Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 6242723" data-attributes="member: 22424">The <a href="http://www.falkirkrpg.org.uk/" target="_blank">Falkirk RPG</a> group I linked to before didn't exist five years ago. It now has 50 members (although it should perhaps be noted that we have maybe 20 'active' members, and a bunch of people who show up very occasionally if at all). So it's not impossible to build these things and make a success of them.My advice in these matters is to not wait for someone else to set up such a group in your area. If you do, chances are, it will never happen. Instead, if you want a group in your area, you should probably start one.We started out on <a href="http://www.meetup.com/" target="_blank">Meetup</a>, simply because that was the first such site I was aware of. We later migrated to <a href="http://groupspaces.com/" target="_blank">Groupspaces</a> before migrating away again to our own custom site.(The two 'named' sites all did us well enough for a time, but in both cases they introduced some changes we didn't care for, leading us to conclude that a custom site was better for us. However, for a new group I would strongly recommend using one of the 'named' sites - it's just easier, and you're more likely to be found by interested people.)If and when you do set up a group, make sure you immediately schedule a first meeting, probably to occur 2-3 weeks in the future, and in some suitable public place (we used a local pub). And whatever happens do not cancel that event. I cannot stress that enough - if that first event doesn't happen, you might as well shut up shop.At that first meeting, you have two goals: firstly, to meet some people in a relaxed atmosphere, and secondly to schedule a second event. This latter is quite important - it will be easier to get people to fix a time when they're there than if you're relying on email (or a website) to do it. You're not really looking to do any gaming at this point, though of course it's likely you'll talk about gaming!And after that, it's mostly just a matter of maintenance. Make sure that the site remains up-to-date and active - if you have a game session, turn it into a Meetup event beforehand, post a review of it afterwards, and then set up the next event. A Meetup group that has lots of events going on is much more likely to attract new members than one that had a couple of meetings and then died.(One strong temptation is to set up the group, recruit the half-dozen players you need, and then let the Meetup site fade away. Don't do that! Yes, having recruited your half-dozen players, you don't really need the site any more... until one of them moves away, that is. Better to do the work once, keep the site going, and keep recruiting players. Run some one-shots for different players, or something. Eventually, you'll reach the point where the group can sustain two ongoing campaigns at once, and then it really starts to snowball.)Incidentally, all of this is much easier if you're starting with part of a gaming group already in place - if there are three of you at the outset, that's enough to make that first meeting worthwhile even if nobody else shows, and enough to keep the group going while waiting for others to sign up. I didn't have that luxury, but was really lucky in that the group attracted two new members right away and then a further three before the second meeting.One thing of interest - my experience with the group demonstrated to me that there are actually quite a lot of gamers in my area, but I would never have known it. Most groups form and are then 'closed' - they don't really allow new members unless someone leaves... but of course at that point they probably don't know any other gamers, because they're all in their own 'closed' little cells. Without a means to recruit new people when needed, and without enough people to carry on without new blood, the group folds. That's really rather unfortunate, especially since FLGS are a bit thin on the ground here.So, yeah, my experience with setting up a Meetup has been hugely positive. I do recommend at least giving it a go. And if there's anything I've not covered that you'd like to know, please don't hesitate to ask.</blockquote>

Verification