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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MoogleEmpMog" data-source="post: 3508821" data-attributes="member: 22882">I would actually argue that setting material - even if it's not 'pure,' but rather mixed with crunch - is actually MORE daunting to a typical new player.To take an example from another thread, a new player who isn't familiar with Divine Metamagic is in no way impaired in playing a campaign, playing an effective cleric, or even playing an effective warrior-priest cleric.  Should he later incorporate Divine Metamagic because he decides to purchase Complete Divine, he'll become more powerful, but prior to doing so he was not deficient.  Unless the GM is running a very intense meatgrinder where only the most elite optimizers have even a chance of winning through, he has no reason to point this out to the newbie.On the flip side, a new player who isn't familiar with the Forgotten Realms will lack information his character really ought to have - the basic geography of his local region, for example, or the more prominent Lords of Waterdeep if he's a citizen of that 'burg, or that Red Wizards of Thay and Zhentarim are generally not to be trusted.  The GM will need to explain to the newbie such basic 'facts of life.'In other words, setting information usually includes stuff players need to know, or at least would benefit from knowing, from the outset, whereas crunch is usually something that can be added piecemeal as the player acquires more.</blockquote>