At 07:13 AM 1/21/2002, Bryant Durrell wrote:
>Mind flayers in isolation aren't a problem. If your mind flayers display >traits derived from the Monster Manual, then they are a problem. I think >it'd be easy to have a mind flayer sitting in a 10x10 room, but if you >have a group of mind flayers with slaves serving them underground you're >outside SRD-land. I don't see that. Evil beings with mind-control powers==slave lords to me, esp. in a typical fantasy setting. >Since much of what we think of as quintessential mind flayer traits does >not appear in the SRD, it's difficult to go too far with them without >transgressing. If you make the mind flayers into big fish with bulging >brains, your purchasers are gonna say "Why the hell did they change the >mind flayers? I wanted a D&D module, not some weird homebrew thing." This is, indeed, a problem, though not an overwhelming one. WOTC has done little to explain to customers the limitations of the SRD and the license; the public perception is, simply "D20==D&D Compatible, right down to every bit of accumulated setting cruft since 1973". There are solutions, most of which involve simply grabbing the reader by the throat and saying, "Look. The rules say we CAN'T use the Illithids, so here's OUR Mind Flayers. And you know what, chum? If you step back a bit and think, you'll see our Mind Flayers are actually *cooler* that WOTCs." I managed to skip Second Edition entirely. To me, Mind Flayers *are* a stat block, nothing more. Give me time, and I'll come up with a cool culture/society for them. _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
