D&D General When Players Refuse to learn The Rules

[Li Shenron]

Its also not impossible these days to get a list of just your own spells and have them at hand so you don't have to go through the whole book.

Sure that's another option, printing out spells from the SRD is what I used to do for myself as a player in 3e. Spell/ability cards are just an improved version of the same idea. Both are far better than flipping through the pages, particularly when you start building characters using multiple books.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Sure that's another option, printing out spells from the SRD is what I used to do for myself as a player in 3e. Spell/ability cards are just an improved version of the same idea. Both are far better than flipping through the pages, particularly when you start building characters using multiple books.

When we played in person, I strongly encouraged players of spellcasters to print a custom spell book from here:

Spell index for Dungeons and Dragons 5e, a D&D tool from DND-Spells

Dungeons and Dragons 5e, D&D - Save them to a spellbook or print them as spell cards,

www.dnd-spells.com

I’d use it for the bad guys, too. Saved a good amount of time that otherwise would be spent thumbing through the PHB and other sources.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Sure that's another option, printing out spells from the SRD is what I used to do for myself as a player in 3e. Spell/ability cards are just an improved version of the same idea. Both are far better than flipping through the pages, particularly when you start building characters using multiple books.

Sure. Cheat sheets are good; I put one together myself when playing Shadow of the Demon Lord so I could remember all my traits easily.

That's kind of it; the fact that the D&D sphere is kind of stuffed full of exception-based bits that most people won't remember is not an excuse. It just means someone needs to do a little upfront lifting to make sure its a little more manageable. But people manage. The fact some people don't is, barring some kind of a disability (and maybe even then) on them.

 

[MarkB]

Some people just don't intuit rules systems or interfaces well. It's not that they can't be bothered, it's that this sort of thing just doesn't 'click' for them, and no matter how many times they go over it or have it explained to the point where they grasp it in that moment, they don't retain it.

It's just the way people are wired - we all have issues with one thing or another. I'm good with this sort of thing, but terrible with names and faces.

 

[Reynard]

Some people just don't intuit rules systems or interfaces well. It's not that they can't be bothered, it's that this sort of thing just doesn't 'click' for them, and no matter how many times they go over it or have it explained to the point where they grasp it in that moment, they don't retain it.

It's just the way people are wired - we all have issues with one thing or another. I'm good with this sort of thing, but terrible with names and faces.

It is pretty easy to tell, especially when you have known people for years or even decades, whether folks are "not getting it" versus "not bothering."

I totally get giving new players -- or players new to a rule set or VTT or whatever -- time to get adjusted. But the thing that inspired this thread ain't that.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Some people just don't intuit rules systems or interfaces well. It's not that they can't be bothered, it's that this sort of thing just doesn't 'click' for them, and no matter how many times they go over it or have it explained to the point where they grasp it in that moment, they don't retain it.

It's just the way people are wired - we all have issues with one thing or another. I'm good with this sort of thing, but terrible with names and faces.

I have things I'm particularly terrible at and engage with consistently poorly.

As much as possible, I avoid doing those things; I don't try to do them and expect other people to do the heavy lifting to let me.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I kinda feel you pain. I have run VTT for about 6 years now. Initially Roll20 and FantasyGround for about 5 years and one player (runs wizards) is only now coming to grips with the UI.

 

[Aging Bard]

Are you kidding? We are moving to a world where game designers don't care about whether their own rules work during playtest! This development was reported by the Alexandrian on Twitter. 5e D&D's explicit objective is to make D&D as accessible as possible to as many players as possible. That means deprecating any rules that are "hard" or "not fun" so that non-game players can still play D&D as a very rules-lite story engine. This will certainly maximize sales for Hasbro (seriously, it's a great marketing strategy), but it's very disappointing for long-time players of the game like me (who are no longer the target audience, nor should we be).

 

[Reynard]

Are you kidding? We are moving to a world where game designers don't care about whether their own rules work during playtest! This development was reported by the Alexandrian on Twitter. 5e D&D's explicit objective is to make D&D as accessible as possible to as many players as possible. That means deprecating any rules that are "hard" or "not fun" so that non-game players can still play D&D as a very rules-lite story engine. This will certainly maximize sales for Hasbro (seriously, it's a great marketing strategy), but it's very disappointing for long-time players of the game like me (who are no longer the target audience, nor should we be).

Whether this is true or not (and I suspect the latter) it is irrelevant to the discussion at hand, because I am talking about players who don't bother to learn whatever rules that are present (not some specious argument about whether WotC is "dumbing down" those rules).

 

[Aging Bard]

Whether this is true or not (and I suspect the latter) it is irrelevant to the discussion at hand, because I am talking about players who don't bother to learn whatever rules that are present (not some specious argument about whether WotC is "dumbing down" those rules).

This isn't about WotC dumbing down, it's about many game designers dumbing down their own rules. Read what I wrote. Check out the Alexandrian Twitter. Low rules players entering the game is an issue, whether you see it or not.