November 7, 2024 • 11 mins
#26 - Have you ever walked into a party early as the first one to arrive? It can feel a little unsettling. Where are all the people? For Tabletop RPG games you need to find people who want to join your party before you can play your game. But where do you find them? This episode will explore tools like meet-up, reddit, discord, FB, and other communities that help you connect with like-minded people and fill your party with people.
Resources mentioned during episode:
- Download Your Free Quick-Start Guide - 6 Easy Steps to Begin Your Own Tabletop Group in 30 days or less!
- Find Community - Join the CTG Discord Server- Click Here
- CTG Ep. 25 - Top 3 Secrets to the Art of the Cool Pitch- Get Your Friends Onboard to Play a New Game - Listen Here
Games mentioned during episode:
- City of Mist RPG - Players Guide (Hardback) - Click Here
- City of Mist RPG - Players Guide (PDF) - Click Here
- City of Mist RPG - Master of Ceremonies (Hardback) - Click Here
- City of Mist RPG - Master of Ceremonies (PDF) - Click Here
- Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (6E) - Click Here
*As an amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Some of these links are affiliate links for other programs but once again, if you choose to purchase through these links, it's no extra cost to you. I only promote products or services that I have investigated and feel can deliver value to you.
Please Connect with us!
- Visit our Website at www.claimtogamepodcast.com
- Find Community - Join the CTG Discord Server- Click Here
- Join us on Patreon for exclusive content access - Click Here
- Send feedback, thoughts, or suggestions to clint.scheirer@claimtogamepodcast.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
>> Clint Scheirer (00:00):
Have you ever walked into a party early as the first one to arrive,
it can feel a little unsettling. Where are all
the people at for tabletop role playing Games? You need
to find people who want to join your party before you can play
your game. But where do you find them? This
episode will explore tools like Meetup,
Reddit, Discord, Facebook and other
communities that help you connect with like minded people to
(00:22):
get your party started. Welcome to Claim two
Game. We help tabletop gamers have a great time
with friends to experience amazing stories.
It can be overwhelming to start and run great
Games. Let's make it easier for you to play any Game you
want to have fun with your friends. I'm Clint Scheirer. I've
helped thousands of students in my career find their way
to better themselves and better their game. With more
(00:45):
than 10 years experience coaching, teaching and developing easy
to follow learning plans, I know I can help you too.
It's time for you to make your claim to
Game.
(01:21):
hello and welcome Back to episode 26
Season 2 of Claim to Game. Still a, ah,
predominantly educational fun Podcast in which I am daring
to coin the word funjication. It's like
bending a steel bar with your bare hands,
only to discover your hands are actually bare
hands. RAWR. In episode
(01:41):
25 we covered the art of the cool
pitch. We went through what to say when asking folks to
join your upcoming tabletop RPG Game.
But where do you find the people? There are
many locations where tabletop RPG gamers
hang out, and some of them you have access to
right now. Without signing up for any community,
(02:02):
any social media or any app
Hangout location number one. It's simple.
It's accessible. It's your phone's contact
list. Yeah, that's right. Go through your contact list on your
phone from top to bottom, top, top to
bottom, on a piece of paper or on a word
document on your computer. Write down the names of the people
(02:22):
you identify in your contact list that you think
might be interested in playing a Tabletop
RPG. Don't think to yourself had they ever
played a, tabletop RPG before? Or do they play one
right now? Think of their personality.
Do they like sci fi, Fantasy,
movies, books? Do they enjoy telling stories? Or do
they tell good stories themselves when you hang out? Are
(02:44):
they someone who likes to try new things, even
if they never considered doing it before? Once you
have a list of at least four to six people, you can start reaching
out by text, email or messenger app.
What do you reach out with? Well, your cool pitch of
course. Don't Know what that is? Go Back to episode
25 Listen and Build One for your Game.
(03:04):
If someone says yes, Great. Mark them down as follows, "A part
of your new crew for your assigned date to play.
