I am subbing in an alternate question for today. The “which do you like adapting” is clearly FATE because that is what it does. So there you have my answer in one sentence. What do I want out of an RPG experience is a much better question. There are many things that I want in an RPG play experience!
Enjoyment!
I want to have a good time when I am experiencing any RPG. Is there any other reason to play an RPG? There have been many games that I have played that just left me flat afterward and I am never keen to revisit those games. But sitting down, becoming engrossed and having fun with a friend or bunches of friends is a seriously cool thing to do. But I suppose this is a no brainer and the question really is about what generates that enjoyment for me?
Entertainer
As most of you would know, I GM nearly all the time. I am not a great player as I get bored and my attention wanders. This plays in my favour as the GM is nearly always busy! I also love to entertain others with my games. I seek to make all of my games a unique place to be. Even the ones that I run from modules! I am seriously into role playing as opposed to battle simulations and many of my games focus on it. It is even reflected in some of my favourite games like Lords of Gossamer and Shadow. Games that strongly encourage the role playing aspect over the roll-playing portion. I like roll-playing as well but I do that in board games.
Learning
I have learned over time that a GM needs to learn about their world just as much as the players do. I am a strong proponent of story telling games like Dungeon World, FATE and a whole slew of others. These games encourage the players to build the world around them in cooperation with the GM. This in effect allows the GM to learn new things about his setting. It also allows the players to show the GM how they see their setting which is just as important.
Experience
Role playing (and all games) is about delivering an experience. If you are running a horror game you want the players to feel the fear. If you are running a sci-fi game you want the players to feel the awe of the futuristic setting. It is all about experience. If I play a game and cannot evoke an experience from it then I will be less likely to want to play it again!
There is a lot of specific stuff that I want in an RPG but I believe this question is much more about the general things I look for in a game. The list above can be broken down even further but these are the broader things that I want in my game. How about you? Keep rolling…