[Discussion] What Makes a Great LFG Thread?

Greetings Role Players! The LFG forum is a great place to advertise upcoming games and we want to make sure that our community is getting the best advice on how to find groups in Roll20. If you could offer some positive advice to your fellow gamers to accompany the  Posting to LFG: Read First thread at the top of this forum - what would it be?  What do you think makes for a great LFG Thread?

First is the lack of information, particularly when it comes to character creation rules, house rules, or alternate rule systems all together. That stuff can be deal breakers and needs to be made clear up-front. You want to do CRB only and use crit decks? Great! More power to you! I'll be moving on though. Second is the lack of communication in general from GMs. GMs should be actively answering questions, telling people they're not going to be invited, and etc. Not leaving people to fend for themselves and wait to see what happens. Anyone who says they can't send everyone a message at least saying "thanks but no thanks" is just being incredibly lazy. I work 6 days a week, 60+ hours a week, and even I can manage it when I run games so I know it's not that difficult. Copy and paste is a wonderful thing.

I have been giving it some thought, and I prefer LFP threads here that get right to the point.  I would prefer that you save your sales pitch for the official game thread.

In my opinion, a great LFG Thread has to be as informative as possible. Filling up a thread with words isn't useful if it doesn't help the potential players undertand what game they are in for or any potential GMs figure out if you would be a good addition to their campaign. Something that demands to be repeated from the Posting to LFG thread is this: Avacyn said: Expand on the Title information and give greater insight into your GM style and preferred way to play Many posts I'll see will skip that kind of info. This has the unfortunate effect of players joining games that are unpleasant to them or providing a GM with a player or players that are prepared for a different kind of campaign than the one prepared. To be perfectly honest? Guilty as charged. A lot of unpleasant exchanges in the past could have been averted if I was more informative on the way I run games in my posts. Something that should be avoided when preparing an LFG thread is too much personal information. It sure is nice that players and GMs get to know each other quickly, but it doesn't really provide anyone with much reason as you why should I join your game or accept you into mine. The most necessary amount of information I have found to be your age and familiarity with the system you want to play, with anything else being dressing. GMs on the other hand should be a bit more creative with their threads. Some text with a vague description of the game is highly unrecommended. Some flavortext giving a small idea of the game's mood is encouraged, but not necessary. What your post must have is how is the world in your campaign or if there is going to be some worldbuilding involved, what behavior will you be expecting from your players both OoC and IC, along with how long you intend of running the whole campaign. Some people prefer quick games that end in no more than two months, some others want the long commitment of th yearly campaign, others are willing for "as far as it goes." But most important of all has to be this: answer clearly any question you are asked, no matter how trivial. Even if it seems like a bonehead question, it deserves a reply. So, to sum it all up: Don't skip the info, unless it's not that related to the game. You want a great thread? Make sure you stick to the game and try to find people that enjoy the same styles, stories and systems as you. (I'll probably post some more tomorrow.)

To expand on Pavlos a bit, try to use an elevator pitch.  That is a pitch designed to be told on an elevatore ride.

When I make a LFG posting as a GM I try to add what I'm always asking about when I look to join a potential game. When: Time (including timezone), day and frequency. It's hard to commit to a game if you're not sure that it's not a one-shot starting next year played in Mongolian time. (No offence to any Mongolian players) System: It seems basic but if you miss this you'll have the player-base you want skipping past and possibly some very confused 40K players in your AD&D. What: Now we're into the meat and potatoes. Letting people know about the story is how you're going to hook them in after all, and this is the time to do so. Now bear in mind a novella can be disheartening to new players so if it's a home-brew world you may just want to briefly give some flavor and then provide more once they show interest. This is also a good time to give a heads up about things like mature content or whether it will be text-only. What to do: Should applicants PM you? Is there a LFG posting they should apply to? How many are you accepting? Where should I send my carrier pigeon with my response? This is the time to iron specifics out so you don't have to sort out applications in the thread, your inbox, the LFG listing and your pigeon coop. In summation, it's much like the others have said, it's a bit of an elevator pitch to catch the eye of people scrolling through many postings and make everything easy for both them and you. And of course if you're really stuck wait for someone with lots of experience like Phnord to make a posting and then copy his format ;D

