The best game in the world means nothing without players...

[diaglo]

patience is a virtue seldom practiced.

my last OD&D session took place in 1989 for my Original Campaign

i've been advertising for an OD&D campaign on every place i could find. newspapers, websites, bulletin boards at FLGS, on the side of buildings, at clubs, under trashcan lids of neighbors' cans, whereever and whenever i could....

it has paid off.

i've been running a new OD&D campaign now for 5 sessions....6th one is this Sunday....

i'm still looking for players if you are interested.

 

[RFisher]

I've only had one gamer in a group I was in refuse to play one game. My groups have always been willing to play whatever anyone is willing to run.

My current group is expecting me to run a classic Traveller campaign. They were open to GURPS, but my interest in it has waned for now. We've done Decipher's LotR, Marvel Superheroes, free form, & more.

 

[Conaill]

I have had almost the exact same experience as Atom Again: my first love is GURPS, but I'm playing D&D because I couldn't find a GURPS group to join.

 

[buzz]

How much of a problem is it for you to find people to play your favorite system?

Hard to say. My current favorite systems are d20 and HERO, and that's what my respective groups play.

I will say that it takes a bit of effort to get my peeps to play anything *but* these systems. The HERO group is actually more adventurous; they agreed to a Buffy one-shot with little coaxing, and they'll happily play a variety of genres under HERO. One of the d20 groups is pretty openly hostile to anything that isn't d20, much less isn't D&D. The other seems committed to D&D, but might be open to trying other systems (50% are gamers who like a variety, 50% are loyal D&D'ers).

It took some effort to bring the HERO group together. That's pretty much the boat you're in if you're not playing the popular RPGs. E.g., I posted a notice for Tri-Stat players *on the GoO boards* once and got ZERO response.

You just have to be patient. Get the word out, and you'll find people.

That, or try to get your friends to agree to a one-shot. You never know... they might get hooked.

 

[AIM-54]

For me, it's nigh impossible under current circumstances. The group I got involved with when I moved down here is, for the most part, rabidly devoted to d20. Makes it hard to play anything else.

Combined with the fact that there doesn't appear to be a particularly large Shadowrun following in these parts, kinda makes it hard to put a group together. I should note that this observation is based primarily on the pathetic selection of SR books at those LGS' I've been to.

Oh, and of course RL limits on time make it extremely difficult for me to participate in more than one group, although I think I'd drop the d20ers for a good Shadowrun group if push came to shove on that score.

Heh.

 

[Atom Again]

As my group of friends approaches 40 (yes, we've been playing since AD&D v1.0 !), it has become more and more difficult to simply Play !!

The Demands of family life seems to be growing. We used to play once a week, but this dropped to once per 2 weeks - and now, with one player getting his first kid in a couple of Month, and another getting his 3rd also in the same timetable, I can`t stop to wonder if we'll continue playing at all !!

I've had the exact same problem, and you know a solution that I've found? One-shots. I think part of the problem is that we have this idea that we aren't really RPGing unless we have these long, unified campaigns that last for months or even years. But as you've pointed out, getting a group of adults together that consistently is difficult. When you're a university student with no life and tons of free time, gaming is easy. But when you have a wife and child and a full-time job, it's much tougher to commit to a weekly meeting time.

That's why I've fallen in love with one-shots. I make up characters, and give the players their choice. We set aside 6 or 7 hours and play the entire adventure in that time. The players only need to agree to show up that ONE game!

For example, I recently ran a Call of Cthulhu (d20 Modern) one-shot set in this haunted manor. The PCs woke up in the manor with no idea of who they were or how they got there. I slowly revealed their abilities and skills to them as the game progressed, along with flashbacks, etc. The goal was simply to escape the manor alive. By the end of the evening, they did just that...and it was game over.

One evening of fun, gaming, and no long-term committment.

I know this isn't the whole solution--we love campaigns, dammit!--but it certainly helps. Gaming doesn't have to be long-term campaign or nothing; one-shots fill a VERY nice gap.

 

[kenobi65]

We always used to say that we would be playing D&D (or whatever RP game) in our nursing home - with a Nurse placing the Dice in our hand so we could 'roll' it ... But now, even that old age idea seems on the verge of extinction...
RiTz21

OMG -- we have had the *exact* same conversation in our group. We picture all the old folks sitting around tables, playing bridge...and we're off at one table in the corner, still slaying monsters, and yelling toothlessly: "TWENTY!"

Keep the faith, RiTz21. Our group (which ranges in age from mid-20s to mid-50s) doesn't play as often as we used to (or would like), either, and we have lost some players over the years to other interests, time pressures, etc. But, we all love the game so much, we do try to make time for it. That's the key...even if it's only for a couple of weekends a year, make sure you keep making time to play.

 

[Hypersmurf]

We always used to say that we would be playing D&D (or whatever RP game) in our nursing home - with a Nurse placing the Dice in our hand so we could 'roll' it ...

So, RiTz... do you want to cast a spell? One beep for yes.

-Hyp.

 

[Felon]

We always used to say that we would be playing D&D (or whatever RP game) in our nursing home - with a Nurse placing the Dice in our hand so we could 'roll' it ... But now, even that old age idea seems on the verge of extinction...

Why's that? You won't have the demands of "family life" forever, after all. Kids grow up, and hopefully you're socking money away for retirement. Most people have to find a hobby to fill their sunset years. You've already got one.

 

[Crothian]

How much of a problem is it for you to find people to play your favorite system?

Favorite system: Easy

Favorite Setting: Hard

My favorite setting is Thieves World and Green Ronin is breing it back into the RPG community. But my players will not play it. Its too gritty for them and they don't think they'll like it. It doesn't matter they've had fun in a wide variety of games I've run...they flat out refuse this one. I'm only a little bitter.....