Perhaps even older than the struggle to find a good dungeon master is the “looking for group” issue. How do you find other people, DMs and players alike, who want to get together for a game of D&D?
Once you do find a group of players, how do you ensure you all get along and have the same schedule and want to play the same rules-set and and and…
Looking for a D&D group is like the dating scene, except you’re trying go find five people to date you, not just one.
I’ve got some advice on how to make your “looking for group” effort more successful.
How to Find Players
When I first started playing D&D back in 1980, finding a group was easy. I was entering middle school and had a ready group of friends who were as interested in the hot new fantasy role-playing game as I was. Our group already existed, we just needed the game.
For most people nowadays, it’s the other way around. You have the game, you just need the group. One big difference today compared to 1980 is the advent of the online gaming experience. That is a thing unto itself, and although it has its own set of challenges, finding a D&D group online is fairly easy compared to table-top gaming. Finding a D&D group online that you WANT to play with is another matter.
For the sake of this video, I’m going to focus on the process of finding and nurturing a group of players and a DM that will be playing D&D the old-fashioned way, in person around a table.
Three Main Challenges
Forming an in-person D&D group has three main challenges:
- Finding other humans who want to play
- Finding someone who will be the dungeon master
- Coordinating the time and place where you’ll play
There’s another aspect of developing a pleasurable D&D group and that is all about what happens once play starts. Do you get along? Are you all agreeable to which set of rules you want to play? Is the play style to everyone’s liking? These are topics that in their essence apply to just about any group activity, and are beyond the scope of this article.
Marketing? Who, What, When, Where, Why
To form your group, you need to think in terms of marketing. For starters, you need to find other people who share your similar interest and desire to play the game. Define your target market. Who are the people you want to play with? Are they teenagers? Are they young adults? Are they old grognards like me?
Determine where your ideal group of players exist. Are they attending classes at the local high school or college? Are they working full time jobs? Are they hanging out in the rec room at the nearest retirement center?
You’re figuring out who you want to play with and where these people can be reached, now you need to figure out how to reach them.
Ask Around
A few years ago, I started a new D&D group for adults completely from scratch. I designed some 8-1/2×11 posters, then went to local coffee shops, grocery stores, and even the library asking if I could put them up on their bulletin boards. I also posted to social media channels that I was looking for players.
Game stores are probably the very first place you should go. They are always looking to hook up players with other players and DMs, and will often provide you a location to host your games. The only downside to this approach is some stores may have a policy that anyone who walks in and wants to sit at your game can do so. I’ve seen this lead to personality conflicts that can’t be easily remedied as long as you continue playing at that store.
I get why some stores have this policy, and I personally support it. I was a walk-in at an existing table the first time I played 5e. I’m just wanting you to know that this open table policy can lead to potential social issues with some players.
You can also work your personal network. Ask your friends or co-workers, people at church or in any organizations or groups you participate in. “Hey, are you interested in playing D&D, or know anyone who might be?”
I’m sure there are other ways to reach your ideal players, but these are what I tried.
Be Patient & Persistent
At this point, be patient and persistent. It can take a while for people to notice your flyers or social media posts. Remember that places with physical bulletin boards often have policies that flyers can only be up for a limited time, so check back from time to time — and be sure to thank your hosts!
Give potential players a way to reach you. You can post an email address, but I suggest creating a simple web site with a contact form, especially if you’re a DM or are going to host the games. That will give you a place to write a paragraph or two to introduce yourself and to describe the kind of group you’re looking to form. Also, if you’re the DM looking for players, mention the rules-set and type of adventure you’d like to run.
The Library
Once you’ve started to reach a critical mass of players, the next step is to find a location and set the play schedule. I started off renting the community room at my local public library, but once they saw the popularity of my games, they agreed to let me use the room for free. All I had to do was officially sign up as a library volunteer and pass a background check.
Here’s the cool part. Once I became an official library volunteer, the library began advertising my D&D group in their monthly newsletter and in their frequent social media posts. That made all the difference in recruiting players because it got the message out to many more people. It became so popular I trained a new dungeon master to form a second group. We now have a regular waiting list of interested players.
Think Outside the Box
Based on my experience, my first suggestion is to work with a library or community center to find a regularly schedule time and place to play. If that doesn’t work, see if your employer will let you use their conference room or break room after hours. This isn’t always feasible, but it can work. I did that at my previous job and it worked great. We had a big table, comfortable chairs, and we made fast friends with the janitorial staff.
Scheduling When to Play
One of the biggest and longest running challenges in D&D is finding a time when everyone can play on a consistent basis. My advice is to focus on consistency more than max attendance. Life happens and you will always have players that can’t attend one session or another, but as long as you have a minimum quorum of players who are able to attend, hold the session anyway.
If one player’s schedule changes and they can’t make the bi-weekly Wednesday night games, for instance, don’t change the game. Remember Spock’s wisdom, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or whatever. Anyway, keep the group running and do what you can to maintain a consistent schedule. Players come and go.
Having said that, you can change the schedule and location if the majority of the group wants that change. But, my point is, don’t screw over the group because of a single player or an isolated impact on a player’s schedule.
Getting Along
I may produce some more content in the future about ways to ensure everyone gets along and your group has fun and stays together, but that’s a bit beyond the scope of this article.
I hope these tips have helped you out and that you’re able to find a group of people who share your interest in the game. You can make life-long friends around a D&D table which I think is one of this game’s greatest strengths.
