Moments you live for in D&D gaming

[Psion]

Okay, enough with the negativity. There must be reasons why you play this stinking game. Right? RIGHT?

So, what do you enjoy about the game? What are the moments you live for?

For me:

• When the players figure out the sneaky villain's plot, campaign secret, or other puzzle.
• And if the above is really sneaky or startling, the look on the players' faces.
• Climactic battles that leave the players sighing for releif when they actually survive it. (As one of my players put it "three up and three down isn't just the end of an inning, it's the end of one of Alan's adventures.")
• The long shot that saves the game.
• When that cool scene I pictured in my head comes to life.
• The look on the players face whenever I roll more than ten dice at once behind the screen.
• When I can tell the characters from their players.
• And once the above milepost is passed, when I CAN'T tell if the player is roleplaying. (One player was yelling at another, and his face was red over something that went on in the party. When he saw the reaction of the other player, his face relaxed and he said "you know I'm just playing my character, right?" )
• When the players come up with solutions to challenges that I haven't thought of.
• Better, when the players, in their paranoia, come up with ideas so devious I have to substitute them for my own.
• I don't do this anymore, but I used to have players rate each other for roleplaying bonuses. The players often wrote me little notes on these papers. My favorite comment to get on these notes was "you bastard!"

Any more?

 

[Nightfall]

When players tell me "You're a VERY Naughty man!" Then I know I'm doing my job.

 

[randomling]

Having a character so significant that her death results in sleepless nights and tears.
Feeling like a hero.
Planning character advancement. Planning future sessions.
A relaxed atmosphere, junk food, nice tea, and laughing with my friends.
Any moment that makes all of us go, "Wow! That's really cool!"

 

[diaglo]

getting together with friends to escape the real world by playing in a fantasy one. it lets me use my imagination more. gets my heart pumping and emotions flowing when the action is good. and gives me something to talk about years later with those same friends.

 

[Mystery Man]

• when players still talk about an encounter or big thing that happened months or years later
• watching the blood drain from their faces when the rattle of so many dice behind my screen sounds like distant thunder

 

[Piratecat]

When I'm trying to design a plot, and an idea slips into perfect place with an almost audible "click." It's moments like these that I DM for.

When I've set the PCs with a difficult problem and they come up with a brilliant way to solve it that I had never even considered, throwing half my plot into chaos. Pure bliss. They call those "Kevin goes 'gaah' moments."

 

[diaglo]

as a player i enjoy moments were my character or another member of the party or maybe even the whole party made it thru a tough bit by a lucky roll or phrase or made a daring attempt at something.

there has to be big rewards for big chances. but the failure also means something big.

 

[Crothian]

Hearing your own gaming stories come from another person that has heard it through one of your players.

The moment when the players figure out what's going on, look up at me and say "You Bastard!"

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

As with pet peeves, there are just SO many things....

The look on their faces when they get the joke I slipped in (there is still a dimple on my living room wall from a d20 hurled at me once they realized they were fighting Sleestaks).

The whoops and cheers when the bad guy is taken down after a knuckle-biting battle.

After-game feedback and out of game online roleplaying.

Making me laugh at something so hard I hurt the next day.

Really putting the effort into developing a unique and memorable character.

I'll think of more...I'm at work.

 

[diaglo]

the real reason i keep playing tho is to one day get a chance to play REAL D&D again.

the % chance gets less and less each year, but a man can still hope.