Simple question, right? Now answer it without using labels (e.g., Thematic, Tactical, etc). Simply tell us what elements of game play you find most fscinating and why. Also, please refrain from attacking what other people enjoy as less/inferior/non-existent/etc. That should be easy, right?

As a player, I enjoy games with a heavy emphasis on role acting, substantive character relationships (not necessarily with each other, but at least with the world in which they exist), and lots of opportunities for political intrigue, cinematic sword dueling, and exploration of strange, alien, worlds.

I like combat and having characters be the fulcrum on which the game world turns.

Seanchai

Proactive. Pretty sure that's a word I can use, right? I've got that thread around here somewhere about that if you think it needs more detail.

I also like lots of stuff happening and a little more stress than the average bear. Which some might call fast paced or perhaps intense? That's definately related to the first but a little different too. Such as I'm fine with player to player conflicts (but it isn't anything like a requirement) because those tend to turn up the heat.

Those are my main priorities. Oh yeah, human. I like playing humans.

I normally GM and whilst I can spraff for ages about shit I want what really matters is when it all clicks into place and everybody is laughing and talking in character. I'll muck about with anything that'll bring that about so I suppose you could describe it as a free-flowing loose stylee.

Not using words such as tactical will be hard. I'll try.

My favorite style of play: I like to be immersed in a single, main character. I prefer to make decisions mainly based on my character, but can dig the occasional OOC decision. I like games that have strong dramatic themes with equal mix of action, dialogue and intrigue.

Action: I am very grateful when the GM finds exciting ways to thrill and test my character other than just combat. Jumping chasms, climbing stuff, running away... I love those tense moments, especially when the backdrops are interesting and colorful.

Dialogue: I love interacting with other PCs and NPCs. Whether it's to further the session's goal (capturing the villain, finding the princesss) or simply to make the story of my character more enjoyable or believable for me.

Intrigue: I love when my characters have tough decisions to make. Or when they match wits with smart villains. I love to figure out who the culprit is, or how my character could be named captain of the guard.

Damn, James. I tried to keep it short. Does that answer the question in a non-technical way?

Fuck. I forgot that I love to "build" stuff. Like starting a guild, or becoming a merchant, or just mapping out my mage tower when the GM allows it.

Quote from: jdrakehSimple question, right? Now answer it without using labels (e.g., Thematic, Tactical, etc). Simply tell us what elements of game play you find most fscinating and why. Also, please refrain from attacking what other people enjoy as less/inferior/non-existent/etc. That should be easy, right?

I like games where the GM is totally jazzed about running the game -- IME (with the people I play with), that's usually a sign I'm going to get my mind blown wide open

Cheers,
-E.

I like games where the rules are very easy to understand, but contain numerous interesting permutations. An example would be a game with a unified core mechanic, but many different ways of using that core mechanic (nWoD, UA, D&D 3.x, Silhouette). That's because I like feeling competent and skilled at using the rules to accomplish things.

In play, I like systems that give me a lot of options about what I can do that are mechanically distinct from one another. I like playing characters who talk alot, smart characters and characters who are skeptical of the way the things are in the game world. I am also very good at playing characters who are annoying or malsocialised, but in interesting ways (some of the ones my fellow players have particularly enjoyed were a dumb, fanatical cleric, a foul-mouthed and rude fighter, and an irresponsible, alcoholic diviner). I like groups where PCs and NPCs are not strongly limited in the actions open to them, whatever the moral quality of those actions (so you can play an evil bastard or a good chap or whatever). I like PvP.

As a GM I enjoy it when the players through their characters change the original vision of my setting. They make it their own, which is the best evidence IME that they really dig the campaign.

I also like injecting moments of unexpected action into the proceedings - something which I'm known for.

A recent example of this is in my IHW adventure - The Whites of Their Eyes -in which the theme of the campaign, the clash between ambition and principle was played out against a thrillin' hostage scenario which included amongst other situations a tense negotiation between the ship's captain and an extremely unbalanced Mutineer and a vicious three way knife fight between the ship's doctor and a fellow crewmen against a very skilled knife wielding prisoner.

