“I think the most important lesson I (re-) learned in the entire 4e process is that playing D&D or any other RPG is an intensely personal activity. There’s a reason why we game with our friends, usually at the home of a friend, over food and drink. This is intensely personal stuff, where we say and do things that we wouldn’t let loose in public. [...]
“Everyone who creates games has a vision of their dream game. It often isn’t so much a complete game concept, but instead is a taste or emotion drenched feeling of what the ultimate game might be like. This vision exists always just out of reach and striving to make it real is what inspires each of us to great feats of creativity.”—Lost Garden, “Small Worlds”. Danc’s reaction to seeing the Studio Ghibli Museum.
For me, it’s music. I hear a totally sweet song, and instantly think “yes, this is it: the White Stripes is precisely the right soundtrack for my kind of Space Opera game”.