Winning at D&D

It can be more than just survival and experience points!
The original three Little Brown Books in the White Box are written as guidelines and give suggestions and hints at how players might want to organize their game. It provided a number of tools that seemed puzzling at first, but eventually made sense, and has continued to unlock and grow in my mind over the years. One aspect not lost on me even during my initial experience reading the volumes is that the original game provides an end-game goal - the stronghold.
Upon reaching name level, "Lord" for fighting men who may build a castle, "Patriarch" for clerics who may fund a temple, and "Wizard" for magic users who may build a tower or other seclusive retreat in which to conduct their magical studies, provided they have accumulated enough gold pieces to pay for construction costs.
According to the rules, "name level" characters can build a stronghold and attract followers. This comes at the end of the character's career of adventuring. My group generally "retired" our characters upon achieving name level - although we would occasionally bring them out of retirement for a special high level adventure. The group I played with were experienced wargamers, but we didn't extend our RPG campaign into tabletop wargaming of large land or sea battles or politics of baronies, temples and towers as was certainly possible given the implied end-game scenario.
Having an end-game or ultimate character goal is an important aspect in role-playing. Characters are easier to play if they are motivated by something more than violence and looting. Scenarios may involve specific mission goals such as defeat the monster threat or rescue the hostage, but at the end of the day, what keeps them risking their hit points? The advent of "backstories" provides today's gamers with many more options for establishing a personal end-game goal for their paper heroes.
For example, I have played the character "Khalid" in many campaigns over the years. His backstory remains fairly consistent across them all - namely he is the son of a failed revolutionary who carries a piece of his father's flag. One day he hopes to return home and overthrow the tyrant who defeated his father. So far it hasn't happened, but it gives Khalid a reason to travel, to improve his abilities and accumulate friends, reputation and wealth. Most importantly, it helps me role-play a character's personality separate from my own and gives a referee fuel for adventure, should they choose to use it.