Quote from: Headless;1018371Have you heard of Canada?

Sheesh, he's from South Mississippi, of course he hasn't heard of Canada.
Sorry, had to do it.

Quote from: ReaperWeAre;1018355@Dumarest I have a couple people that will play with me, the only problem is they have about as much experience as I do. lol Someone told me to find a good Dungeon Master but I don't really know where to look.

So this is where I make the hard suggestion: one (or more) of you pick up the DM-hat and just *GO FOR IT*.

There are plenty of adventure modules you can cut your teeth on. You will make mistakes. You will fail. But you will learn and get better with each attempt. But you will also have tons of fun.

Finding a *good* DM is hard. Becoming a good DM is harder - but it is also infinitely more gratifying because it means wherever you go, you got a game. It might be a good idea for you and your friends to swap the DM chair at intervals you all can agree on. DMing isn't for everyone, but for some of us - it's like a crazy "calling". You may not know until you do it.

So DO IT.

I'm going to echo Dumerest, Tenbones and CRKrueger (and you should answer Krueger's very sensible questions before you begin - it'll help us help you).

You don't need to worry about doing it wrong or finding somebody to teach you.  Just jump in, make it up and have fun.  When I was playing it wrong way back in 1979, it was a blast.  By playing on-line or being taught by an expert, you are cheating yourself of some of that joy of discovery that all of us old guys never quite succeed in getting back.

Find some like-minded friends, read the rules and learn the game to the best of your ability but don't worry about it.  The rules are there to serve you and your game, not the other way around.  Put on your DM hat and just go for it.  If you don't know how to resolve a situation, ask the players what they think would be cool, or roll a die and make it up.  You can look up the rules later.

The answer is "CHARGE," what's the question?

Like several have said.. "just do it."  I ran my first D&D game at age 16.  I grabbed a piece of graph paper, sketched up a dungeon level, and ran the game using CHAINMAIL because D&D wasn't even published yet.

It sucked.  But I learned.

Like the old joke... "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?"  "Practice, practice, practice!"

And the first edition of the West End Games' "Star Wars" game even says, "Don't look up rules, just wing it and keep playing."  Fun is more important than rules.

Quote from: ReaperWeAre;1018350I've always heard stories about D&D and how fun it was (especially the pen and paper variant), but I've never had a chance to actually play it. Recently I've been looking around trying to find people to play with, but the only games I've been able to find are days or weeks off. Is there no place online where people play daily? I'd really love to give it a try, so any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I can only suggest one thing. You may or may not like the first game you play in, but remember that there are dozens of settings, systems (genres) and various other things that pretty much ensure you will like at least one (if not a dozen) more of RPGs. My very first game was kinda bad, although I also did mistakes I wasn't even aware of it then (due to fully being new to pnp, but I was also something like just 12 then), so if your first game is great that is very nice, but don't get disheartened if not.

Quote from: tenbones;1018510There are plenty of adventure modules you can cut your teeth on. You will make mistakes. You will fail. But you will learn and get better with each attempt. But you will also have tons of fun.

I learned the hard way, too.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.  (Well, except for a handful of times when I was a jerk to the players, but as a teen, I'd have had to learn that lesson the hard way one way or the other.)  Most of the GM mistakes were hilarious at the time, and even funnier looking back on them.  The incredible screw ups are part of the shared history of the game that you carry around for life.  

I sometimes feel sorry for people that didn't play in a group like that, to start.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1018554The answer is "CHARGE," what's the question?

Like several have said.. "just do it."  I ran my first D&D game at age 16.  I grabbed a piece of graph paper, sketched up a dungeon level, and ran the game using CHAINMAIL because D&D wasn't even published yet.

I was older, the rules were different, and I had made a story and a couple dungeons, because that's what I'd seen in Baldur's Gate and Fallout before...but the rest is similar, namely this.

QuoteIt sucked.  But I learned.

Ditto:D!
And that was 17 years ago, if not more.

And more importantly, take notes from what you do wrong!
My next campaign didn't suck nearly as badly;).

Telling someone completely new to the game who has never played to buy a bunch of books (or download the free rules online) and to start DMing is probably too intimidating for most people.

Again, I'll suggest the free and very busy online play platform Roll20, especially as he is geographically isolated, to get his feet wet.

Quote from: Voros;1018586Telling someone completely new to the game who has never played to buy a bunch of books (or download the free rules online) and to start DMing is probably too intimidating for most people.

I guess... But that's what a lot of us did. No one taught me. I was GMing at 11 with a map/setting of my own devising and no rules; soon moved on to the very simple Fighting Fantasy RPG then later 1e AD&D. It's not hard if the rules are simple enough. A lot of online games with veterans may be harder to get the hang of.

Quote from: Voros;1018586Telling someone completely new to the game who has never played to buy a bunch of books (or download the free rules online) and to start DMing is probably too intimidating for most people.

Again, I'll suggest the free and very busy online play platform Roll20, especially as he is geographically isolated, to get his feet wet.

I say thee nay! Otherwise how did this illustrious group of GMing badasses self-assemble? Necessity is, and always will be, the mother of blah blah blah.


If you want to GM you gotta want it. Like anything else good in life. Then you gotta get off your ass and get on the dance-floor.

Quote from: tenbones;1018594I say thee nay! Otherwise how did this illustrious group of GMing badasses self-assemble? Necessity is, and always will be, the mother of blah blah blah.


If you want to GM you gotta want it. Like anything else good in life. Then you gotta get off your ass and get on the dance-floor.

I am Gronan of Simmerya, and by Cram and Mirthless I approve this message!  The second worst thing to happen to this hobby is the notion that running a game is difficult.

I have seen people screw up a game, because they didn't know how to GM.  I've also seen people afraid to GM, because they think they can't duplicate what an experienced GM is doing.  They are half right.  They can't do it right that moment.  But never starting, they'll never get there.

The absolute ideal way is to try it yourself first, complete with hilarious screw ups.  Then, when you've got a little experience and context to understand what you are seeing, find a way to participate in a game as a player with someone that knows what they are doing.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1018638I am Gronan of Simmerya, and by Cram and Mirthless I approve this message!  The second worst thing to happen to this hobby is the notion that running a game is difficult.

Gronan had to have this run through Google Translate. In our native tongue it is slightly less poetic sounding.

The only experience I have with this is what I've seen of it on Twitch. My IRL friends aren't into stuff like this at all, but my online friends expressed interest in trying it out if I could set it up. I've been checking around on Roll20, but haven't found one that would line everyone up to play yet. I am, however, on the hunt

Howdy, ReaperWeAre!

We seem like a hard candy shell outside, but don't mind that, we're all sweet gooey goodness inside, like an M&M. We're a very "Speak your mind already!" "No, I think you're full of shit on that!" "You're OK, let's go have a beer already." sort of place.

As for how-to, basically it's like playing pretend when you were kids, except there's a scene describer + rules arbiter (GM, wearing two hats!) and things like dice to prevent endless childish arguments of "Did not!" "Did too!" ... It does not always run so smoothly as each of our inner children tend to be brattish and often want to win at all costs. But roughly that's the process.

So you probably role-played already with your friends. You just probably didn't bother with a Master of Ceremonies and a Random Value Generator to avoid arguments. Recall that state, it'll help you and others understand -- more like remember -- what it's like to play "Let's Pretend" this way.