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I live in the quintessential "middle of nowhere", and as such it is nearly impossible for me to get a weekly, monthly, or even yearly group together.

I have tried to get a semi-regular group of friends to play once a month, and it ended up not working out because we could get about half an hour of serious play due to time constraints caused by school.

I've also tried a virtual tabletop session composed of the same friends, but it ended up being bogged down due to everyone's lacking internet speeds and/or tremendous ping times.

I have come to realize that a group of friends just won't work, so I am now looking to get into a D&D Encounters type of group. There is a town within about half an hour from me, but due to my age (14 years), I don't think I would be accepted by any FLGS groups.

Is there a way I could get into a schedule that fits mine (meaning maximum 1 session a week) with people around my age, or at least a group that is comfortable with each other's ages?

I would prefer a newer edition, ideally 4e or 5e, and either of these would work because not all content is released for 5e yet. It's not even close to a deal breaker though, because all editions have the same core goal, which is, of course, entertainment.

Note that I am aware of similar questions (e.g. this) that address the general issue of find gaming groups to play in. However, I feel that the answers to these do not sufficiently address the issue of my age and the problems that would cause in gaining access to groups.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I think being 14 is a significant enough difference in the question to not mark this as a duplicate. \$\endgroup\$
    – GMNoob
    Commented Jul 23, 2014 at 5:48
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    \$\begingroup\$ Hmm. Voting to re-open. I suggest an edit to it calling attention to the previous broader question and requesting that answers focus on providing solutions to the querent's unique challenges rather than general answers which would be better off in the broader question. \$\endgroup\$
    – BESW
    Commented Jul 23, 2014 at 6:12
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    \$\begingroup\$ An edit on the above lines will be necessary for this not to be reclosed as dupe. Showing one's research of the history of similar questions is useful. \$\endgroup\$
    – Brian Ballsun-Stanton
    Commented Jul 23, 2014 at 6:14
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    \$\begingroup\$ And again, closed because it is insufficiently different. The question must be edited to stand alone, and not attract answers that would serve in either. \$\endgroup\$
    – Brian Ballsun-Stanton
    Commented Jul 23, 2014 at 11:12
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    \$\begingroup\$ meta.stackexchange.com/questions/176961/… \$\endgroup\$
    – Arkhaic
    Commented Jul 23, 2014 at 22:27

2 Answers 2

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I would get in touch with the (or one of the), DMs who runs the Encounters game at your FLGS. Rarely is age a barrier to entry for a gaming group, especially for a store group. Talk to the person running the shop, and then if they will provide contact info, talk to the DM, they should be open to you joining.

If you're uncomfortable with this, you might try talking to your parents about how to get a group of your friends together on a regular basis. They might be able to help you coordinate with other parents and find a space where you and you friends will feel comfortable.

Generally, if online play isn't working for you, then you'll have to work to get a real life group going. It's hard, especially if you don't drive (which I'm assuming at 14, you don't). You'll need buy in from your, and your friends' parents. (I'm coming at this from the vector of a parent, if my kid suggested finding a group of friends to play D&D, I'd facilitate, and offer to run the game, but I'm already a gamer, if you're parents aren't, it might be harder).

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Options

  1. Talk to your local store if there is one. Ask if he knows any gaming groups that meet regularly and would be open to a new player. Give him a contact for him to give to them.

  2. If there is a uni nearby, check and see if there is a uni gaming group/club. Most uni roleplaying/boardgaming/gaming groups are open to walk-ins, even if they're 14. I and a friend used to go in regularly when we were in highschool.

  3. If you know anyone into traditionally nerdy pursuits, like heavy computer gaming, comics, sci fi etc ask if any of their friends run dnd - then ask if any of their friends WANT to play. Often the gaming group you get together is separate from your normal friends, and that's fine - not everyone you know is necessarily going to be into roleplaying.

  4. Put together a gaming group from people on the internet, from a site like roll20.net, and run a game. I recommend using voicechat for this, as textchat mediums are often harder.

  5. Find a forum that does roleplaying games, like mythweavers.com, and join a game there - keep in mind though, forums move at glacial pace compared to real life and chat games - it takes months to complete what would be a single session in a real life game.

The best thing you can do to get a game going is run one. You can teach yourself GMing by reading articles on the internet (and on this site), and it's something you can jump into without experience or training. As long as you keep in mind that it's about telling a good story, not about killing the players or a power fantasy, you'll probably do a better job than a lot of GMs out there.

There's always more people wanting to play characters than run worlds, so GMing is a pretty easy path into getting a game together.

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