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Message: <blockquote data-quote="burntgerbil" data-source="post: 4945362" data-attributes="member: 49839">I know this has been probably discussed before, but I can't help but feel the need to discuss this now. I don't consider myself a stringent rules lawyer, although I do enjoy cohesion in rules systems in all games. I can't help but feel that a vast portion of people playing 4e simply haven't read their core books. Well, I mean to say read, comprehended and applied what they read. Our last gameday the other weekend, myself and another DM showed up to run the early (pre-noon) session. I had heard people rave about the quality of this other DM and with the D&D crowd being what they were, we didn't get enough early birds to fill both games - so I played his. This was the second time that I participated in a Games Day where there were fundamental areas of the rules that the DM's did not grasp - the biggest being skill challenges and use of non-attack powers out of combat. The Boards are not encouraging either - new players asking questions is encouraging - but it seems like many people open the book, go to their class section and play from there. There's 300 pages in the PHB - of that what, 100ish is class data ? The single most used page in my PHB ? The index, easy. I feel like if you want to host a game - especially as a card-carrying official DM, It should be a prerequisite to have a keen grasp on the games mechanical suggestions & understand that this game sets more mechanical guidelines than any edition before. Magic does this with the judge system, and the DCI getting involved in organized play for D&D would only help. An on-line test would probably be the easiest way to implement this. Am I wrong to think that a registered DM should know the difference between entering and exiting difficult terrain, know what happens before a player or monster is pushed into a hazard of off of a precipice, know what constitutes a "Credible Threat" - but most of all, know that if you don't have time to memorize the rules, and don't intend on changing your game when situations arise, then you should consider either expanding your rules knowledge or run games of a more casual type. I introduced a group of 8 25-30 year old non-rpg-gamers to 4th edition and they absolutely loved it. I understand that at the beginning some rules are not core to player experience, so we modified or glossed over them. Slowly, rules were introduced as players got a better grasp of the game. Soon, everyone was up to speed - each an expert on rules that specifically pertained to them. The guy with a lot of forced movement powers learned the specifics of forced movement - and the others learned from him. Appointing individual "experts" seemed to help immensely. I understand that D&D gameday was at least partially intended to help raise the visibility of the game and get new players in - (and promote more new rules & guidelines) so this is not so much about the event as the frustration that stems from the conflict of necessity for moderate adherence of the new ruleset (for balance) and the mindset of some players and gamemasters that "have played D&D before" so that qualifies them to play a rule-intense edition.So the question I pose is this : Does the source of  the problem lie squarely on us - humans who (by nature) tend to gloss over and skim through text, or is the density and novel (no pun intended) approach of this new material the cause for this syndrome ?Aside : In general, poor DM'ing* experiences are what got me out of the game. Good DM's are what got me into the game and kept me there. Should there be more of a reward system for DM's that meet a certain criteria ? Does this happen already (more substantially than getting a 4e Hommelet) ? Another game I am deeply involved with - Shadowfist the CCG - rewards valuable and influential players and organizers by issuing product, promos and in some cases, immortalizing your valor with your own card in expansion sets. I can't help but think how much money poor DMing has lost the game over the years and how much traction the game could get if the good DM's were rewarded. This has nothing so much to do with rules at this point as *My definition of a poor DM is one who fails to discuss, understand and adapt the game style to what the players and the DM agree upon.</blockquote>

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