D&D (2024) How Important Is The Lore

[Retros_x]

We all need to remember that all of the books are written with the assumption that not every reader has all of the baggage from previous editions, or other systems or settings etc.

For D&D specific monsters like Beholders I agree with you. But there is no need for boring default lore for orcs and dragons. Do some more exciting stuff. And the 3 kids who never read any fantasy related before starting D&D - they just get a new default lore. No harm done.

Thats at least my wishful thinking. I know it will never happen. So I take the statblocks with boring lore and turn to more exciting settings and monster books for fresh ideas instead of reading for the hundreds of times about dragon hoards and goblin traps.

 

[Reynard]

I think there is a happy medium between "three sentences" and "walls of prose".

Sure. I like the length of the dwarf description in the 2024 PHB. It looks like it is about 100 words.

I just have a thing for concise language and am also okay with the bare bones approach of Shadowdark, for example.