Gaming Communities
There are lots of ways to discover new RPGs, read reviews, share ideas, argue about which games suck and which games rule, find gaming groups, and generally immerse yourself in the hobby. There are far more online communities than the ones listed here, but this should be enough to get you started.
Ask the Experts at StackExchange
This is a tremendously helpful Q&A site, covering rules and gaming techniques for newcomers and veterans alike, across the full spectrum of tabletop roleplaying. The StackExchange community management process leads to well-vetted questions and excellent answers. Here’s a small sampling of the sorts of questions addressed in the site:
- How do I roleplay an intelligent character?
- How to become better at descriptions of what your character is doing?
- What kinds of rules promote good team cohesion?
- What tools are useful to organize a GM’s campaign notes?
- What are the key considerations to creating compelling environments?
- How can GMs evoke the tone of danger in an RPG?
Delve Into Roleplaying Communities
These community sites are an excellent way to find other gamers, read the latest news, and see what’s hot in the TTRPG world:
- EN World – This is a massive forum with columns, game reviews, publisher announcements, and more.
- Gnome Stew – Devoted to helping gamemasters improve their skills, the articles in this site will help any GM.
- Reddit – Role Playing Games – An active community with Q&A, links, and all sorts of RPG discussions.
- RPG Bloggers – Use this site’s search function to find blogs and podcasts that cover the games and genres you enjoy most.
- RPG Crossing – This forum is dedicated to play by post gaming, and also provides intro materials to those new to roleplaying.
- RPG Geek – This massive data-driven site provides news, reviews, forum play, and much more.
- RPG.Net – This is a community forum for game reviews and discussion about every flavor of fantasy roleplaying game.
- The Gauntlet – They host a forum, manage several podcasts, and publish their own games and ‘zines.
Discord Servers for Specific Games
There are many Discord servers, most of them created by fans. Those tend to come and go, but official servers run by game publishers are usually more long-lived. They also have the advantage of allowing gamers to talk directly to a game’s creators. Here are a few:
- Blades in the Dark
- City of Mist
- Cyberpunk
- Degenesis
- Eclipse Phase
- Fragged Empire
- Mothership
- RuneQuest
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