Years and years ago, when I first got into RPGs, I had a group that all got into things at the same time. I was, for the greater part, the catalyst for bringing new games to the group, but they were all generally happy to play whatever. Although I got into RPGs by playing AD&D, many of the group that I sold roleplaying to were first introduced to Shadowrun (Second Edition in case you are curious) and we even tried out GURPs after I found a copy on close out at my local comic book / game store for like five bucks (the book was so thick that I couldn’t help but buy it). I played with the same web of players pretty much throughout college, trying out a bunch of different games along the way. Still, after college I moved away to a bigger city and somehow ended up more isolated. For the first year or so I still went back to my home city and gamed with my group (several of the other people I had gamed with had gone away to other colleges, but I still had a group back in my home city, even if it was mostly not the same). So, I’m wondering: How many people still play with the same group? Since I moved to a bigger city and got older, I’ve found that the predominant way I see people play games is just with ad hoc groups drawn from the internet or local gaming scene, usually playing in public places. So, have you managed to keep your gaming group together? Have you tried out G+ or Skype for gaming to do it? Or have you turned to PbP or some other method for your gaming? Do you just form a new group or go to local gaming community when you move to a new town? I’d be interested in hearing your stories in the comments. If you’re done checking out this post, why not check out the Related Posts below, the Recent Posts in the sidebar, or go to a random post on Futile Position.
Discussion: Do you still game with the same group?
– September 4, 2012Posted in: RPGs
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With the exception of one other player, I have no real idea what happened to the other players I first started gaming with. However, a few years after I stopped playing with that initial group, I started playing with some other people. This new group has grown, and has both lost quite a few members as lives wind different ways, as well as expanding to pull others in (introducing a few people to roleplaying along the way).
In some ways, the way my gaming group has changed typifies “organic”.
Presently, when I want to start a campaign, I look to the same few players; we trust and like each other enough that it’s a fairly easy choice. I’m geographically estranged from another group I love gaming with, and there are some “fallen” players I’d love to be able to tempt back in more often. But I never really have to look too far to find a good group, which I know isn’t always common, and I’m thankful for it.
Yeah, I think that the organic growth is probably the way that most people grow their gaming group. People come and go, and lives move on, but enough of a core remains that it keeps going. My big stumbling point happened when I moved away to a different city. Prior to that, I had pretty much managed to keep a group steady, growing it like you said.
Yes and no for me. What to me into RPGs was a university society I joined when I was seventeen. I’m now 34 years old and still met up with the same society every Tuesday night. The numbers can change year on year, but if we have less than fifty people turning up each week, it’s considered a slow year, so as you can imagine, I get to play with loads of different people all from the same pool. There are even a hard core few like myself who’ve been going own just as long, week in, week out.
But, of the people who I became friends with in my first year or so, Only two come down each week still, and one of those dropped out for almost a decade since he moved towns with his new wife and they had a couple of kids of together (I will leave people to figure out why he can now come back each week
). I’m still in contact with a lot of the old crowd, and we meet up when we can to drink and game, and chat about old times, but since I still get to game at least once a week, and have made whole bunches of new friends in the society, I don’t worry too much about them.