Let's pretend for a moment. Something I'm guessing people here will be good at. Let's say everyone that drives you bananas politically. morally, spiritually... just disappeared. No more shenanigans. No more screaming, purity tests, outrage screeds... people are suddenly compelled to understand each other and let one another enjoy life they way they want. You have no more online enemies, no more local detractors, just wide-open RPG spaces for parsecs in every direction.

What do you LOVE about this hobby? What got you started? Why are tabletop RPGs so damn awesome and why do you keep playing them?

Rules:

1) No politics. At all. Remember, the controversy outrage debate no longer exists.
2) No shitting on RPGs you don't like.
3) No passive aggressive shitting on fellow posters.

Inquiring minds want to know.

What does a bird love about flying? A fish, swimming? A snake, slithering? A monkey, swinging? A bear, pooping? Two cats, yowling, as if being skinned alive, outside the bedroom door at 3:30 in the fucking morning? A bald eagle, sprinkling its genetic patriotism throughout the natural world? A man, finding the will to squeeze into his now-too-small pants every morning? A squirrel, conducting itself as a vile, contemptible little tree-rat?

... sorry but it's really a very complex question which merited an equally complex answer... :cool:

I love the way that running/playing the game is this strange mix of improvisation, myth, tall-tales, story-telling, pretending to be an elf, OOC jokes so stupid they are funny, tactics, strategy, flipping back and forth between the characters and the players (almost by the millisecond), acting, narration, refereeing, and much more.  Plus, despite all that, each one of those things is not quite correct as a description, maybe because of all the gravitational pull of all the other things?

When it works, it's magic.  When it only partially works, it's still fun that you can't get any other way.

Quote from: Antiquation!;1120121A bear, pooping?

In the woods?

That moment around the table when a player comes up with a great idea out of left field, and succeed or fail, everyone is entertained by playing it out.

It's the only thing I've encountered where it occupies my mind completely when I'm engaged in it - WITHOUT any limitations in expression except for what I can conceive.

Other activities such as playing music, even writing fiction, or wrestling etc. Inherently give me limitations which might be physical, age-related, form-related. And while I may get great fulfillment in pursuing these things, I find the creative aspect of the hobby, as a designer and GM to be pretty fantastically liberating, right up there with writing fiction.

But what really makes it for me is the the social aspect of it can transcend the solitary pursuits of either. If you're skilled and lucky with the right people.

Quote from: Thornhammer;1120126In the woods?

Depends if anyone is around to hear it... :eek:

More seriously, my answer is somewhere close to Steven Mitchell's. Each individual activity roleplaying is comprised of can be entertaining in its own right, but the collective experience is greater than the sum of its parts. When you reach your stride and the everything clicks into place, you can feel it.

The things that got me started with RPGs was the cross over of DnD Basic, The Dragons of Autumn Twilight and too much damn time on my hands.

And to be honest I have not looked back since.

JdrD30 sums up well why I stay in the hobby.
[video=youtube;QRLGPRBLRfI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRLGPRBLRfI[/youtube]

I just love getting together with my friends face to face, and being genuinely creative with each other's ideas in a way that doesn't feel weird or confrontational.

There are a lot of things I love about it, but a lot of them I also get from other activities (ie; tactics and "gamist" stuff I get from other tabletop). Even after all this time though, I REALLY love how ttrpgs CAN (depending on the GM/system/campaign/table) give me the feeling of experiencing and interacting with another world and as a different person. No other hobby or form of media comes close for me in this respect. I enjoy different types of ttrpg-ing too, but that elusive "You are this person, in this world, you can try to do anything, what do you do?" is what really makes me love the hobby.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1120127That moment around the table when a player comes up with a great idea out of left field, and succeed or fail, everyone is entertained by playing it out.

Yeah! Definitely this. Creative problem solving with fantastic elements in play. And trying to think like someone else, and how someone else would react or solve a problem.

I like the interaction with the world, poking it to see what happens. It's a cool sort of mini model of how sociopolitical actions tend to happen.

On a related note, using dice and randomness and systems of rules to model/constrain and provide interesting (if artificial) decisions to make and things to attempt. I guess it's that mini model idea again.

I also like the "building/experiencing history" model of RPGs. We know he's just ("just") Jayne, but to that town, he's the Hero of Canton.

And on a related note, how characters accumulate layers and detail over time, often in unexpected ways. And form in-character friendships or rivalries.

And just rolling big fistfuls of dice and reading books and arguing about events/lore/history.

Just got back from a 4-day con which reminded me exactly why I love the hobby. I get to hang out with a bunch of great people who are interested in the same sort of things as me, as well as being from widely dissimilar backgrounds. I get to play games with the same people and their enthusiasm rubs off on me. I get to entertain and be entertained by them during the games, whether the plan comes together perfectly or it's a complete train- (or coach- in our case) -wreck. I get to imagine myself as a hero/villain/everyman/king/whatever and it's not just my imagination at work. I love it when the entire table can't talk (or breathe!) because we're all laughing uncontrollably at some "you had to be there" comment. And I get to do it from the comfort of my own chair.

Quote from: spon;1120173I get to entertain and be entertained by them during the games, whether the plan comes together perfectly or it's a complete train- (or coach- in our case) -wreck.

RPGs are one of the very few activities where failure can be as much fun as success.

Hosting a good game for a small group of adventurers in my games room or at a RPG convention. I enjoy it the most when the players are enjoying themselves, when there's action for everyone, and everyone is actively working to survive and succeed. I always like having a few surprises or plot twists which bring out the best in the players at the table.

You know you are doing it right when the game takes off and the players get busy planning their next moves in the fantasy or sci-fi world. I'd say that's the best, when we are all happily entertaining ourselves, and having fun  at the same time.