Hello,
I was wondering If I could borrow the collective intelligence and experience or the Paizo board community. I understand that some of the posters on these boards have played or are currently playing role playing games in colledge. I'm headed to my freshman year of colledge myself soon (soon meaning 10 hours in this case) and I am ferverently hoping to continue gaming with a new group very soon. So... where exactly should I start looking?
I payed attention during high school. The jocks and cheerleaders stayed after school for practice. The nerds ran home to their computers (no offence guys, and you know who I'm talking to) the goths went to therapy or the nearent collection of shadows and the rednecks hopped in a truck to go kill something or drive some place where they could drink and talk about killing something. But me and my friends weere the ONLY gamers in our entire high school. As such I have no idea what the gaming clique actually acts like. Please help.
And also please feel free to include any advice on choosing or scouting a potential gaming group. I remember a thread now buried in the archives about the worst players/DMs/human beings gamers had ever met. An alarming percentage of those posts started with "Back in my colledge days...."
I'm confused- I thought for sure you were talking to me about the nerd thing, but then you made it sound like I wasn't part of that. Be consistant, man!
David and I are looking to join IUS's gaming club, and hope they have D&D. If not, IUS allows students to start their own groups, and it happens on a pretty frequent basis, apparently. So, I suggest you try that route.
You could also just lurk in the shadows and stalk people until you felt they were suitable for your purposes. I don't have any trouble imagining you doing that.
Either way, good luck, Sexi! (God, I hate calling you that; did you have my discomfort in mind when you chose that name?)
Check your college's student center. There might be a list of activities or flyers from someone looking for gamers. When I was in college, there were a few groups who met in one of the conference rooms for a game. I found a group by making flyers and hanging them on the bulletin board--the real kind, made from cork-board...not the online kind that are full of riff-raff. These days though, you might be better off using your school's online recources. The internet was but an infant when I was in school. Try posting on the gamers seeking gamers scetion here on Paizo, or over at Wotc or Enworld. I'd think there are plenty of places like that to find collegiate gamers.
M@
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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The best advice I can give is that you need to make yourself available to outside contact. In order to do this, I recommend wearing gamer paraphernalia. Especially the t-shirts you can find here on Paizo.com. If you make yourself stand out as an obvious gamer with things like the 'GMs don't kill characters' shirt, people who understand what a GM is will naturally approach you. Granted, you'll have to deal with being called a 'nerd' or a 'gamer geek' because of your clothing choice, but its a small price to pay in my opinion. Really, the last time I checked, by the collegiate age most people have gotten out of the 'name-calling' phase of life anyway.
So yeah, display the love for your hobby openly and in public! If you wear it, they will come...
I discovered my college gaming group by reading the Forgotten Realms campaign setting book in the lobby of my dormitory while drinking some Starbucks. Sure enough, someone came up to me and said "Ahhh... you play D&D too?" The rest, as they say, is history.
Also, use the boards here and at Wizards to locate gamers in your area--they may not be at your school, but they might be in your school's town.
Also, find the FLGS near your school (every major university has one within about four blocks of campus, if not two). Often these host groups, have message boards with ads looking for players, etc.
My college had less than 3,000 students, and we had a Science Fiction club - we formed a gaming group out of that crowd. At a larger school, I believe there is often a role playing club, like the Gaming Club Saern mentioned.
Where are you going to school? (Maybe someone from these boards is from around there.)
I read somewhere that you can always keep a d6 in your pocket. If after you've talked to a person a while, you can pull it out and ask them, "What's this?" If they say its a die - they're not a gamer; but if they say a d6 - they are!
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I read somewhere that you can always keep a d6 in your pocket. If after you've talked to a person a while, you can pull it out and ask them, "What's this?" If they say its a die - they're not a gamer; but if they say a d6 - they are!
I spotted a gamer at work once based on that idea. I overheard him talking about a random event and say "It's like rolling a 6-sided die."
