In Defense of Normal

Y'all are being too weird with it, cut it out. No seriously, all those custom classes, monsters, items. Why? Creation is sick and awesome. I wouldn't be here if I didn't like writing new tabletop things and sharing them with people, or playing in strange settings and strange worlds. Roleplaying and the creative aspect that goes alongside it is awesome. That being said, there's a HUGE tradeoff between the novelty of new ideas and the ease with which they come up at the table that I don't see people talk about basically ever. I'll try and illustrate what I mean with an example based on experiences that I've had at the table. The Normal Example: Bob wants to put a strong enemy in his dungeon. He uses his monster generator of choice, one that he stole from some retroclone or another, and rolls a vampire. He puts the vampire in, names it Dracula, and proceeds to the next room. During play, he describes the vampire's pallid skin, sunken eyes, and blood-soaked chin. Cassie, a veteran of…