I do realize that happens but then there is "dumbing up" (for lack of a better word) of the rules.
You can simplify and clairify something forever and there still will be somebody out there who needs clairfication on something.
There is a point where all your doing is repeating the same thing over and over but just slightly different in terms of the words used. When this happens you'll have a rule book that is so clear (maybe for most but there still would be the one person who needs clairification because he/she reads the meaning of the rule differently) that it is 100 pages thick. Which isn't bad unless it is repeating an example over and over just slightly different.
I guess what I am trying to say is that this is a great game but if the rule book had 20 pages of examples to begin with I proably wouldn't of gotten into it because it would have "seemed" to comlicated. Mark has to worry about doing that, making it look to complicated to just a passerbyer who asked to look at the rules.
Sean
Actually, there are many places in the rule book where they repeat themselves. If all those instances were removed, we could slice of at least two pages on the rule book.
I think this situation isn't a matter of "dumbing down" of the rules, I think that it is a matter of writing style.
The style in which Mark writes is one in which many time he jams two thoughts together into one sentence. At other times he states the same piece of information, in a slightly different manner, in a sentence within the same paragraph or section.
There are times when he specifically states a point that you would think that "anyone" should get from the sentence before because it is the thing that would be prohibited by the prior sentence.
There are places in the examples where the rule is actually explained better/more fully/a bit differently than it is in the normal written text.
These are just a few examples of what I am talking about.
Having worked on rule sets for other games, I understand the dilemma that one is faced with in writing a rule book. There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to explaining a topic. You are not going to be able to put in the amount of information that will explain it to everyone in every case. But you do try to do it as well as possible in as many cases as you can.
If there is a place that this rule set can be clearer, I will point it out. It would be a disservice to all who try to play the game not to.
Craig