humble minion
Legend
I've had a regular group I've been playing with (with some multi-year hiatuses, admittedly) since the release of 3rd ed. We got together after answering a 'looking for group' ad on usenet in 2000, and despite the dropout of one player (and his abrupt disappearance from our lives owing several of us non-trivial amounts of money...) we've been a pretty functional group ever since. We just lucked out I guess. We have our differences in RP style, but we can find a happy medium that we all enjoy. We started out out in person, restarted online during covid lockdowns, and have stayed that way given the issues of distance, family commitments, and everyday life.
More recently, I've been looking for another group in addition. I assembled one from a posting in my local LFG facebook group, and we've been meeting in person at my place. This one, I'm a bit less satisfied with. The game style isn't really what I look for, but given I wasn't volunteering to DM, I felt it would be a bit presumptuous of me to be interviewing/vetting people and setting rules, and then turning around and dobbing in someone else to run the game to my taste. And since I let the group use my home wi-fi during sessions, all of a sudden I'm getting served 'personalised' FB ads and group recommendations etc of a nature that i find deeply distasteful. So I'm not sure my tenure in that group is going to be a long one. But then I have to look for another group again, and this group are active in the FB LFG community, and will likely be a bit hurt if I make excuses to leave this game and then turn up looking for another one right off the bat.
On the decision between online and tabletop, honestly, I'm torn. Online has many advantages (especially given where i live, it opens up a much bigger player base), but for a new game with a new group I think in-person helps you to get to know people better more quickly. Of course, I'm saying this from the position of a large able-bodied man with a large dog, there's plenty of people who might have very legit safety concerns about a meetup with strangers at a strangers' house (or one's own house, for that matter!)
More recently, I've been looking for another group in addition. I assembled one from a posting in my local LFG facebook group, and we've been meeting in person at my place. This one, I'm a bit less satisfied with. The game style isn't really what I look for, but given I wasn't volunteering to DM, I felt it would be a bit presumptuous of me to be interviewing/vetting people and setting rules, and then turning around and dobbing in someone else to run the game to my taste. And since I let the group use my home wi-fi during sessions, all of a sudden I'm getting served 'personalised' FB ads and group recommendations etc of a nature that i find deeply distasteful. So I'm not sure my tenure in that group is going to be a long one. But then I have to look for another group again, and this group are active in the FB LFG community, and will likely be a bit hurt if I make excuses to leave this game and then turn up looking for another one right off the bat.
On the decision between online and tabletop, honestly, I'm torn. Online has many advantages (especially given where i live, it opens up a much bigger player base), but for a new game with a new group I think in-person helps you to get to know people better more quickly. Of course, I'm saying this from the position of a large able-bodied man with a large dog, there's plenty of people who might have very legit safety concerns about a meetup with strangers at a strangers' house (or one's own house, for that matter!)