D&D 5E What does D&D mean to you? Why do you play it?
- Thread starter Sacrosanct
- Start date
Li Shenron
Legend
Cooperative > there aren't many TT games other than RPG with this feature, especially with different roles per player
Tactical > I certainly enjoy some tactics (but no grid), problem solving and resource management
Storytelling + Fantasy > sure!
Social > definitely, but I don't strictly need a game for this
Tactical > I certainly enjoy some tactics (but no grid), problem solving and resource management
Storytelling + Fantasy > sure!
Social > definitely, but I don't strictly need a game for this
Rya.Reisender
Explorer
This thread really made me question myself: "Yeah, why am I actually playing Pen&Paper?"
I voted for social and co-op, but I feel this doesn't fully express my thoughts.
I think Pen&Paper is the much better alternative to MMORPGs. I used to play MMORPGs a lot and had some huge fun. I didn't play so much with friends, but I found new friends in the game and playing together in co-op and getting to know each other better was really great. Something I can't really do in real life (too shy and I feel in real life people are not very fond of you just talking to them when they don't know you yet).
I played one MMORPG for over 10 years, but the community slowly died out and I tried to find a replacement MMORPG but just couldn't really enjoy any I tried. Eventually it felt like all of them were the same. Way too linear, too repetitive, too much grinding and most people focusing on competetive aspects over role-playing (really, it feels like 98% of MMORPG players only play for PVP and really only do PVE to be stronger for PVP). It honestly started to become really hard just to find someone to party up with.
Pen&Paper solved that problem. Here, you have a lot of freedom, it doesn't feel repetitive at all, there's no need to grind and all players are fond of playing together co-op.
Now, I'm actually only playing online and I'm a DM and I might question why I'm doing that. Well, the problem I was facing was that I'm quite strict when it comes to rules as I'm coming from a video game background. House-rules are like a no-go for me and I really only wanted to play the officially released adventure paths, but in the end I felt like I couldn't find a DM that really could offer what I'm seeking, so I decided to DM myself.
That's a lot of work and you don't actually really get to play the game as a player, but that was fine for me. Honestly, even as a DM I still feel like a player as I'm still following the adventure paths very strictly and don't read too much ahead. Plus you still have the excitement of not knowing what your players are going to do.
So, I play by post daily and there are days where I don't really enjoy it too much. Maybe work was hard and there's a lot to do at home as well, so I'm exhausted and don't want to do all those dice rolls and think up all those things, but I keep pushing myself. And it's still rewarding because you know your players are having fun and appreciate the work you put into it (especially if you are still around years later - most play-by-post groups never complete an adventure because of disappearing DMs).
Plus those are only some days. There are other days where I'm really excited to do the next post. Or days where I'm simply bored and demotivated to do anything, but I'm still good to do another Pen&Paper post. It feels like it's that one thing I can always muster up the motivation to do.
Talking about motivation, I'm actually also a game developer and being a DM is kind of similar to developing a game. At least part of it. But I often have motivational trouble when it comes to game development. I hardly ever am able to force myself to start coding (and I'm even less motivation to do graphics and music), because I'm only really enjoying some aspects of the game development process. With Pen&Paper, it seems to be much easier to motivate myself to proceed with the story. Maybe because it's in smaller bits or includes more of the parts I enjoy than those I don't enjoy.
But I think a very big factor is the social aspect here again. If you just develop a game alone, you have nobody actually caring about it. Nobody knows you're making a game, nobody helps you making the game, nobody cares about your game until you release it. With Pen&Paper the players care about your game from day one because they are already playing it.
So yeah, I guess that's all.
I voted for social and co-op, but I feel this doesn't fully express my thoughts.
I think Pen&Paper is the much better alternative to MMORPGs. I used to play MMORPGs a lot and had some huge fun. I didn't play so much with friends, but I found new friends in the game and playing together in co-op and getting to know each other better was really great. Something I can't really do in real life (too shy and I feel in real life people are not very fond of you just talking to them when they don't know you yet).
I played one MMORPG for over 10 years, but the community slowly died out and I tried to find a replacement MMORPG but just couldn't really enjoy any I tried. Eventually it felt like all of them were the same. Way too linear, too repetitive, too much grinding and most people focusing on competetive aspects over role-playing (really, it feels like 98% of MMORPG players only play for PVP and really only do PVE to be stronger for PVP). It honestly started to become really hard just to find someone to party up with.
Pen&Paper solved that problem. Here, you have a lot of freedom, it doesn't feel repetitive at all, there's no need to grind and all players are fond of playing together co-op.
Now, I'm actually only playing online and I'm a DM and I might question why I'm doing that. Well, the problem I was facing was that I'm quite strict when it comes to rules as I'm coming from a video game background. House-rules are like a no-go for me and I really only wanted to play the officially released adventure paths, but in the end I felt like I couldn't find a DM that really could offer what I'm seeking, so I decided to DM myself.
That's a lot of work and you don't actually really get to play the game as a player, but that was fine for me. Honestly, even as a DM I still feel like a player as I'm still following the adventure paths very strictly and don't read too much ahead. Plus you still have the excitement of not knowing what your players are going to do.
So, I play by post daily and there are days where I don't really enjoy it too much. Maybe work was hard and there's a lot to do at home as well, so I'm exhausted and don't want to do all those dice rolls and think up all those things, but I keep pushing myself. And it's still rewarding because you know your players are having fun and appreciate the work you put into it (especially if you are still around years later - most play-by-post groups never complete an adventure because of disappearing DMs).
