very boards. I was told of a mailing list for gamers in the area and then posted there. I found a group of people that lived fairly close to me. Well that is until I had to move due to a lack of a job. Now all my gaming is done online and found through message boards and mailing lists. Oh well one day I'll be gaming with a group in person again...

 

[NiTessine]

In my group, we're all in the same high school. I'd also say that Satan led me to them, because some of them can be rather... strange, sometimes. Stranger than me, actually. And that's a lot.