Does anyone respond?

Hello, Veteran D&D player getting into Roll20.  I've been looking for a group but sadly no one responds to posts.  Is anyone reading the boards for their games?  -_-

Getting into a game is very difficult, because the players GREATLY outnumber the number of DM's.  People are reading the boards for their game, but when you have 30+ people trying to get into a game that might take only 4-5 people your character better jive hard with what they have in mind otherwise why would they bother with you?  Do you expect someone to send out 30-40 rejection letters just because they decided on someone else.  They got WAY more shit on their plate than having to explain to people why they didn't take their characters.     I find that posting on these boards usually yields results, but not always, and not always the huge influx that you might hope for.  Just be polite, keep putting forth intrest, possibly PM the DM's who are running a game you're interested in and talk to them before applying, and just hope for the best.  OF course, you could also start your own game and Help with the massive imbalance between players and DM's.

Basically as Ryan m said. For each spot open there is usally 10+ players wanting in. I never been a DM but i can guess it often become impossible to answer all. sometimes often hard to read them all even. You need 4 people and have 30+ playes wanting in after reading through 15 you might have found 4 that you like and invited. the rest migth not even get viewed

The ratio seems to be about 20 players to each DM. Many DMs run 2 or 3 games a week.  There are a few DMs here that make it a point to say hello, and welcome to the community, so that there is acknowledgement for new players like yourself.  But there are literally 40 new "Hi, I am a new player, seeking a game" thread per day. Many of them are not clear and ignore any sort of helpful information in matching up with a game or other players or an ongoing group. The sad truth is that many of us Gamemasters are already full up with games that already have 5, 6 or 7 players and a waiting list beyond that of 4 or 5 players, when someone drops for whatever reason. Each game that gets 5 players, goes off the grid of LFG and is then playing..leaving 15 more in the pool with no DM. "I find that posting on these boards usually yields results, but not always, and not always the huge influx that you might hope for. Just be polite, keep putting forth interest, possibly PM the DM's who are running a game you're interested in and talk to them before applying, and just hope for the best. OF course, you could also start your own game and Help with the massive imbalance between players and DM's." This. If you really want to get a game going DM one yourself. Then take the players from that group and have one of them DM for you. That is pretty much what it is down to.  I have done that 12 times in three years. Though a few like minded DMs here sometimes just grab 4 or 5 players who hit the board at random, and run a one shot for them, just to be cool. I have done that, too. or held classes in how to be a DM. I am a serious, narrative style DM of 40 years experience and I do not want to run light-hearted comedy. I also prefer sci fi games and espionage games to D&D.   Many players have said my style is too serious and too committed for them. but the players that like it like it. Comma, My games are full up until this summer, when I am running Twilight 2000. Hard core survival. Beyond that there is a continuing problem of players that join and expect everyone here to be Twitch grandmaster DMs that rival hollywood action films DM Style.  And that just is not the deal. Additionally you have DMs who will work for weeks to set up a game, run it, then it collapses as one player neglected to say she is going to uni in a month, another he is going to get married another has a job change and another just got a hot girlfriend. And they all decided well it is just a game, and blew it off, and so the DM is going hm, what happened? Not always, not every game, but a lot. Plus you get players who are literally running other players off from rampant narcissism or controlling or holding others in contempt for their characters inefficient  "Stupid" in game actions.  Misogyny. Etc etc. It is actually amazing that games even happen here. Recently a lot of discord servers are pulling DMs out of here to form their own sub-communities, so that at least with Discord you get chat to talk to player with and not this weird system where to meet people you post in open for 1000 to see (but nobody responds to) but then you have to get answers via the PM system. And you cannot chat with multiple until you get the secret link.. which means you are tentatively in. I have used this system for over 7 years to run games here, and it seems the paradigm is changing. Discord is changing things. A lot. So that is what it is up. Good luck. Be cool, know your time zones and availability and give DMs a summary of your experience, be clear in exactly what style of games or systems you can play, or are willing to learn or what you could deal with. When my games are wrecked, they are wrecked by a "Cool Guy, very creative, that just wants to play."  Who turns out to be wildly different in person. Just like real life.  Screening is a big issue.  So I try and describe for potential players exactly what I do, how I do it, and what my style is. Even then, sometimes it doesn't work out. If I see a post that I know in my gut that player does not match what I am seeking, I just pass them by. I answered this because it deserved an answer.  It just happened another answered before but I would have said the same thing. But that text block is solid advice. Being cool to play with counts 5 times more than any character class any player could come up with. And since I am an old skool serious DM that does Gritty Realism Low Magic Long Rest takes a week Narrative style, that severely limits the pool of players that will thrive at my virtual table, (or even be interested in playing with) ..because I am not the DM people are seeking, when they come here, at least initally. And that is cool because I know that going in. I know exactly what I am bringing to the table and what my dealbreakers are.. and there are a lot of them...because i have seen them over and over and over.. over 40 years. Good luck, and welcome to roll20.

