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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7162261" data-attributes="member: 996">PHs started getting thicker and DMGs thinner with 2e.  The 3e PH (and SRD) had prettymuch all the rules you needed to actually play, just not the magic items and wealth/level you needed for beyond-first-level builds.  5e still has fairly complete rules in the PH/SRD, though it has a lot of optional ones in the DMG, and the DM can keep players in the dark almost as effectively as the AD&D DM, by keeping resolution behind the screen and making frequent rulings rather than sticking to the rules. In theory.  In reality, lots of DMs also played at times, and some players even went ahead and read the DMG in spite of never having DM'd!  (The bounders!)So, in practice, old-school D&D wasn't just an accumulation of 'player skill,' but a sort of knowledge (today we might say system-mastery, but it could quickly leave behind the published system)  arms-race between DMs & players.  DMs had to stay ahead of their players to maintain the edge that 5e just plain hands us as "DM Empowerment." The idea is that if the rules give your character many options (a long list of spells, for instance, from which you choose a fraction of them that you know, from which you choose a fraction of those that you prepare, from which you choose one each round to cast), you will primarily focus on choosing the best option from the list ("hmm... monsters in a group... fireball or sleep?") while, if you have only one option clearly defined in the rules, or don't even know what options the rules allow, you will be free to focus on a novel solution ("hmm... monsters in a group... I have no idea what I can do, I'll ..er... hide? run away? offer to sell out my party in exchange for my life?").   It can be a valuable learning tool, if that's the goal.  One thing I'd consider is the attitude of the new players.  Are they trying out D&D to see if they like it?  Or are they committed to really exploring it?  In the latter case, reading the books, having 'cheat sheets' available, going over options in play - and playing the rules close to 'standard' (probably AL, as they might move on to that) - could be helpful, because they want to learn.  In the former case, focusing on the experience of a TTRPG, and making that as positive an experience as possible, would be the way to go, IMHO.</blockquote>

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