i assume we are talking about the LFG pages made by GM's things that are not immediately evident but should be: 1: the rule system being used (all groups have this listed/tagged but often there are multiple systems listed and it can be hard to tell exactly what is being played) If i am playing lamentations of the flame princess , my group has DnD, old school, other, and basic DnD tagged but none of these communicate what i am playing and every player needs to ask in the forum or otherwise pass over the game 2: is the listed time set in stone, can there be an "available to play between X and Y" slider? Every group needs to schedule a game in order to make a LFG page but often the real scheduling happens after a group gets together and people can compare desperate schedules.  This can get messy as people often apply for games they find interesting and then bring up the days that they are actually available once they are accepted.  groups often become divided between the date the GM has posted, the actual spectrum of days and times that the GM could play, the date players applied to the group understanding it will be played, and group of players (often most of them) that cannot play on the posted date and hope that it can be rescheduled.  if there was a way to clarify this up front things would work smoother. 3. information such as game style, structure and the kind of players being looked for need to come before setting info: GM's usually fill the description field on a LFG page with information on the setting they have made/are planning to play in.  while this is interesting it is less important to players looking for a group.  will this campaign be running moduals or not? open world or not? story centric or not? deadly or less so?  an ongoing campaign or a fresh start? using hacks or house rules? ect.  this might not be easily rectified but it is tiring to browse the LFG and be forced to skim paragraphs of setting information that isnt actually relevant and still having no idea if the Game is for you. the first thing i see on the LFG should be the facts of the campaign not the flavor text that gives me no information. 4. there really isnt a way to screen hopeful players: perhaps include an upvoteing system or referral system? this may be a bad idea, but often times it is impossible to tell what kind of player or gm you are 'talking to' on the LFG.  there is no up-voteing system or review system or anything to help GM's or players understand who they are playing with.  i understand that ideally roll 20 doesnt want to discourage players or cause a mentality of "i only play with top-ranked role players".  but if there were a way to quickly relate the information that is rehashed on just about every LFG forum, and to more easily avoid players or GM's which do not suit your playstyle, that would be good.   perhaps simply expanding the player profile to give more information and allowing an easy way to post this info in a LFG page would be good. things on the profile besides "what are you playing" could be like: i like to play campaigns that feel like these books/movies.  My favorite Role playing anectdote is: ... ect. Most groups fall apart rather quickly and i attribute this to, players and GM's not starting off on a good foot / understanding what and who they are playing and playing with.  I feel that many players and GM's take a shot gun approach to RPG's to combat this.  signing up for many games and hopeing one sticks.  

zdesert said: 4. there really isnt a way to screen hopeful players: perhaps include an upvoteing system or referral system? this may be a bad idea, but often times it is impossible to tell what kind of player or gm you are 'talking to' on the LFG.  there is no up-voteing system or review system or anything to help GM's or players understand who they are playing with.  i understand that ideally roll 20 doesnt want to discourage players or cause a mentality of "i only play with top-ranked role players".  but if there were a way to quickly relate the information that is rehashed on just about every LFG forum, and to more easily avoid players or GM's which do not suit your playstyle, that would be good.   perhaps simply expanding the player profile to give more information and allowing an easy way to post this info in a LFG page would be good. things on the profile besides "what are you playing" could be like: i like to play campaigns that feel like these books/movies.  My favorite Role playing anectdote is: ... ect. Most groups fall apart rather quickly and i attribute this to, players and GM's not starting off on a good foot / understanding what and who they are playing and playing with.  I feel that many players and GM's take a shot gun approach to RPG's to combat this.  signing up for many games and hopeing one sticks.   I completely agree with having some type of review system in place.  For instance something similar to eBay, a review and a comment.  Such a review system for both GM's and players would be helpful. As far as I am concerned, the more information a GM provides the better.  As long as it is not one solid wall of text I do not mind doing some reading if it will allow me to filter out games I am interested in and those I am not.  In the long run it will save me time and energy. 

