Help a newbie out please!

Maine-iac!

First Post
Hi,

Normally I might put this in the Gamers Seeking Gamers section, except that I am not really looking here for said gamers (unless you're local and recognize the post!) I mostly am looking for feedback on a post I made on the forums of a local game store. Is it too much, too harsh, or should I go about gamer seeking in a different way? If so, what should I do to make my post more ‘inviting,’ given the information I already have in it?

So here it is!

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We are looking for a committed, mature 3.5E role player who enjoys gaming.

What we mean by this is:

Gaming is our hobby, we make time for it. We like to roll dice, kill
monsters, and pretend to be something we are not. Most importantly, we
do this to have fun. We run a 3.5E (house rules light {no psionics, for instance}) game every other Sunday (set) from noon to 5ish. The majority of our role-playing is done on our message board, so we handle the roll playing during our sessions. This works for us as some of us (me) are not professional actors. We still role play at the table, however. We typically leave that part open for player/DM preference (speaking in third person is fine.) We relax!

Other thoughts
• They must be willing to commit to a set schedule (understandably, sometimes you have to miss a session, but it should be the exception, rather than the rule.)
• We try to work things out rather than get excited about them. The core three of us have been around for 2 years now and we are very insistent on solving differences politely.
• With the last bulletin, we do our best to follow the rules, and at times, we WILL look up a rule at the table that might have an impact on game play at that moment. At the same time, we leave most rules lawyering for before or after the game, or on our message board. None of us knows the rules in and out, so we try to be fair about things but DM caveat is paramount. The three of us swap DM duties. This does NOT mean we are looking for someone to DM for us (although that option is there if you enjoy it.) We need a player! We have one main DM and the other two run the game from time to time. We stick with just one campaign, however.
• We are all in our mid 30s and have had NO success with gamers younger than that. Keep in mind this is just our experience up to this point, though. Not that we are a bunch of super mature players, but you get the drift.
• I host our games in Portland. Two of us travel around an hour to get here (tells you we like the game.) Therefore, I have an apartment rule or two. No smoking is #1. We do take breaks, but I would ask anyone who needs to smoke to do so away from the front of my building. We tend to head to the corner store for snacks once during our sessions. The rest revolves around the realm of common courtesy.
 

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Maine-iac! said:
This works for us as some of us (me) are not professional actors.
Joke or not, this could be intimidating. Your reader is led to believe some of your gaming group is made up of professional actors.
Maine-iac! said:
They must be willing to commit to a set schedule (understandably, sometimes you have to miss a session, but it should be the exception, rather than the rule.)
I wouldn't be this demanding. You will run off more reliable players than you will dissuade flaky players by asking them to make your game a priority. It's better to just tell someone who keeps missing that it isn't working out, and I find that they usually agree with you at that point.
Maine-iac! said:
We try to work things out rather than get excited about them. The core three of us have been around for 2 years now and we are very insistent on solving differences politely.
As opposed to what? A group that goes out into the back lot for a pit fight over rules arguments? This seems unnecessary!
Maine-iac! said:
With the last bulletin, we do our best to follow the rules, and at times, we WILL look up a rule at the table that might have an impact on game play at that moment. At the same time, we leave most rules lawyering for before or after the game, or on our message board. None of us knows the rules in and out, so we try to be fair about things but DM caveat is paramount. The three of us swap DM duties. This does NOT mean we are looking for someone to DM for us (although that option is there if you enjoy it.) We need a player! We have one main DM and the other two run the game from time to time. We stick with just one campaign, however.
Rambles on something fierce. I don't see this accomplishing much. Make the key points short and sweet: DM-shared world, players needed.
Maine-iac! said:
We are all in our mid 30s and have had NO success with gamers younger than that. Keep in mind this is just our experience up to this point, though. Not that we are a bunch of super mature players, but you get the drift.
This is deconstructive. Young players do not want to hear that you begrudgingly tolerate them. Just mention the age of your group, short and sweet: 30+ group but players of all ages are welcome.
Maine-iac! said:
I host our games in Portland. Two of us travel around an hour to get here (tells you we like the game.) Therefore, I have an apartment rule or two. No smoking is #1. We do take breaks, but I would ask anyone who needs to smoke to do so away from the front of my building. We tend to head to the corner store for snacks once during our sessions. The rest revolves around the realm of common courtesy.
This is another one that could be shortened quite a bit. Put Portland up front because location is the most important tidbit. Say there's no smoking in the building.
The bit about not smoking in front of the building, in case you walk past on your way for a snack, is a little ridiculous IMO. If you loathe the smell of cigarettes that much, just say no smokers period. People who smoke will come to the game smelling like smoke even if they're not smoking. This is unavoidable.


