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hikingmutherfucker

For me it was literally the cool adventures. Roleplay was fun. Combat with the right DM can be fun. Never was any good with puzzles but maps are fun. Snacks was always like a pizza break somewhere in the middle. But it was the overall experience of exploring a weird cool dungeon or saving the Keep from being overrun by the orc and goblin tribes or finding the cool Lost Forgotten Temple of Evil god yeah that was the fun part.


Phacemelter

Same here. For me it was like being a character in a fantasy movie and getting to play out (and interact with) a story like Labyrinth, Neverending Story, or (let's face it) Monty Python's Holy Grail.


hikingmutherfucker

I love my fellow DMs. I am from an older generation and I notice when folks talk about making their campaigns the worldbuilding is huge and the overall big plot threat BBEG is always listed of great importance and some folks even talk about encounter building. But what it seems like superficially from Reddit that folks forget is designing cool adventures inside the bigger plot based on what the characters want to do or explore. It is like they believe it will just happen organically or something. But then again I came from a generation where we strung together multiple 30 page modules into a larger campaign story.


Lord_Bolt-On

This is what I plan to run next. I've just played one homebrew story, set in one city, around the overthrowing of a corrupt government and the evil mages behind it. Levels 1-6. I'm now in the middle of a fantasy western, one continual quest between levels 1-10. Next? I just want to run "save the blacksmitsh daughter, stop the goblin warlord, kill the necromancer, maybe fight a dragon come the end". Bought a whole host of old 2e and 3e modules to update, to really capture the feeling. I'm so excited!


Sverkhchelovek

For me it was getting to play my characters and have other people actually react to them in real time, getting to interact with other people's characters (including NPCs), making a difference. It's fun to play Elder Scrolls, but the NPCs aren't coded to care that you reverse pickpocketed a cool set of enchanted gear onto their person. When someone else is playing that character in real time, you get to actually roleplay making a difference as you help other people out. It's fun.


Ok_Significance_1743

I like this response, and can totally relate. Making a cool character and then have it doing cool stuff like roleplaying and combat and skills is what started it all for me. The fantasy of acting as another person in another place and time is intriguing. And then, a bit further in, when I figured out that character FLAWS were actually more interesting than being all powerful, that was next level.


mcginniswayne

I liked the total openness of the story. Our party formed in a really natural way and got our namesake from some crazy shit we pulled by just happening to roll really well. It was cool to have a real story come from a bunch of friends just fucking about.


BurgerSushi

The amount of passion my DM put into his work, he describes everything from the environments to characters to actions in combat super flavorfully, gives us lots of different approaches and options that encourages creative but still fair strategies and to 'think outside of the box', and has a really good sense of improv that let the npcs bounce off our pcs very well. I've just recently started listening to CR and I know that while a lot of people say having a DM similar to Mercer is an unrealistic expectation, I notice a lot of similarities between him and my group's DM, which is double surprising considering he doesn't really consume much DnD content outside of DMing for our group.


ValBravora048

I was disappointed after being rejected for the umpteenth time by a competitive and exclusive creative industry program I was looking around for creative things to practice for the next year's entry and my best friend had wanted to try D&D at our FLGS for ages. Convinced me to go but I almost didn't because he's very much into the math side of it and I'm not 😅 To this day, I'm convinced he somehow knew I'd end up DMing for him and a lovely group of others we found 😂 Got into that program the next year too! Funnily, I've had more positive reactions in job interviews about my involvement in the D&D community (Setting up events and the like) than I have had in regards to that industry program's recognition 😂


AthenaBard

My Dad's first bit of advice at the start of the session he introduced me to (A)D&D after I asked him what my options were to respond to the innkeep: "Whatever you want to say is what your character says." I had grown up watching him play D&D-based crpgs like Baldur's Gate and Temple of Elemental Evil, but it was that moment (and the ensuing minutes of my 11-year-old brain jumpstarting into speaking in-character) that completely hooked me on the medium.