1. Know what type of game you are playing or are willing to play.  For example, know you're willing to play 5e and 3.5 but not Pathfinder and put that in the post.  If you're willing to try other systems as well, put that in the post (e.g., I want to play 5e but am open to trying Dungeon World). 2. If you're looking for a GM, the more players you have, the better.  Also list your preferred times.  The clearer, the better.  List the time zone, days, and times you can play. 3. If you're GMing, write some detail about the world and about your GMing style.  For example, I've come to realize I'm a bit of a rules-lawyer who hates metagaming.  I also prefer humor and light to gritty and dark, so I'll have funny names in my games or have certain groups behave in goofy ways.  I would put that information into any long-term group post 4. Give a bit of background about your experience.  This is especially true for GMs. 5. This isn't for the original post so much, but goes to the points zdesert and Miguel made above: If you're in the forums and you see a player or DM you like, put a word of support in for them.  There's no rating system for players or GMs for obvious reasons and you shouldn't post tirades in the forums about ones you don't like (even though God knows I've been tempted a couple times).  You can and should, however, say you like a GM or player because it helps other people know who they should take a chance on.  I know I would prefer to have all my players recommended to me by people I like/respect playing with.

Definitely need to include the system(s) you want to use, and what sort of mood or feeling you want in the game. Like Brian I prefer light-hearted and heroic games to gritty and dark, so it's nice to know in advance which one the GM wants to go for. It's also good to know what level of role-playing vs. hack-and-slash the game is intended to have, it's not fun joining a game expecting a classic dungeon crawl only to get instead a campaign focused on the political intrigue of the noble houses of (insert land here), or vice-versa. Any house rules already in place should be posted as well. If your setting doesn't allow magic, or if you want all hits to be auto-crits it should be stated in advance. Also, if you've already got a set play time, that's obviously a necessity, along with how the group is intended to communicate. People will obviously disagree with me on this one, but one thing that always turns me off are long prologue-style intros that attempt to explain the whole backstory of the (usually homebrewed) setting. This is doubly true if little to no information about what to actually expect from the game is given. I'd rather not read through pages worth of history about your world only to find out at the very bottom of the post what type of game you actually want to run, if it's mentioned at all. At the very least, put the flavor information *after* all the general info. Bottom line: be very specific when it comes to your GMing/playing style, and when and how the game is to be played.

Jeremiah N. said: Any house rules already in place should be posted as well. If your setting doesn't allow magic, or if you want all hits to be auto-crits it should be stated in advance. This is very true.

Thanks for the fantastic feedback everyone. I have summarized the tips above on our  blog - if you are new to this thread feel free to add any new advice below!

