First of all, I just saw the name of your blog, and laughed out loud.
Second, my list of innovations (that I appreciate):
So what would you consider to be the big innovations in the RPG category? This could be systems, rules, formats, accessories, IPs, technologies etc. I will get is started but mine is not meant to be an exhaustive list.
- D&D 3e. Previous D&D editions were 'black box' games, where you couldn't see why things worked the way they did; they just did. Some other RPGs were 'anatomical,' in that you could create things from the inside out, but at least among the mainstream of those, they were pretty finicky and hard to just jump into.
D&D 3e, though, was a class-based anatomical game, so it gave you enough pre-made stuff you could just start playing, but you could also see how all the parts under the hood worked.
Was this good? No! It was more complicated than most GMs wanted, but it led to two great innovations. One, it got people interested in how the guts of a game system fit together, which spawned a lot of tinkering.
Two, it led to the 4e innovation as a 'simple anatomy' game. It's sort of black boxish, because stuff just works, but there is rational design behind how it all balances.
- The OGL. This spurred a lot of innovation as publishers both vanity and legit tried to make rules that worked the way they (and occasionally their customers) wanted.
- Messageboard collaboration, PDF, and Print on Demand. I'm not talking just published products, but also things that started as fan-projects on the internet, and eventually got published (in print occasionally). Internet production made it less risky to be experimental, so we ended up with a few gems (and a lot of crap).
Later, it let established publishers work with less overhead.
- e-Character Creators (e-tools, PC Gen, D&Di etc). These I don't like, because I don't like my games to be so rules-complex that they require computers to handle. But they have allowed that style of game to become possible. I wonder if D&D 5e will make even better use of digital tools.
- Internet game tables. I almost never use these, but again, internet experimentation is cheap, and once people who are noodling about in their spare time hit upon a design that is genuinely good, the concept can make the leap to the mainstream.
Actually, I think the list is half innovation, half catalyst. There are all kinds of cool ideas, but what really spurs the creation of those ideas comes down to "getting more people experimenting." Making people more aware of how rules can interact made it easier to try variation. And getting people talking online, sharing online, being capitalistic and seeing what ideas were marketable (but online, where you don't need much capital to get started) let a lot of ideas interact and fight for superiority.
In a way, it makes me a bit sad that WotC sort of closed up shop on digital competition when they started 4e. With 3e, D&D was a 'book game,' and even if a lot of tinkering went on online, nothing was stopping you from printing out some new 3rd party rulebook or fan supplement and slipping it into your GM folder.
4e has really become a 'computer-assisted game,' and the way WotC designed their web tools has made it hard to integrate whatever innovations people come up with. I might have some cool ideas for retooling character classes, but I am forced to choose between using the Character Builder, or using my house rules.
I dunno, maybe for 4e we'll just end up with people innovating less on the rules front, and more on the "adventure design" and "world building" front.
