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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 9118732" data-attributes="member: 1465">Well, regarding to that, I have long had my legitimate suspicion that most of those critics do NOT play the game much but mostly just have the hobby of talking about it, which then manifests either as excessive praise of everything or excessive criticism. When I started about 30 years ago, the fact that it was by far the most complex game ruleset I'd ever seen was itself attractive. It made it immediately feel like a game for people who liked to think a lot.The cooperative nature of the game is actually the biggest selling point for me, since I've long grown tired of competitive games.The unique duality between narrative and rules makes everything more interesting than games or hobbies that have only either of those. Problem solving in general is something I find satisfying, and not frustrating even when we fail.The OCD side of me also enjoys a good amount of resource management. These are why I like D&D, but of course they are all general properties of all RPGs, so why is D&D specifically my favourite?First, I generally prefer fantasy over sci-fi (too much open-ended, anything you can imagine gives me a feel of lack of safety nets or tethering for my reasoning and expectation) or modern (not enough escapism, possible risk of taking it more personally in case of failure) or historical (too afraid of my own ignorance of history) or postapocalyptic (too depressing). Fantasy is silly enough to give me good escapism without strings attached. Among all fantasy RPGs, D&D is the least specific. Not as disorienting-ly open as sci-fi, but still large enough to allocate plenty of possibilities and infinite adventures. Narrow settings usually give me the feeling they'll be running out too soon.And finally of course there's the history and nostalgia. It's been with me three decades, I like the idea of play an old published adventure that thousands of other groups have played before and share the experience, I saw the game grow better and worse in waves but I just know it, and when a really good campaign book, adventure or supplement is made, I know it's gonna stick around through future editions despite rules changes.</blockquote>

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