While information about the game system and time themselves are important, as a GM you should state some of your social rules beforehand. Here are some tips I can give from my side; - Specify the kind of content the game will have; i.e will there be blood, gore, racism, sex etc? Some players cannot stand some topics and it is hard for them to differentiate real life with the fantasy setting they are playing. There is nothing more disturbing than to have a group fall apart just because they do not agree with your game's NPC owning a slave and having a real life debate over it. I eliminate such players by making it clear that they either deal with them or do not apply. - How will you deal rule conflicts? I usually pause whatever we are doing for 2 to 3 minutes and look it up or make something on the spot. I let the players know in advance that I may arbitrarily rule something on the stop to facilitate progression, and then we can discuss it when the scenario is over. - What kind of technical commodities are you looking from the players? Do they need to have a mic with a mute? Do they need good PCs/Internet? In my case, we play using mics. I state it beforehand that if people cannot isolate their mountain dew and Doritos noises then they are not welcome. - How will the applications be done? Do the players need to post on a thread? Do they need to PM? What questions do they need to answer? To give an example, I tell the players to post in the thread AND answer the following; -Your experience in playing the system -Do you agree with all the above clauses and did you confirm above all else that you are able to attend at the time shown by roll20? -Are you comfortable to be playing with 4 other people that are strangers to you? Do you have any particular kind of people or topics you cannot stand above all else? -Do you look at your roll20 notifications at least 2 times a week? There may be important notices from me. -Read the handout about character creation and world setting, make a general outline of a character and wrap it up in a short paragraph. -Answer the following question; "You got lost while driving with your friend, what do you do?" 1. Keep driving along the path. 2. Ask someone for directions. 3. Open the map and find the direction. 4. Find something better to do near where you got lost. Using the above I set up an initial screening and drop the following players; -Those that cannot be bothered to read through my wall of text containing the details about the game. -Those that fail to answer the above application questions. And those that give unnecessary information. -Those that answer number 4 on the question. It is part of a psychological question, choosing 4 means you are prone to being irresponsible. -Those that do not post the above in the specified place. i.e PM me the questions when I have told them to post it in the forum thread. The list goes on inside me, but that is the general gist of it. I keep expanding the wall of text about Dos and Don'ts of the game with each new campaign I start.

I would actually advise against a voting system, roll20 isn't a debate sight where we are trying to filter out the garbage posters. Instead we are trying to bring people in and divide them into their games. With the combined knowledge given by a profile, you can use the date of account creation, hours spent in games, gmed games, games played, etc. to determine the general credibility of a user. Anything else should be done in an application or over a quick chat with the person (like over the gm-game link that changes every time the gm enters the game). A comment system on profiles might be a nice addition instead, it offers an improvement in communication and people can always "+rep/+gmrep" someone.

I'm with Austin. A player/GM review system would be hurtful. Not everyone is going to get along with everyone. Even horrible players need gaming. And horrible players and horrible GM's should not be hindered from finding each other and having fun in their horrible games. If you want to filter your applicants, use an application. Now an application creator similar to Google Forms would be a brilliant option. Though I already use Google forms for this.

Great advice so far, let's make sure to keep the replies on the positive side and keep it on topic to the OP.

I agree with everything said above I would just add a couple things to do during the application process for GMs. Following these tips really help you get good players that will stick around and that's something very hard to do on VTTs: Have potential players do a live interview with you. It might not be as necessary for one shots, but if you are planning for an epic campaign and you really want the players to stick it's absolutely necessary. You solve several problems by getting someone on Skype and asking them a few general, open-ended questions. In every campaign I have run that required getting players from LFG, this has saved me so much time in the long run and I've created some long lasting relationships with other players that enjoy my GM style. How does their mic sound? This will tell you off the bat that if they have sound issues, it's something they need to work on for game time or they need to get a new one. If they are unwilling to fix the issue, move on. How well does the player listen and respond? I can usually spot a problem player early on in the interview if they start rambling all over me or they start going into wild tangents. Asking the player to describe some creative scenarios that they have concocted in other games, etc. can give you insight into a player's experience with the ruleset, etc. Did they even show up at the agreed upon time to chat? Showing up late for a Skype chat for a game interview can already tell you that this person may end up being flaky. If you're late for this application interview, will you be late for the campaign start time as well? Go over expectations from both sides? I have a few expectations from my players that they will show up on time, equipment set up and ready to go. I encourage role play and I discourage min-maxing and I typically stay away from any type of optimization gameplay. Getting this out of the way tells the potential player what kind of campaign to expect and they can decide from that point if they are still interested. The player can then set their expectations and the GM can decide if he/she can meet those as well. It saves a hell of a lot of hassle in the long run. Have the potential player apply to your LFG thread using a brief backstory for a potential character. I like doing this for a few reasons, but mainly it allows the potential player applying to your campaign to come up with brief backstory or blurb that they would see themselves playing. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but it should tell you by their writing style if they will be especially creative and possibly give you ideas (as GM) on how you could work such a character into the shared story. If someone applies with "I r gud barb" then you can swiftly move onto the next person without wasting time.

