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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5237871" data-attributes="member: 22779">This is the problem that always comes up in this discussion.  If I say I don't want much flavour, it automatically means that any flavour included in an entry somehow "disproves" my point.I know that there is flavour there.  OF COURSE there is flavour there.  There has to be some.  But, two paragraphs is a far cry from the reams of flavour that some seem to be advocating.  Now, if you're happy with two shortish paragraphs of flavour, then we're 100% in agreement.  So am I.At the end of the day, it comes down to how do you view a monster manual.  Is it a reference rule book or is it a supplement to the setting?  I prefer the former, although I have nothing against specific supplements for specific settings.  To me, the monster manual is a rule reference that I pick up to stock my adventures with.It's not something I sit down and read, any more than I sit down and read the dictionary or any other reference work.  It's a tool to be used, not something to peruse, IMO.  Now, the Tech Readouts for Battletech were almost 100% flavour really.  Other than a fairly short stat block for the weapon and armor loadout of a mech, the book spends about 2/3rds of a 2 page spread on flavour.  I don't mind that because the Tech Readouts were the primary source of setting information about the BTech universe.Monster manuals, OTOH, are not.  They are not a source of setting information.  And, when you start getting carried away with flavour, that's what they become.  So, every demon and devil HAS to be part of the Blood War and fit into the D&D cosmology.  Daemons (or 'Loths) HAVE to be mercenaries for both sides in the Blood War.  Drow have to be matriarchal societies that live in the Underdark.  On and on.  D&D doesn't need that.  I want a toolkit that lets me build my own campaigns, not piggy back on others.  If I want to piggyback, that's what setting manuals are for.  It was mentioned that a stronger setting is helpful to new players.  I disagree actually.  A stronger setting requires you to buy into more and more supplements to keep up with the setting information.  If you "skip" some supplements, later supplements start making less and less sense because you're missing pieces of the puzzle.  KISS rules.  Give me enough information that I can tell my players what they are facing.  Telling me that the monster is a Thoul isn't quite enough.  Even telling me that they are the hybrids between trolls and ghouls and hobgoblins is a good start, although a bit more might be appreciated.  Spending the next thousand words telling me the detailed history of the Thoul, including buckets of extraneous detail is too much.</blockquote>

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