From:	reynardsurface@*****.com (Pace)
Subject:	SR4 Conversion
Date:	Tue, 26 Jul 2005 13:40:29 -0700

Ug. Sorry, that was not intended to be sent without further reply. My mistake.

I find that what players want to know is "what's going on here." No.
They won't sit and read a book and learn it, because that's really no
way to learn. The best way is to sit down and play, and go over each
system slowly. Will they memorize it all? Nope. Will they remember it
when prodded, and know where in the books to look? Yes. Personally, I
play most of my shadowrun online, which means I'm typically dealing
with a different set of characters almost every time. There will
always be people who don't know the system, as long as there are GMs
who expect them to learn it on their own time. Personally? I use a
system whereby the wound, environmental and external modifiers for
each person are on display (with the reasoning "unknown modifier", if
they haven't figured it out ICly.) and then I tell the player to
declare their dice, apply their own TN mods, and roll. If they forget
something, it's typically to their own detriment.

This can be easily done with two sets of colored markers at the gaming
table, and makes learning rules much simpler. A player's ignorance can
be cured, but only if they are allowed to help implement the rules. No
one ever mastered anything without practical application. I think you
give your players too little credit.