^Doesn't even have to be a backstory for a character they intend to use. Just have them make something where they can demonstrate blending of Character events into an emotional landscape.

If you're looking for a GM, you should put in detail why one of the group can't do it. It helps GMs differentiate between groups where there's actually a need and one where there really isn't

When looking for players I like to create a fill in the blanks story. It gives the players a chance to develop their characters. It gets them thinking. It can also help them to become excited about playing the character they create. Its no longer just a name race and class. Now that character has already done something good or bad before even the player has had a chance to play the game. He or she has already saved a man from a goblin, or ran around him leaving him to die. It creates a sense of what the world is and what your PC is doing in that moment.  Example - Your running, tripping trying to stay on your feet. Its catching up to you. You make it around a corner near the bakery and have a chance to decide. Do I fight or flee down the ally way...I decide to ____________.  Also the basics as far as what will not be allowed. The PHB covers all of the rules so if anything deviates from that, then it should be stated. The rules of the game stated in the game books dont need to be listed unless variations are being added or taken away.

One of the first key steps in creating a great "Looking for" post is properly titling the post. I think a unified labeling system would help go a long way in sorting out various threads. Some of this is used in the various threads already posted but not consistently. Various title tags seen over the years and various other sites. [LFG] : Looking for game (usually a player posting it). [LFGM(or DM)] : Looking for GM or a DM (Usually a player or a group of players looking for someone to run a game for them. Very similar to [LFG]). [LFP] : Looking for Players (Usually a GM recruiting for a campaign or just a single session) etc.... There could be system tags used also such as [5e], [Savage], or a more generic [OSR]. An example of title tags used.  [LFP][Oneshot][text only] [OSR] Autumn Festival invasion (Body of text for the post would go into more detail) With just a quick glance at the thread title, you would know 4 things about the game. It is an OSR one shot session that is recruiting and it is text only. If something like this is adopted and put into use, you would be able to spot a listed game that might be of interest, quicker and easier.

I've ran a good amount of games and have found some very excellent players for my campaigns. What I do is outline the following in most of my LFG posts:  Who, What, When, You, How Who I give a brief breakdown of how the current group is comprised (if we're looking for more players) and/or a brief intro about myself. What I include about myself is usually my play style and what to expect from me in the campaign. For example, when I play DND, I don't tally up XP. I simply level you as it becomes relevant to the story we're telling. What A summary of the system being used, house rules, and a breakdown of the Role Play to Roll Play percentage. I'll also try to estimate the length of the campaign by telling you how many sessions we plan on playing together. I don't go into great detail as far as character creation goes. When Frequency and time. If it's bi-weekly, weekly, monthly, etc., and the time we generally start and finish (I have a hard stop at 10pm, for example).  You This is the most important part for myself. I explain my expectations for players (on time, engaged, not rude, mic). I list a couple of questions for you to answer such as: Why do you want to join this campaign? What's your play style? How do you handle conflict at the table? What's your favorite type of character to play and why? How I tell prospective players how to apply. It's usually something simple like "Answer the questions in the You  section and reply to the post" Etc I also tell people up front that I thank them very much for their time and I apologize if I cannot contact every person individually to thank them. I update the posting frequently and when I've picked someone I let everyone know about it. I probably over communicate. I've also gone back to the LFG post I've made to recruit players for other campaigns.  Things that will put you towards the top of my list:  You payed attention and replied to the post to apply as opposed to creating a new post.  You took the time to format your reply nicely and used decent grammar. I'm not a grammar perfectionist by any stretch. I totally understand typos but if it seems like you can't communicate in written form, we may not be able to game since I rely on the boards and IM's to run portions of the game and to communicate OOC stuff.  You have something, anything, in your roll20 profile. Some of the best people I've gamed with had never used Roll20 before but at least they filled out their profile.  Enthusiasm

Someone mentioned that there was no good way to screen hopeful players, and I'd just like to encourage Skype interviews. When making a listing, I personally will always include my Skype contact information, and specify that I would like to communicate through Skype. This narrows down the pool of people who are considered, as many people who I may not want in my campaign might completely ignore that piece of information.

