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That doesn't really do anything except make DMs have to spend more time devoted to mechanical drudge-work, rather than on developing their adventure. Monsters in Monster Manuals are carefully selected to be relevant to a wide audience of game groups. The idea is that by presenting monsters that...

"Tabletop roleplaying games should only draw inspiration from truly sophisticated texts, like modern high-fantasy literature!"

D&D Players: placing personal, arbitrary limits on the fantasy fighting prowess of imaginary monsters since the invention of the d20. "Hmm, I think I'll use this elite bugbear instead of this standard bugbear!" is a choice the DM makes. I'm not sure why that choice doesn't count in your eyes...

So then your position is that badass monsters should not exist? That seems silly, but it's the only remaining one I can think of, since you've rejected both a) deciding that a monster is elite or solo and changing its stats to match, and b) deciding that a monster is much tougher and changing...

You understand that when we say "boss monster" we don't actually mean "monster who is the boss of other monsters", right? It's just a phrase that we use to indicate a monster that is a challenge in and of itself, absent any other monsters to aid it. The fact that a monster is actually the boss...

A Goblin Manslayer [Elite] is a boss monster because he's so much tougher than the PCs individually are. The keyword doesn't pile on hit points or damage. The monster is a badass, so he can take more punishment and dish out more damage. The keyword reflects that. There are significant...

Says the guy who thinks his personal opinion of a developer's quality trumps the opinion of the gamers who have made them the present-day industry leader. Popularity doesn't always reflect quality. For instance, an ignorant consumer market would potentially result in popularity reflecting...

And so inspiration must be tempered with solid design sensibilities. It doesn't matter what the source is, you need to have a keen eye for whether it belongs, and how it can be adapted to the goals of your system. The medium is relatively unimportant, and in this respect, video games are no...

I am finding it kind of appalling that there is more than one person who actually continues to believe that video games have nothing to offer tabletop RPGs in terms of mechanical inspiration despite the provided, demonstrable evidence to the contrary. It says a lot about the sort of person who...

Okay, really, what is making you say stuff like this? Do you actually believe that video games have nothing to offer tabletop roleplaying games in terms of gameplay inspiration, despite my providing to you, earlier, no fewer than three direct examples of video games inspiring cool D&D gameplay...

The same goes of board games, puzzle games, party games, drinking games, video games, sports games, and gambling games. MMOs are fundamentally no different than any of those, in that they are all forms of game-based entertainment and can all be mined for inspiration. Any developer worth his salt...

Really? Go talk to MMO developers, and ask them where they found inspiration for their gameplay and mechanical design choices. Many of them will (and have in the past) cited tabletop roleplaying as inspiration - and well they should! Similarly, a lot of people have found that using MMO (and...

That strikes me as needlessly restrictive, and arbitrary to boot. It's perfectly reasonable to pull from other gaming media without that media having to share every trait with tabletop roleplaying games. Is there any reason I shouldn't just chalk this up to silly MMO hate?

They don't do it for any number of very good reasons. For instance: the prohibitive cost in both man-hours and publishing it would take to provide all editions of the game with a level of support that is even close to what we are accustomed to. I don't understand why we see people put this idea...

Rogues play the combat system and are designed to be adept at it. Wizards play the combat system and are designed to be adept at it. Clerics play the combat system and are designed to be adept at it. All of them play the combat system somewhat differently, but they all participate, and they...

Wrong answers were not included in the poll. :angel:

I think this is a function of the lens you view the game through, rather than a necessary extension of what would happen if all players were from the same class. Certainly, a party full of assassins is more likely to engage in stealth than a party full of fighters, but it doesn't preclude combat...

And, of course, the aesthetics of the Mona Lisa have stayed the same, barring degradation over time and a handful of restorations. The original still resides in the Louvre. It's there, and as far as I know it's not going anywhere anytime soon. That said, it hasn't stopped countless people from...

Yeah, man, wouldn't that be ridiculous? For a totally made up, fantasy magical system? I mean, everyone knows that magic works a certain way, and that anyone who imagines magic to work another way is just out of their mind! Regaining spells after five minutes just doesn't make sense! That's just...

It is worrisome that you seem to view a style of game design more focused on narrativist play to be lazy, inept, and stupid.