In your experience, are mega-dungeons fun to run and fun to play? Anecdotes very welcome.

>>96337305
>Do you anaons actually sit around a table with figurines and maps and roll dice still?
Regularly for the last 12 years. It's an amazing hobby. Playing online sucks donkey ass though.

>What is something you love about this hobby, what keeps you coming back and what got you interested in the first place
Two main things really: it's intellectually satisfying to prep and run games, and it's a fun social activity.

I have spent thousands of hours on video gaming, and I still enjoy it, but there's really something about sitting around a fucking table and spending real time together. I've moved to a new city a few times and have always successfully used tabletop RPGs to meet new people and build something resembling a social life. Occasionally the nerds I meet turn into real friends and that makes it even more worth it.

Intellectually, reading rulebooks and adventures and prepping games is fun. It's occasionally stressful because it takes real effort, but I generally find that it is worth it. Running solid games gives me confidence and is just a lot of fun. Besides, playing these games is a good example of an activity done for its own sake. For example, a lot of things are done for future rewards: running today so that I can complete a race in six months; studying now to get my MA in two years; buying materials now to build a shed in the future, etc etc. A lot of things exist 'in the future', or are done for future rewards, but playing roleplaying games is rewarding for its own sake and having such activities is healthy, in my opinion.

I don't recall exactly what got me interested. I was part of a campaign in 2011; I think I was just curious about what the tabletop nerds got up to, especially since I did enjoy party-based RPG video games. I've been GM'ing a lot of different games since '14.