I am a teenager on summer break, how would you recommend getting people to play with you irl or on zoom, or just finding people to play with. Not looking for meeting people on the internet, more of convincing people to play dnd.

Not sure where you are, but covid might make convincing people to play games in person a bit more difficult for a while yet.

That said, you still have to find people in the first place. If your friends and relatives aren't up for it, the internet is still a good place to start. Google "Dungeons and Dragons [insert your location here]" and see what pops up. You might find facebook pages, online ads, or addresses of game stores or clubs where D&D is played. Looking For Group forums (like the one on DDB) can also help, though if you're looking for in person gaming I wouldn't bother with forums associated with VTTs. Discords are in a similar boat, their ads will almost exclusively be for groups playing over Discord. The advantage here is that people you find this way don't need to be convinced to play D&D - just maybe to play D&D with you.

If you want to try and bring people you already know into the fold, you can use some of the popular media to whet their appetite (plenty of streams and youtube vids nowadays) but you're likely going to have to convince them it's not a big step to try and that includes also making sure it isn't. Which probably at the very least means being willing and able to take up the mantle of DM and learning how to play well enough that you can explain it to others, rather than having to tell them to read a 300+ page PHB (you presumably are aware they wouldn't need to read all those 300+ pages, but they won't be and knowing what they should familiarize them with falls under that 'learning how to play well enough') and see what they think. You might stumble across prospective players who won't be daunted by the idea of learning to play D&D, but it's better to be prepared for the more likely scenario that they have some preconceived notions that'll need correcting. Other than that, it's a game. Played for fun. With friends, or at least prospective friends. What's not to like?

Quote from We1rdPenguin45430 >>

I am a teenager on summer break, how would you recommend getting people to play with you irl or on zoom, or just finding people to play with. Not looking for meeting people on the internet, more of convincing people to play dnd.

It is a numbers game. From my group of eleven friends (me and ten others), only about half were interested in trying in the first place. And after a few sessions, only me and 3 other players remain. Sitting around a table to play pretend is not exactly what most people think of as fun.

In my opinion, the best way to have enough people to play with is to simply ask everyone you know. The more people you ask, the more likely you will find enough people who find playing pretend is actually pretty fun.

And generally speaking the person who asks others to play is also the one wants to play the most and most enthusiastic to learn about the game. And due to that, they are also generally the one that gets the GM role whether they like it or not. You could definitely ask others to GM, but that is a much higher barrier to entry role compared to being a player.