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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 385813" data-attributes="member: 2013">IMC it's fairly simple...Players are allowed to bring the PH to the gaming table and nothing else.  If they want splatbook stuff, they have to okay it with me first and give me a photocopy of the relevant section of the book if I don't have it (I consider this fair use - but it's never come up as I have more books than all my players put together).Players are aware that when they are "newbies", they have one adventure (about 1 month real time) in which I will pull punches, show them the ropes, and help them adjust.  After that, the kid gloves come off and while I'm not out to kill them, I'm not going to make things easier than they should be.  That gives them time to read the PH, should they so desire.I have loaner copies of the PH (I bought 3 when they were about $12-14 each at Amazon.com or buy.com or bn.com or something) that players may borrow.  For most of my younger players, this is more than sufficient - and since they don't have a lot of disposable income, it's convenient for them.  The older players usually bring their own PHs so they don't have to share, and many of them have fair libraries at home (though none of them are close to my library, fed by near-addiction <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ).As far as snacks go, my wife and I created a "D&D Box" - all the stuff that we accumulate throughout the week that we don't finish or don't like goes in the box.  Usually you find cereal bars or funny-flavored popcorn, or half a bag of chips, or something similar in the box.  Players may eat stuff out of the box or bring their own.  I bring my own. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />As far as adventures go, I make it clear that once they start an adventure, they are more or less expected to finish it - but at the end of each adventure, I have three to five more hooks for them, so I let them choose their own subsequent adventures (it's very open-ended).  Their responsibility is to focus on the task at hand, my responsibility is to prepare more tasks.  I vary things quite a bit - I would say I'm about two parts combat to one part diplomacy to one part puzzles to one part detective work to one part "bookkeeping" - about very 6-8 weeks we have one session devoted to "bookkeeping" where we give the characters some "off-stage" time and where the players just hang out and watch movies or play video games or skip altogether.  I've found that helps us become friendlier "in-game" as we explore more common interests than just gaming.  As they say, "game with people you would otherwise hang out with."--The Sigil</blockquote>

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