Remember when you first started out in the roleplaying hobby?  Remember your first "awesome" accomplishment?  How about the first time you really felt threatened by a monster (a Hook Horror for me) and thought you might not make it out alive?  Remember the overall feeling of epicness?

I wonder if it's possible to feel a sense of wonder again or are we all just jaded, having seen it all years before.  Is it even possible to convey that feeling to players anymore?  I'm just sorta thinking out loud here, but it is something I've been wondering for sometime now.  Feel free to toss your two cents in.

I feel it when a game is awesome. When it works well and the pieces click. Like Hellbent fighting the good fight. But I'm pretty easy to please game wise--heroic, action packed games, with some thinking? I'm there.

Hmmm, my first batch of games mostly sucked badly. They didn't start to get good until I got my brother to GM.

Solution: force my brother to GM again.

In 24 years, we've been able to keep that feeling alive

Like pizza and pussy, great gaming just requires the right ingredients and when that clicks, it's all good - regardless of whether its the first time or the ten thousandth.  

I just played an AWESOME game of Crimson Cutlass last weekend.  Such a freaking blast and its those moments that remind me why I tolerate socializing with all your geeks.  

For me lately it's just been a matter of comfort.  I prefer to play at a proper table with some natural lighting and we play in a semi-finished basement.  I like to have room to get up and move around while playing but I'm stuck scooting past people to use the restroom at best or standing in place at my seat.  Give me windows, proper chairs and space and I'm a happy gamer.

Down with cluttered gaming rooms, up with comfort!  

I also have game master ADD lately but I'm taking care of that myself.

Yeah, I hear you, though for me it crops up again and again at unlikely times in unlikely places (which was much like the first "oh-wow" moment). Know what I mean? There you are, at the table, the group is debating something silly, and suddenly some scene hits or someone says something and you're there in the story, or somebody does something totally crazy with the character and the dice agree...

Can't plan those, I'm pretty sure. It's mood, it's timing, it's how everyone gels for a moment and are in tune with each other's gaming. It happens. Just gotta be ready to run with it when it does.

Game with people whose company you enjoy.

Regards,
David R

Y'know, the other day I had an idea for an adventure involving . . . well, let's just say it put a huge smile on my face thinking about it.

Roleplaying games have given me that smile for over thirty years now, so I would have to say that lovin' feelin' . . . whoa-whoa lovin' feelin' . . . has never gone . . . gone. . . gone away.

Whoa-whoa-whoa.

I definitely enjoy it way more now than I did in the early days.

I seem to be in the opposite camp of the rest'a youse guys; my early days were fun but the later times were very...blah.

It seems like back then we weren't such sticklers for rules but more of a "that's cool, lets try that" caution to the wind kinda folks.

Lets turn this conversation around a bit...a mental U-Turn, as it were.  What makes the great games/campaigns fun?  Is it the people?  The setting of the game?  A fun, loose ruleset?  Just what the heck is it that makes you coming back for more and wishing every session wouldn't end?

I think having the right group is pretty much mandatory...
That will keep me coming back even when the rules are annoying or the setting fail to inspire.
If the rules are fun, and the setting lights up my imagination... then it's magic.

Quote from: Megamanfan;294989What makes the great games/campaigns fun?  Is it the people?  The setting of the game?  A fun, loose ruleset?

Yes.

What draws me to roleplaying games is that it works my imagination in a way that no other activity does. I can watch a movie, and that tickles my imagination one way, or read a book, which tickles it in a differrent way. What makes roleplaying games unique in my mind, and keeps them fresh after years of playing, is that they involve the synergy of several different imaginations all firing at once. The referee and the players create a shared imaginary space together, challenging me to go beyond the limitations of my own imagination. It's a puzzle and a flight-of-fancy at the same time.

I've never really reclaimed the feeling of danger and excitement I felt the first time I played AD&D 2e.  I don't really see high school as a golden age of gaming though, it's more an amusing collection of anecdotes that make me amazed I stuck with the game at all.

These days, I am almost always the DM.  I don't think I've been a player in any fantasy game that lasted more than 2 sessions since high school.  This makes me sad, but I've noticed that ever since I started DMing, it feels weird to be the player- I'm constantly thinking about how things could be improved, and have a hard time stifling myself.

What I remember most vividly from my early D&D experiences was the immanent feeling of danger, which eroded over time and made the game suck when I realized the DM would never kill me- at least twice in the game, I was taken to -10 HP and he simply told me I was knocked out, even when I WANTED to make a new character.  I later died in the "epic final battle" he had planned, and was resurrected the next round by some random nameless high level cleric who hadn't even been mentioned up to that point.  I try to bring more danger and possible PC death into my games, but I have a tough time doing it- I just like PCs too much usually.  Doesn't help if we've been playing a long time and everyone is really attached to the characters.

I think our current game definitely has the "danger and excitement" feeling. Check out the most recent episode of the podcast on my site when the party finds the old crypt: One of the players decides he's just not going in there, and when things go south, they rest of the group runs like hell.

Just as good as it ever was when I was a kid.