So I've been thinking about RPG's, and what keeps drawing me back to them, and I think it has got something to do with me always being interested in acting and writing. It is a hell of a creative outlet, whether you are in front of the screen or behind it.
I've been playing the same character for years now, since 2nd Ed. days, a dwarven fighter named Barundar. He's been around The Realms, he's been to Norrath, Azeroth, and I've always enjoyed playing him the same way. When LOTR came out in 2001, I had a geeky smile from ear to ear watching Gimli onscreen, because that's the way dwarves are if you follow the stereotype. And I played mine like that. So I felt I was doing something right when it came to role playing… Not that playing a dwarf in any other fashion is wrong, but it's just that I felt I was watching Barundar on screen.
As a DM, I value RP over battles, stats, etc… My brother and I were playing DDM the other day, we just got into it recently, and he said, "It's really the exciting part of D&D, the battles, without all the fluff." I had to disagree.
I ran a game last week where a lawful good cleric of Moradin and my brother's unnaligned Rogue were debating the merits of robbing some magic items out of a few graves. The discussion lasted a long time, in character and out.
That for me was way more exciting than the encounters. That type of roleplaying is why I play.
I play for that fantasy or sci-fi feel. I have always and still want to be a writer. This just lets me live it out so to speak. My daughter says I should have gone into acting because around her I play out characters from the movies or from D&D past (meaning my past characters that have either retired or gone to D&D heaven). I love role-playing over roll-playing but there are times when just hacking and slashing your way through relieves the stress from a bad week at work. Love your blog newbiedm, keep it coming!
I play for the same reasons as you. I love telling a story. My long-time character is a half-orc bard named "Dirty Grabnar" and a weretiger in Werewolf the Apocalypse named "Frozen Tears" I made him when I was twelve so please forgive the maudlin name.