Stat Blocks

After posting about the kind of product I want, I got a bad feeling, that maybe something just like I was talking about has been available for years and I'm the only one who doesn't know it. So I've been poking around a little bit to see what products are currently available. One thing I noticed is everything provides "stat blocks."

When I read that I think of "blocks of text." I hate that term. I don't want monsters or NPCs to have blocks of anything. What happened to just stats? When did the information for monsters and NPCs become blocks of stats?

I like the fact that Swords & Wizardry monsters basically let you know: How hard they are to hit, how many hit points they have, how much damage they do to you, and how fast they can move.

Okay, there's a little more than that, but, I wouldn't call it a block.

And for NPCs? It makes me think of sports stats. "Here comes the local baker stepping up to the plate, he's got a good streak going this season . . . looking at his stat block I see, WOW, he's got an 80% success rate on loaf rise! That's tough to keep up. Okay, let's see how he does today . . ."