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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 9617427" data-attributes="member: 6796661">I find that Meetup's usefulness is highly dependent on location. In the Twin Cities, it was great. I built my current group through Meetup and while there has been a few who have come and gone, I've been running campaigns for the core 4 for over a decade now. But I didn't create a meetup for this. People--including me--will join a Meetup group just to see what its about and I just don't find it worth the hassle for something as small as a single TTRPG group. What worked for me is finding some of the more active TTRPG fan Meetups where multiple events were posted, which had large numbers, were active, and already had people posting find a game posts. I wrote out a detailed call for gamers post where I clearly set out the campaign I wanted to run, including a description of the world, expected play style and tone, the system I would be using, any homebrew or limitations, expected schedule, etc. Then I would communicate with those who were interested by mail. Another thing I did with my first campaign was that I designed it so that each session was a stand alone oneshot but tied into larger plot lines. This allowed people to drop in and out without the stress of making a long-term commitment. Over time a core group of folks showed up to every sessions and we just stuck to that group thereafter. For a short time until work and life in general didn't leave time for it, I posted a flyer at my FLGS looking for players interested in trying one shots of different TTRPGs. I listed 10 or so games that I was interested in running one shots of and had both a QR code and tabs on the bottom of the flyer with an e-mail that people could rip off and take with them. The idea was to build a distribution list that I could use to announce a one shot sessions I would be running. It was a good way to meet a diverse group of players because different people would show up for different games. I think that many GMs get stuck in a trap of having a campaign concept that they are keen to run and trying to find a good group for that campaign. I find more success in just running games for a lot of different people until I find the right group of people who are interested in committed to a longer campaign that I'm interested in playing with over a long period of time. PLAYING in many games locally, however, has not provided much success in organically building a group. Perhaps it is because you are "poaching" from another GM or players don't get to experience you as a GM so they don't really reach out to you to see if you are running a game (and I don't like to talk about games I run or that I'm looking for players when I'm in game run by another GM--it feels gauche). But when I put myself out there and run low-commitment one shots I eventually find people interested in playing in a regular campaign.</blockquote>

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