Tell Me About Your Experiences Joining an Existing Gaming Group/TTRPG Campaign

[el-remmen]

I recently joined an ongoing D&D 5E campaign. The characters were all 8th and 9th level when I joined and I got to make one too. They had been playing together for some time (actually not really sure how long or who else is "new" to this particular campaign - just longer than me). Last night I played my 8th session with the group and was finally feeling a part of stuff that was going on. Not that I wasn't having fun before, but we finally got to a place where my character could reasonably have an influence of the direction of the game and group choices and played a role in planning and logistics.

It's got me thinking about the not uncommon experience of joining a new table where you haven't gamed with anyone there before or only a little with one or two of them. How do quickly do people acclimate?

I'd love for folks to share their experience joining an existing gaming group where the other players have been playing together for a time, especially if joining a game in progress where the characters have advanced a few levels and/or shared a few adventures before you join up. The group itself may have been together for quite a while and this is a campaign among many they have played together for potentially years or decades or it could be a relatively new group you happen to be joining (I think that can color the experience a lot).

While I am primarily interested in positive experiences and am especially curious about situations when the group was made up of mostly new to you fellow players, folks can share some cautionary tales too. That said, we have all heard and read a ton of RPG horror stories, and I think stories of (potentially ongoing) good faith attempts to participate and mesh with a new group whether it was ultimately successful or not are refreshing.

Note: I do not mean one-offs and convention play. I am talking about joining groups that get together regularly to play a TTRPG and may later go on to play a different one or a new iteration of the same one (perhaps with slight variations on group make-up).

How did you meet?
Did you feel welcome?
Did you have to get vetted somehow? Someone at the table vouch for you?
How did joining a game in progress (if you did) feel? What was hardest about it?
What did the DM and/or other players do to help the transition?
How did you handle any major divergences in playstyle that were not auto dealbreakers?
And so on. . .

 

[The Soloist]

I've mostly created my groups since 1980, but in 2019, I was invited into a D&D group. We played the Ravenloft Campaign for a few sessions. I sensed the DM was doing the job because no one else wanted to. I talked to him privately, he said he was glad someone else would take the seat.

I created a D&D campaign from scratch for them, and everyone loved it until Covid-19 hit. The group disbanded. That was very hard on my DM morale. I put a lot of effort into that setting. Since then, I've never created a world or a campaign from scratch for a group. I only GM published adventures.

 

[Faxfire683]

I think I was fortunate with the group I started GMing for in this regard. A group of three of us came together to play together. It was my first RPG experience, using 5e. My express desire going in was to learn the game so I could eventually take over as the GM (in fact it’s the only campaign I’ve ever played in now—I’m a bit addicted to running the game). We played three or four sessions and added a new player—I was struck by how easily the veteran players I was with included this new member. We all generally got along except for a strong preference for Pathfinder from the new player. The campaign concluded after about ten sessions, and that new player had to move for work, so they didn’t join the next campaign, which I ran.

We added another person we all knew as an acquaintance from work. That particular new player fit into the group even better, as like the other two veteran players, they’d started playing D&D during 3e. These older players were very gracious and kind to me, their totally new GM, pretty badly railroading them from dungeon to dungeon for eight months. We all ended up having various work commitments and moves that prevent us from playing together now except for that player who joined us later, who plays in my newer intermittent group with some work colleagues.

I think I’ve been very lucky in that I didn’t know any of these people very well before—but now I count them among my closest friends. I think shared work and life experiences, some tolerance for each others differing opinions and backgrounds, and a desire to work together, first to play a game, and later because we became friends, is what made that work. My last session with my current group we spent almost half our time just chatting in tangential conversations, getting each others advice and opinions—no one seemed to mind. I certainly didn’t as the GM. I think everyone was just happy to be together with friends.

 

[Stormonu]

I used to be able to quickly pick up and run groups, with plenty of players eager to be in my game, and I was happy to have them on board. It's been a while now since I started a new group and I'm feeling that itch to try it again.

My first group was just my best friends when I discovered D&D and I convinced them to play. The next group was my brother's friends and he talked them up how good I was as DM, and he handed DMing over to me.

