What do you like about D&D?

[CruelSummerLord]

I'm not a gamer; I'm a writer. And yet, oddly enough, and despite the fact that most role-playing fiction is pretty bad, in D&D I see a very rich, ready-made mythology just waiting for anyone to flesh it out, to give it depth and characterization. Creating a mythos from scratch is no easy thing-I've tried it myself, and every time I end up scrapping it because it feels contrived and fake.

And yet the plain vanilla fantasy stereotypes of D&D hold more appeal to me than the more unique fantasy mythos of other writers. Here, I feel, is something I can build upon and make my own; if I did not create the whole, I can nonetheless put my own spin on things and make them my own.

I can't remember if it was Isaac Asimov or Isaac Newton who said that he had suceeded because he stood on the shoulders of giants; but in any case, I have done the same. Gygax and his successors took the myth of a variety of cultures and authors both ancient and modern, blending them into the setting I now know and love. And, if I continue on in this vein, continuing to incorporate ideas from the histories and myths of real-life cultures, including and especially non-European ones, it can only become stronger for the influence.

Most people love D&D for gaming; I love it because it just stimulates my creativity and gives me ideas for narrative fiction.

 

[pawsplay]

A clear and defined focus on accumulating power and renown
The relative lethality and danger of the PC's lives
The pseudomedieval milieu
The ability to tell many kinds of stories
Weird and magical things in the world
Quick and easy task resolution

Pretty much any game that has those traits has my interest in this genre. Other similar games I like include Warhammer FRPG and Talislanta.

 

[Aus_Snow]

It's sufficient rules depth and breadth without overkill, and game balance, most of all (that sets it apart.)

No, honestly. I am not kidding.

So many RPGs are woefully unbalanced and/or lacking in fundamentally needed rules and/or straining under the wieght of a virtual ton of irrelevant and annoying rules detail, that it makes me wonder: do they even try the damn things out first?!

I'm glad to say that D&D 3e / d20 is mostly much better in this regard than the vast majority of other games out there.

 

[megamania]

Creativity

Interaction

Problem solving

Problem solving by getting a bigger stick (sword or spell)

The in game taunts (Pc to foe and player to player)

the fact a ten year old understands the same game as a 50 year old

 

[megamania]

....and most importantly....




ESCAPISM FROM REALITY

 

[Angel Tarragon]

....and most importantly....

ESCAPISM FROM REALITY

I do that when I sleep. I game for fun, not escapism.

 

[Graybeard]

I played Harnmaster for several years and even though it was fun many times, it was also very boring. That may have more to do with the GM than anything else though. We would have many game sessions where all we did was travel from point a on the way to point b (not even get there), search for food, shelter, etc. The combats took a long time. Roll percentile to see if you hit, The defender rolls percentile to see if they dodge or counterstrike. Then look on a table to see if you hit. Then roll for damage. Then check damage against armor for where you hit them, etc.

D&D is much simpler. Roll to hit, beat AC, roll damage, etc. More customization is possible as well. Not only in rules but with feats, skills, spells, etc. No two mages are the same, no two fighters are the same. The game moves more quickly and it's fun to play.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

So I pose this question to you: Why do you like D&D? Specifically, what is it that D&D has to offer you that other systems do not?

What I like about D&D has absolutely nothing to do with anything inherent to its system. What I like about D&D is that I get to gather together with my friends once a week and shoot the breeze with them while we slay goblins and dragons. In that sense, probably anything else could take D&D's place--though over the course of many years I note that while many things could take D&D's place, nothing to date has.

 

[Hairfoot]

I like it because it's largely utilitarian. I like the simple abstraction of hitpoints and numerical bonuses, as opposed to systems which use complex and time-consuming methods of resolution.

 

[S'mon]

I like that it has a reliable, fun default activity - explore dungeons, kill things, get stuff, level up. Most RPGs suffer from needing a lot of GM input on the scenario. D&D scenarios can be randomly generated!