I live in a very arid place. The Mojave Desert makes it really hard to sprout like most everyone else does on RIU. That's my opinion and experience though.
I've found the paper towel method works for me but it needs some modification. Use a styrofoam plate, fold up a ppr towel into quarters and place on the plate. Dampen the towel enough to where it just holds the water, not so much it's dripping. Place your seeds on it, then set another quartered ppr towel, dampened, on top of the seeds. Next, use an opaque bowl that has some weight. . .a ceramic bowl or small microwaveable bowl works well to place upside down over the seeds, then take a gallon zip lock bag and put the whole plate set-up in the bag. Zip it up but leave about 2 inches in the center unzipped. Place in a warm shaded/dark area and you should have some seeds in a couple days.