D&D General Shocked how hard it is to get new players now-a-days

[J-H]

Time and logistics. I have two kids (family D&D game Saturday afternoon, 1-2 hours at a time). My in person group meets Sundays 6:30pm-9:30pm because that's all we could carve out.

I've had the same group sequentially, but with most of the players rotating out / in due to RL, for the last 5 years. I have one of my original 7 left, and the other 3 current players are all related to each other. People quit the hobby, go back to school, get jobs, etc. Age range 17 to mid/late 50s. That group started at the FLGS, but the FLGS died due to lack of money, and I don't think we're going to get another one. Those of us with full time jobs are really stuck doing weekends and after-hours, and that's a hard time to stay open in a small town where all the restaurants close by 8:30 except Sonic/DQ. Replacement players have been recruited from church, people's relatives, people's school/work/etc., plus I have one more prospective member from the beekeeping club. His company keeps sending him on trips so he hasn't had a chance to show up yet though.

I did have another RL game on Fri night at my house... one guy from the big group, 1 guy from the library, and 2 from someone's work. 2 moved for work, another one kept having to work until 8pm, and that left me with just one, and he's a single dad so his time is pretty limited as well.

I really don't see any opportunities for more D&D outside of either the library making an effort to stay open 4 hours late (requiring someone to approve OT), or a Saturday something when my boys are old enough to come with and handle 3-4 hours straight. Or when I "retire" 25 years from now, if I have the energy, people, and memory.

Other than that, everything is Play by Post with Discord for OOC.

I have tried playing with Roll20 and over Discord a few times and it is a HUGE time commitment to sit there for 4 hours with a headset on through bedtime, on a weekend, etc., when play moves at half the pace of in person and I have a whole second screen right there to distract myself with and there is no cross-talk/table talk/socialization. I'm not interested in live D&D unless there's a chance to actually build relationships with other human beings through conversations about things that are not just the game. It's a people game, not a CRPG.

 

[payn]

I have tried playing with Roll20 and over Discord a few times and it is a HUGE time commitment to sit there for 4 hours with a headset on through bedtime, on a weekend, etc., when play moves at half the pace of in person and I have a whole second screen right there to distract myself with and there is no cross-talk/table talk/socialization. I'm not interested in live D&D unless there's a chance to actually build relationships with other human beings through conversations about things that are not just the game. It's a people game, not a CRPG.

Interesting. Since going online with VTT, I manage to get more than 2X the amount of gaming done in the same amount of time as F2F. I think a lot of that has to do with proficiency with the electronic tools, but it was something that surprised me in my experiences.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

In a physical game at a game shop. I have no desire to play online.

I've been trying to get 2 more players for a while. A lot of bites but I bring next to nothing to shore.

I've tried friends and family. Had one cousin express interest but never show.
Friends, same thing. "Sounds cool" but don't show. Even when they lament about not having anything to do that day.
Online boards in my metro area. Made a post about what I'm DMing and wanting players. I've had 3 people say they wished to join. None of them actually show.
People at the store approach and ask if they can play next week. Sure! Don't show.

Closest I had was a co worker and his 2 friends. All 3 showed. Next week the co-worker was sent to another state for surprise job training and his 2 friends were MIA.

I asked my local store to put up a notice board so I can put a posting, can't be bothered.

Why is this so hard? I thought this was the RPG golden age?

I had a much easier time getting players to a table for 3rd and 4th ed. This is like pulling teeth. If my current group ever decided to break up, I don't know what I'd do.

Edit: Some seem to miss that this is less about "no potential players" and more "just don't show up after expressing interest".

Hot take, but the golden age of D&D popularity is over and has been for a couple years now. I think it peaked 2020 and is slowly winding down. Even Critical Role has been hemeraging viewers. Don't get me wrong, the core books will likely sell fine, but after that... we will see.

 

[Raiztt]

Hot take, but the golden age of D&D popularity is over and has been for a couple years now. I think it peaked 2020 and is slowly winding down. Even Critical Role has been hemeraging viewers. Don't get me wrong, the core books will likely sell fine, but after that... we will see.

I would very much like it to return to a small, niche hobby driven more by the interest/passion of developers than being guided by the invisible hand of the market.