Johnnicus Maximus said: When I make a LFG posting as a GM I try to add what I'm always asking about when I look to join a potential game. When: Time (including timezone), day and frequency. It's hard to commit to a game if you're not sure that it's not a one-shot What I am absolutely missing in the list is an end-time, too. I really want to be able to filter out game sessions that take place until 2am my time, cause you know, I need some sleep before getting up again at 5.20am. Right now I have to go into discussion in each game I might be interested in to find out how long the sessions might be.

I have to say, the biggest problem I see in the hobby is a lack of communication, understanding, and basic respect. &nbsp;To that end I've found that the hosts over at Fear The Boot podcast have really hit the nails on their heads many times over, as they stress good communication before any game starts. &nbsp;Here are a few of my favorites that I now consider to be mandatory listening for anyone I might game with. &nbsp; Episode 2-Creating a group template <a href="http://www.feartheboot.com/ftb/index.php/archives/" rel="nofollow">http://www.feartheboot.com/ftb/index.php/archives/</a>... Episode 323- What GMs owe their players <a href="http://www.feartheboot.com/ftb/index.php/archives/" rel="nofollow">http://www.feartheboot.com/ftb/index.php/archives/</a>... Episode 324- What players owe their GM <a href="http://www.feartheboot.com/ftb/index.php/archives/" rel="nofollow">http://www.feartheboot.com/ftb/index.php/archives/</a>...

I think yes/no for metagaming of the poster should be a very visible notification to people that reply to the posts. Often times metagaming be it access to knowledge/mechanics that your chara do not know or secrets that your chara do not know is the biggest deal breaker for roleplaying or annoyance to GMs in general

DM Z said: I think yes/no for metagaming of the poster should be a very visible notification to people that reply to the posts. Often times metagaming be it access to knowledge/mechanics that your chara do not know or secrets that your chara do not know is the biggest deal breaker for roleplaying or annoyance to GMs in general That sounds like it would be done via a +/-rep system on peoples profiles which above was discussed for pros/cons. Instead of that, what I have seen that I like is that some people put in their application formats a question of what level of metagaming the player is comfortable and it could range from none to munchkin.

DM Z said: I think yes/no for metagaming of the poster should be a very visible notification to people that reply to the posts. Often times metagaming be it access to knowledge/mechanics that your chara do not know or secrets that your chara do not know is the biggest deal breaker for roleplaying or annoyance to GMs in general This really, really depends on the system. Like, I wouldn't expect any player to come to a Burning Wheel game without a strong penchant for actively engaging the meta-game, because that's how you Say Yes to your fellow players and enable interesting choices in play.

For those poor suckers actually willing to run a game (I salute you!), I like seeing, as mentioned above, the elevator pitch. &nbsp;What's the game about? &nbsp; Knowing how many players you have,and how many more you want, is terrific--but how about classes and levels (or your system's equivalents)? &nbsp;Who's already in the party? &nbsp;What sorts of characters are needed? &nbsp;Do all new PCs start at first level? A chosen character sheet would be helpful.

