I want to get into playing D&D but I don't have any social contacts, so I joined Roll20...

I want to get into playing D&D but I don't have any social contacts, so I joined Roll20. I've applied for multiple campaigns and one-shots that explicitly invite beginners, the first of them start on Saturday, and there's no response from any of them. I don't post special snowflake character suggestions.

Is that normal for Roll20? Do I just have to wait until right before the campaigns start? Or are "public" campaigns as unreliable and awful as public servers in vidyogaemz?
Does playing with total strangers work, or is Roll20 / Pen and Paper made for people who already know each other?

>Somewhere a child cries. I feel nothing.

Finding a game on Roll20 is like winning the lottery, you need a smaller community. I recommend the lfg subreddit, only took me two days there.

There are way more players trying to get into games then there are DMs running. I just posted asking for players yesterday and theres like over 40 applications. If you really wanna play i suggest learning how to DM by watching some youtube videos. Matt coville on youtube has some good beginner videos for new DMs.

I was having the same problem. Seems I am destined to be forever DM but the problem with that is I have to learn how to use the roll20 tools to make a simple campaign and I just don't feel like it.

But it's what I am going to have to do if I want to actually play.

>theres like over 40 applications.

...and maybe 2 of those will be decent, reliable players after 3 weeks.

Good luck finding those two.

>Roll20
Roll20 is good if you want to GM a game with a bunch of homebrew rules you or some other idiots online wrote. For finding a game to play, though, it takes a lot of time because there's so many other lazy assholes looking for a GM.

Avoid D&D3.5, 4, 5, Pathfinder and any WoD games.

That should guarantee easier to find better players.

As much as I'll get torn apart for suggesting this, try more normie sites. I made my group on imgur from a comment chain full of random people who 'wished they'd been able to play but had never had the chance'
Gives you plenty of people to choose from, and out of my group of 5 to start with only 1 bailed out.

This really. I have been reading 5e's Dungeon Master Guide, I have learned a lot but I can't seem to find how the characters work. How do they level up, how to apply the points and shit.

Do I need a different book? I know about Player's Guide but I haven't checked it. I assume the DM or GM or whatever's book would have how to handle leveling up and stuff.

Was I wrong? these are big fucking books, currently reading page 179 out of 340 or so pages.

So 95% of the games?

Read the player's handbook or the basic rules if you dont wanna read everything (most of what you need is in the basic rules desu, the big books just have specific stuff, more options etc).

This, reddit is pretty good too. Posting on normie sites means you'll likely get people who are a little nerdy, and you'll avoid the weebs and sperglords/ Nothing of value was lost

There is nothing wrong with being a weeb.

I've only ever used roll20 to play with people I already know, who have moved away.

>roll20
is it free?

Yes

The remaining 5% games have 95% of the good people, so, yes.

>can't do online games because I have a really shitty voice and sound like an autistic sperg
>can't even do text games because I suck at typing quickly or being even remotely articulate
Kill me

I'm sure it is common, although I've had pretty good luck getting picked for games I apply to. I would recommend checking the site every day or a few times a day for a week or so, and look for games with more recent postings or which aren't pulling a lot of applications.

Second, you want to write a good intro. Don't ramble on a long time or rush through. Check it a couple times for spelling and grammar errors so you don't look like a spaz. If the GM has asked questions, answer each of them clearly. Unless specifically told to, don't come in describing a really specific character. A lot of people apply by giving a whole list of facts about what they want to play. I'm an elf ranger named Moonbeam with a bear pet who hates orcs, or whatever. If you give a lot of details, and they seem boring to the GM, or conflict with someone else already in the game, he won't reply. If you say, "I want to play a ranger or barbarian, some kind of wilderness based character maybe", that doesn't conflict as much, and it suggests you are willing to change your ideas to fit his game, rather than trying to force your ideas into his story. Try and summarize in like a sentence or two the personality you want to play. Not a list of stats and facts, but a concept that sounds fun to have in a game.

If you can do these things, you will avoid being quickly dismissed as retarded or a bad fit, and can stand out and appear like someone who, first off, actually read the instructions and followed them, secondly, will probably be agreeable about fitting into the game, and lastly, is actually interesting in roleplay.

Learn to talk better. Read more books, that'll help with articulation. Are you ESL or something?

Do you not have a FLGS nearby? Ask the guys who work there if they know anything, and if that fails, ask to put up a flyer.