How hard is it to find a compatible Roleplaying group? - OG Myth-Weavers

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How hard is it to find a compatible Roleplaying group?

   
How hard is it to find a compatible Roleplaying group?

Ive been looking for a great roleplaying group for years. Ive also had problems movie to a new city, concentrating on my job, and troubles like . I look for game groups to play with and its difficult. Maybe they dont play the same game Im interested, or more likely they arent interested in the same things in the games I am. Ive looked up things online and find nearly everything is based around Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition.

#1 Serious Fun. After playing the above, get meta and make fun of things like Ninjas in a medieval fantasy, or do things like use a Scrying spell for an enemy to teleport in and say "Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition". Influenced by plenty of things in shows, comics, and parodies.

#2 Serious Gaming. Grind for experience, look for loot, and level up unlocking new and interesting abilities & spells. Plays like a videogame but can still be fun just because you can make friends easier than playing something like World of Warcraft and roleplay, which you cant do there.

#3 Serious Roleplaying. Write out a detailed backstory, play in character, be serious about your character. Loot isnt the primary goal, but you can still make character like a greedy thief, or just someone motivated to be "the greatest [blank]".

#4 all of the above. An ideal to make everything fun for each player no matter how different they are.

#5 None of the above. This is what I find in actual groups. No rewards, not serious about roleplaying, not fun, and no group goal. This perplexes me, but at the same time Im not actively making things interesting as its not *my* group, just some strangers Im trying to play the game with. I ask questions, roleplay, look for rewards, and work to befriend people. Eventually I just leave the group after several weeks because I dont know where its going and Im not not making any progress.

I live a 15 minute walk from a game store but they largely play Magic the Gathering(a card game), tabletop miniature games(like Warhammer), and 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons.

A few people have recommended Myth-Weavers and this is my first post. Ive made some very bare starter character sheets that Ill keep working on. I dont know if I have an definitive goal with this post. Find people to talk to? Ask why its so hard to find game groups?

@Chaosticket I'm going to shift this over to Gaming Discussion, fits a touch better there. Also take a look at the New to Play by Post thread, which is a bare bones overview of playing on Myth Weavers vs live games around a table.

Beyond that I'll leave you in the capable hands of our members to lend advice, and you can also feel free to check out the Myth Weavers Discord server if you wanted more rapid fire conversation on the topic.

PbP is an excellent place to find both serious roleplaying and serious rollplaying. But the attrition rate is high around here, as it is the unfortunate truth that many people don't stick with games for long. Whether that's because real life gets in the way, the fact that we're all mostly anonymously online, or because this is simply a slower, more deliberate medium than many are used to, you'll find folks come and go.

But the ones who don't go? The ones you play with for weeks, then months, then years? They become your group.

I started PbP ten years ago, more or less. I've played with lots of people across two different PbP sites. But there are the names/"faces" that I keep coming back to. Those are the folks who I run games for; those are the folks who stick around and don't flake out without notice; those are the folks who make this hobby worthwhile.

In short? You won't have a gaming group just by joining a PbP site...but if you stick with it long enough, you'll likely find the best damned gaming group you've ever had.

Welcome to the Weave and happy gaming!

Okay, Ill ask some questions to anyone who will read.

Can you have Roleplaying, gaming, and Funny things all in the same game? I dont know if thats actually possible. Its easy to read people doing things like playing a Lord of the Rings roleplay and being powergamers looking for loot While the War of the Ring is going on, while in a real game the Game Master just wont have the loot, driving some people away. Play a story to straight and its only going to be for some people. I think it takes certain people to enjoy all aspects, and trying to find a group made of that, yeah I havent found that yet.

I rate things as Funny #1 most important. Gameplay is number 2. Roleplay is number 3. I should reorder the list.

