Pen & Paper Roleplaying....Where to go for groups?

zylaxx · January 2013

I havn't played AD&D since the late 90's, at the time I was into Magic the Gathering and game sessions at a local hobby store but that was only on Friday nights and I've since moved from that town to a new one but I have a few questions to ask pertaining to getting back into the pen and paper version:

1. Is there any place online to look for groups to play AD&D?
2. Is there any Online versions of the P&P with automated dice rolling and the players sit behind their computers from home utilyzing Ventrillo, Skype or other VOIP programs to "Game"?

deathssickle · January 2013

I dont know but Id play with you over the net

nakisanye · January 2013

zylaxx wrote: »

I havn't played AD&D since the late 90's, at the time I was into Magic the Gathering and game sessions at a local hobby store but that was only on Friday nights and I've since moved from that town to a new one but I have a few questions to ask pertaining to getting back into the pen and paper version:

1. Is there any place online to look for groups to play AD&D?

I've used a number of sites through the years to find groups but mostly it was rather difficult to find something recent. Gameshops often have game-nights where you can just show up and start playing. These gameshops or "a local hobby store" often also has a website. Look them up and/or check out the store, ask inside. Online I usually look for anything that resembles:
[looking for players/group] and a location (a city)

Recently I used meetup.com to find a "group". I live in the Netherlands, so I found the Netherlands Roleplaying Guild. If you find an active group, you can search for people there. But via via also worked for me. To be honest, I've only seen people looking for players for AD&D a few times so if you're really looking for AD&D (and not 3.0/3.5/4e/pathfinder/anything else) chances might be slim. I'd start with finding a group (or platform to find groups) first, then worry about the system.

zylaxx wrote: »

2. Is there any Online versions of the P&P with automated dice rolling and the players sit behind their computers from home utilyzing Ventrillo, Skype or other VOIP programs to "Game"?

There are numerous online dice rollers. If you know people you can indeed sit behind your computer and use skype and play PnP and it works to some extend (I've tried it a few times). But online 'Playing by Post' seemed to work best for me. This might be a place to start; Giants has a huge active community and I'm fairly certain I've seen PbP there before.

An alternative, of course, is to load up an (old) videogame and play through a campaign. Personally I've had a blast playing through IWD2 (IWD1 uses AD&D) on LAN with friends.

Better yet, is Bioware's NWN; it uses 3.x, but has the DM tools and allows for actual contentbuilding and having a gamemaster etc.

Anyways hope I could be of some help!

p.s. I seem to remember a system with an online map and players could utilize it (move their characters around on the grid). Not sure where I was it. I think there are a few of these online and we even got one to work. Kind of like this

ruikesan85 · January 2013

The dnd website has an area I believe. Also look for conventions in the area, not just to play there but to network and most have a forum as well. Theres probably also a game store in your new area that could have flyers at and the people that run it are usually nice enough to point you to groups or let you know when their game nights are.

iamtruthseeker · January 2013

It's been called D&D since 3rd edition and now we're all playtsting 5h edition but it's called D&D NEXT. Online playing was done by a Wizard's of the Coast D&D-backed online Game table, but they discontinued it. However, it was picked up by another company, Gametableonline.com hosting it under http://rpgtableonline.com/welcome.php. More info can be found there.

Of course there are other sites that have tables you can sign up for freely and also pay subsciptions for for more options done mostly by Java (one of my favorites is http://www.roll20.net)

Or you can host and have other players log onto (or log into while somebody hosts) clients and servers such as maptools or Fantasy Grounds 2, but finding the forums for those things is not as easy at times as it's done by people privately or on their own forums stating they are using x engie not a game invite and go ahead and use this software.

I hope this answered your question somewhat.

theincarnadine42 · January 2013

I have had little success using Meetup.com to find local groups, most of the time in my area it is advertisements for ongoing games, first come first serve, no continuous players. Other than that I have only found groups that either did not actually show, or players that were only there to roll dice and brag about stats, with no actual role playing involved, and since I am more interested in role playing it was not the group for me. Still, each area will be different, you may want to give that site a try, but as other said, a local hobby/comic store may be your best bet.

As far as online goes, the campaign I DM uses iTableTop, which while it does have it's quirks, is a pretty good online system to play on. The DM will have to buy a subscription, but it is free for the other players, so a group could probably split the cost to make it pretty cheap.

Either way, online or in person, you may be able to find a group to play AD&D with, but it may be difficult considering the many versions since then. You would probably have better luck trying 3.5/Pathfinder, 4e, or the D&D Next playtest Truthseeker mentioned. I never personally played AD&D, but to my understanding D&D Next may be the easiest one to transition to of all of them.

iamtruthseeker · January 2013

Oh, and the online options I mentioned are not normally for any ONE game system or edition, and almost always can work with ANY gaming system.

ruinedmirage · January 2013

Hello, my name is ruinedmirage, and I've been a pnp rper since I was 10 or 11 officially. I live just south of Seattle, WA and am open to joining others in a gaming session, as my current group is having schedule differences due to SCA events.

*passes to the next chair to my left*

Hey, this place is more friendly and reliable than craigslist, right?

nakisanye · January 2013

iamtruthseeker wrote: »

However, it was picked up by another company, Gametableonline.com hosting it under http://rpgtableonline.com/welcome.php. More info can be found there.

Of course there are other sites that have tables you can sign up for freely and also pay subsciptions for for more options done mostly by Java (one of my favorites is http://www.roll20.net)

These are looking really good! I'll make an account later today!

nimloh · January 2013

I have the same problem. I would love to play D&D again but I can't find anyone where I live today.

In addition to the online approach mentioned by others, you can try Pen and Paper Games. You can click the "Find Players" tab to see if anyone in your area is looking for players.

Pen & Paper Roleplaying....Where to go for groups?

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