If someone says no, totally fine. Reach out to your
next person A Pro tip I would not
send out more invitations than people you are willing to have at the
table. So if you know you don't want more than six people
playing per session, wait to reach out to another person
(03:25):
on your list until you get a no thank you
from one of your original six invitations. If
a spot opens up after a declined invitation,
immediately reach out to the next person on your list.
Eventually you'll fill up your desired number of player
spots and you're good to go. And where you are
playing your game will need to be taken into consideration as
(03:45):
you go through your list. If you are playing in person,
you'll need to invite people who live within travel distance
or people within your gaming location. If
you're playing online, your Pool of players increases
exponentially. Hangout Location
number two lfg, which stands for
looking for a Game. It may be possible that you don't
(04:05):
have many friends in your personal contacts, or maybe you just don't have many
friends interested enough in playing a Tabletop
RPG. No worries. The Internet is an
ocean filled with players waiting to jump into your gaming
boat. Lfg, like I said, stands for
looking for a group, and most tabletop
RPG communities have a space for players who
are looking for for Games to play. Often Game
(04:27):
masters are the ones who are looking for players wanting to try
out a new setting or a new Game system, and they want to
throw their hat in the ring and run the Game. So they
send their Game and all the deets for it on the
LFG sub channels within an online community.
Other times it may be that there are players who have a
gm, but they need more players to join their Game to fill out
(04:47):
the party. And finally, it may be a group of players
who just want a GM to come run the Game for them. All
these scenarios can be categorized under
lfg. Here are a few tips when you're
checking out this path. You can go to Reddit and join the
R forward slash LFG subreddit.
LFG is a place for tabletop gamers to
organize groups for the Games they love to play. Another
(05:10):
Reddit strategy for those of you who like the Reddit social
platform, would be to join the subreddit of the Game you
want to play. For example, I just searched in
Reddit for the Tabletop RPG City of M Mist
Reddit Community City of Mist is a Game created by
Amit Moshe of Sonovoak Game Studio. In
this Game, players live in a noir setting where a
mysterious mist causes citizens of the
(05:33):
town to manifest into characters from
legends, myths and ancient Lore.
I've ran this Game a few times and let's say that
now that I've ran the Game I'm like, man, I'd really love to be a
player in this Game. So I want to have somebody
else run the Game and I just want to be in it. Well,
I go to the City of Myth subreddit and then in the
search bar I type in lfg. You
(05:56):
might also want to use the dropdown option for the past week so you
only see recent posts show up. And you're not asking
to play a Game that's already happened. From there you can see what Games
are available and respond to the post, possibly
direct messaging the person who put the Game out
there, seeking for players or seeking a
gm. M Discord is also a fantastic
place to find LFG opportunities. I'll
(06:18):
keep going with the City of Myst RPG to keep things similar.
If you join the City of Myst RPG Discord channel
under the Game Finder category you will find
two text channels, the first one titled Looking for
Players and then the second one titled Looking for
Game. There is also a forum post channel within
this category, much like Reddit's posts which posts
Games for people to run or to gm. In fact,
(06:41):
as I'm here I'm looking and I think some of the Games
gamers posted in here are both on Reddit and also
on Discord. So the cool thing about Discord is that
looking for Games in the forum, the statuses,
unlike on Reddit, actually show you if the Game is
still open or if people are still looking for players, or
if it's closed because they filled up all the spots.
(07:02):
Hey, quick pause on the episode with all this talk of Discord
communities and looking for Games, did you know that Claim to
Game has its very own Discord server? Would you like to
find some friends, some like minded people who can help you
have a great time and tell amazing stories? You can do this
in three easy steps. 1. Click on the link in the
show notes to join the Claim to Game Discord community,
(07:22):
2. Navigate to the category called
community and 3 click on the
channel called look4game. Either post your own desire
to play a game or respond to somebody else's plea for
camaraderie, adventure and fun. Join the
CTG Discord by clicking on the link in the show notes.
