For the love of game

[Jamin]

So I know we all like to complain about DnD but why would we complain if we did not like it . So I was just wondering what keeps you coming back to table for more.

I'll go first

DM: I love building a world and all the people in it. I just love to see how the PCs interact with the people they meet and the places they see. Also it lets me play both good and bad guys. It is so much fun to fight yourself or to come up with plans and then a way to beat it

Player: I Also enjoy exploring a world. It is tons of fun to slowly find out the evil plan and then stop it. Also being an actor makes tons of fun to roleplay. I enjoy building my character form level one to 20.
whoa a little longer then I was going for but still.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Now this is a good topic.

DM:....Or not. I honestly don't know why I keep coming back to DM....maybe its because it feeds my god (and rightful) complex. Or because I'm the story teller and make the plot myself.

Player: This is much easier. I love playing the game. From roleplaying why my character got on the road to adventure, how he does things, his unique styles and habits, even to his vices and bad points in life. I enjoy creating a new persona and character so much that I tend to overload on games actually. I like figuring out how to make my character effective. Not to the point I munchin but so my character lives, and of course figuring out why he would need that power.

[JadedDM]

I don't ever complain about D&D. Well, not my version of it, anyway. I sometimes complain about the players, though. And that's why they call me jaded.

[TheOOB]

DM: I keep coming back because I keep getting suckered itno DMing by my players

Player: I love spending time with friends, and I always have a dozen or so character concepts waiting to see the light of day.

[Dark Knight Renee]

... The setting, really. If it weren't for the fact that I am, in fact, playing in a D&D setting and thus using D&D magic, I would probably ditch the rules.

Especially because I can't get absorbed as a player, because I'm the closest thing my group has to a qualified DM. Gah.

[Jamin]

Wow it looks like most people really do hate DnD seeing as only 4 people replayed. Just kidding

[unlit.candle]

D&D is an addiction, you just can't get away from it. I have been playing for a long time and will keep playing even longer. Its good to hang out with friends and have some good laughs.
Also everyone loves killing monsters, its great.

[Matthew]

Friendship. Dungeons & Dragons builds and maintains friendships between people of similar interests, no doubt about it. Telling and participating in the creation of a story as a shared activity is the fun part of that process.

[Golthur]

DMing: World-building, story-building, and (on the rules side) trying to make everything at least have some semblance of verisimilitude (to borrow from MrNexx).

Playing: Social interaction, friends, and quality roleplaying (and beer!).

I love it so much, that even when I feel burnt out, I'll usually switch systems and game on.

[the_tick_rules]

pretty much stuff mentioned above. plus sometimes the real-world just sucks. nice to once and a while be a big, powerful, person who can do epic deeds rather than get up and go to school and live a boring life.

[Bears With Lasers]

Because it's basically the only game in town, most of the time. When I try to start up a game of Nobilis or something at my school's RPG club, no one bites. Everyone playeth the D&D.

It also takes less effort than better games.

[Diggorian]

I've been playing D&D so long when I think of a fantasy RPG it's what comes to mind, and is the standard by which I compare others. It was the first table top RPG I'd ever played and the friends I made then are my friends to this day.

With two active D&D camps in my group I'm kinda fantasy-ed out right now. I look forward to one of the DM's starting an M&M campaign soon.

When I run, it's D20 Future.

[Desaril]

DM: I love telling a story and as the DM, I get to craft the story. I also love it when I get the players really hyped about a game. It is a big ego rush to have people on the edge of their seats waiting to see what's around the next corner.... I also love when players think/act outside the box. That way I get to react to the unexpected and "play" while I'm running the game. It's always amazing how creative players will come up with something you don't expect.

Player: I love not knowing what's next, but trying to get there. I'm an "active player". GMs sometimes have to "rein me in" because I get so into character that I will create plotlines beyond their plan for the game. I'm not into working the mechanics (although I can).

[MrNexx]

I'm in a similar camp to Bears With Lasers... D&D is really what most people play. Therefore, if I want a game, it's what I play or run. Over Christmas, I got to run a bit of 1st edition AD&D, because I like the variety. I've been writing a lot for Palladium. I'm getting an Earthdawn itch, and making googly eyes at other stuff I have... someone keeps whispering "Castles and Crusades" in my ears, and I'm gonna snap, one of these days.

But D&D is Microsoft. It's Wal-Mart. It's Starbucks. It's not horrible. It's not evil. It's just not optimal for what I really want to do... but it's convenient. It is, for better or worse, the standard that most people use. It's the simplest method of getting my gaming fix without taking hostages... and I've found, through bitter experience, that you get less than stellar games out of people when you demand they play at gunpoint.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

DM: Power! God, the glorious power. On a whim, I'm both benevolent and malificient. I can cause sudden issues with serious repurcussions that hamper the players for the rest of the game, and I can reward them unexpectedly in very nice ways. I also love telling stories, and my PC's can tell you- I really put some great spins on everything, even sidequests.

Player: Oh, now who doesn't like playing the game? Getting to build up a character from a nobody to an epic hero, adding layer upon layer of depth to their personality and story, taking risks and rolling dice in the hopes of great rewards? That, and playing specifically to see how many different ways you can throw the DM off his own game :D

It's just immensely rewarding no matter how you play it. The reason I use the most current version of D&D when I play a tabletop typically is because not only is it extremely intuitive to most tabletop gamers, being the most played of all, but because that commonness makes it less confusing when I homebrew entirely new rules. If I used a completely new RPG system too, it would be absolutely confusing to my players, and equally confusing if I was a player in such a game.

[Ravyn]

Don't DM D&D, but what GMing I do is one part because I want to work on my writing skills, one part the social aspect, one part pure inspiration and one part because it gives me something I can conspire with my assistant and people outside the group on for the rest of the week.

Playing: One (small) part the social aspect, one part the chance to stretch my brain, one part the excuse to act like there's no tomorrow, and one part a sheer internal insanity that insists on declaring reality optional.

Both: Overall, it's the gamebuzz.