Last Updated: September 27, 2023
Introduction
Unfortunately, you can’t play Dungeons and Dragons by yourself (at least not without learning a bunch of other rule systems). At some point, you’ll need to get into a group. You can either form a group yourself, or find a group that already exists.
Forming a group is an important step if you want to play. Remember that you generally need 3-6 people (including the DM).
Once you have a pool of interested members, you need to schedule the game. Many groups find that a recurring weekly game running 4-6 hours is generally a good balance of frequency and duration, but do whatever suits your group best. Try to pick a time when the whole group can usually be expected to be available, but remember that real life still happens outside of the game, so scheduling conflicts happen.
I want to play with people I know
Ask around among your friends. Tabletop RPGs are more pervasive than you may know, and a lot of people are playing, have played in the past, or want to play and have never had the opportunity. You may have some success on Facebook or on other social media platforms, too.
I Am Fine Playing With Strangers
Try /r/LFG or your local subreddit. If you live in an area with a FLGS or comic book shop, go visit the store and see if they have a bulletin board where people post about their games. You may find people looking for players.
- Gamely: App dedicated to finding local groups to play board games and tabletop RPGs.
- Meetup.com: Website/app for finding local groups for activities.
- Reddit: Reddit’s /r/LFG (Looking For Group) is dedicated to finding groups for tabletop games, if you live in or near a city with a local subreddit you may have luck posting there too.
- Roll20.net’s LFG Forum: Purpose-built to help you find games with strangers online.
- Yawning Portal: The official event portal from Wizards of the Coast. Great if you want to get into “organized play”.
- Local Games Stores: Local game stores frequently have bulletin boards to advertise events and game groups, and the employees may know of people looking to form a group or add new members to an existing one.
I can’t commit to a regular gaming group, but still want to play
Check out the Adventurer’s League page to find a FLGS near you which runs recurring games. Adventurer’s League is an organized play group, which is like a shared campaign that you can drop in and out of anywhere that it’s played.
