I'm guessing most of you started playing D&D (- the box with 3 booklets, only went up to level 10 for me; smelt soo nice out of the box). But what, exactly, made it so good for you that you continued in the same vein up until now? For me, sadly, the absolute highlight was buying stuff before the first adventure. Did I need that 10' pole? The oil? How about a holy symbol? The adventure was ok, but rarely matched up to the excitement of equipping myself for adventure on a limited budget. (Oh, the mapping was kind of fun too). Later we got into miniatures, and, until rules mania set in, having figures and floor plans was pretty good too. And now? Well, not counting the pleasure of humiliating some close friends as they lurch through an adventure, its the dice, the action cards, the items. The stuff . Go figure.

And you?

without a doubt...the stuff.

I like drinking sake and hanging out w friends..and finding obscure references in games to explore further.

Well, I actually didn't start out with D&D, and actually have a very limited experience of playing D&D. I began in the "LARP-world" (Vampire the Masquerade) by coincidence, if you do not count playing some computer rpgs before that (Baldur's Gate mainly).

Then I kind of fell into regular RPGs initially as a "poor" substitute to LARPs, but later I've come to realize that RPGs are actually better as you can explore and adventure far more than in the rather confined space a LARP presents.

What made me stick with the hobby is the social aspect of gaming with friends and having a great time, while at the same time getting the satisfaction of improving a character (which is highly addictive, just look at all the computer games out there with leveling elements) and exploration.

For me it is most of all a creative outlet. As a player, to create an interesting character and to write his story as we play. As a GM, to write a world or set pieces and then have someone else experience my creation.

In addition, it's nice to get some friends together and have a few beers while killing some orcs or whatever

I like drinking sake and hanging out w friends..and finding obscure references in games to explore further.

I cannot agree more!

I also love being a GM and seeing how my players come with all kind of crazy ideas to overcome the obstacles, things I have never anticipated while I was preparing the session, this I love!

Oh yes, that WTF! moment when they come up with something so far out of field that you either cry or just roll with it, and watch your carefully scripted adventure turn 180 degrees. When my players get the bit between the teeth I'm improvising so fast I really have no idea what is going on. And their emphasis on inter-personal stuff over earth-shaking plot drives me crazy (but I love it) - we recently had a session that took 15 minutes to play out going down a manhole! Weird.

I like drinking sake and hanging out w friends..and finding obscure references in games to explore further.

I cannot agree more!

I also love being a GM and seeing how my players come with all kind of crazy ideas to overcome the obstacles, things I have never anticipated while I was preparing the session, this I love!

+1

When I get home from a night of gaming my wife usually asks how it went. Nearly every single time I say, "It was a absolute blast." I'm amazed at how much fun we have. The GM facilitates a GREAT game and the guys I play with regularly astound me with their inventive roleplay. I also love being active and engaged with the collaborative story-telling process. And as Yepes notes, serendipity abounds!

This is why I have pretty much stopped having any kind of "script". Unless I can pretty much control the characters movements, it's better to just write some cool details about the area and let the players make up the story. Any kind of planned script will just mentally block me from rolling with the punches when the players do something unpredictable.

This is why I have pretty much stopped having any kind of "script". Unless I can pretty much control the characters movements, it's better to just write some cool details about the area and let the players make up the story. Any kind of planned script will just mentally block me from rolling with the punches when the players do something unpredictable.

This seems to be a natural progression for many. The longer I GM the less I prepare, the more I improv, and the more fun I have at the table. Now, I won't discount a great Adventure Path for it's seeds. I'm in the 40-something-have-no-time demographic so pre-pub stuff saves me a lot of work but once the basics are there I try to just let the players go nuts.

I usually try to give the players a goal though. It helps a lot since you know where the session starts and where the players will try to end up, but you don't know quite HOW they'll go about it. So it basically boils down to "present one or more obstacles for the players, throw a bunch of stuff around the area (npcs, locations, items etc) and see what the players make of it."

I love taking the odd railroad scenario and throwing it off the rails because I'm getting to the point where prepping background for the sandboxy stuff gets to be a true burden (I'm looking at you FORGES OF NULN!). I do a ton of prep for the beginning of any given scenario and forget half of what I prepped by the 3rd night of gaming. I guess i need new highlighters otherwise it seems like such a waste of my already short prep time