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Message: <blockquote data-quote="PMárk" data-source="post: 6925405" data-attributes="member: 6804619">Ah, I see. Please let me bring in a personal example! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I was a martial arts instructor a few years earlier (for various reasons I'd have to take a break) and one of the biggest struggles i had as a beginner instructor was learning not to overload my students with information. There's definitely a very clear ceiling in how much new "content" an average person could learn and understand in a lesson. I wanted to show them all the cool things I was enthusiastic about, while they still struggled with the basic footwork and the Italian names of the stances. So I had to learn how to teach beginners, tailoring the lesson's material for them, being through and patient, that kind of things. I think your problem is that you have two conflicting desires: being a fresh GM with new players, thus not want to overload yourself and your players, and still providing them all the available material. I think your feelings are showing well how it is a question of perspective and the general rpg culture. My opinion is: your goal should be, as a new GM is to have a good game with your friends. The ideal products for that are the beginner box and the corebooks and always were. If your players are content with the options in those, that's great, you don't have to read, or buy anything else for now! If some of them don't find an exactly fitting option (For example, I love the concept of "swordmages" and i want to play one from the start. There isn't a class like that in the PF corebook, so I'm starting to ask questions in forums, go to Paizo's site to see the PRD, etc. I show you the Magus class and IF you feel it is okay, you could handle it, then I'll play it in your game, but if you say: sorry, I want to take it easy, because I'm a new GM and want to narrow it down to the corebook, or beginner box". Then, I'll be okay with that too and will play another concept I'm interested in that is in those products.).I sincerely believe, that the biggest reason of why having a "wall of books" intimidating in rpgs is that somehow the rpg culture internalized the idea that if there's material out there, you have to know it and all of it. But you're not.Another example: When i started to wargaming, I bough the beginner box of the faction most sympathetic to me and that was all. Later, I slowly expanded. That the game has 10+ factions with literally hundreds of models wasn't off-putting, because I knew how and where to start. The local clubs even had a beginner's leauge to help learning the game nd slowly expanding. All the fellow gamers were helpful. So it wasn't a problem. Also in HEMA (the MA I practiced), you don't have to start with reading all the obscure medieval fencing treatises, or renaissance ones. You just either go to a club's beginner course and start learning, or buy a book tailored for beginners and some training gear and heading to the local park with your friends. Also, when you start learning to skate with rollerblades (another great sport i like), you won't start with jumps and skating backwards, etc. You'd start with advancing, stopping and taking turns. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I'm still there with that, I'm pretty much a beginner. That there are a great plethora of styles and tricks doesn't intimidate me, because at my current "level" I'm happy to skating safely in the city and having great time with my cheap-ish fitness rollerblades.What I want to say with all of these, what was my experience during all my life is that: it's okay to being a beginner. It's okay to taking small steps. You don't have to take it all at the very start. Honestly, I don't know how it ended like this with rpgs as a hobby that a lot of people feel they have to know and read everything at once, even if there are products specifically tailored to them, but I sincerely believe that the problem is not with the existence of material, the problem is with this toxic notion.</blockquote>

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