Looking for Help Getting Started

[Gristmill]

I've come to you with a question: as someone who is not a player of D&D, but is interested and becoming one, how can I best find a group to play with? None of my friends or family, unfortunately, are players; what I'm looking for are online resources for finding a group to join. Most of the people here seem fairly stable, or at least unstable in amusing ways; would any of you experienced folks have suggestions?

[Particle_Man]

Universities often have gaming clubs they have an online presence these days. That said it can be lopsided. Over in my area players are plentiful but dungeon masters are rare.

Or in other words, if you have trouble finding a group, offer to run a game and see what happens.

[Gristmill]

Universities often have gaming clubs they have an online presence these days. That said it can be lopsided. Over in my area players are plentiful but dungeon masters are rare.

Or in other words, if you have trouble finding a group, offer to run a game and see what happens.

A good thought, but not helpful to me specifically as I'm not a student.

[PhoenixPhyre]

One thing to do is search for local gaming stores. Specifically, look for either "Pathfinder Society games near me" or "Adventurer's League games near me". PF society is (as you might have guessed, for Pathfinder), while Adventurer's League is for 5th edition D&D. Also look on Meetup (if it's in your city) for gaming groups. I hear there's a sub-Reddit for finding groups.

Edit: I started by running games with teenagers (as part of my job as a teacher), but my first "real" games were with colleagues. I asked around and taught them all to play. It may be easier than you think, and getting started in 5e is pretty darn easy. Buy the Beginner Box and you're ready to go.

[Jophiel]

Wizards has a search engine for Adventurer's League play which can help you find "official" games in your area. You certainly don't have to stay with those but they do have an easy drop-in/drop-out style of play that can help you get acquainted with the game before committing to being a full-time participant in someone's campaign.

Plus meeting other AL gamers can help you line up a spot in a full campaign down the line.

Edit: Do definitely call/email/Facebook/etc local stores as well since some places do AL games without it being part of the "official" WotC AL system.

[Particle_Man]

A good thought, but not helpful to me specifically as I'm not a student.

Neither am I. Often these clubs are open to non-students too (they may pay a higher annual membership fee but said fee is usually inexpensive even so).