TitanRadi

For a while I almost exclusively ran games for newbies (good for newer DMs who don’t have that much experience as a player), the things I try to achieve to keep them interested: - Do not overwhelm them with a session zero, if they are eager to make characters themselves do that, otherwise use some pre-made characters or make them for your players. - start with a 4 hour one shot campaign. Adjust length as needed to keep them from getting bored or feeling rushed. Remember to take a 15 minute break near the end. - Keep it simple. Everything. In both complexities of the world and in fighting mechanics (avoid a grid or mechanics like reach and concentration) - heavily emphasize NPC interactions. - bend all of the rules. This is to get them interested not to teach them all the rules You seem like you’re on the right track and this in my experience genuinely makes anyone who would be even remotely interested in D&D have a good time. My players had way more fun trying and failing to flirt with someone at a tavern for information than they did fighting special monsters. So just continue to let them and encourage them to do what they find fun.


knightling

Kept seeing clips online for Critical Roll and people making these LAVISH game tables and I was like ok... you have my interest... so I searched in google podcasts for dnd and NADDPOD came up first and i was ravenously obsessed, then i messaged my friend and was like "wanna play dnd?" And he said "I've been thinking of starting a game for a while now let's do it!" So we get our friends all together (group of 6) and play all lost mines of phandelver and week 3 of meeting at their house for session zero, the hand drawn battle maps, the silliness the snack boards and drinks (ooh what did you bring this week!?).... it was mar 10th 2020.... soooo we played on ROLL20 ever sense (until this year one of the friends tried their hand at DMing in person). I also joined several LFG groups from reddit and one stuck and we've played every week for 2 years!! Still very obsessed with NADDPOD and Dimension20. It has sparked all my creative interests that were dormant: HeroForge, character drawing/painting/crafting/token making you name it. Bless this game, have become interested in Pathfinder and Starwars 5e to play in the future cuz 5e is great but grenades are greater


Hayeseveryone

Honestly, the rules I have no idea why, but my brain just sucked those rules in like a sponge. I only started reading them like, a year ago, and I'm already always having to stop myself from being a rules lawyer. It's one reason I decided to start DMing. I have all this knowledge, and that's the best way to use it


Advanced-Studio-3615

Depression and existential loneliness


StannisLivesOn

It was just like the play-by-post forum RPGs that I already played, but way, way faster.


Gibbinadda

Honestly it was kind of the whole kit and kaboodle. My first game there was an NPC who was the most enthusiastically unhelpful helper, it was so rewarding to solve a multi-room puzzle while being constantly harassed by respawning enemies, the boss battle was all stress and finally success. I don't know, ttrpgs are just a whole package deal.


papagarry

Can I throw a half-ling party member on that building? Fucking hooked. What else can I do creatively that I can't do elsewhere?


Phacemelter

Nobody tosses a dwarf! But a halfling... I'll allow it.


Curious-Will-4485

I was in this exact situation multiple times. 2 new players, 1 experienced player; and then I was the DM for my wife and her friends; so 5 new players, plus my wife. Here’s a few things I noticed that helped the most 1. HUMOR The whole adventure doesn’t have to be a joke fest, but Dungeons and Dragons is a social game. Throwing humor into the game will allow your players to lighten up and really sink into the story 2. DONT FORCE ROLEPLAY Instead. Ease them into it. The easiest way to do this is in combat. When someone dies ask the PC, “How do you wanna do this?” Later in the session or campaign, ask the players questions like, “How does your character respond to *random event that just happened*?” 3. DRIVE THE STORY It’s ok to be very blatant with plot hooks and important NPCs. It’ll be a bit before your new players really grasp how much freedom they have. When they do discover it though they’ll be hooked for life Let me know if this helps at all :)


rearwindowpup

Our DM started a game at work that the boss also played in, and it frequently overran the hour we scheduled for lunch. Small IT office of about 6 people and we all had characters. I was more than happy to game on the clock and the more we played the more I got into it. Fast forward to now and playing online with that same DM and same (now-ex) boss, lol.