I only just joined recently so I don't have the level of experience with these threads that other people do, but maybe I can offer insight into what entices me. 1. Grammar: Not to be pretentious, but a thread that is clean grammatically almost always excites me. It shows a level of polish that, at least as a new player, tells me the person is thinking about what they're writing/care about what they're doing. Mind you, my grammar is not top notch and I'm not expecting English major/Editor's level of grammar, nor am I going to instantly dismiss a thread for it. I just give that much more attention to a thread that remembers to capitalize I and the first letters of sentences. Note: This is only for the thread. I'm not going to notice/care if you use stalagmite wrong&nbsp;during a game. 2. Organization: A clean document with strict rules is actually something I find appealing. Tell me the time, tell me the rules, have handouts ready. Set my expectations appropriately. When you have those things it tells me you are READY, and experienced (even if you're not). Again, this is just for the thread. While I think I'd enjoy a very organized DM I'm not going to be jumping down your throat if it takes you a couple minutes to do something/make something up. The best thread, in my opinion, that I've seen was one that had the date of the game, as well as a clear schedule of what we were going to do leading up to and possibly after that game. Again, set my expectations. 3. Communication: You know what my one pet peeve is? People not checking their e-mails. I'm a bit of a hypocrite here as I don't consistently check my e-mail, but if you tell me to I will and I will do so regularly. We're going to be communicating for (hopefully) a long time, and the thing that sets the flow/expectations of those communications is going to be that first thread.If you are creating a thread, be prepared to talk to your applicants. If you have a particularly good thread you'll likely have some applicants right after you post (barring you being awake at 2 am like I am usually) and you should be able to get back to them in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think every message you give has to be personalized (in fact unless people have questions it's easier if they are not), but well organized updates, handouts or responses should go to every applicant. Be clear and courteous with your answers. Even if you've mentioned something, sometimes eyes glaze over and information is missed. If that's something that bothers you, let people know early and their reading comprehension/attention will be much better. Finally, just be polite. 4. New Players: I am a 23 year old new player to D&D. I'm very nervous about playing, let alone doing so live with a facecam. I will do just about everything you say because I trust you 100 times more than I trust myself. I'm going to ask a lot of questions (especially if I'm a little desperate). If you have a lot of applicants I'm going to be a bit more reserved than most. If you ask me questions/show an interest I will feel so much better about posting (which can be hard enough depending on who you are). Let me know some things that new players do that bothers you or is just a pitfall of playing. Explain to me why 16 isn't necessarily a bad score at level 1 for my primary stat. Tell me why humans are typically not servants of Gruumsh. New players are (mostly) blank canvases and depending on their personality they've probably watched hundreds of hours of videos on YouTube to prepare so they don't screw up your game. And it WILL be your game, before it's our game. That's what I got.

make it original

Galen said: First is the lack of information, particularly when it comes to character creation rules, house rules, or alternate rule systems all together. That stuff can be deal breakers and needs to be made clear up-front. You want to do CRB only and use crit decks? Great! More power to you! I'll be moving on though. Second is the lack of communication in general from GMs. GMs should be actively answering questions, telling people they're not going to be invited, and etc. Not leaving people to fend for themselves and wait to see what happens. Anyone who says they can't send everyone a message at least saying "thanks but no thanks" is just being incredibly lazy. I work 6 days a week, 60+ hours a week, and even I can manage it when I run games so I know it's not that difficult. Copy and paste is a wonderful thing. this

What the Group Finder currently is missing and what people should post here if they are building a group is: Time: Start and End, and if the time is fixed. Because I don't wanna write a lenghty application only to find out later that the time moved out of my personal time frame or that the sessions are going way too long. Communication: which tools are required ... do people need to use skype video/chat, teamspeak, discord? Announcements: when will the next session be etc... needs to be done in a way so people get notices/emails or something. Having to log in to skype every day to find out when the next sessions is happening is a bit awkward.

Ok this is just a short one and not exactly about what you can post up to make a good first post but pay attention to the the requests being made in the original post. Specifically this is about timezones, as a European based player it is absolutely infuriating to have somebody from halfway around the world asking if a game starting at 4 AM is a time I could make when I have posted my timezone; here's a hint, take a moment to tap the timezone into Google and find out whether this is going to be a game I could feasibly make, it's incredibly frustrating and I think actually quite rude to post up and clutter the thread with games which I'm just not going to be able to make and that you could check with a quick Google search.

I wish there was a way to filter out those mega games that ask for 1000 players, it would pretty neat to have an option to screen out LFG that is players looking for DMs