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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 5126584" data-attributes="member: 80487">Yes! That is the way it ought to be, in my opinion!Ideally, everyone would learn to play by playing, and Dungeon Masters would learn most of the rules that way and the rest of their trade by apprenticeship. People would never be stuck trying to teach themselves by picking up books and starting at page 1.In our less than ideal reality, a less imposing presentation of material may be desirable. One problem with the current scheme is the catch that someone with experience can gauge what is really fundamental and needs to be gotten down pat, and what can be looked up (or even purchased in the first place) if and when it's actually useful -- but the absolute beginner lacks the context to take any such measure of the mass.A more general problem lies in the different demands of (1) a tutorial program; and (2) a reference work.The Powers and Feats system in 4e -- especially in the forms of cards for players and "stat blocks" for DMs -- can (in my experience) be very helpful for learning "just enough to play". However, I (lacking a DDI subscription) find the presentation in books extremely inconvenient for reference.When someone online talks about following Hie to the Vanguard with Throw Down the Gauntlet or Myrmidon's Repose, it can call for a lot of hunting to find the items.</blockquote>