Starting from Scratch
When you move, it can be tough to find a new gaming group. Now that we’re settled just outside of Chicago, we’re going to have some trouble reestablishing a group.
See, it was really easy when I last moved. I arrived in Norfolk with Bridget still in Spokane, and before a month was through, a guy I knew who played D&D had gotten stationed at my command. From there, it was a simple matter of finding out who else was a player at my command of nearly 5000 people.
But now, we’re in a lone city, at a new command of 40 people, and I have no idea where to start. We finally had a really good gaming group with only about a year and a half left in our time in Norfolk, and I’ve got four years here in Great Lakes, IL.
So, how does one start a group from scratch? Here are my tactics:
1. Find a good game shop within a reasonable range.
This can actually be the trickiest part. A game shop is not enough. A good game shop is a tough thing to find. Finding a great shop that will let me find a group of people I can actually stand is going to be an uphill battle. Does anyone know of any good FLGS’s?
2. Use this blog to see if I can stir interest.
Hopefully this post alone will help me find a group to play with. I’m right off the Elevated Rail if anyone is interested in coming up here from Chicago! I am willing to play literally any RPG that’s out there, as long as we all have a good time.
3. Use NearbyGamers.com.
I’ve fiddled around with the site before, but I am really going to try using the site to its fullest extent.
Those are my first three steps. Anyone have any better ideas?
I have been going through the same thing. Last year I relocated from Las Vegas to northern Utah. I didn’t know anyone other than some extended family in the area. My own wife isn’t a gamer and my children are all still too young to be a source of “in house” gaming. So I set out to find some people in the area. In Las Vegas I hosted a decade old 30+ person gaming group … was part of a gaming club, etc. In my new area I couldn’t find evidence of even a single gaming club (despite a substantial population within the surrounding 25 miles). There are some stores in my area … but I’m not a store gamer. In my 15+ years of gaming … I’ve had some pretty hit and miss experiences with store gaming. Don’t get me wrong stores can be an ok place to find fellow gamers of course … but alot of that depends on the attitude of the store owner. Does the store have a message board? etc. etc. Long story short I used pen and paper RPG and a few other gamer meetup sites including the one you referenced (www.penandpapergames.com, http://www.meetup.com) etc. and managed to find the type of gamers I’m used to hanging out with. Its been a somewhat slow go … but in the span of a year I’ve managed to establish a 20 person strong home gaming group and a 50 person gaming club. We meet once a month at a local library for a gamesday … where people are bringing down board games, mini games and running one shot RPGs (and even an ongoing game). I host 3 game nights a week at my place for the home game crew which is all RPG right now with the occasional board game night. But I am finally also getting back into miniature games as well. Leaving a really good gaming group/community sucks … but unless your somewhere really remote … re-establishing that … is possible. I had my doubts over this past year but I stuck with it and have mostly rebuilt the kind of gaming I used to enjoy in my former home town. Hang in there man … you can do it!!
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I moved to Chicago three years ago and got lucky trying to find a gaming group. I found a great bunch of players at a few different stores. We’ve had a D&D 4E game going for almost two years now. If you’re looking for rpg players through local stores in the Chicago area, I’d try these places to start.
http://www.blacksungameschicago.com/
http://www.chicagolandgames.com/
http://www.pastimes.net/ (this one is more in the suburbs and I have only played there once, but it seemed pretty good.)
Also, there are some local groups that connect Chicago gamers. Check them out.
Chicago Nerd Social Club at http://www.chicagonerds.com/
Chicago Order of the Weekend Screwball (COWS) at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/COWSGamers/
There are also a couple of Chicago RPG groups on meetup.com
Hope this helps!
For the most part, I try to find ways to introduce the game to completely new people. I sincerely believe RPGs, especially 4e, are a form of entertainment EVERYONE can enjoy. You don’t have to be a geek or a fantasy fan to enjoy them.
Girlfriend DM and I have run 4th Edition in hospitals, bars, coffee shops, art galleries and comic book stores and try to lure people by encouraging them with how EASY it is to get into playing RPGs even if they don’t have any instruction in the mechanics.
Of course, I think it might be easier in the Philippines simply because while there is an awareness of the global cultural stigma that D&D carries, it isn’t as pronounced as it is in the United States, despite the nation growing up as strongly Roman Catholic and U.S. influenced.
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[...] Matthew from My Girlfriend is a DM said in the comments of my post Starting from Scratch, “For the most part, I try to find ways to introduce the game to completely new people. I [...]