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Author Topic: How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?  (Read 1092 times)

TheSHEEEP

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I've been playing online PnP (via different tools from just Skype or Hangouts to roll20, etc.) for a while, but my experience has been mostly negative.

For one, 99% of games out there (at least on the platforms I could find, roll20 and rpgtablefinde.net) are D&D5E, and I just don't like that system. It is so simplified you could just as well forego rules completely and go full larp. Could rant about it forever, but that's not the point here.
It does make a nice introduction to what PnP is and how it works, but to me it is like eating a salad leaf when you want a real steak.
Its dominance in the online PnP sector seems weird, given that in most forums/communities I frequent, it is really just one of many systems talked about.

I suspected I wouldn't like it, but tried anyway for months, and that just confirmed all my assumptions about 5E.
Any system can work with the right people, though, and that turned out to be the bigger problem.
Over just two months, about a dozen people just quit the group with absurd or no  reason at all (one had a "bunny emergency", I'll never forget that lol), ghosted, etc.
One guy had a bad roll and ragequit over it, never to be seen again. I'm not kidding.
The DM really tried, and I don't blame him, but it just isn't possible to pull off a good campaign when your players are constantly fluctuating.
And it was a paid game - which I had hoped in vain would filter out the least reliable people.

So, does anyone know a better method to look for non-5E games than roll20, preferably with a more reliable pool of users?
Especially in European time zones (most common US time slots are a bit of a problem if you are in Europe).
« Last Edit: June 04, 2020, 05:50:25 AM by TheSHEEEP »

S'mon

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2020, 10:46:56 AM »
Quote from: TheSHEEEP;1132524

So, does anyone know a better method to look for non-5E games than roll20, preferably with a more reliable pool of users?


Well I was able to recruit players for a non-5E game on Roll 20 by going to the discussion forum and looking for players who had posted that they were open to a variety of games. I recruited two to join my existing group; one dropped in the first session, while the other has proved reliable.

If the game you are interested in has a publisher forum, you could try there. I'd think getting eg a Pathfinder 1 or 2 group together would not be hard.

Another likely place to look is in a Facebook group dedicated to the game, game-genre, or setting.

TheSHEEEP

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2020, 11:37:40 AM »
Some good advice there, thanks.
I'll go ahead and visit some game/publisher-specific forums soon.

ffilz

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2020, 12:43:04 PM »
I've slowly built up a good player base for my Roll20 RuneQuest 1st ed (1978) game just by making sure the game always has space for another player or two. I do keep getting folks who ping for interest in the game and then don't even respond when I ask some questions. I've had one or two folks roll up characters and then bail, but most of those were early in the game life and couldn't hack the time slot of the game (I'm in Pacific Time Zone and run 8:30 PM to 10:30 PM which is a rough time for Eastern, we do have a couple regular players from Central and we had one regular player from Eastern until he got sent home due to the shutdowns, we even just picked up an Aussie player, not sure if it's someone who has lots of time on their hands due to shutdowns or just has a work schedule that allows weekday day time playing). I've had one or two recruits from outside Roll20.

When I first started remote gaming (I started just with Google Video Chats), I recruited a bunch of players via the Traveller Google+ groups, but of course Google+ is gone... I may have scored one or two of my RQ players via Google+ before it shut down.

Once we hit a critical mass with the 3 longest running players, things have been pretty stable since (other than the one East coaster who has all but dropped out, but before he did we had managed to recruit another player).

I think this is a really good time to start a remote game with so many people not able or not willing to do in person games. Look for other forums to advertise your game as well as making sure you have a decent game blurb on Roll20 (or your platform of choice).

While Roll20 may currently be dominated by 5e players, I'm sure it's got plenty of folks interested in other games and probably any other platform is also going to be dominated by 5e. I know in store gaming tended to be dominated by the current edition of D&D and Warhammer with maybe a table or two playing other games. I'm not sure if there are any games that rank as "popular" when you subtract the 5e gamers that have a dedicated remote playing platform, if such existed, that would possibly be a way to find players, but they may not attract enough players. Sadly for less popular games, you're actually best off on the most popular platform(s) since despite 99.9% of the players there being not interested in your game, the 0.1% that are probably number larger than almost any other platform.

rocksfalleverybodydies

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2020, 07:06:24 PM »
Heh, I was spouting on this very conundrum with online gaming on another thread.

I always thought a LFG forum would be nice here.  I realise most people here on this forum have established groups and seem more live-play focused but it would be nice to have something that appeals to those that can appreciate a bit of crunch or some of the less popular systems.

I'm surprised people payed for the privilege to be that lame in your online session:  Perhaps they got driven out of all the free games with 'bunny emergencies'?  Heh

Meetup might be a possibility as it seems decent for finding RPG groups locally.
Online vtt, Fantasy Grounds seems to have a decent spread of systems and if a DM running the game has the Ultimate version, you don't pay to be a player.

Good luck on your quest.

The Exploited.

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2020, 07:18:03 PM »
Facebook groups.

I've met several cool (and reliable) players over the last few years. 5e is by no means the default either. Time zones vary, but there's quite a few people from the EU.
https://www.instagram.com/robnecronomicon/

'Attack minded and dangerously so.' - W. E. Fairbairn.

rocksfalleverybodydies

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« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2020, 07:22:09 PM »
Quote from: The Exploited.;1132595
Facebook groups.

I've met several cool (and reliable) players over the last few years. 5e is by no means the default either. Time zones vary, but there's quite a few people from the EU.

Yea, that's a really good point with Facebook.  A lot of systems have a Discord or MeWe page now.  If you're looking to find players of a specific system you like, your best bet is to go where people who like the system are hanging out rather than the wide spread of roll20 or something similar.

