Generally Discouraged (In-Person Gaming)

[Mezuka]

I have run into this problem as well with our last group. Even though everyone lived within 5 minutes where we played, we tried to start earlier after everyone got out of work, a little later so people didn't have to rush right over, and nothing worked. People showed up late or not at all and seemed the game began starting later and ending earlier and earlier. What started as a 4-hour game dwindled to 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Everyone worked full time on-site throughout the pandemic so after a 8-10 hour work day a lot of the players were already mentally checked out by the time the game started. We tried Saturdays but no one wanted to commit to them regularly due to other commitments. In hindsight its not only who you play with that makes a successful gaming group but also when you decide to play. Scheduling games can get quite difficult and frustrating at times.

The last f-t-f group I had we started playing at my house since I was the GM. But soon one couple complained. They bought a huge table and really comfy chairs. So start playing at their house. Over the weeks they started drinking alcool at the table and the husband was smoking pot. Their level of concentration and time they were able to play effectively decreased from four to two hours. We had a discussion and they decided they preferred booze and pot over role-playing.

My online group is not perfect but they are always on the clock and ready to play, even if tired from a naughty word day or week.

 

[Reynard]

I know!
My previous position was a children's librarian - and because of those obligations, I couldn't exactly run gaming events and try to make casual friends with the kids.
It's actually disappointing on many levels. I obviously love libraries, but I can't use the library (the only one in town) because when I enter the door to come in and find a book or attend an event, I'm a manager. I'm sought out for any crises that may arise, I'm pulled in to work wherever I'm needed, and the regular public recognizes me as staff and asks me for help.
If you're familiar with the concept of a "third space" in society, this is one that I don't have. One of the only ones that is free to use and doesn't ask much of the people to come in and gather there. And in a small town with limited options, we have also bars, stores, and churches. And we can't discuss my relationship with the last one on these boards.

I'm sorry. I am guessing you love your job or you wouldn't make the sacrifice, but it still sucks. Good luck. I hope you find a FTF group soon.

 

[R_J_K75]

we started playing at my house since I was the GM.

Same here. It would take me quite a bit to play elsewhere anymore. I live alone so it just makes playing here easier and we can get loud and not worry about disturbing anyone else. We play in the garage in the summer. As I generally DM and do all the heavy lifting of scheduling games, setting up the game area and my gaming library is here its not worth to play anywhere else. Also I can control who I play with which has mostly been friends over the years.

Over the weeks they started drinking alcool at the table and the husband was smoking pot. Their level of concentration and time they were able to play effectively decreased from four to two hours. We had a discussion and they decided they preferred booze and pot over role-playing.

We always drank and smoked when we played since we were teenagers and it never affected our games. I had this discussion with one of my players from the last group and we couldn't figure it out why this time was different. Because as you said a few people seemed to take the game more as a social event to come hang out, party and game last, and the game did suffer because of it. Unfortunately in the city I live and the people I grew up and still hang out with partying is a big part of the culture so its really hard to get away from. But the two people who were the more casual players are out now so I think the two players I have left will make for a good game.

 

[payn]

I've had tough times finding a reliable group of people to game with in the past, and this was pre-COVID. Gaming is a very social activity, and you have to find the right people to click with and that's not aways easy. Getting gamers organized, especially when you aren't already established friends, is like pulling teeth at times. A number of times I've tried to get campaigns started by contacting people through the local gaming groups, only to find that a lot of them just don't make it to game night regularly.

Yeah, I live in a metropolitan area (likely much more populated than OP) and it wasn't super easy to find F2F games pre-pandemic. We did have a very vibrant local organized play for both PF and 5E. That was how I found gamers when I needed to. I never played online up until the pandemic because I never needed to. I found it to be better in some ways and easier than I expected, though challenging too in ways I didn't.

So I went from a never online gamer to one overnight and some folks I gamed with hated it. They went back to F2F gaming but they meet so infrequently its just not scratching the itch for me. Though, I'm guessing a lot of folks got into online play and are not likely to go back.