Raist answered for PbP already. I'll try to talk about offline groups.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaosticket View Post
#5 None of the above. This is what I find in actual groups. No rewards, not serious about roleplaying, not fun, and no group goal.
Wait, these people are getting together to play week after week, right? Why do they do that if there's none of the above?
It is perplexing indeed, unless they get something out of it that you don't appreciate as much as them.

Quote:
This perplexes me, but at the same time Im not actively making things interesting as its not *my* group, just some strangers Im trying to play the game with. I ask questions, roleplay, look for rewards, and work to befriend people. Eventually I just leave the group after several weeks because I dont know where its going and Im not not making any progress.
I'm not you, but why don't you try to make things interesting? If you're not sure whether it would be well-accepted, talk to the GM privately, or even ask the whole group OOC! Maybe the first idea would be unacceptable, but you can come with other ones, right?
Give before you receive is a nice principle. And hey, those people might just become your group!

Quote:
I live a 15 minute walk from a game store but they largely play Magic the Gathering(a card game), tabletop miniature games(like Warhammer), and 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons.
Such is the nature of game stores, I've been told. In the stores that I visit, it's tabletop miniatures/boardgames, and MtG. No RPGs, unless I run something.
Maybe I should visit them some time and run more Feng Shui 2, for example. Or maybe In Dark Alleys, or Call of Chthulhu.

Quote:
A few people have recommended Myth-Weavers and this is my first post. Ive made some very bare starter character sheets that Ill keep working on. I dont know if I have an definitive goal with this post. Find people to talk to? Ask why its so hard to find game groups?
Well, I don't know your situation. But to me, the solution is to have friends that aren't necessarily gamers. Among them, there would be those that like stuff like SF, fantasy, superhero movies...
Invite them to run a game for them. If they accept, help them with the rules, but no more than they want (some people would want no help, some wouldn't want to bother with learning rules - respect that, and both can make excellent roleplayers).

BTW, I've spoken online to a guy who used to play D&D with Gygax and Anderson before OD&D was published. His answer, skipping the expletives, was "Gary found 20 players in the not-really-metropolis of Lake Geneva, before anyone had heard about RPGs, and so can you". I am in the same situation, since most people in my country are more likely to think of an RPG as an infantry weapon, rather than a game!
Yet the only thing that prevents me from running more games is lack of time.

When it comes to offline, or even online, groups, if you're not interested in playing D&D, then you might as well GM. In all reality, to find a group, often times you have to make the group yourself. That way you can vet out the problem players much easier, and keep the ones you think will stick.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yamazaki View Post
When it comes to offline, or even online, groups, if you're not interested in playing D&D, then you might as well GM.
The 9 non-D&D games I'm playing on different forums say "lolno", and my offline groups echo the sentiment!
I'm GMing offline, yes, but only because it's my turn.

BTW, you're right that you need to build your group if you want a group that you'd like, but then as the OP shows, the same would still apply if you want a group that plays D&D in a way you find interesting.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AsenRG View Post
The 9 non-D&D games I'm playing on different forums say "lolno", and my offline groups echo the sentiment!
I'm GMing offline, yes, but only because it's my turn.
Mind you, I base that statement on the average complaint I see online of "everyone wants to play D&D but me - why aren't there enough people to play something different?" That might be a vocal minority, though.

Regardless though, GMing does help put together a group.

I agree on the Refereeing part. The rest is a matter of local conditions, though yes, I've also seen those threads.
But once you have a group, you no longer need to care about this, except if you need to replace a player.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaosticket View Post
Can you have Roleplaying, gaming, and Funny things all in the same game? I dont know if thats actually possible.
Of course it is! A lot of the best comedies (and most American ones ) have a big focus on the characters. Some still manage to tell great stories too - you just don't tend to get the humour-damaging serious kind of introspection which some non-comedies aim for. So take that, sprinkle in some interesting tactical battles and loot, and you're pretty much ticking all your boxes. It's not necessarily easy to balance all three but there's nothing mutually exclusive about them.




 

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