Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 gendif Jun 09, 2009 19:32:10	Few years back, a funny thing happened. By which I mean strange and interesting, not hilarious and amusing.. I'd been surfing the web looking at shiny new videogames and wishing I had them, so with it being close to christmas I jotted down the names and made sure just about everyone I knew knew I wanted them. Much to my surprise I get given a book, don't get me wrong I like reading, and this book is, apparently, a game. Seemed interesting so I read it through and something clicked, this looked like a great idea! Obviously, that book was the player's handbook (3e, for the record) and though i'd always know about D&D I'd never really given it much consideration. Obviously owning a book changed all that. However, high hopes of dragon slaying and adventures were short lived. Turns out that none of my friends or, when I got desperate, my family were interested in playing. I almost had something but it fell apart because it turns out i'm not very good at teaching gaming systems I don't know myself, so I shrugged it all off. I put the books on a shelf and every now and then read them, moved on with my life. Every now and then on amazon i'd order a cool looking supplement, no idea why as i'd never use them. But they looked good, didn't cost too much and are a good read while you're waiting for your favourite authors to release more books. You may have noticed that I am rambling, I tend to do this a lot. Perhaps in some vain attempt to invite pity, compassion or somesuch repsonse. Maybe it's important backstory? Who knows, I could just be fishing for xp from on high. The along comes 4e and I think to myself, "Yeah, go on. Add that to your little collection." So I do. I also wonder if now is a good time to restart my search for a real gaming group, to at last play this game after... hmm... atleast six years! Again, my search was in vain. You see I live in Southern England, Hampshire and there aren't exactly a large amount of gaming shops or groups around here. The only one I found meet when I work so that was a no go. So now I turn my attention to the internet and seek to share my story and ask advice. I'm a complete novice at all of this and I really am interested in playing. The online table thing still seems far on the horizon so i'll not hold my breath for that. Also, because i'm over here on GMT and most of this community seems to be over in america I face that time zone issue as well. So, forum goers. What's a wannabe player to do?
#2 gregt_314 Jun 09, 2009 19:45:06	I live in Canberra, a city smaller than a single electorate of Sydney, and we have enough gamers to sustain three annual conventions with attendances between 150 and 1,000 people. I would be very much surprised if there are not, in fact, an absolute wealth of gamers in your neighbourhood, probably on the very street you live in. If you're not too old for it to be creepy, you'll probably find more gamers than you can poke a stick at at your nearest university, sci-fi club, or anime club. Make some friends at your nearest LAN cafe, or any place where geeks gather. Failing all that, one of the reasons the virtual tabletop has fallen off the radar is that it's redundant. Check out MapTool at www.rptools.net - it's a free online virtual tabletop that's ideal for playing 4E. You can probably find a game going on one of the many online gaming/play-by-post forums, or if not you can start your own game and advertise it there. Good luck!
#3 imbecile Jun 10, 2009 11:28:14	Im kinda the same. Live in the UK, but no obvious local set-up. I have one other mate who might be interested, but thats it. Was looking at Maptools, but it looks a little daunting, but I might post a newbie looking for group message, and hope someone talks me through it!