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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TwinBahamut" data-source="post: 4028151" data-attributes="member: 32536">There is a huge difference between rulebooks like the DMG or MM and "setting design documents". The latter has the specific plot and events of the game laid out, while the former can't possibly have such things. Similarly, letting players read the DMG and MM is not at all comparable to selling strategy guides for modules. Modules have stories, but the D&D rules and supplements do not. Surprise and wonder are fine, but they can only be achieved through at the level of an individual setting and campaign, as created by a good DM. It is impossible for a whole game system to evoke those feelings, and I don't think it should even be a game designer's goal.Besides, even if you are playing with a group of people who know nothing about the contents of the DMG or MM, there is no guarantee that they are not going to have all kinds of metagame preconceptions about how things work. You are never going to have even a complete newbie D&D player be surprised that a dragon can fly, for example. In fact, a lot of D&Disms (like dragon breath weapons other than fire) are just going to be weird for such a player, and it might be jarring and unfun, rather than wondrous and exciting.</blockquote>