Next group was made up of co-workers (when I was working at a fast-food joint). They'd heard of me DMing and asked me to run a game for them and we played for about five years, before I moved out of state.

The next three groups I met at FLGS gaming nights and it evolved from there. At one time I had thirty people trying to get into my game and after a couple of sessions I had to split them off to other DMs (leaving me with 10 players - for the next six months the other DMs ran their games off my notes and the players would swap between groups as storylines weaved in and out between each of the groups; sometimes I had to pause my game to consult or clarify things with the other DMs over some matter. That "campaign" went to about 15th level and ended with a marathon last game with the four DMs running the different groups through the last adventure as each worked through a separate section and a final free-for-all with all the groups against the BBEG and his legions).

I don't feel like I've ever had to vet a player in the past, I pretty much made my expectations clear during character creation. If anybody's ever disagreed, they must have just not returned as while I've had a couple players drop out over the years, to my knowledge it's never been over how I ran the game. I've only ever had to kick one player from my group - for out-of-control cheating, and I was alerted to the cheating in the first place by my other (irate) players.

Likewise, I try to do the best to read my players and adjust accordingly. Usually about 3-4 sessions down the road I've got a grip on new players (or I used to) and what experience they're looking for and try to provide it, so long as it doesn't alienate any of the other players. There are some things I have a strong opinion on and am unlikely to budge on, but overall I try to be accommodating and keep everyone at the table involved.

I have had a couple instances where I've had to take someone aside to discuss their antics towards the game and/or other players, but so far they've all worked out peaceably. I've also had a couple of players over the years who came to my game with a playstyle that I wasn't fond of (usually powergaming or being antagonist to the adventure at hand), but I simply made it clear I wasn't going to cater to their whims and to date, only one didn't end up adjusting their playstyle to better fit the rest of the table. Even then, we just both sort of didn't push the clash and worked as best we could to "have our cake and eat it too."

 

[R_J_K75]

Generally, as a rule of thumb I only play with friends and groups I've put together.

When I was in high school, I joined a group of 1E AD&D for a few sessions with people I knew from the neighborhood. They were all pretty high levels, and I had to start at a significantly lower level, and the DM didn't give me much game time as the rest of the group were pursuing goals of the campaign that had been long established. It wasn't fun so I ended up just sitting there most of the time, so it wasn't worth my time to game with them on a Friday night.

About 8 years later me and a friend ran into a couple at the RPG section of Walden Books. We exchanged numbers and decided to get together and game. We went one to a game for an hour or two and they were just really strange people. We made up some excuse and got the hell out of there.

Another time gaming with a group I didn't know was at a local game store. I just walked in and asked if I could play. That lasted about 5 years from 2000-2005. It was fun but there was a lot of player and DM turnover, so campaigns didn't last too long. Eventually me and the person DMing at the time had a falling out, and I had already been losing interest as there was so much turnover, so I stopped playing there. IIRC the store went out of business shortly after as well.

I set up a group using Meetup in 2010 and again with gaming with 6-8 strangers there was a lot of turnover for a number of reasons; new jobs, moving out of state and some personalities just don't get along. I never had trouble finding new players for that game but after 3-4 years it wasn't worth the effort to keep the game going.

So, these days I don't bother playing with people I don't know, and don't think I'd think I'd look for another group if my current one disbands.

 

[Jd Smith1]

For the last six years I only game online (and will never game F2F again). I also only GM, and only run campaigns of a year plus in real time.

The key in forming, and later bringing in replacements to such a group, is vetting. Online requires fewer table rules as a lot of issues are not present (such as hygiene and interaction with someone's home), but the method is the same.

The target is to manage expectations: find out what the player wants from a group, and make sure the player understands what the group wants from them. I prefer to have a prospect run an NPC or just watch the first session, although I will wave that, especially if the prospect is a former spectator.

I have learned that just saying things like 'no murder hoboes' is insufficient, because apparently some gamers don't understand that term, or don't take rules seriously.