 

[prabe]

Yeah, I live in a metropolitan area (likely much more populated than OP) and it wasn't super easy to find F2F games pre-pandemic. We did have a very vibrant local organized play for both PF and 5E. That was how I found gamers when I needed to. I never played online up until the pandemic because I never needed to. I found it to be better in some ways and easier than I expected, though challenging too in ways I didn't.

So I went from a never online gamer to one overnight and some folks I gamed with hated it. They went back to F2F gaming but they meet so infrequently its just not scratching the itch for me. Though, I'm guessing a lot of folks got into online play and are not likely to go back.

This is also me. I think online might be a better solution much of the time for weeknights--the convenience is real--but I think I like in-person for weekends.

 

[Retreater]

Alas, I don't have any suggestions I don't think I've seen. Depending where you are, it might be difficult to get people to do anything in public, because pandemic; the known difficulties with finding gamers do not seem as though they would go away, or make things easier.

I live in the "near South" and people seem long since out of quarantine. We have big outdoor music festivals, our library is packed with events, bars are spilling out. This need for socialization doesn't seem to have transferred to gaming, however.

I mean, "move somewhere else" or "try the most popular game" don't seem helpful (and to be clear, I'm not offering them).

Yeah, I have a home and career in this town - so I don't plan to move. But I would run whatever game would get people to the table.

Yeah, I live in a metropolitan area (likely much more populated than OP) and it wasn't super easy to find F2F games pre-pandemic.

Our city/county population is 100,000. On top of that it's also a very aged population and in the Bible belt where gaming still has the stigma of the Satanic Panic.

 

[prabe]

Our city/county population is 100,000. On top of that it's also a very aged population and in the Bible belt where gaming still has the stigma of the Satanic Panic.

OK, this is a somewhat more serious suggestion: Try co-op board games. I have found they can (not necessarily will) scratch a lot of the TRPG itch, at least for a while. Some are more TRPG-like than others. You might find them to work as a non-TRPG thing to do if you don't have a quorum, or as an introduction to cooperative play, without all the trappings--including the GM--of a TRPG. Absolutely less prep work, though there's setup and teardown--but something like Pandemic is quick (if maybe a little on-the-nose, still).

 

[John R Davis]

Very glum when I see people cant get to play, in whatever way they wish.

Feel myself very lucky that in 42 years of gaming have always had groups to play with., during Covid-Max got to play online as much as I wished, and now could probably find a face to face game most days (I play FTF about 10 times in any given month, with various groups and online 2-3 times a month).
It is my hobby so try really hard to attend etc. As I said, I am very fortunate.

 

[payn]

I live in the "near South" and people seem long since out of quarantine. We have big outdoor music festivals, our library is packed with events, bars are spilling out. This need for socialization doesn't seem to have transferred to gaming, however.

Yeah, I have a home and career in this town - so I don't plan to move. But I would run whatever game would get people to the table.

Our city/county population is 100,000. On top of that it's also a very aged population and in the Bible belt where gaming still has the stigma of the Satanic Panic.

Yeap, that's going to be tough. Just my county alone has 1.2 million.

Could the organized play day be morphed into an open gaming day? I have found a lot of cross over can happen between board, card, cribbage, etc... players.

 

[Retreater]

OK, this is a somewhat more serious suggestion: Try co-op board games. I have found they can (not necessarily will) scratch a lot of the TRPG itch, at least for a while. Some are more TRPG-like than others. You might find them to work as a non-TRPG thing to do if you don't have a quorum, or as an introduction to cooperative play, without all the trappings--including the GM--of a TRPG. Absolutely less prep work, though there's setup and teardown--but something like Pandemic is quick (if maybe a little on-the-nose, still).

Yes, my wife and I - in our isolation - play the occasional board game. (Luckily she's a gamer.) But I think that we're at the point where we have spent all that motivation. And finding new players for board games - it's the same problem as finding anyone else for a game.