Dungeons and Dragons is, at its core, all about communication, cooperation and a shared experience. It often sees a party of friends take on the challenges of a strange new fantasy RPG world. This party of adventurers is commonly known as a D&D Group and is headed by a trusted dungeon master. However, it is not always easy to gather together enough Dungeons and Dragons players. Today, we’ll discuss using both the internet and the good old fashioned way, how to find a D&D group.
Table of Contents
- Why Is It So Hard To Find A D&D Group?
- What is the Ideal Group Size for a D&D Group?
- Defining Party Roles
- How to find a D&D Group Online
- How to Find A D&D Group In Person
- How To Find a D&D Group: Final Thoughts
Why Is It So Hard To Find A D&D Group?
Supply and Demand is the key theme of finding a D&D group. First, think geographically: the game is most common in North America, Australia and New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. If you are looking for fellow D&D players outside of these countries the options become increasingly sparse. Sometimes this causes people to have to play solo DnD because they just can’t find enough people in their home country – this is Demand.
When considering Supply we need to think about what are the core components of a D&D game when you skin it down to its bare bones. The Dungeon Master (DM) and the players. Everyone wants to play, have fun and enjoy the fantasy world, DMs on the other hand are far less common. There’s a lot more work that goes into the preparation of any D&D campaign for a DM than the players themselves.
If we wanted to put an estimate on the ratio of DMs to players we would say something along the lines of 1:30. Now an ideal group size is about 5 players to 1 DM. This means – using a bit of maths magic – that we need six times more DMs to fulfil player demands. In short, there just are not enough DMs!
What is the Ideal Group Size for a D&D Group?
We have already suggested that the best size for a D&D group is around 5 or 6, but we thought it was best to explain why. Of course, you can play with as few as two or three (even solo D&D) or as many as 11 or 12, but going to these extremes will begin to impact the experience.
Too Low
It is pretty hard to gather people on a consistent basis, if you play in a small party it makes the party members ever more critical to the experience. Let’s say you are playing in a party of 3, if one person can’t make the session through illness or work, you have lost 33% of the group – a devastating number. Small parties mean that losses are ever more impactful.
In addition, too few party members makes role fulfilment an issue. Characters in 5e, while flexible, can’t do everything. Typically they are built toward specific actions, like fighting or support. With less players there’s less versatility to the point that the party may even just have to accept a gap in their capability.
Too High
With too many people, more than eight in most cases, the player experience also suffers. First, there is more pressure on the DM to make it challenging and plot point’s relevant to all players. Second, where is there challenge to a party that can cover everything expertly? It is the opposite of the too low problem, if you have every role specialised to its maximum it defeats the challenge too.
Lastly, too many players can lead to unnecessarily lengthy campaigns and sessions. It takes longer for all players to have their say in discussions and longer for actions to be established. Combat, for example, can take an age with each round of combat potentially taking 30 minutes with 10 or more players!
Just Right
Therefore, around 4-6 players is the perfect amount to balance time and party roles are more flexible and less overbearing on the general plot. Lastly, it makes for a happier DM as there is less to manage from their side.
Defining Party Roles
Some could call this section a bit of a “side quest”, it is not too essential to the body of the main article, but it is all about how to make “the perfect D&D group”. To make a perfect party, the members need to be happy in what they’re doing. First, you need a DM who is happy to DM, not one forced into it. Second, If you have 5 players who want to play as a Barbarian class, its not going to be so enjoyable for them when they are asked to pick something else.
The Core Roles you need in any party are along the lines of a Wizard, Fighter, Rogue, and Cleric. It is not the most exciting or original line-up, but does let you cover some fundamentals: Scouting, Support, Combat, Knowledge, and so on.
If you can find a group that enjoys playing these distinct roles, or variations of it, you will have the makings of a great D&D group.
How to find a D&D Group Online
With all this being said, now we can finally investigate the best places to find a D&D group. We will start online because it is easier, more accessible and you can do it from the comfort of your own home.
Roll20.net
Roll20.net is an officially licensed partner of Wizards of the Coast – Dungeons and Dragons publisher – and have been so since 2016 so they have built up a long lasting, sustainable relationship with the brand. This website knows what it is doing when it comes to playing D&D online.
It is really as simple as setting up some search parameters and hitting “find games”. Websites like Roll20.net bring together users from all over the world and so the player pool is practically endless. As a word of warning, it might be best to try and get players playing in a similar time zone. It is hard to commit for a party that has some players in the US and some in Australia.
The site also has options for games specifically for new players, so if you are learning or still a beginner this is a great option for you too.
However, It is worth highlighting that not all games on the site are free to play, so if you are looking for a free game it is important to check the correct tick-box!
