Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 kgmessier Jul 02, 2009 13:03:38	I'm new to this board, so I'd like to apologize upfront if (a) this thread has been done or overdone, or (b) if I'm posting this in the wrong place. Right, so I'm wondering what keeps people playing the game. I'm specifically interested in what holds your interest as a player, not a DM. If you could name just one thing that, more than anything else, keeps you playing D&D, what would that one thing be? Are you into the interactive storytelling? Do you relish in creating new PC after new PC? Is it the social aspect of getting together with friends on a regular (or at least semi-regular) basis? Acquiring as much gold as possible? Something else? I know each of these things likely is a draw to varying degrees for each of you, but I'm hoping you can pinpoint the thing about the game that attracts you more than any other thing. Maybe it's too difficult to rank the game's merits, and that's cool too. Call it a curiosity on my part. - Keith
#2 dark_lambo Jul 02, 2009 13:19:17	Story. I like to explore areas and storylines with my friends, overcome obstacles and such. (I like co-op campaigns in video games too! :D )
#3 sigil_beguiler Jul 02, 2009 13:23:55	Well most things work for RPGs in general and aren't specific to D&D. I would say specific to D&D (specifically 4th Edition) is it is a game I can kickback and relax while DMing or Playing. It also is fairly flexible for refluffing and such for different types of fantasy.
#4 hlethvagi Jul 02, 2009 13:27:08	Hanging out with my friends, and killin' some monsters!
#5 Artifact Jul 02, 2009 13:57:51	The women. :P Oh okay, I'll be serious (for a change ;)): I'd have to say the fantasy element of D&D itself. There are plenty of other RPGs where I can get together with friends and play (I've played more than a few). I keep returning to D&D though, even after twenty-five years. I thnk it is about the story or at least the imagery. The idea of a knight in shinning amor facing a fire-breathing dragon stirs a primal part of my imagination (although Star Wars comes close at points ;)). I really enjoy the fantasy aspects of the game.
#6 Jayden Jul 02, 2009 14:06:17	Your mom. but seriously... The thing that I enjoy is the creativity. When I was twelve, D&D 2E opened me up to a world of play that has helped shape who I am today. My dad played with his group of friends (who I refer to as uncles because of close ties) and they taught me on my 12th birthday. The actual playing isn't the thing I enjoy most, but the politics and the backround involved in everything around the 'world' including wars.
#7 modern_iconoclast Jul 02, 2009 14:13:02	Hanging out with my friends, and killin' some monsters! I hear ya! That's number one thing at our gaming table also.
#8 zackblack Jul 02, 2009 15:39:28	The women Your mom /\ This :D
#9 SavevsDeath Jul 02, 2009 17:02:54	For me it's all about the action, doing epic things and telling epic stories.
#10 Stigger Jul 02, 2009 17:11:15	Largely, the fact that you can do pretty much anything with it, from swashbuckling, to knights on chargers, to spellhurling fun, to roguish sneaking. You're only limited by your imagination in a lot of respects, whereas a lot of other games tend to set up the world and the rules in fairly specific ways that make presumptions you don't always want to use. D&D just tosses you some rules and says "go!", without trying to force a plot or theme down your throat.
#11 gregt_314 Jul 02, 2009 18:27:10	Just one thing that keeps me playing D&D? Combat. I'm not saying that I don't like story, puzzle solving, hanging out with friends, levelling up, and so forth. It's just that there are other games that do those better. Right now D&D 4th Edition has the best combat around, so that's why I'm playing it over and above some other RPG.
#12 Escef Jul 02, 2009 20:01:04	Booting donkeys and confiscating designators, with mutual assistance from my compatriots.
#13 Tony_Vargas Jul 02, 2009 22:06:05	For me, D&D is mostly nostalgia. There are better games out there, but D&D is the one I started with, and it's been banged into pretty decent shape over the years. I'll paleogame, too. Dust off 1st Edition Gamma World and have some fun with it, but half the fun is laughting at how /bad/ games were back then. With D&D, I get the nostalgia, without having to find fun in the defects. Which means I can enjoy it in larger doses: every week, not once a year.
#14 Plaguescarred1 Jul 02, 2009 22:28:17	Gathering with friends and having fun is all it has brought since we started in the 80's. Specific to 4E, more fun with a inventive way to make even more choices for players and DM alike. Versatility. Choices in character creation and level up, choices in every combat turn etc..Not just in roleplay but in combat and this for every classes. That's what my successful Perception check has revealed to me. So one thing, versatility in gameplay.
#15 Alter_Boy Jul 02, 2009 22:29:10	Story arcs. Coming in each week and wondering what will happen in the story this week. Wondering if a PC will get their happy ending, or die like a Star Trek Red Shirt. It's like watching good actors on bad TV shows: you watch it just for them.
#16 Elton74 Jul 02, 2009 22:34:13	That's one. http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/StarChild/questions/moon_formation.jpg http://www.arcadiastreet.com/cgvistas/earth/earth_01_precambrian_160a.htm http://www.purifiedbyfaith.com/CreationEvolution/Genesis5and11/Images/Earth.gif There is three . . . http://www.imaginaryworlds.net/ http://frankfrazetta.org/images/ffz10.jpg http://frankfrazetta.org/images/frank_frazetta_landofterror.jpg http://www.imaginistix.com/details.cfm?Id=663 http://www.imaginistix.com/details.cfm?Id=334 http://www.clydecaldwell.com/large_images/amara.html http://www.clydecaldwell.com/large_images/dead_easy.html And that's a few more . . . I have a lot more reasons, but that's enough for now.
