What is it about TTRPGs for YOU?

[Jahydin]

First and foremost, it's the best way I've found to get my "always online" friends in the same room to talk face to face.

Second, I love challenging my players and seeing the crazy ways they're able to overcome those challenges.

Finally, I enjoy seeing the different RPG mechanics in action and the emergent narratives that come from them.

 

[Corinnguard]

There are lots of ways that we can spend our time -- most of them requiring less effort than playing TTRPGs.

So, what is it that keeps you, personally, coming back to playing TTRPGs? What about TTRPGs makes you put the work in,compared to playing board games or video games, or doing any number of other things with your limited free time and disposable income?

Also, if you kind of gave up on TTRPGs (but still engage with the community, obviously) as a past time, why and what replaced them?

What keeps me coming back to playing TTRPGs?

The friendships I started with my group three years ago. Every Monday night I look forward to hearing their voices as we get together for some 5e role-playing via our Discord channel. We spend a couple minutes chatting about things in RL, and then when the game begins, we take a break from reality.

What about TTRPGs makes me put in the work, compared to playing board games, video games, or a number of other things with my limited free time and disposable income?

What makes me put in the work in a TTRPG is knowing that me and the other players in my group are actively creating an interactive story with the DM. We know how the story began, but we don't how it's going to twist and turn until we are in the thick of it.

 

[John Dallman]

Being someone else for a few hours. Having the past become far more real to me. Facing different challenges from the everyday world. Creating memories and stories.

 

[payn]

I play to collaborate in the creation of long-form narratives with other “authors.” TTRPGs are a unique medium that inextricably intertwine imaginative expression with social interplay. Even though a GM has a greater say in the story than do the PCs, the creation of a TTRPG’s narrative is still more egalitarian than narrative vehicles like the novel, theatre, or film where creative control is held by writers, directors, and actors (not always themselves equal contributors) who “write” the narrative while passive viewers merely “read” it. Instead, TTRPG participants both “write” and “read” the stories they help create. Discounting the fact that these days it’s not unusual for a game to draw spectators (or listeners), a participant who plays the game is both audience and actor, reader and writer, cinephile and director. TTRPs are a form of fictional immersion that’s quite unlike any other.

And there’s combat too!

This is what I was going to write. I enjoy consuming my media and then building that into the ideas behind the games I run and play. RPGs lean into the imagination and creativity that board/war games only begin to tap into. You get to collaboratively tell stories that are only scripted in their very beginning, but where they go can be exciting and unknown. Its about the people and the journey not the destination.

 

[Ringtail]

Its a lot of things that sort of mash together into a soup, that can't really be replicated anywhere else.

I love getting together with my friends. I love tactical combat and minis and boards and dice. I love a story that unravels as we play. I love being able to adopt a persona, or multiple depending on my role. I love creating a world and a narrative. All of these things might happen individually in a different kind of game, or a novel, or whatever, but nothing has them all like a tabletop RPG.

I think the one ultimate X Factor though is the surprise. Players can always do something that you never expected, or the authors if you are running a published adventure. Even in linear adventures you can be surprised. I've never played anything else that encompasses the same level of freedom.

 

[The Soloist]

The creative process of creating homebrew adventures has always come first for me. Writing, making terrain, painting miniatures and drawing maps all rolled into one game.

The group fun comes in second, but as a forever GM, I had too many immature players, and it burned me out of that role. My latest group is the best so far, but I'm a player, not a GM. Not sure I want to take the seat when my turn comes in the Spring.

Soloing allows me to do all the creative stuff without having to deal with problematic players, but it's not the same type of game. The surprises come from random turn of events, not input by other players.

My wife retires next June. We've talked about running a one-player and a GM campaign on rainy days. Could be fun.

 

[Wolfpack48]

.

 

[TheSword]

For me it’s about creativity. It’s an opportunity to be a little bit artistic, a little bit theatrical, a little bit devious, a little bit strategic, a little bit inspirational, a little bit comedic and a little bit awesome. With all the other players doing the same.

In short it’s a safe place to act up and have a bit of fun. Scratching an itch that normal life just doesn’t touch.

 

[DragonLancer]

Storytelling with friends in a fantasy world of our imagination. Specifically, my friends and I are the sort of players who enjoy seeing what campaign story our DM has created/prepared and brought to the table, so we can see play that tale and see where it takes us.

Our games aren't railroads but they are linear for the most part. We just enjoy the storytelling experience from both sides of the screen.

 

[damiller]

All great replies, love to see it, and in a lot of ways I can echo most of them!

For me its creative: I can be a director, writer, actor, cinematographer, artist. If I could make a living at it, I'd rather not.