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<blockquote data-quote="Haffrung" data-source="post: 8140909" data-attributes="member: 6776259">There are some people who will read an RPG book cover-to-cover for entertainment, but we're peculiar uber-nerds even by gamer standards. Most people who I've taught to play D&amp;D have never actually read the rules away from the table.However, most everyone I've played with has had to reference the rules in an RPG book at the table. When you're sat with four other people for an evening of socialization, and you need to look up how your character's Stealth feat will modify her attempt to evade an ogre, the last thing you want is to parse through paragraphs of descriptive text to find what you're looking for. What happens in reality is that most players do not read RPG books at all, let alone for solitary entertainment purposes. They buy them to reference the bits and pieces of the system they need to know to run their PC, and then they rely on the DM or the alpha player(s) to guide them through every other mechanic. As for the DM and the alpha players, while some do indeed enjoy reading RPG books, most would be happy to have a concise reference to aid them in play - just as boardgamers have with their rules sets.The final factor in all this is buyers - a much larger market than publishers care to admit publicly, I'd warrant - who don't actively play RPGs, but buy RPG books because they once did, or wish they could, or they find them otherwise interesting. And yes, they probably do want something evocative and entertaining to read. Because reading that book is the only pleasure they're likely to ever get out of the game, and ease of reference in play is irrelevant to them. The question is how much should publishers cater to non or inactive gamers, and how much does that sacrifice ease of use for people who actually play.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Haffrung, post: 8140909, member: 6776259"] There are some people who will read an RPG book cover-to-cover for entertainment, but we're peculiar uber-nerds even by gamer standards. Most people who I've taught to play D&D have never actually read the rules away from the table. However, most everyone I've played with has had to reference the rules in an RPG book at the table. When you're sat with four other people for an evening of socialization, and you need to look up how your character's Stealth feat will modify her attempt to evade an ogre, the last thing you want is to parse through paragraphs of descriptive text to find what you're looking for. What happens in reality is that most players do not read RPG books at all, let alone for solitary entertainment purposes. They buy them to reference the bits and pieces of the system they need to know to run their PC, and then they rely on the DM or the alpha player(s) to guide them through every other mechanic. As for the DM and the alpha players, while some do indeed enjoy reading RPG books, most would be happy to have a concise reference to aid them in play - just as boardgamers have with their rules sets. The final factor in all this is buyers - a much larger market than publishers care to admit publicly, I'd warrant - who don't actively play RPGs, but buy RPG books because they once did, or wish they could, or they find them otherwise interesting. And yes, they probably do want something evocative and entertaining to read. Because reading that book is the only pleasure they're likely to ever get out of the game, and ease of reference in play is irrelevant to them. The question is how much should publishers cater to non or inactive gamers, and how much does that sacrifice ease of use for people who actually play. [/QUOTE]

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