How do you recruit new players?

**Dimthar** · 05-02-2008, 06:22 PM

How do you recruit new players?

Do you as GM meet them first and then introduce them to the group?

Do you reject players for their Age, Sex or Marital Status?

Do you post the "Opening" first within your friends and if not successful perhaps an open invitation in a meetup or pnpg?

Do you consider all your players as your "Friends"?

.

**Webhead** · 05-02-2008, 08:00 PM

As the resident GM of my group, I generally like to meet prospective new players one-on-one first before I extend an invitation to them to join the group. The main reason for this is because we host the game at another friend's house and I don't feel comfortable inviting people to someone else's house unless I have at least gotten a feel for the person.

Though we don't discriminate in our player selection, I tend to look for mature (generally meaning over 18) players for reasons which should be fairly obvious.

Typicall, the players in my group are friends on a level outside the game. That is, we do things other than play RPGs together and we interact with each other inbetween game days. Recently, however, we were looking to expand our player base, and so I actively put out a call on these boards, looking for interested gamers in the area and have thus added several gamers who I don't yet know on deeper level.

I have had much greater luck contacting other players since the discovery of this website. I also happen to be registered on www.accessdenied.net, but had very little success with that site, and very little success finding gamers in other venues. Penandpapergames.com has been a real boon in helping add players to our mix.

**jade von delioch** · 05-02-2008, 08:05 PM

Do you as GM meet them first and then introduce them to the group?
If e-mail or privite message counts as meeting them then yes, but otherwise... no. Which is fine, cause the GM cannot always describe the group and how they work to new players- the best way for them to find that out is through first impressions.
Do you reject players for their Age, Sex or Marital Status?
No, i personallity don't care about any of that. All i look for is munchkins and power gamers; they wont do well in my games.
Do you post the "Opening" first within your friends and if not successful perhaps an open invitation in a meetup or pnpg?
I do both automatically, the more the better.
Do you consider all your players as your "Friends"?
Kind of. Maybe not the first week but the weeks following i guess.

I tend to put fliers up whenever i can so that i can get more players.

**Freejack** · 05-02-2008, 10:30 PM

How do you recruit new players?
Meetup.com and fliers in the FLGS

Do you as GM meet them first and then introduce them to the group?
No.

Do you reject players for their Age, Sex or Marital Status?
Nope. I've had good and bad experiences both ways. It's easier to let them work themselves out.

Do you post the "Opening" first within your friends and if not successful perhaps an open invitation in a meetup or pnpg?
I just got started so I had no gaming friends to start with. All of them are new to me

Do you consider all your players as your "Friends"?
In so far as I have any "friends", sure.

I don't seem to be interested in the level of maintenance required for keeping friends, I can't explain why though. My wife exchanges e-mails and cards with people she knew for 3 years in The Navy 30 years ago and everyone in between. I have a hard time keeping in touch with my daughters and brothers and only because they're on line. Except for my younger daughter who doesn't do computers for anything so I call her every year or two.

Carl

**tesral** · 05-02-2008, 10:43 PM

I walk into the nearest gaming store and wrestle the most likely geek to the ground and refuse to let them up until they game with me.

Didn't think you would buy it.

Well I advertise, word of mouth, this board, fliers in the LHS and so forth. I talk to the people that answer my ad. We try a few gaming sessions and see how it works out.

Yes, my gamers are my friends. Some for over 30 years. I have friends outside of gaming, but my gaming friends are the longest and the strongest. We have shared weddings, births and funerals.

It is a difficult circle to get into, but I have a new player that is giving it a try. I wish him all the luck in the world as we like having new friends.

**agoraderek** · 05-03-2008, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by Dimthar

How do you recruit new players?

Do you as GM meet them first and then introduce them to the group?

Do you reject players for their Age, Sex or Marital Status?

Do you post the "Opening" first within your friends and if not successful perhaps an open invitation in a meetup or pnpg?

Do you consider all your players as your "Friends"?

.

1. i ususally will meet the prospective gamer at a pub or a coffee shop proir to inviting them inot my home, just to see if we will be personality/gaming syle compatable.

2. i dont like gaming with people under 21, as the ale tends to flow freely at my games, and its too much hassle to have to tell a kid "no, you cant have a beer!" kinda lame, but i try to stay on the right side of the law these days...

3. i'll use meet-up, gaming store boards, word of mouth, recommendations form players in my group, whatever it takes to fill an empty spot at the table.

4. i host most often when we play, and i dont like having people that arent my friends in my house, so, if you're going to game with me, you'd have to be someone i could consider as a friend.

my games tend to be half game / half beerfest-barbeque, so it is important that there be a social connection between the players beyond just the tabletop...

**mrken** · 05-04-2008, 11:58 AM

How do you recruit new players?
Recruiting new people to play has always been a bit of an issue for me. As I am not a the bubbly personality type and I have worked from home for many years, I don’t really have a large network of friends to locate that person interested in something as weird as role playing games. As for how I do find those people I have put ads on every RPG site I can find, and a flier in a couple of LGS. Still, the method that has worked best for me is still word of mouth. Asking a friend or a friend asking a friend.

Do you as GM meet them first and then introduce them to the group?
I have asked some potential players to meet me at the LGS, but generally all the other players already know them.

Do you reject players for their Age, Sex or Marital Status?
I personally don’t like to reject people, especially for those reasons. I am 54 almost, married and have three women at my table. My main group is all couples. In the past I have run games for young teen-aged boys, young single guys and mixed groups. I prefer to allow everyone and try to make them feel welcome. As for people who have never rp’ed, I especially enjoy them as they tend to be the most open to actually rp’ing, and have fewer hang-ups on all the intricacies of their favorite rules set.

