Player Handouts

[Thunderfoot]

If you really want them to read it, it has to be interesting. The one time that I found it really worked was when I printed a copy of the "Tresia Times" and set it up like a newspaper. It allowed them to catch-up on things they may have missed, track down rumors, and have the spelling of notable NPCs reoccuring in print.

Of course there was also a bunch of "red herrings" included as well and "hidden bits" like want ads and classfied that they seemed to key in on more than the real stuff, but overall it was a success.

 

[RainOfSteel]

So basically, the gist here is that players don't read allot. It's a good thing that WoTC puts out books of 100+ pages as much as they do.

I sorrow for you, I really do.

I cannot imagine what it would be like not to read, a lot.

Anyway, despite that, I do like the idea of something small and quick to digest. Putting things in small factoids and easy to understand pics and maps is the way I want to go. I take it something that is about 6-12 pages would be enough?

That sounds about right for the milieu information. The rest should be crunch that they will need to function. Game mechanics information specific to your game.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Handouts - if done right can be one of the greatest extras you can do for a game or it can crush the campaign under the weight of reems of paper.

As mentioned, I think lots of players do not want to feel like they have to do homework and read a long history of a place. Additionally, it paints you into a corner if you want to change things on the sly. As was said, keep it brief (but keep rules changes detailed). I would suggest bullet points, short quotes and things like that.