As a follow-up to last month’s link to FindPlay, here’s a list of messageboards and services to help you find players (posted by John Kim).
I’ve used two of them: I got nothing but spam from my Access Denied posting, and met my current group through EN World.
Hey you. Yeah, you. Do you know about Gnomecast 21? Why isn’t it in the archives? What are they hiding? If you value your safety… don’t go searching for Gnomecast 21…
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Absolutely. The RPGA does this on an extensive basis, with regional, local, and even sub-local groups, like the western suburbs of Chicago. We use Yahoo groups, works very well.
Good point — I’ve always heard that the RPGA is a great way to meet other gamers.
Oh, it is. And since it’s free to join, there’s no reason not to.
I met a LOT of people, saw a bunch of different gaming styles, and learned a lot about how to play (and how not to). Now, my home game group is filled with the best of the players that I’ve met, and I still have all the RPGA fun too.
The RPGA is run by the anal-retentive for the anal-retentive. Moderation and play is mechanistic, focused on ‘winning’ the adventure, and allows no deviation from the goal or the time limit. The RPGA treats D&D like a war game, complete with victory conditions. Flexibility, initiative, and creativity is not allowed.
To be blunt about it, the RPGA model is just wrong for roleplaying games.
Alan: My RPGA experience has been mixed, but also limited (a few games at cons), so I haven’t seen the problems you mentioned.
I did have a friend in Michigan, though, who used it exactly as Rudolf does: as a way to pull people from his RPGA groups together to make a home group that worked well.