What is fun when it comes to an RPG?

[noretoc]

The threads that have come up latley make me wonder if the biggest difference between 4ed people and non 4ed is thier definition of fun. I think for people who are really into 4ed thier idea of fun is kicking but and killing bad guys. Here is what I find fun.

Designing a character around a story concept. Background, and goals.

Playing the weak guy, that the big PC fighter always pushes around.

Playing the big fighter, that always pushes the 4hp mage around, knowing I could knock him out with one hit.

Walking into a lair, kicking a stone, waking up the bad guy, realizing he is way to strong for us, and running the hell out of there. Then jumping on the person who kicked the stone.

Playing the noble Bard who the party is forced to protect because my dad is the king, even though I could not fight my way out of a soap bubble, and the only spells I know are light, and read magic.

Playing the ranger that has to guard that damn bard, and risk my life even though he contributes nothing.

All of the above, after I have gained a few levels and start seeing some of that time pay off/ start becoming more useful to the party/building respect and comaradrie with the others for making it through the tough times.
(BTW, this is what I find fun as a player, as a DM, it is building games around situations like this)

Now im not saying that my version of fun is better, but it is what I get out of an RPG. There are times when I want to have fun just kicking tail, and using tactics, etc, but there are other games out there for that. For tactics and killing, I can play battletech. For doing amazing stuff I can play M&M. For just doing D&D action, where the point is to kill the bad guys and get xp/loot, I can play neverwinternights (With friends even). But for D&D, I want a different kind of fun.

What is fun for you in an RPG?

 

[Family]

Every time I used the term 4e it was a euphemism for ingesting hydromorphone to enhance the release of sertoin & norepinephrine. Kidding.

It's escapism like movies, books, videogames etc. I love being the center of the story, I love being able to interact with the fictional construct, and I love hanging out with my friends & family.

4e in particular aids the above activities in that it runs smooth and allows for everyone to have big moments, it levels the playing field by bringing it to the next level. It's got more Kung-Fu Panda, more Die-Hard, less Abyss (which I liked), less The Matrix Sequels (which I didn't). More cinematic less dramatic. And that is fun for me in an interactive cooperative media.

 

[Celebrim]

Feeling like you are in a story.

As a player...

1) When one of your fellow players pulls of an original line that is good enough to be in a book or movie.
2) When you realize that the plot is so much bigger than you thought it was and that everything you thought you knew up till now was wrong.
3) When you discover some secret about the world that makes you go 'cool'.
4) When you stop referring to an NPC as 'that guy', and you know him by name.
5) When you actually have come to really hate one of the NPCs so that you spend time fantasizing about killing the NPC.
6) When the dice and your skill and teamwork come to gether and you win against impossible odds.
7) When you've leveled up enough that you can now go back and deliver the beat down to that bully that beat you down when you were 1st level.
8) When you are down in the dungeon and you have this feeling that you are in something as vast and dangerous as the mines of moria, and its a good thing.
9) When you've been RPing in character for like the last hour and not really realized it.
10) When you can really get in the head of some character that is nothing like you and see how he ticks.

As a DM...

1) When one of the players (or yourself) pull off a line that you know would be in the novelization of your campaign, and you wouldn't be ashamed of that fact.
2) When the players finally put A and B together and arrive at a C that they never saw it coming even though you've been dangling clues for the past 12 sessions.
3) When you get to reveal some obscure aspect of your worldbuilding and the players go 'cool'.
4) When the players stop referring to an NPC as 'that guy' or 'whats his name'.
5) When you realize one of your players has become romantically infatuated with one of your NPCs to the extent that you could bring things like romance and jealousy into play.
6) When the players dice, skill, and teamwork come together and they win against impossible odds.
7) When your players think that they are in this enormous expanse of dungeon, and really you've only got about 30 encounter areas and some of those you've just hastily scribbled two or three lines in.
8) When IC conversations flow as naturally as OOC ones.
9) When you can really get in the head of some character that is nothing like you and see how he ticks.
10) When the players do something with your story that is cooler than you imagined.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

It can be summed up for both DM and playing for me in this: Playing through a story with friends.

That right there is the most fun and enjoyable part of RPGs and I am currently hard at work on making up the plot-lines and world for my 4e campaign, so we can start doing this right away.

 

[Doug McCrae]

killing monstres wit my prety elf

 

[Agamon]

Here is what I find fun.

Designing a character around a story concept. Background, and goals.

Playing the weak guy, that the big PC fighter always pushes around.

Playing the big fighter, that always pushes the 4hp mage around, knowing I could knock him out with one hit.

Walking into a lair, kicking a stone, waking up the bad guy, realizing he is way to strong for us, and running the hell out of there. Then jumping on the person who kicked the stone.

Okay, well, apart from the bard stuff, my 4e game is going to be like this. In fact, I think 4e works a lot better for games based on that first thing you find fun. In fact, the 4e PHB goes into more detail about concept background and goals than the handwave paragraph 3e gives it.

4e PCs are tough? Yeah, maybe compared to Joe the blacksmith, but as the DM, no matter how tough they are, I can still make them want to run.

Is the mage tougher than before? Sure, but the fighter is stronger than the bookworm, and still needs to protect him.

4e is easier to DM and lets me run the character driven game I want to run. However, unlike other games that do this, the tactics in combat that I and my friends find fun is still there, and in spades. It's the best of both worlds for me.

So, yeah, character driven, story based game with tactical encounters. That's what I find fun. Oh, and the whole getting together with friends. Even when I was souring on 3e and decided to move on to a different game (MnM before 4e came along), finishing AoW was still fun because of the comraderie.

 

[Wombat]

What is fun for me?

Deep character development -- the character cannot simply be a group of numbers on a sheet; the system has to allow for personality, characterization, and background as much as mere statistics.

Something to do other than combat -- combat makes a fine spice, but it isn't necessary every session. I like a system that doesn't demand constant physical conflict.

A sense of consistency in the world -- my character should fit in a world, should have a place in a larger society (high, low, outcast, otherwise) and there should be internal consistencies to that world.

A sense that my character, while maybe not being one of the absolute movers and shakers of the world, at least has some small impact upon it.

I want a game that rewards cleverness, thinking outside the box, but having enough constraints that there are limits to what one can do.

No beating up gods. Period.

At best, limited planar travel.

A passage of time -- I don't want a static world that never changes any more than I would want a character that never changes. The world adjust as much as my character does.

Fun.

 

[Skywalker]

Here is what I find fun.

As someone who likes 4e, I agree with you list as being things that are fun.

For tactics and killing, I can play battletech. For doing amazing stuff I can play M&M. For just doing D&D action, where the point is to kill the bad guys and get xp/loot, I can play neverwinternights (With friends even). But for D&D, I want a different kind of fun.

This is where I find it a bit weird. D&D has always been a game where there are tactical considerations and PCs do amazing stuff. I agree that 3e made the biggest jump in showing this as the game's focus most clearly and 4e has emphasised it further. However, I don't see why those things are mutually exclusive to the list of fun you noted above. In fact, I think they both add to each other.

 

[Asmor]

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.

 

[Lanefan]

Celebrim (post #3 above) for the win.

Well said!

Lanefan