#17 wilwarinandamar Jul 02, 2009 22:37:44	Hanging out with friends, creating a story. Playing a character that only existed as stats on paper, but whose deeds filled a journal.
#18 Webster Jul 02, 2009 22:44:21	All these years later, it's still the dice.
#19 kevrock Jul 03, 2009 10:12:07	I DOES DND FOR TEH FLUMPHS
#20 Macarius Jul 03, 2009 10:27:00	Exploring a world where the rules are different from our own and I can do dangerous things without putting my actual life in danger.
#21 Ogiwan Jul 03, 2009 11:02:14	A good one, Macarius. I play it because, if I play, I can be a Big Damn Hero (i.e. doing stuff I can't do IRL, story of saving things, etc). If I run, I can enable my players to do the same.
#22 stevem22 Jul 03, 2009 11:27:23	Obviously, I'm all about the Professor Plumbs! (That's a clue reference, to the color purple). ((props to peeps who get my actual reference with this post)) (((hey nice lady, you buy cat?)))
#23 myree Jul 05, 2009 21:27:44	I agree with all of the above, but have one more to add: It is ageless -- and I mean that in multiple senses of the term. I enjoyed it when I was in Junior High, and I enjoy playing with my son and friends who are now in Junior High. The charaters I created back then are still around as NPCs for them to run into. While the rules have evolved, revolved, devolved... er, changed... in the end the spirit is the same and the first rules are still there: Rule #1 -- Have fun! Rule #2 -- If any other rule gets in the way of Rule #1, adjust it or get rid of it!
#24 tcg_researcher Jul 05, 2009 22:23:58	For the fantasy feel, for the fun, but most of all the interplay between PC/s and DM that no computer game can match. A computer game won't change a plot point that you think is stupid. A computer game won't sharpen the AI of the monsters if they're too easy. A computer game won't give you useful hints when you're stuck on a puzzle. A computer game won't let you ignore a limitation of the rules that is frustrating and unintuitive. (Yes, there are [rare] exceptions. Work with me, here.) There's nothing that can quite match a real person on the other side of the screen, be it for an epic open-ended narrative or a punishing dungeon crawl.
#25 Caeric Jul 05, 2009 22:45:41	I enjoy telling stories, and I view Dungeons & Dragons -- as well as RPGs in general -- as collaberative storytelling. Which is, in many ways, a very integral social interaction. I digress. For me D&D is a wonderful way to release some creative energy.
#26 atrius2006 Jul 06, 2009 5:33:58	I play because I have quirk of designing RPG characters. Mind you, I rarely created any 3.5 characters because it seemed like a chore. But with 4ed, I have about 10 characters lined up "in case of death" and can't wait to make some Psions and Artificers (Eberron book not at local store yet). I have a feeling my Bard is going to die soon because the GM is getting annoyed with how often I can change the result of a die roll. :D Psions are released tomorrow, so I'll have a character or two made in time for the next session.
#27 Psikerlord Jul 06, 2009 5:50:03	Sword n' sorcery backdrop, killing monsters and taking their loot, all while drinking a few beers and riding a story with close mates. Good times.
#28 darth_nyquil Jul 06, 2009 11:06:44	Pickles! Err...no...potted meat product! No, that's not it. Gnomish women.... (eyes glaze over) What was the question? Ohh, yeah. Illithids. Eating brains never hurt so good. But seriously, abominations in general. Being able to throw a little Lovecraftian timeless horror from the depths of madness into a fantasy game really makes my tentacles undulate. :coolcthul
#29 anitha_dup Jul 06, 2009 12:36:29	Teamwork based tactical combat with my friends, and (usually) a more interesting and immersive story than most computer games. Probably, though, if I had to choose one of those, it would be the social aspect of the game.
#30 esperifiel Jul 06, 2009 19:58:06	What's striking is that for the most part, people like D&D best for the stories, and yet thousands of pages of rulebooks come out every year to create a combat system. Very little exists formally to support a story system. I'm not talking about fluff - we love (and hate) all the fluff provided for the Realms, Eberron, etc. I'm talking about meta: rules and guidelines to build story arcs, villains (not mindless monsters), etc.
#31 Escef Jul 06, 2009 20:04:12	Very little exists formally to support a story system. Which is the way it should be. I don't need a rule book telling me how to roleplay. I need the rules for combat resolution in heroic fantasy. I don't need the bad guy to make a save to avoid boasting and gloating when he should be finishing the PCs.
#32 Reg06 Jul 06, 2009 20:07:17	I play RPGs because I like to hang out with friends and make dumb jokes. I play D&D because I like to go to cool places, do cool things, and kill stuff.
#33 sanguinesphinx Jul 06, 2009 22:58:31	Never knowing what's around the corner. No matter how much you play D&D, you never know what's going to happen next, because the person controlling the world has a mind of his own. You never "beat the game" and run out of material to use. As long as someone still has an idea, the game is endless, with infinite possibilities. This cannot be matched by any movie, video game, or book.
#34 yackar Jul 07, 2009 6:38:28	Tough question for me... actually. I'm finding I have a hard time finding an answer. D&D is quite ridiculous in terms of creating a realistic world. The system is - I mean. The system seems to be meant for dungeon looting and killing monsters. I have absolutely no interest in that. Yet, I'm not so big of a genius to work out a better system. And I love the idea of collective storytelling and playing a character in an imaginary world. I'm also a long fan of fantasy literature, so that's why I play it, I guess. I find more and more things on the system I'd like to change though. Alignment is a big issue to me - for an example. The need to assume that there are good and evil creatures, who even define themselves AS good and evil and act out accordingly. Utterly ridiculous to me. But I've never found a more flexible system anyways. ;)