It's really... Overly Difficult to find a good D&D Campaign.

[hyumitsa]

Here comes a wall of text folks. Don't be intimidated, it's just words. I sum it all up in my last paragraph, so just skip there if you prefer not to read my backstory.

I'm twenty years old, and have been playing RPG's from a young age. At about 13 years old, I heard of this amazing, old fashioned sort of game... Called Pen and Paper games. Living in an age of technology, I instantly thought "Pff... What could some pen and paper game have on my awesome Star Ocean for SNES?". This thought was almost instantly rebuked with promises of a game in which everything is possible. Invisible walls? No. Forced story lines? Nope. Inability to smack that kid running aimlessly around the town? Go for it, with PnP games.

So here I am, today, at 3AM on a Monday. Twenty years old and I've never played a Pen and Paper game. Not once. I understand the concept. I've played Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate for PC. I've even created a few characters with full back story's. I've read most of the D&D PhB for 3.5. But I've never been in a campaign. That's due to either my inability to find good, running campaigns that are accepting players or people flaking out at the last moment when I try and put one together.

This is basically my last opportunity. I'm thinking if I can't find a group on a forum where more people have posted about finding D&D campaigns than any other forum I've visited, I'm not likely to find a group in this life time.

So, in conclusion, and to sum these few paragraphs up, I'll do whatever it takes. I'll join a 3.5 campaign, i'll start a new one with a few players looking to start one, I'll learn 4.0... I'll do anything lmao. If you haven't already guessed, I'm pretty desperate to find a good, long running, worthwhile campaign. However! I would honestly, really prefer if the people playing, or at least the DM, was using a mic and on skype, ventrilo or teamspeak. It seems to me things would flow much more smoothly than running a campaign that's entirely text based. Anyway, I appreciate any and all responses.

[hyumitsa]

Oh, I forgot to mention. My schedule is really much more open than it should be. I'm free any time, any day of the week.

[Stealthfox16]

I'm also trying to find a game. I've been searching on the forums, but if you don't get there quickly, spots get filled.

[hyumitsa]

I've noticed. These forums aren't the only place that happens, I assure you lol.

[valiantjared]

ive been playing rpgs since i was a kid, always wanted to pnp, i tired it a few times but only for a game or two because the gamers in my town were very elitist and not accepting of new players.

id love to play a game w/ you man, we could learn how to use this program together (im up for learning anything, though i wanna learn 4ed dnd, 3.5 sounds ok, and im really interested in shadowrun)

[trevorgall]

Looking for 3.5 players.. 8:30pm GMT+10 (Sydney). Msg me if interested. I like to DM anf find the opposite. its very hard to find players that can commit to times. I have 1 player at the moment.

[Valarian]

It can also be hard to find players who want to play a game other than D&D. I don't tend to run D&D as the groups I play with and GM for (on occasion) don't like it (myself included). We do run a variety of other games and scenarios/adventures. If the times suit, join the group and see if a game takes your fancy.

[Andrepartthree]

I've been playing and enjoying FG for a number of years now - when you find a good group of players it's a blast so don't give up ... here's what I've learned over the years:

- you need to actively search other DM's entries on this forum (stating that they're looking for players) and have a first level character drawn up and ready to go - it's crucially important to have at least a one paragraph description of the PC's appearance and a one paragraph description of the personality to really make him "pop", if you can find a pic online to go with the pc so much the better .. respond immediately as someone else here suggested and PM them your PC write up right away, this shows the DM you're serious.
- apply to several FG games at once ... don't be disapointed if the game folds before it can even start (some DM's on here are a bit overly ambitious or have unanticipated events take place in their lives) ... by "padding your bets" this increases the chances you'll be in a game that actually runs for a while :P

[Answulf]

Most players discouraged about not being able to find a game are overlooking (or ignoring) the obvious:

It’s only difficult to find a game if you aren’t willing to GM.

Here is the easiest way to get a game:

1.) Pick a time and a rule set,
2.) Form a group of like-minded players based on the time and rule set,
3.) Agree to take turns GMing.

Chances are at least one player will discover that they really enjoy it and would rather be a GM. Suddenly you have the makings of a stable group.

The problem is that there aren’t enough GMs, simply because there aren’t enough players willing to step up to the plate and try GMing. If more players took that initial leap, there would be a lot more GMs because many of them would discover how fun it is. GMs are usually GMs because they took the leap (sometimes at the sword point of their friends ) and then found out it was actually as fun, if not more so, than being a player. That’s obviously not going to be true for everyone, but there are a lot of players out there that don’t know that they prefer GMing because they haven’t tried it yet.

Focus on forming a group instead of finding a game. Valiantjared has the right idea – just get together and play as a first step.

Not being able to find games is a self-inflicted limitation!

[Lysander]

Not to detract from d&d (I've played all incarnations of d&d...) but you also might want to give Savage Worlds a try. It's easier to pick up and get the hang of, it's versatile, and still has a little 'crunch' to it. It's also much easier to GM if/when you get to there. Downside is there are fewer SW games because d&d has such a large fan base. But I'd wager SW has a good chance to be as big as d&d in 30 years.

good luck in finding what you seek...