How hard is it to get players

[Mordenhiem]

I am considering purchasing this software, but I do not have a group of players - how hard is it to gather a group of players and or join a game?

I am familiar with Open Rpg

[Valarian]

Where are you - there a people all over, but it may help to know your time zone. It may also depend on what game you are planning on hosting.

[Griogre]

If you run a d20 game you will have no problem getting a group. If you run another system it will take longer - but there are always more people who want to play than there are those to run. If you are an experienced GM, you will have no problems unless you are running an obscure system at a weird time. Time, because of the potential of players from almost any time zone is usually the least of your worries - though because of the oceans there are fewer players from certain time zones.

I doubt it would be much harder than getting togeather a group for OpenRPG. Though there are differances between the communites.

[valhallan]

Your problem probably won't be getting players, it'll be getting players that actually show up on time. People are a lot less considerate about keeping internet-based appointments, and they're willing to promise things they can't deliver (like, say, showing up on time, or at all).

Its even worse when the DMs do it though. Because they keep everyone else hanging. I've heard a million excuses including: burglary, house fire, mugging, dead cousin, server crash, computer crash, car crash, divorce trial appointment, child custody appointment, etc.

And I believe exactly one of those actually happened. That's why I only play with my old gaming buddies who've moved away. I can count on those guys.

Good luck!

[Sigurd]

Valhallen is pessemistic but not wrong.

Just because you're online and not in someone's living room doesn't mean they aren't waiting on you or don't need to get up the next day. The upside is that if you are a considerate player you shine out and are appreciated.

Also a seldom disscussed dynamic is that with FG you are getting together almost solely to play RPGs. Other motivations that might prompt face to face are not as strong eg.. cute sister, good food, party atmosphere etc.... You can get a lot of gaming done online but you have to like gaming cause you can't go get a date with the DM's sister :).

I can honestly say however - I've never been able to find so many players or get into so many games. I suspect everyone eventually finds or attracts a stable group of players. I know of two. When the DM could no longer make it I began DMing mostly because we had stable players.


Sigurd

[mcgarnagle]

I have played with two groups of players. The first group of players were mostly from the same city that I live in and I knew most them outside of gaming. That game fell through fairly quickly due to schedule conflicts and perhaps lack of interest.

I was hesitant on gonig out to the community and trying to find players that I didn't know because I was worried of what type of players I would get. When I finally decided to try, I wrote some details on the campaign, what EXACTLY I was looking for in the type of players I wanted to game with and I had a number of people show interest. Every single player that I had (we started with four) fit in perfect with my style of game, and all have been very reliable. Since then, one player has dropped out and two more have joined, but we are still going strong. We started up in February and there has only been 3 sessions where a player was not able to attend.

I think the key to getting the type of group you want is to make sure the players know the type of game your going to be running. Is it going to be heavy on the hack n' slash, or is role playing going to be the strong focus? The more you can tell them about your game, the better response you'll get from the type of players you want in your game.

[valhallan]

Other motivations that might prompt face to face are not as strong eg.. cute sister, good food, party atmosphere etc....

Good call Sigurd. I didn't even consider that factor. The 'alternative primary goals' of the players. Interesting...

[Mordenhiem]

Well I am in the EAstern Time Zone so GMT-5
I am a very experienced GM and have done a bit of writting for Lejendary Adventures (Gary Gygax's current Game System and PitS (Playing in the Streets) a new Game System coming out and I have am also a freelance artist - So I am pretty familiar with gaming. I guess - Is there a sever like on Open RPG to sdet up your game and attract players or is it all based on Message board recruiting.

I would also really like to play in a game session befor I purchase the program to get the feel of it.
Any of you have an NPC I could play or an open slot or - just a place at the table that I could sit and watch the game from?

I really appreciate your candor and help thus far
Martin

[Griogre]

Unfortunately you can't connect to a real session without the app. The demo only connects to other demos. Eastern time is a great time slot because you can easily get the guys in Europe and North America. You could listen in on a lot of sessions that use voice to kinda get a feel what's going on - though some people do a lot of roleplaying on the keyboard.

[Sigurd]

I am not sure, but my intuition says that its easier to get players for FGII than for OpenRPG. Once you set it up (enable outside world access to port 1802 on your router and forward it to your hosting machine) it is really painless to use.

You have to take the plunge guy.

Of course it is always your choice, you can take the blue pill.....


Sigurd

[Mordenhiem]

I am going to take the plunge - but wont be able to do so till next pay day in early July

So Iuntill then... Ill be messing around with the interface I have...


Martin

[Griogre]

The core functionally is the same. The dice, the storybooks the way the maps work and draw. How the tokens work. I learned quite a bit by starting the host and then starting another instance of FG and connecting to the host on the same machine. I could then do stuff and see what the client and the host saw that was the same and what was different.

[Sigurd]

The big differences between 1.5 and 2 are all positive and in favour of the new version. The new version is _much_ more stable to have a client connected to the main server (on the same machine). I routinely test things by changing my log in name and then connecting as a player to my own machine.

Be aware that if you do that with 1.5 it will be unstable quickly. (I still reccomend it if you want to see something and you are impatient - just don't do it with anything important running on your machine.)

Sigurd