Ive been intrigued by this game since hearing my dad talk about him playing as a kid, seeing it on “I love the 80s”, and then of course Stranger Things sparked my interest again a few years back and I have been slowly collecting some books. My question is how do you go about starting a game? I have tried just asking my friends/coworkers and I get a few people interested but it never goes beyond that. Our other issue is not being able to find an experienced DM. Ive been told to go try my local comic shop, and they do have a night of people coming to play, but it just didnt seem as beginner friendly as it was described by the employee, and they were well into the middle of a campaign.

I guess my question is do I just bite the bullet and try my hand at being the DM for a group I can put together? Or should I at least experience the game as a normal player first?