Do you enjoy d&d more and more as you get older?

[Ozreth]

I got into d&d in my mid teens around 2003. Didn't get to actually start playing regularly until about 21. I'm 23 now, going on 24 and got to wondering how different the game would have been if I got to play on a regular basis when I was 15 years old. Would the games have been more immersive? Would I appreciate them as much as I do now? Who knows. One thing that I can say is that I don't see the game getting old any time soon, and I like that. Maybe that's because my reason for playing is escapism, which is needed more and more as you get older.

Anyways, how about you? Are your games as good if not better as you get older? Or does it become harder and harder for you to find immersion and endless hours of fun in these dungeons as the years go by?

[Captain Kidd]

Finding endless hours: yes. Back in the mid 90s (ugh I feel old) we could do 8+ hour sessions, even did a couple all weekenders. Now however, job, family, etc. get in the way. We're luck to get 2-1/2, maaaybe 3, hours to a session now.

As for enjoyment of then versus now ... I don't think they can be closely compared. It's apples and oranges in many ways. Back then we were teenagers and blasting monsters, burning down forests (albeit by accident), and epic combat was the rule. My current group however is different, we focus more heavily on the roleplay. So, both are equally fun, but in different ways.

[RebelRogue]

It's harder to find time, no doubt, but the enjoyment of the game varies according to the group, the DM and the overall style. It feels... different, but only because you've changed yourself (and editions and games have come and gone). Overall, I'd say I still enjoy it about as much as always.

[Yahzi]

What the Captain said: your tastes change. Exploiting the rules for raw power becomes less interesting.

But the real killer is finding the time. On the plus side, I hear that once your own kids are old enough, you've got a captive player base.

[Ormur]

I sometime regret not having gotten into role-playing earlier so that I could feel nostalgic about fighting monsters and playing quirky characters. Even though I didn't start playing until I was 20 I sometimes miss the excitement of not knowing what we were up against but as we get a better grasp of the mechanics and more experienced at running games and playing characters I imagine the lack of novelty will be more than compensated for.

I also agree that my biggest complaint is not getting to play enough even though I play quite often.

[Ozreth]

I sometime regret not having gotten into role-playing earlies so that I could feel nostalgic about fighting monsters and playing quirky characters. Even though I didn't start playing until I was 20 I sometimes miss the excitement of not knowing what we were up against but as we get a better grasp of the mechanics and more experienced at running games and playing characters I imagine the lack of novelty will be more than compensated for.

I also agree that my biggest complaint is not getting to play enough even though I play quite often.

I feel ya. I started playing magic the gathering in '94 when I was 7 years old. Started playing Final Fantasy games and other console RPG's the same year. Got into fantasy novels by '97. It blows my mind that I didn't discover d&d until around 2003 and even then hardly played much until 5 years later. Just thinking about how engrossing the above were for me back then, I can't imagine what dungeons and dragons would have been like.

Would Ravenloft actually have scared me a little?
Would Castle Greyhawk be so deep, dark, and enchanting that I wouldn't be able to sleep until I got to that next level?

Things like that.

[Captain Kidd]

What the Captain said: your tastes change. Exploiting the rules for raw power becomes less interesting.

But the real killer is finding the time. On the plus side, I hear that once your own kids are old enough, you've got a captive player base.

It's very true. Already doing that with mine. My 6 year old is very creative in what he comes up with. We're currently using The Prince's Kingdom system, but ... it's too mechanics lite for me. And he's disappointed he can't use half of his dice. :)

[Remmirath]

I'm not sure that I enjoy it more now than I did when I started playing (I was about six, if it makes a difference) - but I am definitely better at it. Better at roleplaying, a heck of a lot better at running campaigns. I certainly don't enjoy it less.

I think it's more that the game is variable enough that you'll probably enjoy it just as much whenever you play it, since it can pretty much change to be what you want it to be (so long as you've got the right group, of course).

[Innis Cabal]

I find it less and less enjoyable as the fanbase grows more and more whiny and demanding to be honest.

