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Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Starfinder RPG

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GameMastery Guide / Getting Started / The GM as Host

Finding Players

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 12
Once you know how many players you’d like to have, it’s time to organize a group. Start by talking to friends and family members you’d like to include. Mixing ages is fine so long as there are enough common interests.

If there’s still room at your game table, you can consider people you don’t yet know or know only tangentially. Coworkers and friends of friends are usually the first to be included in this set, especially if your players have sung the praises of your game to other people.

Outside of such personal contacts, there are a number of other ways to find players. Try contacting a local game store about putting up a flier with your contact information, or see if there’s a gaming club at your school or the local college. The Internet offers instant access to thousands of gamers via free classified ads or message boards, and there are several websites specifically devoted to helping local gamers connect, such as the Gamer Connection forum on paizo.com. (Of course, safety always comes first—you should meet strangers in public places with plenty of people around and should never give out more personal information than an email address until you trust someone.)

Last but not least, when in doubt, go where the gamers are. Attend a local game convention, science fiction movie opening, or other event that might be of interest to gamers. Talk to people there, and if you find a gamer who lives nearby, mention that you’re looking for players and provide contact information.

If you don’t want to do the recruiting yourself, you can allow one or more players to handle it, but it’s a good idea to ask that they run any potential new players past you—or even the whole group—for approval before inviting them to a session.

A word of warning: As with any party, it’s important to make sure that everyone you invite to your game gets along with the rest. While you can’t predict every conflict, you can do your best to avoid obvious problems—this might be a player whose style doesn’t match the rest of the group (see Problem Players in Chapter Three), or a player with a more obvious conflict, such as a current player’s ex-spouse. A lot of gaming groups fall apart because of interplayer conflict. As a result, when taking a chance on a new player, it’s generally best to issue a limited invitation, such as for a single adventure, and then decide from there. Don’t let a party member who’s friends with a potential player—or worse, the potential player himself—pressure you into inviting him back if he isn’t right for your game.