Best way to match up with players who have the same expectations in a game on Roll20?

I try writing up detailed descriptions, LFG post, tags, etc. And also chatting with players beforehand to make it clear what they can expect in the game, and of me as a GM. But the numbers of players to GMs here (online in general) is such that players looking to play a specific game or setting jump on a chance to play it regardless of the GM, or the style of game they are running. Which makes the end goal of everyone having fun more challenging, sometimes undoable, once the campaign starts if a player isn't getting what they want out of it. Does anyone have a method for recruiting or vetting players out to get a group with complementary expectations that match the campaign and GM?

Schedule a "Session 0" for the campaign, to get everyone ready for the game. Boot anyone who doesn't show up for the planning session (unless they contact you beforehand to notify you about their absence; talk to them privately at some other time instead). The Same Page Tool would be a useful thing to discuss during Session 0, as well as helping the newer players create their characters, get the characters to have ties to one another or the setting, clarifying important pieces of setting information relevant to the starting characters, helping people set up macros, talking about what scripts are available/desired (for games run by Mentors), etc. You are likely to get no-shows, and there may be people who just don't fit with the group or your GM style, so it will probably be worthwhile to recruit a few more players than you'd actually like to run. However, make sure the players are aware that you're over-booking like an airline, and bumps may need to occur.

Exactly what Brian said. With the addition that I recruit for games over a month before they will run to try and avoid that "I wanna play tonight" instant hook up "one and done" flavor. People that balk at that are not the kind of players that I am seeking. I put over 100% into my games, and I'm not expecting the players to put in 100%, since we all have lives, jobs and families, but Someone whose only message to me was "I wanna play ur rp" three weeks ago does not have a chance against someone who can get their own copy of the rules read them, and thoughtfully generate a character that fits the setting, style and tone as I have described what it will be like during the campaign to follow. I also ask for detailed character backgrounds, and if people can't get a character together, do not talk on skype a few times, do not show up at the meet and greet, do not participate in forums discussions, those are all reasons for booting. People that are interested, that post even one comment every few days, hit me or the other players up on skype on an off day, and work with others to plan out career paths, skills, gear, roles in the group, that's who I want. Eventually the people that end up playing are thoughtful, like the game system, setting or both, and generally get alone with each other because they are patient, diligent self starters that play as a professional, even though it is "only a game."

As Trollkin says, as you go through the player recruiting process there's a lot you can tell about potential players to help you decide who is likely to be the best fit for your game. There are plenty of people out there looking for any game to join, so the goal is to narrow it down to those who are best suited for *your* game. Some observations from my own experiences: For my most recent campaign, I did not post any messages is the "Looking for Players" public forum. I simply made my new campaign visible in the "Looking for Players Listing" and then waited for people to find it on their own. It takes longer for potential players to find your game that way, but the ones who do made an actual effort to find the type of game you're planning to run. In my "Looking for Players Listing", I included a list of the rules for playing in my game. This lets people know what exactly your gaming etiquette rules are, up-front. The ones who are ok with your rules will continue reading, the rest will (hopefully) move on. I also included very specific directions for what people should write about in their application post if they decided to apply to my game. And I placed those instructions 2-3 paragraphs deep into the campaign description text. This lets you know if the applicants who post about joining your game actually read your campaign description and also if they can follow directions. If the answer to either of those is an obvious "No", based on what they say in their application post, then you probably didn't want them in your game anyway. When people do post an application to join your game, look at their profile. Is the game system you're running listed as one they're interested in playing? Many times, the answer is actually No. At the same time, if they list every game system which Roll20 lets you choose from, that is no different than listing none at all. Also, read their bio. You can learn a lot about the potential player just from that. Or if they don't have anything at all written in their bio, then that should tell you something too. Finally, search the public forums for Topics and Replies written by the applicant. If you find any, see what their writing about. Again, that should help you decide if they might be a good fit for your campaign. All of these suggestions require extra effort on your part as the GM, but they can pay off in the form of less frustration as you finalize your list of players. In my case, I got about a dozen solid leads and finally settled on 5 for the campaign. The group "clicked" immediately, they work well together, and everyone is having a good time. So, I think it's worth the effort.

When I would run games online, I would create an entire website to keep everyone apprised and understanding of what I was going to do with the campaign. For example, here's the one I did for the last Star Wars campaign I ran: <a href="http://the-edge-of-starlight.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">http://the-edge-of-starlight.blogspot.com/</a>

Very cool ideas, thank you, i'm using these.

The OP seems to be doing everything right. I am pretty new to internet gaming -- typically I've played with people I've known for a long time. And, I feel like the odd duck out when I say something to the equivalent of "can we talk about this campaign?" or even "what's this campaign like?" Just telling me that it's a D&D gives me very little information about whether it's something I'll be interested, directions to go with character creation. Although, it's also worth noting that I like such things to emerge a little more organically, as a group decision, rather than delivered on high by the GM with stone tablets. Honestly, if that, perhaps paired with some conversations as a group before the game, doesn't work it's b/c people are being dishonest, and that's bad for all the obvious reasons. That being said, I am very quickly turned off by campaign postings that read like job applications. This is supposed to be fun, even if fun things involve a lot of effort. Loading up on tons of do's and don't's makes the GM sound arrogant and hidebound, in my opinion. The better approach seems to be this is what I'm looking for, this is what the kind of campaign I'm looking to run is in a fair bit of detail.

Thanks all, appreciate the sound advice in the replies and will be incorporating it in my campaign setups.

You might also want to consider running a few one session games to further weed out the types of players you don't want before you unveil the big and "real" campaign. Even with checklists, discussions and session zeroes you can run into situations where player's vocabularies don't line up with each other. Tossing out phrases like "high player agency, character driven sandbox" can mean different things to different people and it's not until the dice hit the table do you really get how people behave - kinda like online dating.

Dave makes a good point and I've seen it suggested elsewhere, although I didn't use it myself... Assuming you're actually planning for a long-term campaign, start off by recruiting players for a 2-3 session single adventure first. Don't even mention the long-term campaign idea, so no one has any expectations of that sort. Once the single adventure is concluded, you can then decide who you want to invite back for your long-term campaign. You might also consider inviting 2-3 more players for the single adventure than you actually want for the long-term campaign. It's almost a certainty that you'll have at least 1 no-show when it comes time to start. It's also entirely possible that a player will decide your game isn't what he was looking for after all and will bow out before you get around to your campaign invitations.

I lay out the campaign expectations, what is allowed, what is not, What I'm presenting, what I'm seeking, what are deal breakers, and players that like it can sign up, the ones that don't will hopefully find something to their liking. I've gotten players that say they love my game, I've gotten players that even before trying it, give me hate mail, because I've said up front "D&D, no Raise, no Ressurection, play accordingly." The thing is there are so many different people D&D is not the same thing to all players. I can always find players to fit my style. And since I'm running it, that's what needs to happen, since your options for gaming without a DM are go with a no DM all players agree game, or no game, or find a DM. I say be bold, tell it like it is, and the players that fit will find you. It is exactly like dating, except that players are willing to be upfront about what they are looking for, usually.