[valadil]

I still enjoy RPGs, but my tastes have changed as I've aged. Here's how:

First off I've got a weird relationship with gaming. Sometimes I resent it because it gets in the way of socializing. I've got friends who I only see for game. Sometimes I want to hang out with my friends and instead all I get is their characters. Other times I thank gaming for giving me an active social life. My attitude seems to switch every 6 months or so.

Cons:

I don't like GMing as much. I have less free time than I used to. I can invest an evening a week in a game. I can't also invest a weekend in writing a game. My primary group started alternating games just so GMs would have two weeks instead of one for prep time. If it gets any worse I'm just going to run premade modules.

I feel like there's a certain amount of "been there, done that." For a while I could get by with choosing my role in a system on the basis of having never played a given role before. Now I feel like I'm rehashing some roles, but the only variable that's changing is who is rehashing which role in a game. So maybe I'm reusing my favorite sorcerer, but Ben is the cleric this time instead of Matt. Or something like that.

My games are more down to business. We play on week nights and everyone wants to be home by midnight. If we're lucky we get 3.5 hours of game time. There's way less room for wandering shenanigans than there used to be. The GM pretty much keeps us on a strict agenda. And I'm not criticizing any particular GM, I do this too. Having an agenda is preferable (for us) over not getting anything done. Back in the good old days we could finish goals and wander in circles in the same session.

Pros:

Scheduling is easier. For regular games anyway. People have fixed schedules. All you have to do is offer a game on a given day and threaten to stick to it. For the most part, everyone has a well organized calendar.

We all have cars. Rides are easy. Sometimes we carpool, sometimes not. Bottom line is it's never an issue.

Same goes for space. Most of us have apartments, some have houses. We all have designated gaming areas. No more basement pool table games.

Full time jobs are nice too. If someone brings a couple 6 packs, there's no need to charge each other for beers. It'll work out in the end. I don't even track if people borrow money anymore, because someone's share of pizza is 15-20 of my work minutes.

[LibraryOgre]

What I enjoy in the game has greatly changed; I no longer get the joy out of combing through books to find the ultimate power combination, or feel a need to cripple a character to have them be interesting (I went through both phases). We get a bit less time per session (usually around 4-6 hours, depending on the group), but I think the time is better, for the most part.

[Mastikator]

I find myself spending more and more time on roleplaying, and less on actually doing things. Sometimes we can go through entire sessions just roleplaying that we're sitting in front of the campfire telling stories. It's more interesting, and sometimes a little annoying that we aren't getting anything done
It's less about the instant gratification of being an awesome character, and more about exploring different aspects of yourself through characters. It certainly has a different meaning to me now.
And I leave the instant gratification to the computer games, where it belongs.

[Thurbane]

To be honest, my enthusiasm level is probably about the same as it's ever been (pretty high), but I guess I spend more time reading books and contemplating builds than I used to.

I'm pushing 40, and been playing for around 25 years or so.

[starwoof]

I don't think I enjoy roleplaying any less than I used to, but I really miss the kinds of games we played when we were 9-15. Stuff like romping around in a setting with rotating DMs, and all of our players are really powerful gods. My games have gotten so much about crunch lately when it used to be way more free form. I dunno if either is better.

I do wish that I had more time to play. Well, I have plenty of time to play as I am homeless and jobless, but my friends are always 'working' or 'hanging out with their girlfriends'. Blah. I miss the week long sessions of my childhood.

[Totally Guy]

I started D&D at 23. I'm 27 now. I do feel it's become less enjoyable. I've read too much GM advice on these forums that I find objectionable.

To combat this I look for systems that reinforce player agency by design and I GM those rather than play.

[Zaydos]

It's harder to find time, no doubt, but the enjoyment of the game varies according to the group, the DM and the overall style. It feels... different, but only because you've changed yourself (and editions and games have come and gone). Overall, I'd say I still enjoy it about as much as always.

Got to agree that group, DM, and style really matter. Heck I've DM'd two games this week, played in a third, and watched another two sessions (the last three were on one day; and one wasn't D&D) and they've all been really different; even though 1 person was in all of them (DM'd one of them), and another was in three of them (DM'd the one I played). Each group had a different dynamic, a different DMing style (the constant was an excellent DM imo; and my style was different because it was "off the cuff one-shot with 0 prep" and "one-shot with pseudo-prep because I don't know what the PCs are") and it really makes a difference.