Do you post the "Opening" first within your friends and if not successful perhaps an open invitation in a meetup or pnpg?
Yes, I would prefer to have someone I am already friends with. That should be one of the benefits of your friends network. Would hurt to know a friend picked a total stranger over me. L

Do you consider all your players as your "Friends"?
All my players have been my friends. If they weren’t a friend to start with they would be shortly after that. Though I must admit, just like in non-gamer life, some friends are better than others.

**boulet** · 05-04-2008, 10:17 PM

It's funny how it takes only a few game sessions to build a brand new friendship. I must say friend-wise RPGs have been a blessing for me. I've shared games with many of my closest friends and usually it lead to interactions outside of the game context too. Funny enough that the stereotype about role players is asocial isolated nerds...

**tesral** · 05-05-2008, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by boulet

It's funny how it takes only a few game sessions to build a brand new friendship. I must say friend-wise RPGs have been a blessing for me. I've shared games with many of my closest friends and usually it lead to interactions outside of the game context too. Funny enough that the stereotype about role players is asocial isolated nerds...

Who play a social game. Yea, funny that.

In my case it is more than few game sessions. Three weddings (Two mine) three funerals, several births. I've seen jobs come and go and while some people enter and leave the group the core remains. Gaming got us together and we keep gaming, but that is not the sole glue any longer.

**boulet** · 05-05-2008, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by tesral

but that is not the sole glue any longer.

Well when gaming is the core of a group and people have nothing but their games in common, my bet is they might dissolve anytime if some disagreement about game style occurs. On the opposite a group who shares a little more (travel, other hobbies, being mutually supportive when tough sh*t happens) will probably work things out if similar game disagreement happens.

I have sometimes seen my fellow players disband or split in two parties... Made me feel quite sad at the moment, but after a while my perspective was that the group dynamic was broken and there's not point crying over it.

Mostly in the past I was recruiting new players from a local gamer association I was part of. We even organized a few cons over the years, guarantee of fresh players. I admit reputation and gossips were a significant part of new players selection. But our group wasn't so mean as to kick a lonely player away from our table. Just we tried to repel munchkins and powergamers the best we could... We ended up rehabilitating a couple of them, kind of...

**upidstay** · 05-09-2008, 10:00 PM

My current group are mostly old friends. Met one player through this site, another is the girlfriend of one of the other players. Known him for years, met him via D+D through a mutual friend.
The guy I met on this site I checked out on the Sex Offender registry first (I have 2 dauhters, take no chances). Hhe checked out OK, seems like a good guy so far.

**amardolem** · 05-10-2008, 07:10 PM

how'd I check out? Did you check the alien-sex offender registry? just kiddin' man! That was an idea I hadn't thought of, but a good one!

*bzzzzztttttt*

(probe activating sound)

**Grimwell** · 05-19-2008, 11:32 PM

How do you recruit new players?
Word of mouth, Internet sites like this, random chances to talk to people about gaming, at Work. Any way I can.

Do you as GM meet them first and then introduce them to the group?
No. I do send them a short list of my rules. Simple things like "Be clean, be nice to my family, etc." and if they don't like them they opt out early.

Do you reject players for their Age, Sex or Marital Status?
No. Not for reasons as silly as that.

Do you post the "Opening" first within your friends and if not successful perhaps an open invitation in a meetup or pnpg?
Sorta. I give preference first to people I know because that makes sense. I only go looking if I can't fill a seat.

Do you consider all your players as your "Friends"?
Yes. After a session or three you really get to know a person and if they are coming back it's cause there is a match.

Best friends forever? Take a bullet friends? No, but gaming friends who are welcome in my home... which is significant.

**Valdar** · 05-20-2008, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by Dimthar

How do you recruit new players?

Do you as GM meet them first and then introduce them to the group?

Do you reject players for their Age, Sex or Marital Status?

Do you post the "Opening" first within your friends and if not successful perhaps an open invitation in a meetup or pnpg?

Do you consider all your players as your "Friends"?

.

And here I was coming to this board to ask this very question, and here it is in the most recent thread.

I haven't gamed in years, and I'm currently trolling for a gaming group. My old group has long since fallen prey to MMOGs (the video card has replaced the imagination, sadly), so I'm in the position of finding new players. I'd ask the OP to add the following question to the above, that some posters are answering tangentially:

What worked? What didn't?

For the questions at the start of the thread:

--I'll chat with them online. My current solicit says "Tell me about a character you've played". I think that will give me a feel for their gaming style. The game will start in a hobby shop, so I don't have to worry about strangers with heavy hands or light fingers around my stuff.

--I don't have a problem with gender or marital status, but I'll be honest, if kids become a problem, I see that as a problem with the player. If we have to game at your place because you can't find a sitter, and the kids keep interrupting, that sucks for everyone, and lots of parents just expect you to ignore it. I'd probably reject that person. Age, on the other hand, I would. I've gamed with surprisingly mature 10-year-olds, but they're still 10, and while they don't throw tantrums, they don't add much to the game either. And however well it works at first, the moment they bring their best friend, you're doomed.

--I'd of course go to friends first. I anticipate finding three strangers for every seat I wind up filling, for all the time constraints and play style differences I'll be running into. Faster to go with friends.

--Depends on what you mean by friends. If I gamed with someone three times, and he asked me to help him move next weekend, I'd probably decline (unless he was THAT awesome of a player, in which case I'd owe him).

I'll let you know what worked or didn't. I've posted on a bunch of boards both electronic and physical, and gotten very few responses, but I'm telling myself it's because I'm soliciting for a game that doesn't exist yet.