Thanks and now back to the episode. Besides Reddit and
Discord, Facebook has groups that are dedicated to
(07:45):
tabletop RPGs or a specific tabletop
RPG Game and it can be another great location to find people to
play with. Just join the group and use the search
function within the Facebook group to type in the term
lfg. All the same strategies
previously mentioned also work on Facebook, but just be
respectful, thoughtful, kind with your
interactions that you have with others and you should be playing a game
(08:07):
in no Time. Now if you were wanting a in person
meetup to join Games you can use
meetup.com this site will allow you to type in
a specific keyword like tabletop RPG or
D20& D20 or the name of your Game and choose the
city or location and also specify whether you want
in person or online. The description of the event will let
you know what is required to join and play
(08:29):
in location number three. There's one more option
and that is to find Pay to Play
Games. Now this isn't my first go to because I
innately do not like spending money on things I believe that
I can do myself or do for Free. Air
quotes. This final option would also be
called P2P or you might hear people just call
(08:50):
it Pay to Play. On both Reddit, Discord
and Facebook as well as meetup.com, you may
find options which require players to opt into
a game by paying a fee and usually
the fee is listed per session per player. The
website Startplaying Games is a
phenomenal resource for P2P and it is, "The
largest online platform for players to find tabletop role
(09:12):
Playing Games and professional GMs for any
Game system and any virtual tabletop.
Professional Dungeon Masters and Game Masters are running Games
all over the World online and virtually this website
will allow you to find a Game that works for you. And your
schedule. A quick perusal of the website and the Games that
are being offered showed me that DMs and GMs often
(09:33):
have a fee per player per session and it ranges
from Free to 40 plus US
dollars per session. I personally never joined
one of these groups, but it is tempting to just have
someone do all the work up front and just get to join and
play. Alas, I get what I pay
for. Final Thoughts Whether you choose to forge
(09:53):
your own gaming group from your personal contacts from
online LFG resources or decide to go
P2P, be assured there are
people available and willing to play tabletop RPG
Games, you just need to seek them out in the right
places. Join us next time as we find the best
ways to have great times with friends and experience amazing
(10:13):
stories through tabletop role playing. But hey, have
you ever wanted to start your own Tabletop RPG group, but you
just don't know how? What if you could follow six
simple tasks to get your Game up. And running in 30
days or less. Oh, you can, my
friend. Just download your Free Quick Start guide,
either by clicking on the link in the show notes or by visiting
claimtogamepodcast.com Follow the six
(10:35):
simple tasks outlined in the guide and go. Enjoy playing
your best game and may you keep having fun
as we continue to make our claim to Game.
Have you ever walked into a party early as the first one to arrive,
it can feel a little unsettling. Where are all
the people at for tabletop role playing Games? You need
to find people who want to join your party before you can play
your game. But where do you find them? This
episode will explore tools like Meetup,
Reddit, Discord, Facebook and other
communities that help you connect with like minded people to
(00:22):
get your party started. Welcome to Claim two
Game. We help tabletop gamers have a great time
with friends to experience amazing stories.
It can be overwhelming to start and run great
Games. Let's make it easier for you to play any Game you
want to have fun with your friends. I'm Clint Scheirer. I've
helped thousands of students in my career find their way
to better themselves and better their game. With more
(00:45):
than 10 years experience coaching, teaching and developing easy
to follow learning plans, I know I can help you too.
It's time for you to make your claim to
Game.
(01:21):
hello and welcome Back to episode 26
Season 2 of Claim to Game. Still a, ah,
predominantly educational fun Podcast in which I am daring
to coin the word funjication. It's like
bending a steel bar with your bare hands,
only to discover your hands are actually bare
hands. RAWR. In episode
(01:41):
25 we covered the art of the cool
pitch. We went through what to say when asking folks to
join your upcoming tabletop RPG Game.
