DM RANT Three : Handouts and homework

no, No, NO! Nobody wants to read pages and pages of handouts. Nobody will pay attention to them. One of the very successful tricks I learned from running a 31 year long campaign: Less is more. I always UNDER explain everything. It creates an itch in  your players, makes them THIRSTY for any scrap of knowledge. You will eventually be rewarded with players deeply engaged in every scrap of your lore.