I have also found that being told 'no' by a GM is an experience that some gamers don't handle well, and testing that is often a key test of a prospect, although not always practicable.

 

[TheSword]

So I’ve done a bit of this recently, I think I mentioned in another thread. Three groups over the last year or so. Mainly so I get do be a bit of a player and do more WFRP.

- I found the first on the discord for WFRP the Ratcatcher’s Guild and joined pretty much straight away. The other two I found on Start Playing.

- The two paid sessions had a 15-30 min catch up session on Discord where my character was generated and I got to meet the GM, discuss lines and veils etc.

- All the groups were unfailingly polite and friendly. Inviting me to join spin off games, being respectful, making good small talk and having genuine laughs.

- The politeness slowed everyone down a bit as people didn’t want to talk over anyone. That might have been a consequence of the DMs or of online play though.

- Rules knowledge varied massively between both sides players and DMs but they kept it a fun experience regardless.

- I always felt allowed to contribute pretty early on which is good,
But I of course listened a bit more than spoke in the first session or two as I tested the water.

- There weren’t any player conflicts but I do also try and play something compatible with the both the existing party and the campaign position.

Interesting timing for the thread, I’m joining a paid DMing group next Wednesday that is 44 sessions in and level 9. Will let you know how I find it.

 

[Corinnguard]

Before I had joined my group back in June 2021, I had been friends with the DM for about 13 years. He knew of my interest in RPGs such as D&D and Pathfinder. So, he had invited me and another friend of ours into his group, which he had been DMing for the last three years. No sooner had I agreed to join his group and play 5e, I was setting up accounts on Discord, Steam and Heroforge and downloading Virtual Tabletop onto my computer in order to play my very first VTTRPG. My very first 5e character was a Dragonborn Fighter from Tymanther, and he was the only character who wasn't a spellcaster. Nearly everyone else was some flavor of Arcane spellcaster. My first 5e adventure was Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. My group met online every Monday around 8:30 EST (7:30 CST) and would generally play 3 to 4 hours.

It took me a while to get into character and there was at least one instance where the DM and I almost had a falling out before reaching an understanding with him. I am on good terms with my fellow players. We did, however, have one player leave the group because of some friction between himself and two other players. The DM let him go and his character mysteriously disappeared mid-adventure. It took us about 2 years to finish up Descent into Avernus, and by the time we did, everyone in the party had reached 12th level (my DM used the Benchmark option).

Right now, my group is into its' second year of role-playing in the Tyranny of Dragons adventure. We had a new player join the group, and this party is composed mostly of divine spellcasters. I am currently playing my first Half-caster, a Bugbear Ranger (Gloom Stalker)/ Rogue (Scout). He's a 10th-level character (6 levels of Ranger. 4 levels of Rogue). He's more martial than spellcaster.

I credit my DM friend for getting me to set up an account here on EN World, where I have been an avid participant in the forums. And around the same time, I set up my EN World account, I backed and later developed an interest in Level Up: A5e. I have yet to role-play something in A5e.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I’m joining a paid DMing group next Wednesday that is 44 sessions in and level 9. Will let you know how I find it.

Online or in-person? If online just curious as to why you may join a monetized version of the hobby.

 

[TheSword]

Online or in-person? If online just curious as to why you may join a monetized version of the hobby.

Online. I play face to face monthly, and DM online games twice weekly, but nobody in my current groups has the patience or VTT experience to DM either D&D or WFRP.

I think I’ve come round to the idea that my time is precious and if I’m going to be a player I’d like to do that in a game where people commit a bit more and really want to get something out of it. Pacing issues aside I found the paid DM games much better quality into terms of DM effort, atmosphere, player buy in, awareness of the game system. $20 is not really a lot of money to pay for that in my opinion.

Free games which I played in for about 12 sessions, really feel like a lottery. A substantial chunk of time was taken up by one ridiculous proposal or rabbit hole by someone not really aware of the setting or the system that the DM was trying to humour. Whereas in the paid games I think people are going into it with a much clearer idea of what they want and are respectful of other players. Just my experience with two paid DM groups. If next wednesdays game is a hat trick I’ll let you know.