 

[TiQuinn]

Hot take, but the golden age of D&D popularity is over and has been for a couple years now. I think it peaked 2020 and is slowly winding down. Even Critical Role has been hemeraging viewers. Don't get me wrong, the core books will likely sell fine, but after that... we will see.

Ben Riggs alt account identified! /s

 

[payn]

Ben Riggs alt account identified! /s

Nice.

 

[Quickleaf]

In a physical game at a game shop. I have no desire to play online.

I've been trying to get 2 more players for a while. A lot of bites but I bring next to nothing to shore.

I've tried friends and family. Had one cousin express interest but never show.
Friends, same thing. "Sounds cool" but don't show. Even when they lament about not having anything to do that day.
Online boards in my metro area. Made a post about what I'm DMing and wanting players. I've had 3 people say they wished to join. None of them actually show.
People at the store approach and ask if they can play next week. Sure! Don't show.

Closest I had was a co worker and his 2 friends. All 3 showed. Next week the co-worker was sent to another state for surprise job training and his 2 friends were MIA.

I asked my local store to put up a notice board so I can put a posting, can't be bothered.

Why is this so hard? I thought this was the RPG golden age?

I had a much easier time getting players to a table for 3rd and 4th ed. This is like pulling teeth. If my current group ever decided to break up, I don't know what I'd do.

Edit: Some seem to miss that this is less about "no potential players" and more "just don't show up after expressing interest".

Sorry your FLGS isn't onboard with looking for gamers postings.

Do you have another FLGS reasonably close to your area that you could check out?

I'm in San Diego, and attitudes about postings vary from shop to shop. Pair a Dice Games - the one I've come to prefer - has a whole wall dedicated to that kind of stuff.

Edit: Oh! Some FLGS have their own Discord servers where you can plan in-person get togethers with folks nearby. If not, then there is always Meetup - I tried that once for a few Star Wars games, and it was ok, even though that's a bit of a lottery. But that's sort of the case when playing with folks you don't know.

My last idea is running games at your local convention can be a way to connect with folks more likely to be committed / non-flaky gamers.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I'd like to echo those who say playing online is too distracting.

At the table yeah people still check their phones but online people are browsing the internet or playing WoW or whatever.

Even i am guilty of this when I am a player. No one can see you (more or less) so why not scroll ENWorld while the Elf looks for secret doors or the Dragonborn makes his 3 attack rolls with advantage etc.

Plus, I really don't have a set up to play online for 3 hours comfortably. I dealt with it during Covid but with a small house and a family etc it's barely doable. I'd do it as a last resort but ugh in person is so much more fun. Minis, and hand drawn maps, and Dice and socialization! I sit at home enough.

 

[MGibster]

Back before COVID, I tried getting some folks together for a Vampire 5th edition campaign. There were plenty of people who expressed interest, so I set a date to meet five players for a session zero. Three of them showed up. By the following week the campaign had disintegrated.

Getting a new group of players together for a regular game day is tough. I used to think it was because gamers were flakey as a whole, and I still think that's partially true, but it's also because to regularly game with the same people you've got to like them, the games they play, and how they play those games.

I've started running games at my FLGS when they have game day events. I don't typically run D&D, instead favoring games I don't have many opportunities to play with my regular group, but I've had a lot of luck meeting new people who I know are interested in gaming. If you have a local venue where you can run games, that might be a good place to meet new people.

I should pay more attention, you brought up your local gaming store.

 

[MGibster]

I always laugh when people say there is a DM shortage, this may be true online but definitely not for in person gaming. I've always found that DMs are everywhere, it's the players who actually show up reliably who are the precious unicorns.

My theory is the DM is typically the one person in the group who has definitely decided to make gaming a priority in their life. If you want to assemble a group of regular players, you have to find people with both the ability and the desire to make the game a priority. And by priority, I mean you can count on them to show up to the game on a regular basis.

And just so I want to make sure there's no confusion here, I'm not arguing anyone needs to take an oath of devotion to the game to the exclusion of all else in life. Just that it has to be a priority for them in that they'll make it to the game on a regular basis. If something else comes up they might miss game night, but as a general rule you can count on their participation. This is a general rule for all recurring social activities though, not just gaming.