Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 6720709" data-attributes="member: 3586">One of the odd things that I didn't realise until I started writing about it (new article: <a href="http://merricb.com/2015/10/05/a-short-history-of-monster-stat-blocks/" target="_blank">A Short History of Monster Stat Blocks</a>) was that 5E doesn't actually use a monster stat block! The official adventures use monster references... similar to how Gygax did it in the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief. Although he had hit points; these don't even have those!I'm intending to write a follow-up article for my blog on the use of stat-blocks and how they affect the flow of adventure text. In the last few years, we've gone from one extreme to the other. Early 4E was &quot;everything for the encounter must be on the page&quot; and that gave use the occasionally much-misused &quot;Delve&quot; format, while 5E is all about the readability of the adventure text without being interrupted by pesky stat-blocks, which means you'll be flipping to an appendix or pulling out your Monster Manual...Just wondering what your preferred method is - full monster stats? shortened stats? references? And how much do including the stats affect your comprehension of the adventure material? Do you prefer Paizo's way of doing it? Wizards? Someone else's? I know that <a href="https://www.froggodgames.com/quests-doom-2" target="_blank">Quests of Doom 2</a> uses a format that relates back to the 2E/early 3E format...Cheers!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 6720709, member: 3586"] One of the odd things that I didn't realise until I started writing about it (new article: [url=http://merricb.com/2015/10/05/a-short-history-of-monster-stat-blocks/]A Short History of Monster Stat Blocks[/url]) was that 5E doesn't actually use a monster stat block! The official adventures use monster references... similar to how Gygax did it in the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief. Although he had hit points; these don't even have those! I'm intending to write a follow-up article for my blog on the use of stat-blocks and how they affect the flow of adventure text. In the last few years, we've gone from one extreme to the other. Early 4E was "everything for the encounter must be on the page" and that gave use the occasionally much-misused "Delve" format, while 5E is all about the readability of the adventure text without being interrupted by pesky stat-blocks, which means you'll be flipping to an appendix or pulling out your Monster Manual... Just wondering what your preferred method is - full monster stats? shortened stats? references? And how much do including the stats affect your comprehension of the adventure material? Do you prefer Paizo's way of doing it? Wizards? Someone else's? I know that [url=https://www.froggodgames.com/quests-doom-2]Quests of Doom 2[/url] uses a format that relates back to the 2E/early 3E format... Cheers! [/QUOTE]

Verification