Getting group together

>getting group together
>players seem ok in PM, not obvious that guys, fairly interactive, can joke around easily, seem hype for game
>put them together in a group
>silence
>try to have some calls to talk about the game and just get used to eachother
>maybe one shows up, if that
>all the messages in the chat are from me.
how do I get my players to warm up to each other and keep up my game hype?

tg moves too fast at midnight

This is a fairly general question.
Maybe trim a few Veeky Forums details and try another board?

Except that the tg details are the important parts.

I dont need gf advice from /m/ or instructions on how to get a band together or go on long roadtrips. I want to make my rpg group not be shit.

It's very difficult to get them to warm up, mainly because they may not have ever met. Talking to strangers is hard, you don't want to do any mistakes, and you want to represent yourself in a positive way. This puts a lot of pressure onto people, and a lot of them can't deal with that.

It may sound odd, but alchohol is a social lubricant. If things don't go smoothly from the get go you should introduce alchohol and it will smooth out the edges.
Make sure to not go overboard though, and if needed have a driver ( drive them yourself as the GM; you take responsibility for your players)

Try not talking about the game all the time. If you recruited everyone from Veeky Forums, that's something you all have in common already so you can talk about other Veeky Forums related things just to pass the time and get to know each other. You could also try talking about other Veeky Forums related things (be careful bringing up /pol/ stuff though, a lot of people can't handle the banter) to open up more topics.

Any group is going to die if the only thing holding you together is the weekly session. If you don't have other common interests it's probably just not going to work out. It's really a lot of trial and error for forming an initial group, but after that you'll have access to friends of your friends and will steadily form enough connections to consistently form groups out of the people you know until you end up with a regular gaming group.

Basically your current group might just be doomed to fail, it happens a lot. But try to make it work anyway, and keep in touch with the players that work well with you.

Alright apparently more info is needed.

As a player, Ive never had a problem connecting with my group, im actually fairly shy around new people, but regardless my past groups have all managed to get together (online, from the gamefinder) just fine. Now that im on my own trying to GM ive noticed im having difficulty getting my players to voluntarily interact together. Ive tried spamming the dankest memes, playing video games together (steam multiplayer shit), having group calls just to talk, character workshops, anything I thought that would be a good online group activity. Making sure to get out of my shell even to do so. And yet I still havent managed to get a group to connect while I was a GM.

I go join someone elses group as a player, and it goes fine. I make a group as a gm, and I end up with the anti-social brigade. What should I be doing?

Its very difficult to get people drunk over skype, but thanks for the advice.

Maybe you're just unlucky and keep recruiting spergs?

Have you tried to GM for any people you already know from previous games, or is it all randoms?

Yes, theres always at least one person that I bring in from past groups. Though I get a lot of spergs too. Thats the downside of gamefinder groups.

So it looks like you can usually wrangle them together at least, how about from there you give them a kick up the arse, a "Alright, let's all introduce ourselves, shall we? I'm user and I'll be your GM I am stern, stern but fair. Next" If nobody takes the initiative a little "Look this is a social hobby, nothing's gonna get done if you can't even say hello to each other, ya bunch of spergs." Sometimes you have to push real hard, sometime all you need is a tap to get the ball rolling. Sometimes you need a lever, a bucket and some TNT. But you don't stop until it rolls.

This is pretty cringy.

I just always have two guys I know and three I don't.

Not as much as sitting in a skype room with four twats who can't even say hello to each other.

There is nothing cringey at all about this. Sounds like pretty solid advice

Play the goddamn game. If it's good enough, they'll want to talk about it and return to it. Over time, they'll start talking about other things and maybe get to know each other a bit. Stop forcing people to warm up to each other. They'll do it on their own time if the game is good.

No, way cringier than that. Don't force people to talk to each other, it'll come naturally over time. Being a pushy faggot just makes you look retarded.

>Okay guys we are all here. Why don't you say hello?
>...
>....
>...
>...
>Five minutes later
>"okay guys great session. See you later"
>End call

>it'll come naturally over time.
Which is OPs entire problem. It's not coming naturally.

Protip: try playing the game. If they like it, they'll talk about it and warm up to each other through it. They're here for the game, not to socialize with strangers or with the ""expert"" of social interactions that you fancy yourself to be you fucking autist.

Coming naturally doesn't mean "within the first five minutes of the game." Have some fucking patience.

>They're here for the game, not to socialize with strangers
Then they should be playing a video game instead. Pen and paper RPGs are inherently social in the respect that there are certain social contracts you must abide by when playing. Also it's kinda not a game when each of the players are scared shitless of speaking in a group of people.

Dank opinions, senpai.

This was the last straw for me DMing.

>there are certain social contracts you must abide by when playing
yeah, about as much as there is social contracts involved doing shopping

Yeah basically just start playing. Have you tried just setting the scene for them to get into character?

If that doesn't work, put them on the spot a little. Have a town guard try to search their bags or something, make their character do something.

If they can't communicate either in or out of character, then you don't want them in your group.

First, make sure every player has their character prepared. Ideally spend some time with each one individually to make sure that when they get to the session they have a decent group of characters (fit the setting, cover the team bases, understand how their class mechanics work etc.). This is important for the next step.

Once the session starts don't waste unnecessary time with chatting or other bullshit, the type of people you're dealing with is bad with both strangers and unstructured situation. Both at once -> they shut down. Deal with the introductions quickly, just name of player and character and class, and immediately throw them into the action, medias res style:

"You meet in a tavern. You're too busy for introductions because you're barricading the door against the goddamn zombie horde! Oh shit they're coming through the window roll for initiative."

You can backfill the setting and RP stuff after the ice has been broken with some jolly cooperation.

Give people too many options where they aren't sure what the right thing to do is (like freeform shooting the shit) and they and they freeze in indecision. Instead give them a specific topic they all know how to react to to break the ice.

>Players are nervous about talking together
>Lets make a game where role playing is completely absent and no other communication is had besides "I do X to kill Y".
You threw out the baby (the fucking game) with the bath water (needing to encourage communication).

They specifically mentioned backfilling plot later.

If everyone's too reserved to role play, then serve up a puzzle or some action to give them something to talk about first.

I get where you're coming from, but OPs current tactic isn't working.

How do you guys find your groups? Is there an app or something? I live in a fairly populated area and I'm certain there's people around that play this shit, I just can't simply approach strangers and ask them

Two things:

1) It's better than awkward silence. A pile of unsocialised basement dwellers who have never even met each other is never going to instantly turn into a tight knit group of gregarious friends, nor develop great inprov RP skills. Stop dreaming. This takes baby steps, and getting the game to not die in the first session is the first of many necessary steps.

2) I though this could go without saying, but apparently not: A DM worth a damn will try to make any encounter challenging, not just for the dice, but in the sense of requiring teamwork, communication and decision making. Especially when he has plenty of prep and controls all the variables like this.

I know jack shit about the OP's players or game. Hell I don't even know what system he's playing. I just threw something in to be as an example. If I were to actually run it, it would include various wrinkles for the players to have to tackle. Maybe after the first group is beaten they hear screams from outside and have to decide whether they prioritise their own skins or doing the right thing. Maybe a necromancer arrives in front of the tavern and starts doing something magical, how do you stop him? Maybe the undead hordes are filling the streets and they need to figure out an escape route. Maybe any other of a million possiblities someone who is not a shit DM can throw at them. All of which naturally causes the players involvement to extend beyond I hit X with Y.

The key is to give them structure along which to communicate, while building up their bonds and confidence. Ideally the first encounter ends climactically in order to both bond the players over a deserved victory, and give them something to look forward to, increasing the chance they'll make the second session.