Hiya!
And if a DM doesn't have time or energy to create that entire canvas and would much rather have the paint-by-numbers so they can save what little free time is available?
...er...I'm trying to be gentle here...ahem... "They he's playing the wrong game/version".
I'm honestly not trying to sound flippant or mean or anything. I honestly believe that if you (generic "you") are finding it difficult to DM a RPG because that RPG requires more time to do so, then you are simply playing a game that just demands more time than you have and you should move on to another game system.
I'm DM'ing a campaign right now that is simple, yet needs me to do a lot of monster, spell, magic item, etc., creation. The game is free (it's the Dominion Rules RPG;
http://www.dominionrules.org ),but the number of NPC's and monsters in the book are quite limited. In fact, there are all of
17 "beasts". As for Magic Items...there are zero. Yes,
0. If I didn't have time to devote to creating my own stuff, then I simply wouldn't have chosen it. I would have went with something more 'complete'; like Hackmaster 4e, or Rolemaster, HARP, etc.
Demetrios1453 said:
I created giant zombies and skeletons in my "Homebrew Giant Elites" thread - and heartily disliked the fact I had to do so. I believe it would be much more beneficial for DMs to simply have skeleton and zombie templates (at the least) to have to apply to appropriate creatures so they can get on to more important things - like, you know, actually building the adventure. You and I may have the time and will to create new creatures whole-cloth, but there are a lot of DMs out there who don't, and would much rather have something to plug-and-play...
I can totally understand where you are coming from, if I get your gist....which is to say that I think "you" (again, a generic 'you') want "stuff" so that you can play
this game. This game, being 5e, however, isn't geared towards that type of consumer. It is geared towards the type of consumer who isn't afraid to roll up their sleeves and get to work mastering their own campaign world. Tinkering with rules, creating monsters, adding new arch-types, magic items, etc. As for the Player-consumer...5e is geared towards the same sort of "roll your own". Players are sort of expected/encouraged/forced to actually collaborate with their DM if something doesn't exist or doesn't quite fit their PC concept. No matter how you slice it...5e simply
requires more DM and Player 'work' than 2e and 3.x through 4e (including PF) did. Those other editions have a multitude of additional books and whatnot available to buy. You could still create your own stuff, but you could just throw money at it to save time and settle for someone else's "close enough" idea.
BUT, as I said, 5e just isn't designed with the "We'll do it for you and you give us money", and I don't think anything's going to change that. So "your" options are "Give up other things in your life to make time to create your own, unique, stuff", or "Choose a different RPG system/edition".
(Man does that sound harsh! Not indented, just a cold hard fact...imho)
On another note...converting/using another version or even game system is fairly trivial, imho. The 5e system is
VERY forgiving in terms of numbers...even with (or because of?) it's BA. If a "+7" bonus in 3e is floating around at level 3, then just equate that with "decent" and then pick what would be a "decent" bonus for 5e; say, +3. Done. If you are off by a point in either direction, it's likely not going to derail a game. It's also trivial to just decide "I'll make this Hill Giant undead...a ghoul. So I'll just give it the ghoul paralysis and calling it done", is fine. It will work. It's not going to break the game. As there
are no "templates" in the 5e system, the DM isn't going to feel like they are 'being lazy', and the players aren't going to get PO'ed by saying 'the Ghoul Template does X, Y and Z...nothing about Q! The DM is cheating!". IMHO the perceived 'lack' of such additions are a GOOD thing and actually make the game FASTER to run, change and create.
I'm starting to ramble, so I'll leave it at that.
^_^
Paul L. Ming