I’ve always sought to recruit new players to roleplaying games. My
earliest efforts included drafting neighborhood kids, though
eventually I happened upon a few like-minded friends who occasionally
gathered for games. (Alas, I discovered Dungeons & Dragons
at the tail end of junior high school, which, for a brief time,
sponsored a D&D club before overly concerned parents shut
it down). Although I discovered several kids on my high school bus
route played D&D, none really wanted anything to do with
an overly enthusiastic freshman. I can imagine many gamers in the
early to mid 1980s tried finding other players, balancing the social
stigma against the potential reward of expanding their player base,
all with the cloud of the anti-D&D hysteria looming
overhead. In those days my blind enthusiasm drove my clumsy efforts
to find and lure new recruits to the adventure gaming hobby. But by
the time I got to college I started more consciously to consider
strategies to involve people in my (admittedly limited) social
circles in gaming.