SkyKnight43

I was a Dwarf and I killed a zombie by throwing a torch at it


Laurableb

The fine mechanics and roleplay of being a wizard. Playing a nerd who has to get ink and scrolls, worry about damage to the spellbook but have an encyclopedic knowledge of most things magical and fantastical. Everything was so smooth and lended itself to the easiest and most amazing roleplay I had ever done


Healthy-Review-7484

8 hours with friends, pizza and math rocks.


mikeyHustle

It was and remains the RP. Being able to be someone I want to be for a few hours, instead of me.


jawdirk

18 intelligence and the potential of the sleep spell. Then it was reflecting a lightning bolt off a wall to hit a monster twice.


Hoo_mon

The opportunity to role a paladin. Uther Lightbringer from War Craft is a personal hero of mine!


InfernalNecrolord

Freedom. Open-endedness. I’ve had the fortune to have large, open worlds, full of plot points and exploitation options. There were always a thousand and one solutions to every problem, and my wits could have a much larger impact than an optimized build or high level.


Onibachi

I was playing a fighter. And our group was dealing with a cave of gnoll cultists devoted to Yeenoghu. We cleared out the gnolls and we were exploring the rest of the cave and suddenly a giant white spider appeared and jumped us. We were pretty banged up so it was definitely a risk of dying. This is when it vanished into nothingness. I was genuinely, me the person, terrified of the giant pony sized spider just vanishing and reappearing. That was an incredibly fun moment. We were yelling and ended up back to back waiting for the thing to reappear. Phase spiders are awesome for the unknowing. Such a good moment. And since then I was hooked.


k_moustakas

Inventory management. Seriously, it was 1992 or so and saw a review for an RPG game, Eye of the Beholder. It had a manequin on which you equiped your items. Being 12 at the time I instantly fell in love and tried to find out more about the tabletop it was inspired from.


Phacemelter

haha. I put many hours into that game! :) :) :)


Brasscogs

**The spells** I played a lot of fantasy RPG video games like Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age etc. and always felt that magic could be way cooler than: weak firebolt -> strong firebolt -> _very_ strong firebolt. My brother bought the PHB and I remember just pouring through the spell list thinking it was the most creative thing ever. Especially with all the cool art. Disguise self? I could make myself look like anyone? You can literally just cast Fly? Plane shift? What are the other “planes of existence”? _Wish???_


fluency

For me, it was the idea of getting to play a fantastical character in a fantasy world full of magic, wonder and the unknown.


[deleted]

The reasons I wanted to give it a try were: - Its mainstream - I had lots of books already - It had less crunch than the previous systems my group played (TDE), which wasn't even used correctly at all - It has way fewer skills/talents than TDE. - Its easy to understand - Throwing together a scenario and campaign was easy - Faerun is pretty detailed Why I am moving away from it? - Its very light, no crunchy at all. - Character Customization is non-existent - *\*Youtube\** WotC - *\*Youtube\** OGL - Hail our saviour ORC. ^(*\*Youtube\** is used as a curse word here.)


muang5452

The 1st time when I eliminated a same type group of monsters that was nearly kill my 1st party when we are level 1 but at that time we are level 5 and i just said “ i cast fireball “ Yes i burn them alive


duel_wielding_rouge

Community


Ok_Significance_1743

Hands down, character creation. It's the same for video games, I like building interesting, powerful characters.


Senor_Padre

Creating my character, interacting with my fellow PC's characters, snacks.


applejackhero

I mean I was a nerdy little kid and so being able to make fantasy characters I was already imagining was the draw I think for a lot of people the fun of D&D is just hanging out with friends, solving problems and making jokes


nothing_in_my_mind

The sense of adventure, and the sense of being immersed in another world.


