I believe that this is a step in the right direction. While gen AI may be used in consumer products with prior knowledge of the people buying the product, I'd rather not see it complete against human effort when it comes to that effort being recognized with awards.
I hope that we get revised monster creation rules at some point. Tweaking stat blocks is fine up to a certain point, but when you need something unique it gets a bit harder to judge how strong to actually make it.
If the change is as simple as swapping "race" with "species", then I don't think that anyone would mind. It's what people want to see that is an issue.
And while I kind of preferred it when bonuses were tied to a specific species (makes sense than an elf would be more agile than a dwarf, and...
With what little free time I had, I managed to finish more books that I anticipated, so I'm glad for that. Hoping that in 2025 I'll be able to read more!
One of the campaigns I ran focused more heavily on the gods and their business. There you had minor deities and major deities. Anyone could become a god, it was like becoming a saint - do some major thing while alive that had people remember you and tell stories about you, and you could wake up...
A friend of mine has kept playing Yu-Gi-Oh and actually makes some good money from opening packs and reselling cards. So I guess there's at least a way to find more money to throw into the pit, if you're savvy enough.
Neat! Homebrewing is great, but it gets a bit old having to refashion the same old stat block for 5 different types of monsters that bear only a passing similarity to what is in the MM.