Obviously the Mind Flayer is a hot topic for several of us, but there are
equally difficult situations for many of the creatures in the MM.  Without
some form of visual description, or even basic morphology it is difficult to
make products that are consistent or even reminiscent of WotC products.  For
new creatures this is no problem, but for adventures I think it can be very
difficult.  The temptation to use WotC IP is extremely high, and at times it
might be impossible to distinguish when you are making an unconscious leap
because of your own pre-existing knowledge.

So I have a proposal.  Release the full-color artwork of the monsters as PI,
but grant a specific license to create derivative text from those images.
It solves the problem of including the text description of a creature in the
SRD while at the same time allowing developers to use the visual clues that
PLAYERS will have that make the monsters seem familiar and consistent.

I don't think it would be necessary to prohibit the creation of new visual
representations of the creatures based on the OGC description, because such
artwork would itself be OGC.  That severely limits the commercial value of
the images.

The 640x480 images given to Gamers.com to promote the MM would do nicely.
They were 266 PPI Jpeg images which were pretty to look at but too low a
quality for publication.  Alternatively, low-res scans of the 2nd edition
images from the Monstrous Compendium would work just as well.  I'm sure you
could find dozens of volunteers if you wanted samples.

-Brad

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