Throwing people together into a game is not always the best way to build a gaming community. Socializing in a no-pressure environment is a great alternative.
This appeared originally as a YouTube video in February of 2024, but in an effort to be evenhanded, I’m providing the transcript here, so you can either read the post below or watch it in video form.
Last weekend, my friend Matt and I held a Gamer Gaggle in our little city of Santa Cruz, California.
Getting The Gaggle Going
What’s a Gamer Gaggle? Well, it’s not actually about playing games. It’s a gathering of gamers focused on nurturing a sense of community. We think of it as a salon. No, not that kind of salon. It’s a convening of people who share similar interests to get to know each other in a low-key, no-stress fashion. A way to help foster a sense of community and see where that might take us.
Our inaugural Gaggle gathered a group of over 35 tabletop roleplayers from the area. Many of them were into D&D, as you’d suspect, but many were playing or were interested in other games. We planned the gathering for the second Saturday in February at an outdoor food court in the early afternoon.
In advance of the Gaggle, Matt and I spread the word the old-fashioned way; we went out into the geekosphere (comics stores, bookstores, toy stores, game stores). We came armed with flyers that clearly laid out the what, where, and why of the Gaggle, and we explained to the store owners that our goal was community building. We talked to the proprietors of geek stores around town, and they all reacted positively. They spread the word, and a couple of them even showed up at the Gaggle.
As fate would have it, an offshoot of a local Meetup group had just started a Discord for area tabletop RPG folks, so we put out the word there as well. We really had no idea how many people would make it, but the weather cooperated, and the early afternoon timing meant that we didn’t have to fight for seating.
Gagglers Geek On Gaming
We came prepared, and as more people showed up, we kept joining more tables together. Matt and I started by standing up and introducing ourselves, reiterating the intent of the Gaggle and describing how the first hour would be structured and the second hour would be for unstructured mingling. Giving participants that sense of what to expect really helped.
We then moved into warmup questions to ease people into things and get a broad sense of people’s experiences and interests. Then we asked people to tell us a bit about what they were excited about, either a new game they were playing or something they wanted to try out. Anything, really.
But that immediately turned into essentially introductions, as Gagglers spoke briefly in turn about their gaming history, what they were playing now, and what they were interested in and open to. This led to clapping, lots of head nodding, and a few comments. There was excitement in the air, but we kept things moving so everyone could give their intro.
That took us to about the hour mark, at which point the formal portion concluded and people were able to grab a drink, get some food, and mingle and chat. We also circulated clipboards with signup sheets so people could provide contact info and comments.
Groups naturally formed as people chatted, but the group shifted. Matt and I made an effort to move from group to group as well as talk with as many people as possible. One thing that was really reinforced in all this is that talking about tabletop RPGs in person is just a lot more fun than it is online. It’s a lot more friendly and feels like a mutual exploration rather than a guarded encounter that might at any time turn into an argument.
Many participants stayed after the two-hour mark, and I discovered later that two gaming groups found new members at the Gaggle. One attendee, who was tabletop RPG-curious, went across the street to the comic book store to pick up a beginner box set before the Gaggle was even finished.
Because that local tabletop RPG Discord was already up and running, the leader of that effort was there with a QR code so people could easily sign up. So between the signup sheets and the Discord, we have multiple ways of contacting local gamers about whatever we do next.
Gaggling is Good
And we’ve already determined that there’s plenty of interest in more Gaggles. So we’re setting a default to the second Saturday of every month, at the same time and location, to make it easy for folks to remember.
We’re still finding out where this is going to take us, but the Gamer Gaggle really exceeded our expectations and revealed so many interesting, imaginative, friendly gamers in our area.
If you’re wondering where the gamers are in your neck of the woods—who knows? Maybe a Gaggle is in order. If you’ve done something similar, or are thinking about holding your own Gaggle, please let me know in the Setting First Discord.
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The Santa Cruz Gamer Gaggle started in February of 2025, and in two days we’ll be holding our 17th(!) monthly Gaggle. The Discord now numbers over 300 participants, and a ton of other activity is happening around library games and other actitivities. I’m working on a follow-up post that will go into this in more detail.