I wanted to play some 5E the other day and since the world is still full of deadly disease, I decided it would be nice to try and find a group online. I kept my options as broad open as possible. I have a flexible schedule. I can play on any night of the week. I got like 3 level 1 character sheets already rolled up. I'm willing to join in any campaign that tolerates players who might not know exactly what they're doing. I thought finding a game wouldn't take any time at all
Then when I actually tried doing it, I learned that this whole experience is like job hunting except even worse because your employer/GM doesn't even bother trying to maintain a degree of professionalism and there's fucking hordes of people applying to every fucking game that looks interesting. I found a posting on Roll20 the other day that looked great, and I would have applied until I noticed that fifty other applicants had gone already. Even when I do find a posting that isn't already flooded with other people it's extremely unlikely I ever get a reply. One guy was interested and responding until I mentioned I was watching Jeopardy, responded with "Jeopardy huh? lol" and fucking ghosted me. Apparently watching Jeopardy outside of the game is a deal breaker???
I don't know enough about 5E or DMing to host my own game, and I didn't really want to anyway because I wanted to be a player in 5E so I could learn how to DM it. Is this a normal experience for trying to find a group online? Because I still really want to play but I'm already burnt out from how much effort it takes to find a game. Anyone have any advice? Better ways to look? Games that they are running soon and looking for players?
Solution: play with your irl friends.
My advice to you is to get a couple of irl friends together, people that might not have played even, but that you think might enjoy it, and just dm for them. DnD has literally never been more popular and it's never been easier to find people that are willing to give it a shot. The game is way more fun when you play with people you know, and I've introduced like 10 people to the game, some of whom have gone on to DM their own campaigns. I know you said you want to play and not dm, but honestly, DMing is also very fun and rewarding, and you dont need to have played the game before in order to do it.
Will you make mistakes? Yes. But that's part of what makes you better at it. Do a quick post morten after every game and ask your players what you did well and did not do well. Ask that question of yourself also and you will improve rapidly.
There are lots of blogs and youtube channels out there dedicated to giving advice to newbie DMs and many of them are quite good, put together by people that have been DMing for decades. My favorite is Matt Colville
https://youtu.be/zTD2RZz6mlo
Again, I know you want to play and not DM, but if you get a few good friends together, and dm a handful of sessions for them, you might be able to convince them to get like, a rotation going, and handoff the reins to someone else.
Sadly, looking for games with randos online is a horrible experience for all the reasons you pointed out. There are always, always more players than GMs, so you'd just have to get lucky. There's a subr*ddit for finding games, which is mostly for 5e and fairly active that you could try.
The only other advice I can give is that if you're planning on DMing for a group of friends you already know, there's nothing wrong with just jumping in without prior experience. You'll make mistakes, but so will everyone else, and you'll figure it out as you go; that's what my group did 10 years ago, and we're all still playing.
I second just jumping in as a group of newbies, I remember my first Pathfinder game I made a gunslinger who shot a zombie and then continued slipping in the zombie guts and falling down until he died, while my friend cut his leg off with his own scythe. It was crazy, dumb, and in no way properly followed the rules but it was still fun as hell. Then I made my second character, a monk who eventually became a god of war and was killed by being turned into a rock. good times
The only realiable and fun tabletop i've done has always been with friends or at open-table/convention/game stores where you can find groups, online it seems basically impossible and I have a hard time playing with people I both have never talked to before AND can't interact face-to-face.
I haven't tried finding people to play D&D with online but I imagine it's sort of like trying to find people to play multiplayer games with. I've tried a few different subreddits n shit but like finding people who aren't complete chuds is hard and I've had no luck. I just wanna build a base in rust with some ppl or play Valheim or something
Oh, it's much worse. If the guy you found to play Dota with turns out to be some sort of odious weirdo, you mute him, finish the game and never play with him again. If the GM or a player you found online starts slipping questionable shit into their descriptions after second session, you might have already invested too much time in preparation to make a clean cut.
I'm surprised people have any success at all at playing games with internet randos. Hell, some people that were recommended to me as good GMs by my friends ended up being those guys or powergamers as players.
The upside to this player/dm imbalance is that if you DM you will be treated like a god no matter how shitty of a DM you are.
I used to be pretty into 4E back in the day. Not entirely sure if I want to go back to the same shit though, I want to try something newer. Where would you suggest looking outside of the "Normie 5E" sphere, though?
Unfortunately I'm in a game that's full up.
I really wish more people would volunteer to DM, because there's just not as many as there are potential players.
If you find players here, there's less of a chance they'll be awful. But someone has to be willing to DM, i want to see more Hexbear Groups.
Yeah, I posted this to half vent and half to see if anyone on hexbear was running an open game or planning on it. I don't entirely mind DMing but I came up with too many characters that I want to play and I know damn well I will play none of them if I am the DM
I've honestly been seriously considering DMing something for the Hexbear players here, but I worry about my schedule and whether it'll be good enough.
Just run a one-shot to start and don't worry about if it's good enough. I'd recommend making sure at least one player is pretty familiar with the rules if you aren't, though.
Oh, no, I've DMed before (and am DMing a campaign currently for some friends), I am just anxious about the quality, is all.
Run Spire: the City must Fall, the official Hexbear game. I'm you can choose arbitrary time every session and you'll still get yourself the necessary number of players.
When I got kinda stuck as a forever DM for a while, I took those character concepts and made them into NPC's, so you kinda get to play way more characters as a DM. I'm currently burned the fuck out on DMing (and playing, tbh), but that's more to do with my mental health otherwise.
But if you're the DM you can play all of them at the same time. They can be the NPCs that bring the players together or help guide them on their quest.
Had the exact same experience. I got into a Pathfinder game through Hexbear, which was great, but it had to shut down
I've been wanted to play dnd, but a key player doesn't want to play due to the time commitment. He wants to play, but can't sacrifice the time. Understandable. I don't really want to play with randos and half the time it kills me to be around new people. Well that and time zone bull shit. I wish I could play, but as a 31 year with dust for bones, it's hard to do anything.
Outside of axe and sickle I don't know of any active spaces. Couldn't get anyone on the chapo gaming discord to form a game.
Hit me up if you need another player for 5e.
3.5 is such a different beast IMO, but they're worth checking out because the discord server is VERY ACTIVE.
I was in the first session, but I feel like its been so long that I would immediately get wasted. Well that if I didn't feel like shit as a human in meat space all the time.
I only once tried to do D&D with some friends on Discord but after I got my character sheet done the DM left and I haven't seen them since lol
If your still looking for a game there is this one that's going on. https://hexbear.net/post/97791
