Belated day 8: explore.
What I love the most about this hobby is the immense amount of exploration involved. I’d say I am a curious person by nature, but also pretty respectful of others boundaries. So gaming allows me to explore a lot of things.
Simply reading new games and settings is a form of exploration. I love to dig into topics when prepping games or researching half-baked ideas.
Most of all other forms of exploration I love the first moment in a new character. I go in with an idea, knowing as little as I can about them. And the anticipation of getting the first question from a fellow player or GM, and talking as the character for the first time puts shivers down my spine.
A while ago I played a pre-generated hard detective in an X-Files/Dark murder mystery called White Noise. After looking at the background info and the character sheet, I wrote down a note for myself: never apologize, tell don’t ask. Those moments of looking and finding are the nectar of gaming.