Basically my advice is to shorten everything considerably and be a little less demanding. You can ask people to wipe their feet when they're actually there, although you will want to be up front about the smoking thing.
 

I know that your handle is Maine-iac, but you have to realize that there are a lot more people in Portland, Oregon than there are in the entire state of Maine. I would just make it abundantly clear in the first paragraph that you're looking for people in Maine.

That said? I would love it if you played weekly, and lived in Oregon. I'd answer the post.
 


Thanks for your responses. It sounds like the rambling might work to cut down on the exact people we don't want in our group then. And I wish Rabelais and Olgar Shiverstone DID live closer! ;)

As for having Portland in the description, I'm posting on a local game shop forum. :)
 

JustKim said:
Joke or not, this could be intimidating.

We far surpassed PC when we booted the two players that already didn't mesh with us. I needn't explain how 'we' play or how 'they' played, do I? Posting a fluff filled equal opportunity 'Gamer Needed' post at my local game shop's forums will cause needless headache for my current group AND those that have issue with the post. In short, we are equal opportunity on everything except those that don't like our gaming style, those that can't commit, and smoking (not in front of my building because 1. I said so, and 2. my landlord's secretary lives below me.) Why waste time letting someone in the group, and later shoving them out the door if the post would have taken care of it in the first place? If they are that sensitive about the original post then maybe all works out in the end anyway. Or maybe I should ADD to the post?
 

I wonder if you should perhaps shorten your original post to just give out the major details. Either cut down the other thoughts to a couple of lines in total or leave them out all together. If someone responds to your original post you could hit them with the extra details via e-mail.

I have a house rules and table rules handout that I e-mail to all players before they begin the first session so they know what sort of expectations I have. You could cover things like no smoking inside, etc., in this document.

Olaf the Stout
 

Once-over'd for your perusal.

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We are looking for a committed, mature 3.5E role player who enjoys gaming. We are all in our mid 30s, not that we are a bunch of super mature players, but you get the drift. We run a house-rules light 3.5E game every other Sunday from noon to 5ish.

Our game is in Portland. No smoking. We do take breaks, and tend to head to the corner store for snacks once during our sessions. The rest of our rules are in the realm of common courtesy. We are very insistent on solving differences politely, so no loud arguments over rules. With that in mind, we do our best to follow the rules. Overzealous rules-lawyering is discouraged. This is a shared world, with one main DM and two rotating DMs.

Gaming is our hobby, we make time for it, and we do it to have fun. We have a message board for the in depth role playing, but at the table RP is welcome as well. Our game is important to us, so please, keep that in mind. We've had trouble with flaky players in the past, but we realize that sometimes you have to miss a session; this should hopefully be the exception, not the rule.

(contact information, including first name, phone, email, message board contact info, etc.)

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Shorter, sweeter, and much less likely to dissuade the good players. Exchange emails with the interested parties and try to get a feel for how they play. If possible, meet up with them before the game to get a better gauge of their personality. I suggest meeting up with them at a nice, safe, neutral location (like a diner or something) and talking for a while.

Not that you need me to tell you how to meet new players, but I like to try to help.

-TRRW
 


I think you misunderstood me. What I meant is that it could be intimidating for players who take your comment to mean that the group has professional actors in it, and is over their heads.

Frankly, I have no idea what you took to mean you should make the message even longer and politically correct. I offered my advice sincerely and seem to have touched a nerve, so I'm not going to offer any more help. Good luck, I guess.
 

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