I have some good and bad news on this issue for everyone. I can say I have been rejected, in uncomfortable situations, and met people. Though I will always like tabletop roleplaying, meeting people in general is exactly like the way Jim Gaffigan describes a box of chocolates "I don't know what I am about to eat but I am a pig enough to find out" or you can use the fictional character Forrest Gump quote "Life is a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get".
For everyone out there that is new to the hobby, you are probably putting out feelers about the people while at the same time trying to get your foot in the door to start engaging in tabletop roleplaying. Will you get along with them? What house rules have been established? What is happening in the campaign? I have known this group of gamers in tacoma close to a decade ago that I particularly didn't get along with after attending a few of their sessions in the Tacoma Mall and then eventually in their house. Yes, I did accidently cause a fire on a wooden boat in the campaign, but that was due to a crappy Profession (cook) roll and I was mocked quite a bit for that and for the reaction of my character at the time. From my personal point of view of the whole experience, I didn't feel welcome in that group so I quit hanging out with them after only a couple sessions. The point is that people make or break the quality of roleplaying.
I have looked up classified ads and some of the information out there. A real roll of the dice really, but there are several ways of looking at the scenario. You might make a few friends, or it might be a dangerous situation so use your common sense when meeting new people. Another possibility would be to introduce your current friends to this activity and see how they react to the idea. If you are planning on hosting a new tabletop roleplaying session, plan out the whole event as if you were throwing an actual party such as arranging the time place, ensure that the DM and all of the players are prepared (especially make sure that all of the players finished crafting their characters otherwise the whole time will probably be wasted on character creation), buy some party food & drinks (or the event can be a potluck by encouraging all the guests to bring food) for all of the guests, and spread the word among prospective guests about the event. Depending on the group, they just might like the idea after they try tabletop roleplaying especially if they walk away from the event having a lot of fun.
I find myself in a similar situation at the moment. I am going to try dabbling in the action of LARPing (live action role playing) and I am bridging new ground for myself as well. LARPing seems to be tabletop roleplaying taken to another level of interaction through actual acting. When I was in high school, I was a bad actor on stage because I would always forget my lines and you can't really improv shakespeare lines in a believeable way unless you are a professional actor. As I try out LARPing over time, I will type up more blog posts about this subject. At the moment though, I have to finish typing up my character's background information/profile and then submit my PC to the GM. Good luck to everyone and most importantly, have fun! :-)
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