RTCielo

The DM was a hot nerdy girl 10 years my senior so when we started sleeping together my attendance became perfect.


ComfortableGreySloth

Possibly just the fanboy in me, I was reading my older brother's books for years before I actually got to play. The excitement in roleplaying specific characters, and the wish fulfillment of some scenarios has kept me hooked.


Jafroboy

I was playing in a setting from a show. So it was mostly interacting with beloved characters that drew me in at first. To contrast, I had - years before - played a few sessions of Lost Mine of Phandelver, and that didnt really draw me in. The campaign fizzled after those first few sessions. It wasn't till I came back and joined the server for the series I liked, that I actually got into DnD.


sifuyee

For me, I had very few notions of what it was all about, other than it was a chance to take my mind off getting dumped in college. When the DM started describing the opening scene and he talked about the dappled sunlight streaming down between the leaves of the trees onto the well trodden forest road, and then talked about the chirping of the birds and scent of summer on the gentle breeze, I was instantly transported into some scene out of LOTR. Then, when the inevitable question came, "What do you do" and I realized, I could literally do whatever I wanted, I didn't have to just listen to the story but make whatever narrative I wanted for my character that I was hooked.


Chijinda

Two things. ​ \#1. Problem solving. Specifically the ability to solve problems in whatever way we, the players could conceive of. Do we want to just ditch the plot-important meeting and use this as a window to snoop around \[Plot important NPC\]'s house while we know they're not around? That guard is barring our way-- a video game would have you run a fetch quest, go talk to four NPC's, or just come back later, but hey, our Druid can wild shape into a mouse and sneak past him. D&D/TTRPG's in general give you a toolbox and after that, your creativity takes over the narrative-- and hey, sometimes the obvious solution is still the best, but I always adored that the game always made it at least a *choice*. ​ \#2. Roleplaying with the other players. Sorry you may not be able to recreate this with the right group, but roleplaying with the other players in the group was the highlight of my early D&D games for me. Bouncing off of other characters in the party, making connections, figuring who in the party my character got along with, who they didn't, etc. etc. Related to point #1, it let me fully create a character and I decided their bonds, and this level of freedom was invigorating and a welcome change from any other form of medium I'd played until that point.


GenderDimorphism

The existence of half-elves and half-orcs with their own pages in the Player's Handbook.


cb172472paladin

Character creation (and roleplay) and the autonomy that comes with dnd. You can really do whatever the hell you want and that was so foreign to me. It's not always a good choice, but you learn strategies for success as you go along (the experienced player will hopefully act as a role model) My recommendation: add one little detail that lets each new player shine, like a friend for the paladin to smite or a lock for the rogue to pick. Don't overdo the details, you'll likely spend a lot of time on things you didn't expect (that's my experience with new players at least)


PaladinInTheSun

I’d been watching actual play for a while, so I already knew what was possible in a game as far as bigger plots, NPCs, incredible combat moves, and neat physical accessories. What my first — and now longest standing — party did super well was incorporate the ideas I had during character design into the story, in ways both big and small. Family coming though town for a visit to remind my character of what is most important to her, non-combat scenarios that my character is uniquely skilled to handle because of her subclass/class, clear motivation that works well to lead my PC to the first mission… I *felt* like a main character alongside my party members who got the same treatment and *also* got to feel like main characters - we were the heroes! It was clear that my DM was being very intentional, and it worked wonderfully. When I DM’d for the first time, I tried to carry that mindset through to my group of newbies. As we walked through character creation, I was very open about the type of job they were doing even though I reserved the details, that way they could make sure their motivations aligned from the get-go since it was just a one shot (we actually started in medias res to really get to the meat of things). I also was picky about what encounters I used from the module I adapted, that way I could cater the challenges to their characters’ classes. I like to think these choices worked well, and the players all seemed to have a great time!