I appreciate the advice.  My thing is, I am ALWAYS the DM in my RL games and so I figured I could come here to finally be a player.  Although I am in the process of making some games to run, I'd really like the chance to be a player for once.

Yes. I know that many DMs feel the same way. In my situation, I like i said ran games for others, formed a group 3 years ago, they run games for me, we run for each other.  I played Call of Cthulhu one shot late last night.  Other than that, just jump in on threads where a game is forming, be clear what you want or can tolerate, and be cool. I get rejected and I have been here 7 years... I have been told my style is "Too serious."  I have also been told "Really fun, welcome back anytime." as a player. C'est la vie.  There are thousands of players here. I am just one of them, hoping to get picked.  If I am running something, people come to me, then I can choose. Just how it is. Good luck.

There's a ton of players out here looking for games. Once you get in a good one, that DM and game basically goes off the grid to play for who knows how long.  Try to get into some one-shots and have a fun character, it's usually a good way to get into groups on here. Think of it as an internship leading into a job. 

Just out of curiosity, what kind of game are you looking for?

At this point I'm just looking for a D&D game in general.  

There is nothing you can do to those who do not look and reply to their applicants, in my experience the GM tends to be the same way inbetween games too. To me that is a sign to bail out of applying to such a game. However not everyone is like that and I have seen many sensible people actually reply to their players. If you gave us a link to one of your posts that never got accepted or that did not get any interaction out of a GM we could give you more help on how to better apply to match what people in Roll20 are looking for.

The most important tip i can give you from my perspective as a DM is to always read the introductory text for the game, and adhere to the application process given by the DM. If players apply to any of my games and obviously did not even read my pitch and instructions for the game, i won't bother giving their application a second look or replying.

Exactly.

I would suggest filling out your bio and adding what days, timezones, hours, etc you are looking for. I know several DMs who don't answer posts from people who don't fill out bios, stating it is a red flag indicating not much seriousness in joining the community i.e. the person in question won't be around Roll20 very long. On the opposite side of the "letting people know about you" process, many of us have compiled a few unwritten rules of our own for weeding out problematic players. If players apply to any of my games and obviously did not even read my pitch and instructions for the game, i won't bother giving their application a second look or replying. This was a rule I learned from having applicant after applicant not: Read my setting's blurb Read my requirements for applying to join. Read in general. If they can't be bothered to read the very first things they learn about me, my game and my rules, what are the odds they are going to pay attention any better IN game?

First of all every GM has different rules but most have a few common links -Read the god damn post. ALL of it I can not tell you the amount of times I have been asked a question, replied, been asked another question, replied so on and so on before I eventually just tell them to F off until they can learn to read what is readilly available and stop wasting my time. -Please try and give the information we ask for. I usually finish off my game adds with 'if you want to apply then send me a message saying why you are interested in this game, any previous gaming experience, any character concept ideas, etc" then get sent a message staing "hey im interested in your game" just that. Gets annoying. -Never, never act entitled or like it is a sure thing that you're in the game. I always try and give lots of time for people to apply, one game I run I told everyone, look just going to give it a week before i make a decision, one guy who I was thinking of inviting sent me a message back basically saying how a week was pointless I already knew enough about him etc etc. and just kept on going. I told him to get lost. So yeah you get the idea. However another thing to keep in mind. If you dont mind playing games other than DnD then you will find that the amount of other players (read: competition) drops significantly as too many people are only interested in DnD and refuse to even try anything else. I f you don't mind playing a new system then look for those game adverts as your chances of getting in is much higher. And yeah you aren't always going to get a response, one of the fun things about Roll20 is that every single message or alert you get is in one drop down bar, if you get a lot then it gets daunting as all hell and you end up ignoring several of them wether on purpose or by accident. Or the GM just really does not want to send 30+ "yeah thanks but you aren't quite what this company is looking for" letters