Mark Zuckerberg’s golden platform has been seeing a declining user base in the past years, but still is a place to find some likeminded people. The most notable groups include:
- Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition with a membership of 173k people and an average of 20-30 new posts per day
- Dungeons & Dragons Group Finder – 15k members
- D&D group finder – 20k members
The 5E group is by far the most used and best on the platform. It is worth noting that most of the groups above are weighted towards North American audiences. While they do have other countries on their roster too, it might be easier to check for searches using “D&D” group + “your town” in the search bar instead.
Reddit – r/LFG
Ah, the infamous, but ever useful, Reddit. How we both cherish and despise you at the same time. The r/LFG stands for “Looking for Group” so it is pretty much right up our street. It is in the top 1% of all Reddit groups with a membership of around 230k. People looking for D&D groups can filter by flairs like DM wanted, Players Wanted, or Both!
R/LFG is slightly more helpful than the r/DnD because the former is specifically about filling D&D groups while the latter is all things DnD, rules, tips, homebrew etc.
Meetup.com
Meetup.com really does what it says on the tin. It is all about helping people connect and meetup. The website and app cover all sorts of topics, walking groups, yoga groups, and painting groups to name some. It is a website all about getting people to get involved in hobbies that they can’t necessarily do with their own friends. Searching for D&D in Toronto gives all sorts of hits for you to try out.
DnD Beyond
DnD Beyond recently, on May 18 2022, became a part of Wizards of the Coast so it is a semi-offcial source on all things D&D. Importantly for us, it has a great forum for looking for players and groups.
Wizards of The Coast Official Website
Where better to look than the very home of Dungeons and Dragons? Wizards of the Coast’s Website has a handy D&D Events locator. The only criticism we have of this is that it is a locator for officially licensed events. For example, we checked within 100km of New York and only got one hit – there are of coursed more than just one D&D group in the whole of New York! The point in D&D is its freedom and its unofficial content, such as homebrew. While you can find great stuff on the official website it would not be our number one place to find a D&D group, we just wanted to cover all the bases.
How to Find A D&D Group In Person
Finding a D&D group in person does sometimes require you to be a little bit braver than online, you need to put yourself out there. The good thing is that the D&D community is absolutely delightful and welcoming to new players. Everyone wants more people to play with right?
Your Local Board Game Café
The good old fashioned Board Game Café or local game store can be an excellent place to find a D&D group. These places normally have scheduled D&D nights that local players come and participate in. The staff typically have good knowledge of all manner of board games and you might even spot something else you want to play on the side! You can either go in and ask directly about a D&D night, or check out the Café’s website too. Zulus in Washington, for example, actively advertises their D&D section. Although the screenshot below is for younger players you can always send them an email to see what they have for adult Dungeons and Dragons players.
Conventions
Conventions are a somewhat more time-sensitive approach to finding a D&D group. The benefit straight off the bat is that you meet many likeminded people in a short space of time. Typically these are also done by professional organisers so there is good structure to the event. A downside, however, is that these are often yearly, or semi-yearly. If you just missed one you either don’t want to travel multiple hours to the next one or wait till the next year.
The people you meet at conventions, if you get on well, can become lifelong friends and so you can continue to play D&D with each other even after the convention has ended.
Play with your friends
Typically, people surround themselves with likeminded friends. Whether that might be a sense of humour, ambitions or hobbies. There is, truthfully, a bit of stigma attached to D&D and some people are not keen to try and play D&D because of it. It might be worth trying to wean your friends into a game of DnD. If your friends like fantasy, or Tabletop games, it is already a major step towards forming a D&D group with them. You could start with a board game that is simply related to DnD, like Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate and if they enjoyed that, suggest moving to Dungeons and Dragons.
Alternatively, instead of committing to a lengthy campaign, you just just play a one-shot, which is a single session. There is less commitment on the friend’s part doing it this way and if they enjoyed it you could advance to a short campaign. The best D&D groups are often formed with friends you already know and get along with.
Become a DM
Perhaps, if all fails you could turn to the dark side and become a DM and this could be an article all on its own. We have already discussed that one of the key constraints of getting together is a D&D group is that there is not enough DMs – well, how about be part of the solution? It is probably the longest option, it requires hard work, patience and desire, but can be incredibly rewarding – so why not try it?
How To Find a D&D Group: Final Thoughts
Well, that is us done. We have discussed how to find a D&D group both online and in person. If we had to pin point the best place to find a D&D group we would recommend friends you already know. It is always enjoyable to learn, grow and play with the people closest to us and, really, the worst thing they can say is “no”. Then you can try everything else on this list!
