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It is a pain to run with all the tags and fiddly bits.

This I agree with. If the creatures thinks it can survive, doesn't care if it survives, or isn't aware of or can't recognize the threat -- well, bee line (B line?) it is.

This I agree with. Honest, "grovel" is generally more useful because it grants your melee characters advantage.

Things that are suicidal do not meet the definition of "fastest means available" because they, by definition, stop the creature from fleeing.

The spell demands only one thing: moving away from you at the fastest means possible. That's it. The creature cannot choose to do otherwise, but nothing suggests it can't choose how.

I don't think this is an accurate assessment of the situation. People playing D&D. Some of them stop playing D&D. Some of those quit the hobby, while others find other TTRPGs that fit their interests better. Assuming whatever portion of D&D players this last group represents stays consistent...

It does not say "regardless of harm to itself" either. As far as we can tell, the spell does not affect the personality or intelligence of the creature involved, so the Gm has to adjudicate that. A beast or mindless undead might run off a cliff, but there is no reason at all to believe a bandit...

I rolled up a random Shadowdark monster which turned out to be a "were stirge" and this is what ChatGPT came up with:

I want to build the next adventure site around a unique, bespoke enemy, so I am going to roll one up! (see page 190 of the SD rules) Combat = d20 = 9 = PL (party level) = LV 3 Quality = d20 = 2 = Avian Weakness = d20 = 10 = Silver AC 13, +3 beak, 1d8 damage. Now let's mutate it! (page 191)...

This is the most important bit. "Flee" should mean "get away as quickly as possible, but also surviving." A creature might not run off a cliff, then, but could certainly try and climb down it. A creature might not run into the lava but might try to hop between cool stones or move along the end...

Obviously, I have fleshing out and clean up to do, but in general that is the process. it took longer here because I was documenting. Generally it takes between 45 minutes and an hour. Sometimes I will roll up the monsters totally from scratch, or mutate them, per the rules. Other times I might...

The annotated map:

There are two more solo monsters. the one in the northwest corner room is a roll=27=page220=gibbering mouther. The cultists can't get past this creature. the one in the room in the south hall is a roll=30=page223=grey ooze, just for some classic dungeon fun. it lurks nearly invisible hoping to...

Looking at the map, I think I am going to change the solo monster outside the Axe chamber where the manticore lairs to a minor hazard. I rolled a 3, so a stuck or locked barrier. The door to the east is stuck, and if the PCs force it open before investigating the axe chamber, they will alert the...

The "story" of the con-campaign is that the Moonless Vale appears once every 1000 new moons (80ish years) for one month, disappearing again at the next new moon (the vale has a new moon the whole time). It travels from world to world, so there are all kinds of crazy things in the vale, from...

But I made a couple adjustments for better flow: