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Ok tabletop RPG game designers, remember, you can't make players read your book, and a lot of them will receive their knowledge of your game through interaction with other players or by watching streams.
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So as frustrating as it may be, you will frequently see people doing something or learning something for the first time, even though it was in your book.
How do you mitigate this?
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How do you mitigate this?
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Establish information priorities. Some information is necessary for all of the players of the game. Other information is only needed by certain players in specific contexts. For instance, in D&D 5e, everyone needs to know how to roll saving throws...
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... but not everyone needs to know how martial maneuvers and superiority dice work. D&D 5e compartmentalizes this information: martial maneuvers are described specifically for the battle master fighter who uses them (p. 73) and referenced by the feat Martial Adept (p. 168).
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Saving throws, though, are noted right up front, in chapter one, p. 12, under the section about ability scores, proficiencies, and how you get them from your class. High-priority information: Early on, in an example, relevant to everyone.
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Other high-priority information: ability scores; melee and ranged attacks; class and race; armor class; backgrounds, bonds, ideals, and flaws. All things that all characters need, so front-loaded to make sure that all players are familiar with these concepts.
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What's a piece of high-priority information that's missing?
How do you compute initiative? It's not listed in chapter one, b/c you don't add proficiency. Chapter 9, p. 189, has an early section headed "initiative" that explains how the DM rolls initiative...
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How do you compute initiative? It's not listed in chapter one, b/c you don't add proficiency. Chapter 9, p. 189, has an early section headed "initiative" that explains how the DM rolls initiative...
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... and says that everyone makes a Dexterity check, and explains how players break ties (by choosing among themselves). It also appears on p. 177 as a type of Dexterity check (which then references forward to chapter 9).
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Figuring out turn order is pretty high-priority information - and if you are filling out a character sheet that doesn't auto-compute this for you, how would you find this out? Should've been included in the chapter 1 example.
PLUS this means...
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PLUS this means...
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Since initiative is a Dexterity ability check, this means that bonuses to your ability checks apply. Bards apply their Jack of All Trades bonus, because it's an ability check for which you don't add a proficiency bonus! And the Guidance cantrip could theoretically add, too!
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So organize your information according to what's important for everyone to know, what only specific players need to know, what just the game master needs to know. The more generally relevant the information, the more it should be up front, with examples and references.
/fin
/fin
