Forum > Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion
Considering getting back into TTRPGs, Out of them since 2016
Cadwaladyr:
For further background, I'm in my mid 40's and games pretty steadily from high school until my late 30's. A combination of the kind of work I was doing making me keep weird hours and all of my gaming friends moving away caused me to drop out of and lose touch with the hobby.
So, what the hell am I walking back into? Looking at things online it seems like RPGs have gotten caught up in the same cultural fights as the rest of entertainment. Which, as a deeply apolitical person, isn't exactly thrilling to me. But I also realize that the loudest voices online rarely mirror what's going on in the real world, so this like a good place to ask some questions.
How hard is it to find gamers right now who just want to play damn RPGs and not bring contemporary crap into it? Where are effective places to actually find them? Is there anything non-D&D, non-Paizo that people are actually playing in large numbers?
Spinachcat:
--- Quote from: Cadwaladyr on October 14, 2021, 02:45:54 AM ---as a deeply apolitical person,
--- End quote ---
LOL. Good luck with that.
How hard is it to find gamers right now who just want to play damn RPGs and not bring contemporary crap into it?
Depends where you live and where you look. When recruiting players, you should make the ability to STFU about politics a pre-requisite for joining your table. The more open and upfront you are about organizing a totally non-political game table, the more likely your table will be comprised of deplorable far right Trump monsters thankful to game in peace.
Where are effective places to actually find them?
Your friends, and their friends, perhaps co-workers, maybe family. There's some online "player-finder" tools, but I haven't used any other than MeetUp. Perhaps others here can point you to current quality online player finders. If you have a FLGS still standing after the shamdemic, consider posting there. I've met many GMs over the years who have run numerous campaigns only playing with people from their game store.
Is there anything non-D&D, non-Paizo that people are actually playing in large numbers?
No. Not at least by my definition of large numbers, and at least in regard to RPGs. However, the game your non-political table chooses to play is much less important than the quality of the players you find. Good luck.
FingerRod:
--- Quote from: Spinachcat on October 14, 2021, 03:52:22 AM ---
Where are effective places to actually find them?
Your friends, and their friends, perhaps co-workers, maybe family.
--- End quote ---
This is spot on. I get the occasional person from this grouping that slides in something political, but it gets stamped out really fast. Because these are all people we know or know by extension, we understand two important aspects, 1) they are here to play a game and 2) outside the game they can function properly in society.
Five years ago my wife had never thrown a polyhedral. Two months ago she started DMg Strahd for a group of us.
tenbones:
Getting in is easy -
1) Go to the Game Company List thread - you'll find every game company going right now and their general political heat-level. Do not dismiss the Yellows entirely.
2) Cultivate your own group. Whether you're going to just be a player or GM. Find locals in your own area via whatever online resources or face-to-face places you can go where gamers gather. Curate the group of people you wanna play with.
3) If you don't GM - give it a try.
4) Non-D&D Systems - the moment you go Non-D&D you're going to start climbing a hill to find players. THAT'S OKAY. The key then becomes your responsibility in deciding what game you wanna play. Ironically nothing prevents you from playing older editions of D&D. There are lots of people, like yourself, that got out of the hobby or are in it, and still yearn for what they're familiar with. Depending on where you live there might be GM's from your era that are looking for people like *you* to join them. Get out there and look. Get on Discord and look for a local Discord group for local gamers.
As for which Non-D&D system - depends on what kind of gaming you're wanting to do. If you want D&D style fantasy, you could go with any of the OSR games out there. Dungeon Crawl Classics for example. The mechanics will be a snap for you to get into since it's D&D's DNA. Any of the OSR systems would be an easy fit for you - others here on this forum can be a huge help in guiding you, as there are a lot of OSR players here.
If you're looking for *anything* with a following, non-D&D systems have their respective fanbases at differing levels of the same range depending on your location. This is why I say find the system/setting that interests you - and just DIVE. Look for the people that wanna play that with you. Because the odds are they'll be the ones with the more likelihood of going the distance with you.
My personal recommendations - would be find an online game to get your feet wet.
Armchair Gamer:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RlX78Yw9lbUMk2QwAZdpwNRGAd4Xe69eFgnFymWz6M0/edit is the direct link to the list tenbones mentioned.
Also, nearly every game you might have been familiar with has been put into PDF and/or Print-on-Demand, cloned, or is otherwise available. (Games licensed from other media franchises are the big exceptions, although a lot of them have been cloned with the serial numbers filed off.) So if there's a system you'd like to get back into, let us know and we can probably direct you to it or its spiritual successor.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page