Advice for new player?

[MrDeathNote]

Hi guys, this is first time I've been on this board.

I'm fairly new to the whole table top rpg scene. I've played a bit of d&d and I'm currently reading through the player handbook. It's very hard to find d&d games in my area so I'm tempted to resort to the online route and join all you fine people. The main questions I have are, do you think this is the right place for me? Is it easy to find games here? Am I too old to start playing d&d (I'm 23)?

I've looked at some of the other noobie posts and although they are helpful they don't answer my exact questions. Since everyone else that I saw got some very helpful and insightful feedback I thought I'd post a few q's of my own.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Ram Tyr]

This is the right place for anybody that wants to play rpgs and wants FG to make it happen. So, no worries, mate. (I'm not Australian but I play with some Aussies on FG.)

How easy it is to find games depends on a lot of factors... how flexible you are about play times, how flexible you are about playing different systems, how frequently you run games as the DM, GM, CK, or whatever your system of choice calls the guy behind the 'curtain'.

Sadly, you are too old, though.
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Ok, not. You'll find a bunch of, ahem, folks older than you here playing games. Like me. If you want to play (and I don't think you would have found us here if you didn't) nobody will hold your youthful ways against you. :) So, just start looking for a game.

If you are not familiar with setting up meetings on the internet... I suggest you get a little familiar with timeanddate.com (https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/). Get familiar with UTC is Coordinated Universal Time, and with GMT is Greenwich Mean Time. Then, when you start posting for actual games remember to tell people what time zone you are in and how far from UTC/GMT you are. You'll be ahead of the game. (It can be confusing when everybody is talking about 8pm and nobody knows which time zone we are waiting for to hit 8pm. I mentioned I play with folks in Australia, right? Yea, learn a little about time zones and expand your horizons...)

Good luck.

[VenomousFiligree]

I often run demo's in the evening (GMT), although I'm busy until the end of the month. I'll be more than happy to give you a taster if you haven't found anything before my next one. Only thing is I don't run D&D...

[Doswelk]

I am running an open Savage Worlds game next Saturday...

I have an ultimate license so you do not even need to buy FGII to try it out.

I also do not run D&D games but Savage Worlds is easy to play and all are welcome...

[damned]

id be surprised if the average age of players on FG was under 35!

[phantomwhale]

I'm still under 35... for about 3 more weeks :cry:

But age is nothing - I've played with 40-something idiots behaving like kids (it was a blast) and 20-something guys playing some in-character, story-rich mature narrative stuff (it was a blast).

So two things - exposure to the system; most GMs will be pretty patient to help you along, but knowing the core rules is always a good start. Exposure to FGII software is less assumed, and you'll find many GMs and forum members here keen to help out and make it a good one.

As a biased aside (I'm the author of the current Savage Worlds ruleset, and like many Savage Worlds players, moved there from D&D to escape the weight of rules and get into something more fast paced and "swashbuckling" in feel) I'd highly recommend getting on board with Doswelk's Savage Worlds games, or MurghBpurn's game (not sure what system he's running) - both are experienced with running one-off / new player games, and both Brit's, so in the same timezone.

I am also a Brit, but living upside-down in Australia, so never quite seem to get the urge to get up at 4am to play a game with them (which is a shame !)

[MrDeathNote]

Thanks for all the reply's. Although I do still want to play d&d on FGII I'm definitely open to playing other games as well. I'll try have a look at Savage Worlds since it seems pretty popular. I'm really busy for the next week or so but after that I'll try get into one of the open games. It would be great even just to get to grips with the software. Will the open games be listed in the Game Calendar or will I need to keep posting here to find out about them?

[lachancery]

Thanks for all the reply's. Although I do still want to play d&d
Don't listen to them SW converts, there are plenty of D&D going around! :p Joking aside, you will need to specify which edition of D&D you're interested. I am aware of ongoing games using the 1st, 3.5th & 4th edition.


Will the open games be listed in the Game Calendar or will I need to keep posting here to find out about them?
I recommend both. When posting on the board, you may get an invite to a game that is not actively recruiting (thus not visible on the Game Calendar). Before clicking join on the Game Calendar, I suggest sending a PM to the GameMaster. Some of the open games on the Calendar have unfortunately been long abandoned and have never been removed from the Calendar.

To recap, when you're ready, you need to specify clearly: 1) which time slots (including the reference time zone) you're available in; 2) which game system & edition (if relevant) you want to play; 3) what type of role player you are and what kind of game/group you'd like to join.

Welcome to our community and good luck!

[MrDeathNote]

Thanks for the advice lachancery, just in case anyone needs to know I'm most interested in D&D 4th edition. Like I was saying, although I'm most interested in D&D I'm not adverse to trying other games especially since I've now done a little reading and Savage Worlds sounds pretty awesome too!

Out of curiosity are there any members that run open D&D games? Not that I'm not going to buy a licence for FG I'd just like to try it out before I fork over the cash.

[lachancery]

Out of curiosity are there any members that run open D&D games? Not that I'm not going to buy a licence for FG I'd just like to try it out before I fork over the cash.
I am sure there are. The best place to ask that question is in the guild forum, though.

If I were you, I'd take up Doswelk's kind offer and connect to his game tomorrow as an observer. Even if you don't know the SW rules, it would give you a pretty good idea of how cool FG is.

[Griogre]

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Out of curiosity are there any members that run open D&D games? Not that I'm not going to buy a licence for FG I'd just like to try it out before I fork over the cash.

I just wanted to say most of the games that are run with FG are not open games, most are campaign games. This makes it fairly hard to find one shot games but not that hard to either observe or find a reasonably popular long term game (both 4E and Savage Worlds fall in this category). Make sure you continue to scan the 4E boards and the Guild Hall for new games that fit the times you can play.

[MrDeathNote]

I'm aware that most of the games are campaigns, I was just wondering in case someone ran regular 4e open matches to let people try it out before they buy but observing is fine too. I just want to get an idea of the system before I try and play a few games myself, I wouldn't want to hold up the game just because I'm unfamiliar with the system.

P.S. I just wanted to say this may be the best forum I've ever been on, plenty of constructive points/advice and not a troll in sight :)

[damned]

there *were* a few trolls about but they've all been killed off - nothing more than the odd orc raiding party these days... although there have been rumours of a red dragon of late.