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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 7651323" data-attributes="member: 66434">"That is what a “monster” is in D&D: a creature that the PC’s must  overcome, or suffer some risk. They can overcome this creature with  knowledge, with influence, with avoidance, or with combat. The monster  itself threatens them with death in combat, hazardous movement,  inflexible minds, and dark mystery."Not exactly. A monster is simply ANY entity in the campaign world that isn't a player character. The cheerful village priest, the scheming goblin rogue, the 5 headed hydra, and the potato merchant met upon the road are all monsters. Not every monster is there to present a challenge because not everyone the PCs will meet in the campaign exists specifically to test them in some way. Doing so would produce the most rightfully paranoid group of PCs to walk the earth. Some monsters are simply NPCs that share the world with the players, have thier own goals and desires, and do not spend every waking moment thinking about how to foil the PCs in some way. Every moment of play in an rpg does not have to be some kind of test, challenge, or adversity for the players. It is harder for players to accept the game world as a real place if it is endlessly out to get them at all times. Conflict is the still the driving force behind campaign events but there must be more than that to experience so that the conflicts have some context to fit within.</blockquote>