Argyle King
Legend
As far as complexity of options I really can't get behind the argument. My 6 and 8 year old daughters both like Pokemon and the cards. They are both perfectly capable of reading, understanding and creating Pokemon decks out of the hundreds of cards they own. IOW, they can take the time to sit down, read the cards, understand how they synergise and build a deck.
So, I'm really having a difficult time thinking that a college age person cannot figure out the dozen or so ability cards that his character has. Or, to put it another way, it doesn't matter how simple you make the system, for someone to actually refuse to learn the rules, it's not going to change anything.
I cannot XP you or Little Raven, so I'll simply say that I find myself feeling like I'm on a similar wavelength of thought when reading this post.
I can completely respect the idea that what is easy for one person may not be easy for someone else.
I can even respect that someone might not be interested in the rules of a rpg and will instead be interested in the social engagement and/or the mental escape from reality. In my spare time, I play in an online game in which the GM is so good that he can run the system and the players who are not familiar with it can worry about just telling him what they want to do.
Still; even considering all the things I can respect and understand, it seems to me that the length of time that goes into a gaming session and being interested in rpgs would impart some basic understanding of how something works even if it's just through some sort of social osmosis and simply being around what is going on if it is something you have an honest heartfelt interest in it. I do not expect everyone to understand everything completely, but it's hard for me to believe that you wouldn't at least pick up some basic understanding.
Heck, I'll even accept just knowing where to find the information if you don't want to remember it; if you can at least remember where what you need is generally found, I'm ok with that. For example, if you are playing a fighter, it seems reasonable to me that you'd be able to look at the table of contents and find the fighter section in PHB1 when it comes time to level up and choose a new power. It's no coincidence that the character sheet is made out of paper either. It's possible to write on it and take notes in the margins if need be. I'm pretty sure that nobody is talking giving yourself a crash quiz on War and Peace here. Just writing down a page number beside a power name or maybe writing on the bottom of your sheet how much sneak attack damage you do in a special situation because of a particular feat.