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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8329416" data-attributes="member: 6801845">I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say that no matter what else changes, there will still be evil monsters as part of D&amp;D.&nbsp; I know, radical.&nbsp; Different game systems will handle things differently, but most RPGs (whether video or TTRPG) have some way of identifying the bad guys.&nbsp; Many, if not most, are far more focused; D&amp;D is an incredibly broad tent when it comes t what kind of stories people tell.&nbsp; We don't have predefined clans, tribes, organizations as such that are not campaign setting specific.&nbsp; But let's take a look at some random monsters (I used a random # generator):Born with horrific appetites ... eat anything they can catch and devour. They have no society to speak of ... difficult to control, however, doing as they please even when working with more powerful creatures.or... savage, degenerate ... squat in the shallow depths of the Underdark in a constant state of war against their neighbors and one another ...Perhaps the most loathsome of all humanoids ... eat anything they can stomach ... dwell in filth.or ... hateful hermits who left behind their old lives to contemplate their misery in shadow. Now evil burns in their hearts, and they resent any intrusion into their suffering. ... fled into the Shadowfell ... transformed them, and their bitterness made them twisted and cruel. ...
Could you add some redeeming quality to each and every monster in the MM?&nbsp; I suppose you could.&nbsp; I don't see the point.&nbsp; The entries in the MM are the protagonists in the game.&nbsp; Are all orcs evil?&nbsp; Up to the DM and the setting.&nbsp; All trolls?&nbsp; Troglodytes? Meazels?&nbsp; Are you going to rewrite vampires so that some sparkle in the sunlight?How about instead they just make it clearer that alignment is just a default, that these descriptions are for the ones that the PCs are likely to face as protagonists?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 8329416, member: 6801845"] I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say that no matter what else changes, there will still be evil monsters as part of D&D. I know, radical. Different game systems will handle things differently, but most RPGs (whether video or TTRPG) have some way of identifying the bad guys. Many, if not most, are far more focused; D&D is an incredibly broad tent when it comes t what kind of stories people tell. We don't have predefined clans, tribes, organizations as such that are not campaign setting specific. But let's take a look at some random monsters (I used a random # generator): [INDENT][I]Born with horrific appetites ... eat anything they can catch and devour. They have no society to speak of ... difficult to control, however, doing as they please even when working with more powerful creatures.[/I][/INDENT] or [INDENT][I]... savage, degenerate ... squat in the shallow depths of the Underdark in a constant state of war against their neighbors and one another ...Perhaps the most loathsome of all humanoids ... eat anything they can stomach ... dwell in filth.[/I][/INDENT] or [INDENT][I]... hateful hermits who left behind their old lives to contemplate their misery in shadow. Now evil burns in their hearts, and they resent any intrusion into their suffering. ... fled into the Shadowfell ... transformed them, and their bitterness made them twisted and cruel. ...[/I][/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] Could you add some redeeming quality to each and every monster in the MM? I suppose you could. I don't see the point. The entries in the MM are the protagonists in the game. Are all orcs evil? Up to the DM and the setting. All trolls? Troglodytes? Meazels? Are you going to rewrite vampires so that some sparkle in the sunlight? How about instead they just make it clearer that alignment is just a default, that these descriptions are for the ones that the PCs are likely to face as protagonists? [/QUOTE]

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