If you can't find groups to join, you can start your own group. The key is to be a GM looking for players, then people will magically appear...
Then you can move onto the next phase: scheduling hell, and why I hate people
That's what I have been doing, trying to run games.
I have visited shops to find them full of Magic and other TCG players, but no role-players
Did you ask the people behind the counter at your LGS if they do TTRPG groups?
I have posted on relevant socials and Discords like the Discord server for a game store, local area RPG players Discord and FB pages, LFG groups on reddit and Lemmy and Discord
If you've done all that and you're still not getting any bites as a GM looking for players, I'm inclined to think there is something wrong with your pitch that is turning people off. Usually GMs looking for players have the problem of too many players being interested. Maybe it's because you're looking for pen and paper players as opposed to an online group? Are there any unusual requirements you've put forth in your posts on these communities?
Some people might be a bit nervous about playing in-person with a totally new group. Perhaps you could offer playing online virtually with people in your local area first, and then if you all vibe, you could meet in-person after that.
The store I have been at lately has welcomed the idea of more RPGs played there for some time. He got me on the store's discord so I could find and chat with players. There was a push for some time, but folks have been rather silent about TTRPGs.
Maybe ask them if they will let you post a bulletin in the store?
How about your posts on other boards that are explicitly for LFG (you mentioned posting on Reddit)? Did you see any responses there?
Meetup is a site that isn’t specific to RPGs but I’ve seen RPG groups there.
From experience, I've never been lucky with finding groups of randos willing to play consistently. Campaigns that began this way would always fall into scheduling hell, because people are only there to roleplay, not to spend time with friends.
I've had more luck with convincing my friends to play. Since we are friends, we already spend time together, so scheduling a weekly game is much easier. We did have a few hiatuses because of work or family-related issues, but for the most part, we've played consistently for the past few years.
I’ve had some luck joining the game’s discord server and checking the LFG posts. Depends on the game, of course, works best for small but not unknown indie games.
Just ask your friends? Most of them probably know nothing of the game but hopefully will be up for giving it a go!
This community is for meaningful discussions of tabletop/pen & paper RPGs
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