As a DM who has been running different games and a personal homebrew with friends for a few years now, I have some advice on being a good player. 1. Always know the basics When posting for GMs to look at your post, put the game you want to play, your timezone, the times you can play, and the days you can play. Try to be a bit flexible. Most people aren't going to accept "Can only play Thursdays, 2-4 pm". On the other hand, when you're looking for a game to join, make sure you find a listing that works for you time-wise. Also make sure you READ the listing. Your GM usually isn't going to shift to a different day because you can't play on the day he designated for the game. 2. If you are joining a game, JOIN THE GAME. I have had too many players on here join for one session only to never show up again or even give a reason to why they left, leaving me to look for another player to fill their slot, usually completely stopping my game for the week so I can get a new player in and explain what has happened. After a certain point in a D&D story, it becomes impossible to explain to a new character and the campaign dies. If you join a game, you are in it for THE. LONG. RUN. If you are going to be late or have family stuff coming up, tell the GM ahead of time. Not two hours ahead of time. Three days ahead of time. Sure, things come up, but things shouldn't come up every single week. 3. Be a fan of the other players and the story! As an often new GM to games I want to try, my stories aren't always original. But the players can make it original because I leave room for exploration. I set the quest waypoint and if the players walk off the path and into a cave full of bears, so be it. But you should never say "Oh, your character idea is dumb" or "Stop trying to do this, your class and race are built for this other thing". You should enjoy the story and the other PCs and have a good time. I'm sure there's tons more that I can't think of right now.

I just wanted to come in as a player and say, I found all of this advice very helpful. I am especially considering how to go about the idea of GMing for others so that we can trade off. I have been trying to gather the confidence to play with a group outside my very close friends as well as seeing if I can find guides for newbie GMs so I can run my own games. I have a slight stutter, so I am a little self conscious about expressing ideas but it is something I really want to learn. If for no other reason than to give my friend, who GM's all of our group's games a chance to play a PC himself. Anyway, just wanted to thank all the GMs here for sharing solid advice. I know it's not my thread, but I got a lot out of it.

WOW, I was going to put in my 2 cents but there's already a ton of great advice here.  Good Job everyone. Here's a link to the recruiting thread for the campaign I'm in if your interested: Click I'm not the GM.  In our group the GM doesn't do the recruiting.  If the players want to add someone to the group they need to do the recruiting. Best of luck finding what you're looking for.

As a player looking for a game I had a very nice experience with a GM that happened to find my profile. While I didn't exactly fit into his game due to time zones difference, he went out of his way to actually write me a private message thanking me for filling out my BIO in the profile, cause it made it so much easier for him to see who I am and determine if I would be a good fit. So yeah, you might think it doesn't matter, but it REALLY does.

