Why are you here?

From things that came up at my place during and after last session, there seems to be some confusion, at least among the newer players, as to what the point of the game and ultimate goals are. So, let me give the short answer and my take. Firstly and lastly, the goal is wealth. The whole point of the game is to get filthy rich, and there are two game reasons why you want that. First, wealth enables you to live out your medieval fantasy dreams of building a castle or tower or hidden lair and commanding great power over those lower than you. Second, the value of the treasure that you find directly translates into how many experience points (XP) you receive, which determines how your character grows. So, if you want to be able to cast new spells, to swing your axe with greater ability, to sneak around and disable traps more successfully, then you need to gather wealth in order to progress your character.

Now, you may be wondering, "what about storytelling and glory and involved role playing and all those great things that I love?" Well, you can fit those things into a game whose explicit goals are not to them. You can always create great stories of your adventures, even if you're not out destroying every living creature within the known world.

If you happen to cleverly trick some dragon into leaving its lair while you empty it of its treasure, that's all the better than risking your nice un-charred flesh to kill some fire-breathing terror. Also, while folks in this fantasy world may praise you for slaying some awful beast and freeing them, your tales will fade with their memories if there is nothing tangible to remind them of your greatness. So build a freaking castle and show everybody how awesome you are when they have to trudge past everyday, shit-covered, and hoping they can sell their last goat in order to pay for the funeral of their children who died of the stanky leg plague. Show them how awesome you are when you build a tower and then cast it and the countryside around it into the sky, where you float around the world terrifying ignorant peasants and powerful kings alike.

During all of this, you can create whatever sort of personality you would like for your character, but one part of it must include a reason and need for adventuring. If your character wanted to earn an honest living, we could play "Mud Farmers and Apprentice Craftsmen." While I think that Rio Grande could create that game, I don't think I'd want to play it.

In short, if you are playing D&D, then you must like solving puzzles, medieval fantasy,  role playing, socializing, or just eating Doritos. For any of those reasons that you like playing related to the game itself, you need character wealth to win. For those related to hanging out, well, you're already winning by just being there.