Regards,
David R

I like games with a focused starting premise to build off of.  Gets all of us on the same page and then we are off and running.  I like skeletal settings that are expanded through playing.  I also like narrating my characters actions instead of always having my voice be the characters voice.

As a player:

I like games in which my character experiences danger, and through a combination of wit, artifice, tactics, and dumb luck, finds a way to somehow come out alive at the end. My character will be part of a tightly knit team that has a fun "family" dynamic.

As a GM:

I like games with epic scale- meaning movement, travel. If the characters start out at one end of the regional map, I want them to have visited several other places on the map, including several unmapped places, other planes, etc. The places the characters visit are just as important as the NPCs they meet. The players and I will explore and create the game world/setting together, as I constantly push the borders back.

Inevitably the characters will face dangers that threaten their city, nation, region, entire world, or entire plane. There will be villians. There will be a cast of NPCs. some of them are comedic characters. Some of them are allies. Some of the NPCs will be wild cards who begin as enemies and end up as allies.. or vice versa.

Quote from: Consonant DudeMy favorite style of play: I like to be immersed in a single, main character. I prefer to make decisions mainly based on my character, but can dig the occasional OOC decision. I like games that have strong dramatic themes with equal mix of action, dialogue and intrigue.

Action: I am very grateful when the GM finds exciting ways to thrill and test my character other than just combat. Jumping chasms, climbing stuff, running away... I love those tense moments, especially when the backdrops are interesting and colorful.

Dialogue: I love interacting with other PCs and NPCs. Whether it's to further the session's goal (capturing the villain, finding the princesss) or simply to make the story of my character more enjoyable or believable for me.

Intrigue: I love when my characters have tough decisions to make. Or when they match wits with smart villains. I love to figure out who the culprit is, or how my character could be named captain of the guard.

Out of my head!

Damn, that's mostly what I like in a game. Just add some mystery and exploration. I love the little puzzles that you'll find some some games. Little things that only add up over the course of a campaign.

I love exploring a world that a GM has set out. Why is it called 'The Forest of Unhallowed Ground'? What's in 'The Fortress of Kalmor' and why was it abandoned? Hell, I like finding new shops and areas in a city that we've been to 100X before. "Hey, they have a theater/music hall here. I didn't know this city had some culture."

I also like it when there is a familiarity to a game: A favourite hang out for the group, the crotchety gatekeeper/guard/policeman you see every day, the plucky middle aged woman who runs an tavern/bar/coffee shop. Both the people and the places have 'character' to them. It's like visiting old friends when you can make it back there. I like exploring, as long as there's a place for me to 'base' out of.

But what I like most is a GM who knows how to balance things out. Never too much of any one thing for too long. Combat is fun, but not all session and every game. Same for everything else.

If the main part of your game is, say a mystery, don't be afraid to throw in a fight here (something as simple as roughing up someone for info) and a personal relationship problem there (a PC's boy/girlfriend or wife/husband whatever; has something that just can't wait an will get upset unless calmed)

Wow, on reflection there's hardly any playstyle I don't enjoy. From playing a T2K grunt foraging for tank fuel in hyperrealistic post-WWIII Poland all the way to an immortal Sinbad-grade dude chasing epic foes through the spheres of Everway, I love it all.

I guess I just love RPGs in general.

Quote from: David RA recent example of this is in my IHW adventure - The Whites of Their Eyes -in which the theme of the campaign, the clash between ambition and principle was played out against a thrillin' hostage scenario which included amongst other situations a tense negotiation between the ship's captain and an extremely unbalanced Mutineer and a vicious three way knife fight between the ship's doctor and a fellow crewmen against a very skilled knife wielding prisoner.

Regards,
David R

Lord, David! Why aren't you putting these up as actual plays?

This sounds awesome!

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceLord, David! Why aren't you putting these up as actual plays?

This sounds awesome!

-clash

I keep asking them for their journal entries, letters, (written and then spoken before play) soliloquies which form the previous session recaps, but they always say the same thing:

"Listen Ringo, homey don't play that way"

And my own written actual plays would probably suck

Regards,
David R