I feel ya. I started playing magic the gathering in '94 when I was 7 years old. Started playing Final Fantasy games and other console RPG's the same year. Got into fantasy novels by '97. It blows my mind that I didn't discover d&d until around 2003 and even then hardly played much until 5 years later. Just thinking about how engrossing the above were for me back then, I can't imagine what dungeons and dragons would have been like.

Would Ravenloft actually have scared me a little?
Would Castle Greyhawk be so deep, dark, and enchanting that I wouldn't be able to sleep until I got to that next level?

Things like that.

Got into D&D June (May?) of '95, and Magic September of the same. I was 6. Fantasy novels were '97 because I didn't really know how to read well when I was young due to no one knowing if I was saying the proper things.

Even so I didn't know about Ravenloft or Greyhawk till years later.


As for if I enjoy it more now... I'd say yes. I used to enjoy it because it was a wondrous world that kept me from being picked on by my older brother irl (he needed me to round out the party). Then I wanted to DM so bad, but didn't get to till 3.5 was out (I was playing 3.0 though). Now I've seen a few groups and I'm learning what play style I enjoy more and more.

[LansXero]

I do feel it's become less enjoyable. I've read too much GM advice on these forums that I find objectionable.

To combat this I look for systems that reinforce player agency by design and I GM those rather than play.

Sorry for asking but how does advice given probably to others affect your enjoyment of the game?

On topic: I got into D&D almost 2 years ago, and I wish I had done so sooner. So far, except for the stretches of lazyness when preparing material, Id say my interest has been on the rise.

[Totally Guy]

Sorry for asking but how does advice given probably to others affect your enjoyment of the game?

I always take flak for this...

I overthink things.

I think that techniques like "Illusion of Choice" are standard practices. And I get bored.

I think that my part in the save the world storyline is superfluous. Whether I be Harpoon the wizard or Treethan the ranger, it doesn't matter. I think it would be the same save the world story.

So ultimately I don't think there is enough "game" to the game to keep me interested. Gaming is about making choices. And giving those choices in a meaningful way seems to be a suboptimal DMing strategy whenever it gets discussed.

But there are loads of systems out there that get the game part right. I just wish I could play in more of them.

Edit: The best game session I've played in was in October. Gaming generally might be something for me that improves over time. Hard to really tell over such a short amount of time.

[Tengu_temp]

I started playing RPGs* when I was around 12. Today, I'm 24. I gotta say yes, I enjoy playing them much more now. My playstyle changed over the years too, focusing less and less on random dungeon crawling and hacking monsters and more and more on roleplaying and telling awesome storylines - it matured, in other words. I also switched my focus from live-action games to PbP, which is a debatable improvement (because both forms have their good and bad sides), but which works for me.

* - my personal pet peeve: when people say DND when they mean RPGs. There are other games out there, folks!

[Eldan]

Started playing D&D (and yes, Tengu, I've only played D&D at a table ) when I was 15. I'm 24 for now, and I've last played when I was 19. I probably would enjoy it, if I could, but everyone in my group moved abroad for university when we quit school.

Our playstyle didn't change much in those five years. In our first game, we started diplomatic negotiations with the goblins we were supposed to kill (my lawful evil wizard spoke goblin) and made them give back the abducted children in exchange for the right to legally demand tolls and taxes from the merchants going over their pass. The DM was a bit surprised, but went with it. We had the occasional hack'n'slay session, but those remained rare.

[dsmiles]

To be honest, my enthusiasm level is probably about the same as it's ever been (pretty high), but I guess I spend more time reading books and contemplating builds than I used to.

I'm pushing 40, and been playing for around 25 years or so.

Ditto, only I'm not quite that old (yet). But I have been playing for over 25 years.

[Totally Guy]

* - my personal pet peeve: when people say DND when they mean RPGs. There are other games out there, folks!

I might make it mine too. That changes all the context and I can be much happier.