I never got into a gaming group in college Sexi. College gamers tend to kick it up a notch in terms of their hard-coreness (the same way every social group kicks it up a notch in college, I suppose.) That being said, gaming conventions are common at colleges, and usually there's a gaming club/organization behind that convention. That's a good start point.
Where are you going to school?
Meetup.com seemed to work for me fairly well . . .
I was lucky; there was an ongoing game on my dorm floor. When I heard "D&D", I started asking more and soon secured an invite.
One of the more amusing tales I have is that my roommate believed I'd be tied up with the game for a few hours, and his girl friend was over. Fortunately, they'd put a chair in front of the door, so my virginal eyes weren't ruined forever.
As everyone's saying, if you're "out" about it, or just listen, you'll probably find other gamers. Anyone who brings a video game system is probably also worth a question...
I'm up at Purdue university right now. Purdue has right around 40,000 students so I figure I'm fishing in a pretty big pond.
If I had any D&D clothes I'd be wearing them but I'll have to do without.
It never occured to me that some Paizoians might be at Purdue but if some of you are I hope we can get in contact.
Thanks for giving me some places to start my search. With any luck D&D wil soon be destracting me from my studies!
Oh, and Saern. Yes... yes I did...
Hey Sexi - I recommend the "Choose Your Weapon" shirt with the Sacred Seven Polyhedrals.
Hello,
I was wondering If I could borrow the collective intelligence and experience or the Paizo board community. I understand that some of the posters on these boards have played or are currently playing role playing games in colledge. I'm headed to my freshman year of colledge myself soon (soon meaning 10 hours in this case) and I am ferverently hoping to continue gaming with a new group very soon. So... where exactly should I start looking?
First, the Dorms, the geekiest dorm on campus is your best bet. Here at Bama it's Mallet Assembly- at least two people I game with now started their college career there.
But for me, what has worked almost EXCESSIVELY well is to go to the people you make friends with. Or in the case of the excess (almost), locate your local Gaming Shop. These are privately owned bookstores, Chess stores, Anime shops, Comic stores.
Just sitting in a comic book store today that sells d&d books and does Magic (*Finding Magic Players means you've found someone at least OPEN to D&D*), just sitting in the store with books out and talking about it attracted TWO people to my campaign...and I'm not planning to get it off the ground for a MONTH. (individual sessions may be sooner). That doesn't even include the guy that works there that'll be playing. (The other people are friends of mine playing 3.5 for the first time and a guy who I was referred to by a previous DM)
Again, try WoTC, Paizo and OTHER Message Boards like EN World and do a google search if you have to...I recommend something like "Purdue" +"D&D."
I also highly recommend Gaming attire (such as "I roll Twenties" yes from Penny Arcade -which I just bought from this link: http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/gaming/760d/) and carrying around a d6 in your pocket- or hell a D20. If you meet a gamer, ANY TYPE OF GAMER or geek or nerd or just someone you get along with, pull out a D20 and if they know what it is for or WANT to know, then maybe you've found your first D&D group right then and there.
I read somewhere that you can always keep a d6 in your pocket. If after you've talked to a person a while, you can pull it out and ask them, "What's this?" If they say its a die - they're not a gamer; but if they say a d6 - they are!
I think it was F2K that gave this advice.
I read somewhere that you can always keep a d6 in your pocket. If after you've talked to a person a while, you can pull it out and ask them, "What's this?" If they say its a die - they're not a gamer; but if they say a d6 - they are!I think it was F2K that gave this advice.
It's like some secret handshake.
"What's this?"
"A d6."
"Very good, now let us abstain to our secret cult dungeon and sacrifice innocents and drink their blood."
Yeah, make sure you watch out for the super-religious hecklers, Sexi. If you find yourself in a pinch, Player's Handbooks have been known to affect them like crucifixes do vampires.
Dude, Saern I'm insulted. You know I would not need a PHB to scare those people off.
Did you take your hat with you? The black one? You can scare anyone away in that thing. To those not in the know, imagine a hairy gnome with a deffinate air of Freddy Cruger (sp?) about him.