But where do you find the people? There are
many locations where tabletop RPG gamers
hang out, and some of them you have access to
right now. Without signing up for any community,
(02:02):
any social media or any app
Hangout location number one. It's simple.
It's accessible. It's your phone's contact
list. Yeah, that's right. Go through your contact list on your
phone from top to bottom, top, top to
bottom, on a piece of paper or on a word
document on your computer. Write down the names of the people
(02:22):
you identify in your contact list that you think
might be interested in playing a Tabletop
RPG. Don't think to yourself had they ever
played a, tabletop RPG before? Or do they play one
right now? Think of their personality.
Do they like sci fi, Fantasy,
movies, books? Do they enjoy telling stories? Or do
they tell good stories themselves when you hang out? Are
(02:44):
they someone who likes to try new things, even
if they never considered doing it before? Once you
have a list of at least four to six people, you can start reaching
out by text, email or messenger app.
What do you reach out with? Well, your cool pitch of
course. Don't Know what that is? Go Back to episode
25 Listen and Build One for your Game.
(03:04):
If someone says yes, Great. Mark them down as follows, "A part
of your new crew for your assigned date to play.
If someone says no, totally fine. Reach out to your
next person A Pro tip I would not
send out more invitations than people you are willing to have at the
table. So if you know you don't want more than six people
playing per session, wait to reach out to another person
(03:25):
on your list until you get a no thank you
from one of your original six invitations. If
a spot opens up after a declined invitation,
immediately reach out to the next person on your list.
Eventually you'll fill up your desired number of player
spots and you're good to go. And where you are
playing your game will need to be taken into consideration as
(03:45):
you go through your list. If you are playing in person,
you'll need to invite people who live within travel distance
or people within your gaming location. If
you're playing online, your Pool of players increases
exponentially. Hangout Location
number two lfg, which stands for
looking for a Game. It may be possible that you don't
(04:05):
have many friends in your personal contacts, or maybe you just don't have many
friends interested enough in playing a Tabletop
RPG. No worries. The Internet is an
ocean filled with players waiting to jump into your gaming
boat. Lfg, like I said, stands for
looking for a group, and most tabletop
RPG communities have a space for players who
are looking for for Games to play. Often Game
(04:27):
masters are the ones who are looking for players wanting to try
out a new setting or a new Game system, and they want to
throw their hat in the ring and run the Game. So they
send their Game and all the deets for it on the
LFG sub channels within an online community.
Other times it may be that there are players who have a
gm, but they need more players to join their Game to fill out
(04:47):
the party. And finally, it may be a group of players
who just want a GM to come run the Game for them. All
these scenarios can be categorized under
lfg. Here are a few tips when you're
checking out this path. You can go to Reddit and join the
R forward slash LFG subreddit.
LFG is a place for tabletop gamers to
organize groups for the Games they love to play. Another
(05:10):
Reddit strategy for those of you who like the Reddit social
platform, would be to join the subreddit of the Game you
want to play. For example, I just searched in
Reddit for the Tabletop RPG City of M Mist
Reddit Community City of Mist is a Game created by
Amit Moshe of Sonovoak Game Studio. In
this Game, players live in a noir setting where a
mysterious mist causes citizens of the
(05:33):
town to manifest into characters from
legends, myths and ancient Lore.
I've ran this Game a few times and let's say that
now that I've ran the Game I'm like, man, I'd really love to be a
player in this Game. So I want to have somebody
else run the Game and I just want to be in it. Well,
I go to the City of Myth subreddit and then in the
search bar I type in lfg. You
(05:56):
might also want to use the dropdown option for the past week so you
only see recent posts show up. And you're not asking
to play a Game that's already happened. From there you can see what Games
are available and respond to the post, possibly
direct messaging the person who put the Game out
there, seeking for players or seeking a
gm. M Discord is also a fantastic
place to find LFG opportunities. I'll
(06:18):
keep going with the City of Myst RPG to keep things similar.
