Why is it so hard to find a group for dungeons and dragons

The ratio of Game masters to players are out of control for every game master there are at least 30 or more players willing to want to play! Even more Game masters threaten their players by simply telling them they can easily find another in less than 2 minutes AND ITS TRUE!. This is merely just a short rant about it, i just hope that more game masters are willing to play, not through the worry of  there never being enough players, because there are many people willing to play per dm i have seen 12 or 14 people crammed into a game for 1 childish and horribly game master. Please help by encouraging players to pick up the dungeons masters guide and host a game. In other news please i suggest encouraging new game master to pick up the dungeon master and find out if they are their preferance i have seen many good that only came out through much encouragement.

How many campaigns are you running right now?

Jake M. said: How many campaigns are you running right now? I am running 3 offline games 2 dungeons and dragons and 1 dark heresy as of the moment and providing live advice to a offline freind  whenever they ask.

Jake M. said: How many campaigns are you running right now? May i ask why?

Many people's experiences will vary along with their expectations. As many games are being hosted on Roll20, it is just as difficult and time consuming (and worth while) to find a quality group, in person.  I have been playing various tabletop games for more years than I care to admit, and have had a great deal of experience finding games both physical and virtual.  The thing to realize, however, is that this takes TIME and socializing. Were I to look for a completely new group; I would rightly expect to spend no less than three to four weeks to talk to people, find out who's like-minded, perhaps sit in on a few one-shots or similar, and get to know them.  It's far from instant, despite being conducted over the internet, the land of instant gratification.  Were I to look for a full Pathfinder Campaign (which generally last a good year and a half or so) right off the bat, I would undoubtedly come up short (as I did when I first joined Roll20 back in '13). Over time, and several one-shots and who knows how many forum posts, skype chats, and Private Message discussions, I got to know some awesome people and was able to join plenty of games with them. There always is, and will be, more players than GMs.  This is normal and to be expected.  However what Roll20 makes possible is getting to know other players and GM's alike across the world!   My very first game in Roll20 was played between Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, and New York... where else would you find such a disparate group of gamers?  Yes it takes some time to find a solid group, there's no question about that, but patience and getting to know people will win out in the long run. As it is, now... having met and chatted with some excellent people through Roll20 that I suspect I would find little difficulty joining them for a game at most any time.  So I urge you and anyone else who may be somewhat discouraged by a slow start...  be patient, be friendly, and get to know people. Even if you can't join them for a game right away, get to know them anyway.  Make some friends, help out where you can, and solid games will open up to you :) Now that all being said;  Roll20 does offer a number of tools to assist you with this.  The Find a Group tool is great for matching search results to the kind of game you're looking for.  Yes you have to respond quickly, but that's expected given the size of the player/gm base.  The LFG forums are also an excellent place to well... look for games,  but it also is a wonderful jump-point to get to know some folks. And of course, as you suggested, if you REALLY have trouble...  pick up that Dungeon Master's Guide and start up your own game.  TableTop is one of the more open-minded and accepting genres for new players on both sides of the GM screen.  Give it a go and don't worry about "not doing a good job".  People will help you out, gladly. Also, it's important to note, that if you find yourself talking with a few GMs and being turned away for whatever reason;  find out what that reason is.  If it's a recurring topic, that may be an indication of something you can improve on to be a better TableTopper.  I've found this to be especially true with a few folks who have been offered to join several games but asked to step away once they got started.  TableTopping *IS* a cooperative community hobby, so getting along with folks is of course paramount.

moons said: Jake M. said: How many campaigns are you running right now? May i ask why? A lot of people complain of the discrepancy without taking up the mantle! You are a great exception!   Keep up the good work :D (I am running 3+ too, so we are fighting the good fight)

