This is in reply to "I would have had to add all this background" That was kind of my point. Shouldn't the background be in there anyway. Why are you writing stories that can only be understood by people who already know that material, that's so... limiting. And think of all the background including techniques you aren't learning. But I already confessed that I'm way over on the extreme end of this debate. Plenty of people I respect disagree with me. Variety is good as long as nobody shoves any particular branch of variety down someone else's throat, so I'll try not to get too rabid.