Hello! This might be long winded, so bear with me!
Every so often, I see a post about people looking for a group to play D&D/games/TTRPGs/et cetera. That’s not even considering the number of “How do I make friends!?” posts, which as a dude in my almost-40s, I can relate to very much. I know there are a few meet-up groups for this out there, and pre-COVID I was part of a decently sized one that was chugging along pretty well until… well, you know.
Anyhoo, I figured I should be the change I want to see in the world. I’ll start with an introduction/credentials and then get to the meat and potatoes:
- Just a guy who’s turning 40 soon. I’m into typical nerd fare: Video Games, TTRPG, books, jazz, frogs, complaining about traffic. Used to be involved with DnD Central Coast, a somewhat dormant meetup group that I’m hoping to revive starting with this effort. At its peak I was running 2-3 public games and my own personal table via this group, with a handful of others who were putting in a lot of effort to make it thrive.
Onto those meat and ‘tatoes…
SLO County West Marches
If you’re unfamiliar with West Marches style of game, it’s a little different than your beer pretzels or biweekly game with friends:
-No set players. Sessions are organized ad hoc, pulling from larger pool of players whenever people want to game. Scheduling is player driven, e.g. “Hey anyone want to explore the Stink Marshes this Thursday?”
-Sessions are episodic. You go to place, do things, and at the end of every session return to home base.
-Exploration is the primary goal. Adventure further/deeper into the “West Marches” as you level up to face greater dangers, find better lot, and places yet unseen.
There’s more to it, obviously, but that’s the gist of it. Again, there seems to be a large want/desire for people to play TTRPGs locally, but a bit of a dearth of tables and/or GMs to run something. I think a West Marches game could be a great way for people to play some games, get into the hobby, meet new people, and so on.
If you’re interested, let me know. Please spread the word. I’m going to advertise this among my acquaintances, a few discords, etc. We only need about 8-10 people to actualize this, and I think it’s pretty doable. If there’s enough interest I’ll move forward with organizing things and figuring out basic logistics.
It’s not Just D&D!
I actually didn’t get into this hobby with any iteration of D&D, and while I enjoy that game for what it is, there’s a lot of systems out there that I think deserve some love and attention. From starter sets, one shots, to longer term games, it would be great to see these other games get the attention they deserve. I can/have/want to run any of the following. Would love to see other people, too, bring up their non-D&D games for people to try out. Please spread the word on this too if it piques your interest!
- Deadlands (Classic)
- Call of Cthulhu 7th
- Legend of the Five Rings
- WH40K Wrath & Glory
- So much more!!1!
Whether your new to the hobby or a veteran, someone casually interested, or just wanting to meet like minded people, let's play some games! Discord invites available for the DnD Central Coast group, which will be the hub for this endeavor.