No Stupid Questions

I've never met a public-facing tabletop group that wasn't enthusiastic to introduce new people to it. I think honestly my worst experience was when some dude brought his insanely broken D&D 3.5 character to play in a level one 5E game. The DM handled it very well; much better than I would have, I think.

My experience is that they generally are, but if they're not they'll be very friendly in suggesting that they're not the right venue for you.

If that sounds weird, go (or phone) and ask them. If they say "Well we've got a pretty hardcore community here," then that's a sign that maybe it's not where you should start. But gamers, on the whole, LOVE sharing their passion with new people.

Yes, even non profit clubs need a constant influx of newcomers, whose member due will pay the rent when the ancient will leave. And for game shop it's even worse. It's a hobby where a 50 € book can entertain 4 adults for year, so you need new comer to keep selling.

My local rpg club runs monthly discovery session and many GM gladly take beginners at their table. (most) RPG have relatively straightforward basic rules, any semi decent GM can give you a 30 minutes briefing with enough information to play. Most of these hugs books aren't rules but story, and special abilities (e.g. Magic spells and potions) so you don't need to read them before playing.

Usually, I advise to look for one shots session to start it allows to discover a game and test the alchemy with other players without signing up for a 2 years campaign.

In my experience, it totally depends on the shop and what kind if environment the owners are trying to cultivate. I've been to super competitive shops that are crazy anal about sticking to game rules, rude to newcomers, etc, and I've been to others (like my current shop) that realize we're a bunch of middle aged fucks playing with toys (40k is my shit).

More often than not, though, the vibe is going to be a welcoming one. As others have said, its more people to play games with! Especially in the plastic crack community, where there's certainly a 30 year Warhammer veteran just waiting for a newbie to dump their lore knowledge into.

I appreciate all the responses!

It really depends, but mostly yes because people always want more people to play stuff with. You don't need to go to a games store to find tabletop games though, hit up roll20 and search their LFG section, they've got a filter on their LFG search for games that welcome new players, you can sort by what time you want to play, etc. It's mostly D&D, but there's a ton of other stuff in there too if you know what you want to play.

I've heard of them having newbie games scheduled on certain days. I don't know how welcoming general games would be to a complete beginner, though.

DND is tricky to recommend. On the one hand, as far as RPGs go it's mega popular. On the other, it's a very specific kind of game and rather finicky.

Many people who don't want to play fantasy dungeon crawling tactical combat would enjoy other genres, but finding those groups can be harder. One of my friends has no real interest in fantasy, but immediately was like "LET'S DO IT" when I mentioned a game of Vampire.

Most game shops host some games that are open to people signing up.

At one of my local stores, they specifically have the "D&D Adventure League" once a week. It does have a $5 entry fee.

there are actually lots of groups that attempt to rectify this exact problem.

Pathfinder is a tabletop RPG that has a large following and focuses on the ability to jump in and out of groups and games.

Find your nearest game store and see what hobbies show up there. There might be a Warhammer group, DnD, starwars miniatures, magic, or maybe just random board games.

If you want to start an irl group, yeah. If you're joining an existing group, no though. Fully online is obviously the easiest place to find groups looking for players, but you can also head down to your local gaming store. I've seen bulletin boards before with flyers looking for players, but can probably just ask the people working there if they know of any.

Could also check online forums for your local community, maybe even make a post asking if any gaming groups have openings for irl players.

Maybe check if there are maker spaces/repair cafes near you. They are always happy for help.

Hey! you sound pretty cool! :D

I'm at a similar age and have similar interests. I've not been successful. I've done what others suggest, but not many people are making a genuine connection. Meetup.com ends up being an activity for the meet up and not connection outside. Conventions and gaming makes people get together for the event.....but again little interest outside that.

Some of this might be a skill issue. Some of this has to do with how incredibly socially reserved the British are (all my ongoing friendships are with non-British people while living in England, because they're the ones who will accept invites and meet up again). Some of this has to do with having interests that hardly anyone shares IRL.

I've seen posts like this before on Lemmy and people even said they were interested in a chat channel to start a social group here, so I made one and no one joined.

Good luck. I'm interested in reading the other replies you get.

Video games can be very social though.

Have you tried discord communities for any games you like?

Or alternative look for a game with a good community?

Go to cons my guy. Join the tournaments, stand in line. People are friendly just aim for a good conversation and be curious about people