Might have better luck for those systems less on the radar of mainstream.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2020, 07:23:32 PM by rocksfalleverybodydies »

The Exploited.

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2020, 07:29:49 PM »
Roll twenty is annoying (for me anyway). Plus, it's where all the mainstream stuff is.

Here's a couple of decent ones. There's another one dedicated to players from Europe but it's got very little activity.

'Historical Society of Excellent Role-Players'
'Tabletop RPG One Shot Group'

I'm sure there are others too. You could try on the forums. Pop an add up here (in the PBP section). I know there's a few UK (and EU people) based people.
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'Attack minded and dangerously so.' - W. E. Fairbairn.

Spinachcat

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2020, 11:24:16 PM »
I tried online gaming, but the lack of immersion really threw my attention off.

Quote from: TheSHEEEP;1132524
Over just two months, about a dozen people just quit the group with absurd or no  reason at all (one had a "bunny emergency", I'll never forget that lol), ghosted, etc.


They didn't ghost! They were eaten!!! Moment of silence for that poor gamer slain by the vorpal bunny!!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4539[/ATTACH]


Quote from: TheSHEEEP;1132524
One guy had a bad roll and ragequit over it, never to be seen again. I'm not kidding.


Many years ago, I had a local "gaming celebrity" do that at a convention game. It was so bizarre. I just had their PC explode and we continued on with the game.

I play lots of boardgames and wargames and I haven't seen that behavior at those tables as an adult (yes lots during our teen years), but unfortunately, I've heard too many stories about adult RPG players losing their poop over a dice roll.

Opaopajr

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2020, 12:31:51 AM »
Quote from: Spinachcat;1132630
[...] Many years ago, I had a local "gaming celebrity" do that at a convention game. It was so bizarre. I just had their PC explode and we continued on with the game.
[...]

Did the ensuing 'corpse explosion' take out any of the monsters, a la Diablo II necromancer? :p I think would have done it like that, or "Big Trouble in Little China," and awarded XP to the survivors -- contingent on the ragequitter not returning. :D (Because then we can laugh even louder when some PCs drop back down a level when ragequitter tries to return! :D I have become callous in my dotage. ;))
Just make your fuckin' guy and roll the dice, you pricks. Focus on what's interesting, not what gives you the biggest randomly generated virtual penis.  -- J Arcane
 
You know, people keep comparing non-TSR D&D to deck-building in Magic: the Gathering. But maybe it's more like Katamari Damacy. You keep sticking shit on your characters until they are big enough to be a star.
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Dave 2

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2020, 10:40:08 PM »
I got lucky out of the gate on Discord, and put together a good group by recruiting from groups for the OSR and the specific game I'm running. With a sample size of one I can't be sure if that's normal or not, but it's worth a try.

I did lose two of my first players, but that's actually better than I expected, and I just recruited more and moved on. Having a game setup that allows for easy new entries helps.

Libramarian

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #11 on: June 06, 2020, 12:31:55 AM »
I didn't have much luck recruiting on forums/Reddit, but I get lots of applications from within Roll20 for my Lost Lands game. Maybe because it's one of only a couple OD&D games there. I had a couple people quit before playing and only one who quit after playing a session, which I'm quite happy with.

I've heard it's actually harder to get reliable players for 5e, due to the "Tinder effect" of there being so many other 5e games just a click away.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1132630
I tried online gaming, but the lack of immersion really threw my attention off.


I run my game text-only and find it very immersive. Although the main reason I chose to do that was because I have to do teleconferencing for work now and I just didn't want to do that during my leisure time.

The Exploited.

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #12 on: June 06, 2020, 12:07:11 PM »
There's definitely a quite a high rate of players who disappear into the ether without so much as a goodbye. But I found you'll definitely find a decent crew if you stick with it.
https://www.instagram.com/robnecronomicon/

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APN

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #13 on: June 06, 2020, 01:31:44 PM »
I got back into RPGs via play by post in Yahoo Groups in the early 2000s. I found that games generally went: strong initial interest, character creation goes well and everyone is ready to go. By the end of the first week people are dropping because of the slow play/posting rate and you're lucky to get more than a month or two out of it.

I get that real life is an issue. Heck I was GMing two games and had to quit after my laptop (with all game files) was stolen in a burglary from the house. Didn't get back up and running for weeks after fighting it out with the insurance company. Shit happens.

I've been lucky with my play by post. Started up after others had gone the way of the dodo and still going after 10 years (11 in October). The secret to running the game, if there is one, is to not make it feel like an unpaid job and pacing is important. You need patient players, need to keep the game moving forward so there are always options for the players (though they are sometimes stumped and need nudging) and don't get too hung up on rules. Characters do die (it's a Supers game I run) but for the most part death is not permanent (as per the comics).

After a few left over time I was down to the two original players and they run three characters each in their own campaigns. Added another after a Pm on Facebook and so far so good as he's still around.

I tried playing via a group message app and it was a complete nightmare. Proper free for all and I was woefully unprepared. In hindsight (it was a D&D game) I should have pre prepared text to copy/paste and gone from there, complete with pictures, encounters and so on. Play by post means i can read what the Players post and take it away, think about it, come up with something in my own time. My own personal limits are 1 post/day per campaign (7 running at once) and in lockdown some of that has gone to 5-6 times per day. It's still slower paced than face to face but its better than not playing at all.

I understand if play by post isn't for everyone but for me it's the best and probably only option, so I'm happy to play that way instead of not being able to play at all because of my job/real life commitments.

Shrieking Banshee

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How to find online PnP groups for non-5E with reliable people?
« Reply #14 on: June 06, 2020, 01:33:10 PM »
The secret I found is to know the people in real-life. Also, ask them if they have 3 months at least in advance.

Once momentum goes, they will usually put aside their own lives to further the game.