Nobles and the Law

[Sinister]

I like the idea of not explaining the game system to players - one of the best D&D games I ever played the DM kept the character sheets - we got told 'wow that blow really kncocked you back' and the like but never really knew how strong/weak we were compared to our foes - it kept us on our toes constantly! It doesn't work so well with some players (those who love to crunch the odds etc) and is even more work for the hard-pressed GM but can be a lot of fun.

Generally speaking, (as I GM over 12 different RPGs) I find that players have more fun and so does the GM in games where the players don't know the rules. I've found this statement to be true in almost every RPG I've ever played or ran. It has something to do with the fact that without rules knowledge the players can only be "in character". The look for ways to operate within the scope of character interaction.

In the case of DnD I can safely say that most of the time I prefer other RPGs to it because the players aren't given a "player's rulebook". Birthright and Ravenloft may be the only reasons why I'll ever play DnD.