If you join the City of Myst RPG Discord channel
under the Game Finder category you will find
two text channels, the first one titled Looking for
Players and then the second one titled Looking for
Game. There is also a forum post channel within
this category, much like Reddit's posts which posts
Games for people to run or to gm. In fact,
(06:41):
as I'm here I'm looking and I think some of the Games
gamers posted in here are both on Reddit and also
on Discord. So the cool thing about Discord is that
looking for Games in the forum, the statuses,
unlike on Reddit, actually show you if the Game is
still open or if people are still looking for players, or
if it's closed because they filled up all the spots.
(07:02):
Hey, quick pause on the episode with all this talk of Discord
communities and looking for Games, did you know that Claim to
Game has its very own Discord server? Would you like to
find some friends, some like minded people who can help you
have a great time and tell amazing stories? You can do this
in three easy steps. 1. Click on the link in the
show notes to join the Claim to Game Discord community,
(07:22):
2. Navigate to the category called
community and 3 click on the
channel called look4game. Either post your own desire
to play a game or respond to somebody else's plea for
camaraderie, adventure and fun. Join the
CTG Discord by clicking on the link in the show notes.
Thanks and now back to the episode. Besides Reddit and
Discord, Facebook has groups that are dedicated to
(07:45):
tabletop RPGs or a specific tabletop
RPG Game and it can be another great location to find people to
play with. Just join the group and use the search
function within the Facebook group to type in the term
lfg. All the same strategies
previously mentioned also work on Facebook, but just be
respectful, thoughtful, kind with your
interactions that you have with others and you should be playing a game
(08:07):
in no Time. Now if you were wanting a in person
meetup to join Games you can use
meetup.com this site will allow you to type in
a specific keyword like tabletop RPG or
D20& D20 or the name of your Game and choose the
city or location and also specify whether you want
in person or online. The description of the event will let
you know what is required to join and play
(08:29):
in location number three. There's one more option
and that is to find Pay to Play
Games. Now this isn't my first go to because I
innately do not like spending money on things I believe that
I can do myself or do for Free. Air
quotes. This final option would also be
called P2P or you might hear people just call
(08:50):
it Pay to Play. On both Reddit, Discord
and Facebook as well as meetup.com, you may
find options which require players to opt into
a game by paying a fee and usually
the fee is listed per session per player. The
website Startplaying Games is a
phenomenal resource for P2P and it is, "The
largest online platform for players to find tabletop role
(09:12):
Playing Games and professional GMs for any
Game system and any virtual tabletop.
Professional Dungeon Masters and Game Masters are running Games
all over the World online and virtually this website
will allow you to find a Game that works for you. And your
schedule. A quick perusal of the website and the Games that
are being offered showed me that DMs and GMs often
(09:33):
have a fee per player per session and it ranges
from Free to 40 plus US
dollars per session. I personally never joined
one of these groups, but it is tempting to just have
someone do all the work up front and just get to join and
play. Alas, I get what I pay
for. Final Thoughts Whether you choose to forge
(09:53):
your own gaming group from your personal contacts from
online LFG resources or decide to go
P2P, be assured there are
people available and willing to play tabletop RPG
Games, you just need to seek them out in the right
places. Join us next time as we find the best
ways to have great times with friends and experience amazing
(10:13):
stories through tabletop role playing. But hey, have
you ever wanted to start your own Tabletop RPG group, but you
just don't know how? What if you could follow six
simple tasks to get your Game up. And running in 30
days or less. Oh, you can, my
friend. Just download your Free Quick Start guide,
either by clicking on the link in the show notes or by visiting
claimtogamepodcast.com Follow the six
(10:35):
simple tasks outlined in the guide and go. Enjoy playing
your best game and may you keep having fun
as we continue to make our claim to Game.
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