[Thurbane]

Ditto, only I'm not quite that old (yet). But I have been playing for over 25 years.

I play with a group of 6 other guys - 1 of us is over 40, 3 are pushing 40, and the other 3 are in their early-mid 30s. 3 of us have been playing (on and off) for 25 years or so.

Personally, I've been playing since I was about 14, and my only real break was for about 5 or so years, when my group disbanded (this was very late 2E, and I resumed in 3.5). Even during my break, I kept buying (and reading) 2E D&D stuff, along with a few other RPGs. Happily, the group (well, half of it) reformed, with some new additions.

[dsmiles]

I play with a group of 6 other guys - 1 of us is over 40, 3 are pushing 40, and the other 3 are in their early-mid 30s. 3 of us have been playing (on and off) for 25 years or so.

Personally, I've been playing since I was about 14, and my only real break was for about 5 or so years, when my group disbanded (this was very late 2E, and I resumed in 3.5). Even during my break, I kept buying (and reading) 2E D&D stuff, along with a few other RPGs. Happily, the group (well, half of it) reformed, with some new additions.

I wish I was in your group. Aahhhh...to play with mature people again...

[Earthwalker]

It seems my story is the same as most of the people here.
Yeah I still enjoy DnD (and all role playing games) as much as I used to.

What I do when role playing now, GMing or playing is alot different then when I started but its still a great deal of fun and the groups I am in seem to have changed along with me.

[bokodasu]

Found the oD&D books in a closet when I was 8, been playing off and on since then. I don't think I enjoy it more than I would have if I'd started in, say, high school or college, but maybe I've enjoyed it in different ways? I know when I was younger we didn't bother so much about "rules", but we were also all Mary Sue McMegaPower, so it's nice not wanting to do that any more, even if there's maybe some spontaneity lost.

Ask my daughter in a few years; she started (playing Fudge) when she was just shy of 5, and she's almost 8 now and playing in a regular Sunday afternoon D&D game with some of my college friends. Of course, it's probably different playing with grownups, too; I never did that as a kid.

[dsmiles]

Ask my daughter in a few years; she started (playing Fudge) when she was just shy of 5, and she's almost 8 now and playing in a regular Sunday afternoon D&D game with some of my college friends. Of course, it's probably different playing with grownups, too; I never did that as a kid.

I just got my kids hooked on DnD last summer, and my sister bought them the Red Box for Christmas.

[Natael]

D&D? Nope, have found myself disliking the system more and more as time goes on (been playing for about 12 years, started on AD&D 2e). Toying with some modification and combination of pathfinder and 3.5 has interested me recently, but mostly I only play D&D because other people do (as long as it isn't 4e). On the other hand, I'm as much into RPing as I ever was, probably a much better RPer than I was before, just prefer to use other systems (GURPS 4e is my system of choice now). Whenever I go to a convention I like to try out at least one system I've never used before, havent come up with any huge gems yet (deadlands is fairly interesting though).

[valadil]

I always take flak for this...

I think that techniques like "Illusion of Choice" are standard practices. And I get bored.

I think that my part in the save the world storyline is superfluous. Whether I be Harpoon the wizard or Treethan the ranger, it doesn't matter. I think it would be the same save the world story.

Why would you take flak for that? The way you led into it I thought you were going with your slightly less than popular but still perfectly valid views on fudging.

As a PC I want to make my mark on the world. If the game progresses the same regardless of the character I play, why should I even play. I want the presence of my character to affect the story in a unique way. This is why I don't deal well with pre-written modules.

[Britter]

Up until about two or three years ago I was having a lot more fun with DnD then I had ever before. Then I discovered some systems that did what I wanted a game to do without me having to houserule and struggle as much as DnD (and Shadowrun, my all time favorite game world...but the rules, omg, the rules...).

Since then I have been very hard pressed to enjoy DnD. I still play in a game every now and then, but I won't run it anymore.

Now, my overall enjoyment of RPGs, in general, has definitely increased as I get older. I currently game with some really wonderful people that, much like myself, have come a long way from high school DnD but still have a lot of love for gaming.