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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 9836878" data-attributes="member: 3285"><p>One of my goals that I've failed at year after year was finding an in-person gaming group. This year, it's time to change that.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]427006[/ATTACH]</p><h3>Finding a Neutral Space</h3><p>I finally decided it’s time to go back to playing <strong><em>Dungeons & Dragons</em></strong> in-person. As an adult, this is a lot harder than it sounds.</p><p></p><p>The first challenge I had to address was finding a neutral space. But finding a space that would work for me as a Dungeon Master and for other players is no simple task. I decided I would travel no further than a half hour at most, since I will need to transport miniatures and maps. With those parameters set, I then searched places online that might be suitable.</p><p></p><p>I needed a place where I could play for a reasonable fee, have players join easily, have space to sit for at least 4 or more hours every week on weekends, and could be loud enough to play a game of D&D without disrupting others (but not so loud we couldn't hear each other). I also wanted it to be an adults-only game and needed some means of finding players. With these parameters in mind, I contacted game cafes, game stores, and libraries.</p><h3>Roadblocks and Budgeting</h3><p>The two game cafes in my town closed, devastated by Covid, so unfortunately though their ghosts still linger online, they weren’t going to be any help. Two different game stores reached out and may still be an option, but the "catching" mechanism—how to actually organize and seat players—is always an open question (it was mentioned there is a very long list of folks who want to play D&D). My local library responded that while they offer 2 hours of free time in their rooms (for studying), for larger rooms it would cost $25 for the first two hours, with an additional $25/hour after that. $100/week ($400/month) did not seem feasible.</p><h3>The Gamer’s Dream Location</h3><p>And then a librarian intervened. As we’ve discussed before, a lot of librarians are gamer geek friendly, and my local librarian jumped into the (typical response) conversation to ask if I wanted to run an adult-only session of D&D. With her help, things accelerated quickly: I now have a location with a dedicated room, a regular date and time, and a catching mechanism for players. The first weekend of every month will be to onboard new players, with the other three weekends the "regular" game. As originally envisioned, we'd have seven slots in total for the regular game, with the "session zero/onboarding" session having eight. The room had a TV I can use and even allowed snacks! It was a gamer’s dream, and it’s five minutes from my house.</p><p></p><p>It also wasn't going to be where I ended up, but more on that later.</p><h3>Beginning the Community Build</h3><p>I cannot emphasize how challenging this is as an adult. Putting aside the extreme social anxiety of trying to game with strangers, having an ally in the library space help me set this up, even to just try it and see, is enormous. I may still resume a rhythm with the game stores, as the library hours will not always be the same in the summer, but for now, I am immensely grateful for my local library in helping me do this.</p><p></p><p>This will be good for me. But it will also be an opportunity to build a gamer community. I don’t have any players yet, which is daunting unto itself, but no matter. We have to start somewhere, right?</p></blockquote><p></p>

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