Plus those are only some days. There are other days where I'm really excited to do the next post. Or days where I'm simply bored and demotivated to do anything, but I'm still good to do another Pen&Paper post. It feels like it's that one thing I can always muster up the motivation to do.
Talking about motivation, I'm actually also a game developer and being a DM is kind of similar to developing a game. At least part of it. But I often have motivational trouble when it comes to game development. I hardly ever am able to force myself to start coding (and I'm even less motivation to do graphics and music), because I'm only really enjoying some aspects of the game development process. With Pen&Paper, it seems to be much easier to motivate myself to proceed with the story. Maybe because it's in smaller bits or includes more of the parts I enjoy than those I don't enjoy.
But I think a very big factor is the social aspect here again. If you just develop a game alone, you have nobody actually caring about it. Nobody knows you're making a game, nobody helps you making the game, nobody cares about your game until you release it. With Pen&Paper the players care about your game from day one because they are already playing it.
So yeah, I guess that's all.
pming
Legend
Hiya!
I choose 3. Social (I like my friends), Versus (I like to challenge them fairly...so if I do that it doesn't matter if their PC's live or die...), and Other.
Other: I like to use the mechanics to help shape the story via the Players input and choices during game and outside game (leveling up choices, buying equipment in town, etc). I don't really like to "craft a story and then present it"...that, to me, defeats one of the biggest positives of the game. It also defeats another big positive to me, the DM; it doesn't let me get 'surprised'. So, I present the world in a neutral and uncaring manner, and guide the world as it would progress based on the PC's actions (or lack thereof). To this end, I use the game systems mechanics to help decide what would be "logical progression".
Hard to describe, really. Basically, I don't think "Hmm...it would be cool to have a rain storm crop up over night" and then look up rules for what that would entail. I instead think "Hmm...what's going to happen tonight?... [rolls dice for weather]...Huh. A rain storm. Cool...I wonder what kind of difficulties this is going to give them", and then proceed from there.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
I choose 3. Social (I like my friends), Versus (I like to challenge them fairly...so if I do that it doesn't matter if their PC's live or die...), and Other.
Other: I like to use the mechanics to help shape the story via the Players input and choices during game and outside game (leveling up choices, buying equipment in town, etc). I don't really like to "craft a story and then present it"...that, to me, defeats one of the biggest positives of the game. It also defeats another big positive to me, the DM; it doesn't let me get 'surprised'. So, I present the world in a neutral and uncaring manner, and guide the world as it would progress based on the PC's actions (or lack thereof). To this end, I use the game systems mechanics to help decide what would be "logical progression".
Hard to describe, really. Basically, I don't think "Hmm...it would be cool to have a rain storm crop up over night" and then look up rules for what that would entail. I instead think "Hmm...what's going to happen tonight?... [rolls dice for weather]...Huh. A rain storm. Cool...I wonder what kind of difficulties this is going to give them", and then proceed from there.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
Greg Benage
Legend
I went with social, other (exploring a world/investigating a mystery/discovering a secret), and fantasy, as long as we can replace "heroes" with "scoundrels, knaves, and tomb-robbers."
Social
Storytelling
Fantasy
Product
All choices are things I do in D&D to some extent but these are the top 4. When my friend got me into D&D back in the '80s the reason it was D&D was because it's the game his parents played and that's because it was the most popular RPG out there, so Product was and still is a reason. The other three reasons are why I play any RPG, though you can change Fantasy to whatever the appropriate genre is.
Storytelling
Fantasy
Product
All choices are things I do in D&D to some extent but these are the top 4. When my friend got me into D&D back in the '80s the reason it was D&D was because it's the game his parents played and that's because it was the most popular RPG out there, so Product was and still is a reason. The other three reasons are why I play any RPG, though you can change Fantasy to whatever the appropriate genre is.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
How about "Nostalgia Aspect", for those of us who grew up in the 1980s?
ART!
Deluxe Unhuman
Social aspect - this is #1 for me, by far. Game night is my only nearly-guaranteed social event each week.
Coop aspect - I'm big on cooperative creativity and cooperative play, both at work, when gaming, and in my side projects.
Fantasy aspect - being heroes. Playing evil or evil-ish characters can be fun, but it can also slide into too-dark areas for my liking.
Product Support - About a year and a half ago I let every gamer in town who I had any interest in gaming with that I was going to start a long-term D&D 5E game. I went with D&D because I knew I could get all players I could handle. I was right, and we've been playing 5E weekly ever since, after years of other games dying out quickly or no games being played at all.
Coop aspect - I'm big on cooperative creativity and cooperative play, both at work, when gaming, and in my side projects.
Fantasy aspect - being heroes. Playing evil or evil-ish characters can be fun, but it can also slide into too-dark areas for my liking.
Product Support - About a year and a half ago I let every gamer in town who I had any interest in gaming with that I was going to start a long-term D&D 5E game. I went with D&D because I knew I could get all players I could handle. I was right, and we've been playing 5E weekly ever since, after years of other games dying out quickly or no games being played at all.
Sacrosanct
Legend
Why you play as opposed to other RPGs. I.e., it's easier to find people to play D&D than, say, WFRP 1e or RIFTS or something.
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