GMMichael
Guide of Modos
A sign of the times, if you ask me. A bit of reading is just how things were done back in the day, so gamers were used to it. Now, there's information everywhere (check your pocket), so we want it reduced to a manageable level.But...I don't actually find it useful. The opposite, really: it gets in my way. . .
Anyway, I will continue to buy and pore over RPG materials, but I wish more people would adopt/refine Kelsey Dionne's approach. And I'm sure there are lots of games/supplements out there that do use this approach, I just haven't seen a lot of them. (Suggestions welcome.)
Storytelling - that bulky prose stuff - is an age-old method for getting people to remember stuff. You can't visually quick-reference a story, you just have to remember it. For my solicited suggestion: force yourself to read through it. Your memory will probably thank you.
Interestingly, what passes for news (these days) has gone the opposite route; you have to read through all the prose to get to the actual news. Why this is, I can only guess. But I'm not surprised that today's news media are suffering.