Mark G. said: Many people's experiences will vary along with their expectations. As many games are being hosted on Roll20, it is just as difficult and time consuming (and worth while) to find a quality group, in person.  I have been playing various tabletop games for more years than I care to admit, and have had a great deal of experience finding games both physical and virtual.  The thing to realize, however, is that this takes TIME and socializing. Were I to look for a completely new group; I would rightly expect to spend no less than three to four weeks to talk to people, find out who's like-minded, perhaps sit in on a few one-shots or similar, and get to know them.  It's far from instant, despite being conducted over the internet, the land of instant gratification.  Were I to look for a full Pathfinder Campaign (which generally last a good year and a half or so) right off the bat, I would undoubtedly come up short (as I did when I first joined Roll20 back in '13). Over time, and several one-shots and who knows how many forum posts, skype chats, and Private Message discussions, I got to know some awesome people and was able to join plenty of games with them. There always is, and will be, more players than GMs.  This is normal and to be expected.  However what Roll20 makes possible is getting to know other players and GM's alike across the world!   My very first game in Roll20 was played between Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, and New York... where else would you find such a disparate group of gamers?  Yes it takes some time to find a solid group, there's no question about that, but patience and getting to know people will win out in the long run. As it is, now... having met and chatted with some excellent people through Roll20 that I suspect I would find little difficulty joining them for a game at most any time.  So I urge you and anyone else who may be somewhat discouraged by a slow start...  be patient, be friendly, and get to know people. Even if you can't join them for a game right away, get to know them anyway.  Make some friends, help out where you can, and solid games will open up to you :) Now that all being said;  Roll20 does offer a number of tools to assist you with this.  The Find a Group tool is great for matching search results to the kind of game you're looking for.  Yes you have to respond quickly, but that's expected given the size of the player/gm base.  The LFG forums are also an excellent place to well... look for games,  but it also is a wonderful jump-point to get to know some folks. And of course, as you suggested, if you REALLY have trouble...  pick up that Dungeon Master's Guide and start up your own game.  TableTop is one of the more open-minded and accepting genres for new players on both sides of the GM screen.  Give it a go and don't worry about "not doing a good job".  People will help you out, gladly. That is very true, and very put in a nice way but as said many people as i have done recently have searched socialized talked to freinds and desperate searches on 4chan and foreign websites, i see that you are quite speaking from a veteran standpoint but while we all know it is not instant it is still hard to find a group, that is able to accept a player and as you see 40 players can jump onto a group instantly as soon as it is posted. With these factors it is no wonderes why some accounts are abandoned and left for dead as they say. While the forums and lfg are quite additions sometimes there not quite enough or do not quite really seal the gap even with soclizations that group you do your best to strive to rejects you without a word. These impacts help drive the players drive to  attempt again as with repeated use it seems quite honestly deppresing to go through the cycle over and over..Of course it is easy to veteran players to find games at any times you wish, but for newer you have to juggle times plead with gms and deal with trolls somtimes more repeated varibles such as life and gm suddenly quitting at the wrong interval.

Jake M. said: moons said: Jake M. said: How many campaigns are you running right now? May i ask why? A lot of people complain of the discrepancy without taking up the mantle! You are a great exception!   Keep up the good work :D (I am running 3+ too, so we are fighting the good fight) mhmh the 3 groups i have are in a state of limbo at the moment,they are in a state where players are thinking of leaving. We have played for 5 months and the limbo started a month ago. we play whenever we have spare time.

Ordellus said: moons said: The ratio of Game masters to players are out of control for every game master there are at least 30 or more players willing to want to play! Even more Game masters threaten their players by simply telling them they can easily find another in less than 2 minutes AND ITS TRUE!. It's b/c being a good DM is a lot of work, and most players simply want to show up and play without having to actually do anything. moons said: This is merely just a short rant about it, i just hope that more game masters are willing to play, not through the worry of  there never being enough players, because there are many people willing to play per dm i have seen 12 or 14 people crammed into a game for 1 childish and horribly game master.  In all honesty I'm actually a pretty good DM. I just gave it up b/c I got tired of putting in 20 hours of work to have a bunch of meta gaming stat whores show up and play like it was a video game without having read anything in any of the books that wasn't related to the "powers" their characters got....or putting more thought into their characters or backstory than "Ugh...he's evil", "Ugh...he was a noble that got bored", "Insert whatever non-sense logic you want here". All I can really say is instead of trying to convince people to become good DMs, why don't you try to convince people to stop being bad players. The increase of DMs will happen naturally as a result of not having to deal with crap like I mentioned above. This is also a problem within player-base and i admittedly have and still have done it, as many freinds has said it is based upon player experiance and player age, as you have seen many players are simply young and naive in the dungeons and dragons world if not roleplaying you cannot expect a player to suddenly become professional to the point of those paid for view live streams. This as well as gming is also should be encouraged and to be tolerated, many people are new to the dungeons and dragons scene or as stated above i have said are tired and also really really tired of gms flaking out in the first round to some i have asked it is somewhat of a test of the gms ability although it is extremly unfair.

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