I've found that the D&D community is pretty chill. Playing online with randoms can be sketchy, but even in that environment you're far less likely to run into someone bad than on a video game discord. If possible hit up a game store near you to see if they have a bulletin board or something that local groups post "looking for player" notices.
This goes for D&D-adjacent pen and paper RPGs too, so don't think it has to be the big one.
I met the guy who is currently my closest friend by texting the number he put on a "looking for players" flyer at a game store, 12ish years ago. It can be done.
There are tons of resources out there to find people to play with online - /r/lfg gets like 20 posts a day; the real challenge is finding a group that doesn't disintegrate after 20 episodes
I've found that the D&D community is pretty chill. Playing online with randoms can be sketchy, but even in that environment you're far less likely to run into someone bad than on a video game discord. If possible hit up a game store near you to see if they have a bulletin board or something that local groups post "looking for player" notices.
This goes for D&D-adjacent pen and paper RPGs too, so don't think it has to be the big one.
D&D is a hard hobby to build a friend group when you don't know people, though.
I met the guy who is currently my closest friend by texting the number he put on a "looking for players" flyer at a game store, 12ish years ago. It can be done.
Some game stores host "organized play" which are pick up games where the GM uses an official module.
https://dnd.wizards.com/ddal_general
Pathfinder does this too
https://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety
There are tons of resources out there to find people to play with online - /r/lfg gets like 20 posts a day; the real challenge is finding a group that doesn't disintegrate after 20 episodes