Crafting Appealing Applications DM Finn here,     Although the basics have already been covered here quite well, I thought I'd add my two cents to the conversation. When going through applications there are a few things extra things that I love to see ... Formatting      For another who reads through the forums often, I'm sure they notice the effect of a well formatted posts with bolding , headers, and              good use of  italics  vs. a WALL OF TEXT. DM's have to read a lot of applications when trying to pick out good players. I know                        particularly that if I have 15 applications to read,10 of which are just walls of text or single paragraphs, I scroll down and read the                    most visually appealing posts first. Mind now - content is King - ... but you also need consider how you deliver that content to the                reader.       Roll20 has a lot of useful tools up in that tool bar that many people forget to use. Ex :  "Quotes are under used and eye catching. Try quoting something from the original listing, DM's love it!" - DM Finn Enthusiasm       Are you excited to play D&D? Enthusiasm is the lifeblood of cooperative story telling. If the players aren't excited to play the game                 each week, than the story begins to dip, and play haults. D&D should never be a chore or a obligation. Yes we expect you to come each       week, but we also want you to WANT to come each week.         Some methods: Try to answer the questions asked of you in context of the DM's plan. Explain how the character you'd like to play               could fit into  their world. Elaborate on what made you stop and read their post. Tell them why it is you're applying. Always             answer everything they want, and add just a little more. Short and Sweet       Respect the Game Masters time. Answer the questions as concisely as you can. As i mentioned you can add more than what they ask         for (I even encourage that) but MAKE SURE you do so in a concise manner. Quality > Quantity...        I could write an entire post about formatting tips and how it helps your chances of getting your foot in door of the application phase, however I think this will give you some constructive ideas when beginning a new application. Mind you this is all just my opinion. DM's vary, however I tend to find most people react well to these ideas. Thanks for reading, Finn

I'm almost always the GM. Good advice here. I can't stress enough the importance of reading through the game description and formatting your application nicely. 

I feel like after reading this my chances as an inexperienced player with only a small understanding of how to properly make a application are basically 1/10000 of finding a session.

I feel like after reading this my chances as an inexperienced player with only a small understanding of how to properly make a application are basically 1/10000 of finding a session. I hope that's not the message we're sending here! This advice is just something to try and help new players get better at applying. There are plenty of DM's posting games everyday looking for new players, we're just trying to help make yourself stick distinguish yourself from the crowd.

I currently run 3 weekly Games (Monday Storm King's Thunder Twitched and You-tubed 6-10PM PT) - No room (6-players) (Wednesday Homebrew currently running the old desert of desolation series 4-8PM PT) -  (Currently 3 Players) May have room for one but would have to be the right fit.  (Sunday Homebrew 10am-2pm PT) - No room 6 players (Every other Saturday 10am-2pm PT) - May have room for 2 players - Out of the Abyss

Hello I'm Tyler said: I feel like after reading this my chances as an inexperienced player with only a small understanding of how to properly make a application are basically 1/10000 of finding a session. Honestly, as a DM reading all the ridiculous application process nonsense just makes me shake my head. Especially when I see one that says "Send me your character sheet!" When, in my experience, someone who comes into a game with a premade character is probably not someone you want to play with in the first place. I prefer to build a character and backstory with my fellow players, not just with myself. And silly questions like "Why do you want to join the game?!" Oh I dunno, probably because I want to play? You're not special homie, you just happen to be a GM with a post open at the time I decided to look. You don't need to know my life story. All you need to know is that I will create a character that I think best fits the party and show up to your game to RP/Roll Dice for fun until the session ends. Here's how my application process works: - I make a post with all the info. If you're interested, send me a PM with your skype. - I add and message you on skype to make sure you're clear on all the rules and start time - I add you to the skype group so you guys can discuss a character - If you seem to be a good fit, you get the Roll20 link and the rest is history I don't need to know who you are. I don't need to know why you are interested in my game. I don't need 10 different character sheets, your shoe size, your SSN and a copy of your passport. I don't need to know your gender or sexual preference. None of that shit matters. All I give a shit about is if you gel with the group, have a mic, and are going to show up.

Dose said: I don't need to know who you are. I don't need to know why you are interested in my game. I don't need 10 different character sheets, your shoe size, your SSN and a copy of your passport. I don't need to know your gender or sexual preference. None of that shit matters. All I give a shit about is if you gel with the group, have a mic, and are going to show up. Im gonna have to go with this right here.  Rolling up a sheet before you even know the backstory or situation you're walking into is just a waste of time.  Good parties collaborate to some degree.  And why would you ask for someone's real info, that's the most useless of all. 

Random noob here agreed with Acrid, for what that's worth. Hi Sora.

I'm having this problem with trying to find players for my game.