QOTW#3 - How hard would it be to build a group from scratch?

[Onix]

Where you live, if your current group was suddenly abducted by aliens, never to return, how hard a time would you have getting a new group of gamers together? How do you go about doing it?

For me, it would be more inconvenient than hard. I could reasonably easily drive a half hour to the university and pick up players. I could also get people together via meetup.

The problem would mostly be that they'd probably not be so ready to play test new things. I'd have to work them into that. Unless of course that was what they're interested in, in the first place.

I'm a evening late on this one, sorry.

[Rob Lang]

The first place to go is , the local game store for me. It's a walk into the town centre and I know there are gaming groups there and players/GMs looking. My town has always had a good roleplay thing going on. They even have a place upstairs to play, which is very cool. There's a buzz there. I like the buzz and I'd go there for new players.

The second stop would be the , who play mostly Games Workshop stuff. There will be loads of closet roleplayers there.

The last step would be the University club (also walking distance). Although there is plenty of new blood, playing with those who have different life priorities can be difficult. It's nothing to do with age, it's more about having external responsibilities.

Finally, I'd hit up the , I'm on . I'd also check out too.

I've always had trouble getting people to try . Now that there is a printed book, that might get a little easier. I'd probably start with something familiar and then once the group had gelled then move into the wacky.

Leave Droog Family Songbook for people I've known for years.

[J.K.Mosher]

Truthfully . . . IF your gaming groups/friends WERE/ARE abducted by aliens . . . it's because I got lonely and negotiated a treaty for the surrender of Northern Canada to their Imperial Rule in exchange for some people to play RPGs with . . . I would like to apologize in advance for if/when it happens.

For me a newe group would require either linking up via google hangouts/facebook/yahoo groups/ or some other electronic messaging service to play by post style . . . mainly due to my location, and the lack of effective/affordable inter-web resources . .. so alien abductions could work in my favor.



PS: Please let me know if your groups vanish if there are any allergies I need to be aware of when preparing game night/week snacks

[Evil Scientist]

When I moved to a different country, my gaming life basically went to zero... I'm not overly comfortable playing with "strangers" I met through "random pickups", "hookups", etc. over the internet (wow, all these improper words in one sentence!). I prefer playing with people I already know beforehand - even if they are not gamers. A good thing is having a friend inviting me to a session, that way it's a win-win scenario - I'm not playing wih totally random people, but playing.

Funny, because I'm not socially awkward or anything... I just got really used to playing with a small circle of friends (and cousins), and I find it much easier to achieve the gaming experience I'm (we're) aiming for with people I have more in common with than just sitting at the same table.

I do try joining games through ads from time to time, but it's never fulfilling.

Oh, and online gaming (via skype or tools) just doesn't do it for me either. The best kind of online RPing for me is play-by-post, e.g. I really enjoyed playing Onix' Steampunkfitters here; and a few years ago I was part of a long-running V:tM forum game. But then again, turns out to be it's always "easier" (hah, talk to me about easiness) to get a few people together for a 4-hour session, then getting them to spend 20 minutes a day making an RP post on a forum...


So, right now, I don't have a group or anything. There are tons of players in Moscow (though it's mainly because of it's high population), but I'm not overly keen on contacting them. Going back to my home country for the summer and playing a few sessions with my old friends is way more important for me.

Though I get the gaming hunger quite often.

[kumakami]

still haven't found one....

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

I have more than enough game materials, books, dice, print outs of Wyred etc. Its just a matter of putting up posters with my gamejager13 e-mail address and waiting.

[madunkieg]

I've lived in two different places, and experienced this two times. My first time was in a small city, but I can't remember much about the process because it happened before the stroke. I can remember that the results were a mismatch (they'd only played D&D, while I've played many rpgs), but having players was better than not having players.

The second time I was in the biggest city in Canada, Toronto. I took a two-pronged approach. I headed to the school's games club and mentioned that I was primarily interested in roleplaying games. They recommended I go online to www.meetup.com and search for Toronto Area Gamers (TAG). Meanwhile, I also went onto Story Games and posted a request. There I was also put in touch with TAG, although I managed to contact a few others as well. I was in heaven, for TAG was known for playing indie games.

[koipond]

TAG is a pretty good group of people.