It's Not Easy to Find a Gaming Group

[Garmorn]

As any ex-military can tell you, find groups is a skill that you have to learn.
You are moved quite often, and are constantly losing and gaining players. So you got used to trying to find a group every year to 3 years. You also learned that you had to be more flexible on the type of gamer/campaign you where in.

It also seems to have gotten harder to find new groups. I have not found any web sites or bulletin boards that I use back in the 80's to the 2000's. There are fewer means to find new players as far as I can tell. Even with the Gamer seeking Gamer forum, just trying to find a person in the correct region/country ect take a lot of effort.

 

[MichaelSomething]

But there are plenty of games to join on startplaying.com !

 

[Thomas Shey]

It can be particularly "fun" if you're uninterested in some popular games, and have limited time frames you can play in; in the latter case even virtual play is no assurance.

 

[humble minion]

It also seems to have gotten harder to find new groups. I have not found any web sites or bulletin boards that I use back in the 80's to the 2000's. There are fewer means to find new players as far as I can tell. Even with the Gamer seeking Gamer forum, just trying to find a person in the correct region/country ect take a lot of effort.

It'd be worth looking on other social media for that sort of thing - that's where all the stuff that used to be on BBSs and specialised forums goes now, it seems. There's several different 'looking for group' facebook groups operating in my city, for instance, and a discord server too (much as i despise discord)

 

[Hussar]

But there are plenty of games to join on startplaying.com !

And some of us have a game or two in the wings over there.

 

[MichaelSomething]

There's also RPGMatch.org ! It's also an app!

Home - RPGMatch

Don’t roll the dice on who you play with. RPGMatch is application that matches you with people who like to play TTRPGs the way you do.

www.rpgmatch.org

 

[damiller]

It is. And I have found that removing the stress of GMing (and being invested in) a long-term campaign with the sword of RL pulling players out has utterly transformed the gaming experience.

Not to mention the creature comforts of gaming from my man-cave, with everything at my fingertips.

I'll never game F2F again.

Im right there with you. outside of very few options in highschool, I 've never had a face to face group. I've run it for students, but that's NOT the same.

Its now been like 12 years of online only. and For a long time I had no vetting process.* Then I tried one. And now I am back to - just show up play with the group for a session or two, I'll evaluate you, you evaluate me, the group, and the game. I did this mainly because I could never prefigure out who was going to "meet my requirements".

*now when I post "looking for game" I'll include 3-4 "what I want in a player" comments.

 

[Jd Smith1]

*now when I post "looking for game" I'll include 3-4 "what I want in a player" comments.

That tends to thin the herd.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Im right there with you. outside of very few options in highschool, I 've never had a face to face group. I've run it for students, but that's NOT the same.

Its now been like 12 years of online only. and For a long time I had no vetting process.* Then I tried one. And now I am back to - just show up play with the group for a session or two, I'll evaluate you, you evaluate me, the group, and the game. I did this mainly because I could never prefigure out who was going to "meet my requirements".

*now when I post "looking for game" I'll include 3-4 "what I want in a player" comments.

For what its worth, it often works out like that just as much face to face. Its really hard to assess most individuals and groups as to whether you want to play them or not until you've interacted for a while (there are some glaring exceptions, but they tend to be outliers).

 

[damiller]

That tends to thin the herd.

it sure has, I didn't even expect it too, I just thought it would be a quick way for potential players to get an idea of what they would encounter in my game. In fact it felt kinda like writing a personal ad, except I've never once said "must enjoy long walks on a beach". I think that part is implied if you are going to be in a rpg campaign.