1 {scene: a college dorm room, with a table set up with a Dungeon Master's screen on it}
1 Jamie: So, I'm a lovable rogue, enjoy a good drink, like to regale my young nephew with tall tales of my daring exploits...
2 Adam: You don't need any details like that! The game is just about killing monsters and looting their treasure.
3 Jamie: I want to play this character properly. Get into the right mindset.
4 Jamie: I want to become totally hobbituated.

Back in the early 80s, roleplaying games pretty much were all about killing monsters and looting treasure. Which is fine if that's what you're after.

The most important part of having fun with a game is matching the expectations of the players to what the game will really be like.

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2022-05-21 Rerun commentary: Now, here in the 2020s, roleplaying games have evolved a lot, and are very different to the early games of the 1980s. Many encourage character backgrounds, detailed descriptions, and active roleplaying in character.

However, there are also a lot of games that seek to recreate the "monsters and loot" feel of early games, but with more modern and streamlined rules. There is a whole movement dedicated to this, called the Old School Revival (or "Renaissance", but I prefer "Revival").

There are some games which are termed retro-clones. These are very close, sometimes 100% compatible clones of the old Dungeons & Dragons Basic and Expert rules. Examples of these games include OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Dark Dungeons, and Old School Essentials.

Games with different rule systems but which aim to recreate the feel and mood of old school roleplaying include Dungeons Crawl Classics, Dungeon World, The Black Hack, and Maze Rats, among many others.