Enemy Contact

Recruiting Players Online

Subtitle: "How to Make Friends Online" (per jay_zer0)

Context

Up until recently I've been blessed to be able to do all of my TTRPG gaming with my IRL friend group. Due to a variety of reasons, the amount of TTRPG games I can get to the table has dropped precipitously in recent months.

I still want to get gaming in so I am exploring online options.

I asked the question "are there any blog posts about the best tactics for recruiting players for online play?" in the Gay Beholder discord and got plenty of advice but no single resource anyone could point to.

So I will document my process, what works, and what doesn't so as to create a future resource for prospective DMs.

Goals

  1. Start and run a long term campaign online. My gaming group has approached TTRPGs similar to board games. A lot of one shots with the occasional frequent returner, but no long-term games played at regular intervals. I want to change this.
  2. Document the Process. Determine what is effective and what is not.

Complications

  1. I have a limited number of time slots where I can guarantee I'll be free on a weekly basis. I have dedicated one of those slots to playing in Olliedog's Excellent Wolves on the Coast game.
  2. The games I enjoy running tend to be niche in an already niche hobby. For example, my first choice of game to run would be a Terror of the Stratosfiend campaign for DCC. Less name recognition can reasonably be linked with less player interest.
  3. No history of running games online. Similar to number 2 above, less instant name recognition leads to less player interest.

Options for Online Games

  1. Live - The most common type of game I see online. I plan to use a mix of TlDraw and discord audio.
  2. PbP - There is some excellent advice on PbP games out there from Jenx and Yochai Gal
  3. Massive Asynchronous - Cataphracts and Vanguard are great examples of this style of play.
  4. Hybrid - A mix of the above. For example, a domain level game played by post except for the occasional live game where a party accomplishes specific task to influence the PbP game.

My preference is Live, then Hybrid, then PbP. For Hybrid I would write my own game, adding an additional hurdle to getting a game going.

Approach To Date

  1. Posted in LFG is two discords (Gay Beholder and NSR Cauldron) for a DCC Two-Shot (Against the Hippy Commune) to be run on Sunday Mornings (PST). No interest so far.
  2. If the Sunday morning time slot doesn't work I'll try a weekday, after work, spot next. Most likely Thursdays.