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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 4592685" data-attributes="member: 19675">For me, it was a supplement to that kind of entertainment.  I can read LoTR or watch Star Wars and enjoy them, but with an RPG, I can participate in similar adventures.Thus, to me, the dichotomy is not much different to me than watching a sporting event as compared to being on a team, or listening to music versus learning to play an instrument.Both sides have their merits, and each form of spectator entertainment informs and improves its participatory counterpart...and vice versa.I enjoy all aspects of RP about the same, but if you held my feet to a fire, I'd be forced to say that character creation coupled with doing things I can't do IRL are the most fun to me.The best professionally written fiction provides a potent dose of immersion for me, one that can last decades.  An average story will be memorable, but may not be vividly recalled, but reading the back-cover blurb or a synopsis will refresh my memory instantly.However, by the nature of the beast, even an average role-playing game makes me go through mental processes analogous to real world life, so right out of the starting gate, I'm more involved.  I can clearly recall several sessions of the very first game I played in back in 1977 (the year, FWIW, in which I read LotR), especially the final sequence in which another player's Magic-User and my Fighter were the last party members to die, facing off against a Purple Worm.  His PC died when engulfed on a Natural 20.  Mine lasted a few more rounds, when with simultaneous initiative- and with both he and the Worm at 4HP each- he missed and the Worm didn't.I can remember that, but I can't recall what other sci-fi or fantasy I read that year, other than the aforementioned LoTR.I like it, but I have gotten burned out on occasion.  When I do, I'm a horrible DM and need to take a break.I was initially drawn to be a DM because in my local group at the time, EVERYBODY took a turn behind the shield.  However, I turned out to be pretty good at it, so I've spent a good portion of my 30 years in gaming as a DM.</blockquote>

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