The Real Reasons Why We Play DnD & other RPGs

Have you ever sat down and thought about your reasons about why you roleplay? Why did you start playing roleplaying games like D&D, Pathfinder or Cthulhu to begin with? In my experience there are 4 primary reasons why we roleplay and it is when we begin to understand these reasons and use them to our advantage as the game master or dungeon master, that we will be in a much better position to run more fun and more fulfilling RPGs.

We are in chapter 2 of our work through of The Practical Guide to Becoming a Great GM.
And today we are looking at your reasons for roleplaying. Why do we roleplay?
When we get down to it, there are 4 primary reasons why we roleplay. If we can understand
what these reasons are and how we can use them to our advantage – that puts us in a much
better position to run a more fun and fulfilling game for everyone at the table.
The 4 reasons why we roleplay are:

1. Entertainment
2. Escapism
3. Success
4. Socialization
   

• Entertainment
o A narrative experience
o Rigid rules and a story element – structured rules for a structured story.
o We need to feed the source of entertainment – for ourselves and our players.
o There is a structure – we expect a specific structure which we as the GM
must provide.
o We like patterns – and we like to be able to predict those patterns.
• Escapism
o To forget about real life issues for the duration of the game.
o Suspension of disbelief – we accept magic or insane physics or super heroes
provided that they have rules and reasons.
o Consistency is king – rules bring consistency and your world space must be
consistent.

• Success
o Achieving the goal – what were the goals of the players (you too GM), and
the PCs and were they successfully achieved?
o Mechanics and story – both components must allow for success (and
setbacks)
o Success requires effort – there must be a reasonable chance of failure in
order for there to be a success at the end.

• Socialization
o We are a group and must behave like a group, understanding the inherent
dynamics and politics therein.
o You as the GM are the facilitator – the GM is responsible for the table and
those around it.

• We are all in this together! Everyone at the table is responsible for the collective
outcome.