What happened to the PC races?
It’s something that I’ve seen frequently, all the opponents that the PCs face are creatures. Why is that?
Why do many GMs insist on bringing out the monster book for a given role-playing system, select the creature of the week and then set things up to make sure you encounter this particular foe?
First off it’s easy. The stats are all there for you along with the typical tactics employed.
Second, there’s no need to develop motivations or goals for the creatures. If they’re not killed outright no one really seems to care what happened to them.
In my campaigns I try to have a balance, some encounters and threats that are creature based and others that either directly use PC races or minions of those individuals.
There’s nothing wrong with just using creatures if that’s what your group likes. As it is often said, “it’s suppose to be fun, after-all it is a game!”
I’d be interested in what your group does.
May your dice roll well.
Being the twisted deviants we are, we make the monsters people. Even before 3rd edition, I allowed the intelligent monsters to have class levels. In a recent adventure, the heroes were tasked with thwarting a war between merfolk and humans. The various opponents they faced were merfolk warriors, thieves, priestesses and wizards, elven assassins hired by the merfolk to kill the human wizards, human bandits who were mentally enslaved to the aboleth who were instigating the war, and, in a more political and espionage way, humans who wanted to profit from the war.
In the current game I’m running, the PCs are monsters. The group are minotaurs seeking to rescue a human noble captured by drow. The primary opponents have been kuo-toa warriors and assassin-priests and a freshwater scrag. They are currently dealing with a traitorous human priest of Zuggtmoy, who is an ally now, but clearly has his own agenda.
– Brian