Windjammer
Adventurer
"You, WotC..."
...do nothing unless that revolutionary design probes directions that you, as a company, are confident and enthusiastic to probe as well from a corporate point of view.
Historical case in point: Mike Mearls' work for Malhavoc Press. Mearls basically showed WotC that they hadn't fully explored the DDM-side to 3.5, even though there was plenty of that to explore in the ruleset. Look at Iron Might, look at the IH Bestiary, look at NPC class templates for quick and easy NPC generation. Mearls also showed WotC that there was plenty else to explore in D&D - stunts, skill challenges, rituals - without the need to throw the core elements to 3.5 over board (contrast the later Tomes for 3.5 which basically never once built on the traditional strenghts on 3.5). Mearls basically showed WotC that they hadn't fully played to their strength.
And now we're talking. Here's someone who's producing solid design and whose ideas are in line with what WotC itself wants to see in D&D.
There's no such thing as "awesome" design inherently threatening a corporate's vision of D&D. (I mean, you think BW or Mouseguard is of interest to WotC? Hardly.) It's when the two - innovation and corporate vision - coincide that we see the sparks flying left and right, and things move onto "Alriiiight, now lets base your innovative design ideas on solid math, shall we?"
I find very little innovative on 4E. What's new and exciting is that ideas that were formerly half-baked got a much more smooth engine to support them. (I'll excempt skill challenges from this estimate, but the rest is right up there.)
...do nothing unless that revolutionary design probes directions that you, as a company, are confident and enthusiastic to probe as well from a corporate point of view.
Historical case in point: Mike Mearls' work for Malhavoc Press. Mearls basically showed WotC that they hadn't fully explored the DDM-side to 3.5, even though there was plenty of that to explore in the ruleset. Look at Iron Might, look at the IH Bestiary, look at NPC class templates for quick and easy NPC generation. Mearls also showed WotC that there was plenty else to explore in D&D - stunts, skill challenges, rituals - without the need to throw the core elements to 3.5 over board (contrast the later Tomes for 3.5 which basically never once built on the traditional strenghts on 3.5). Mearls basically showed WotC that they hadn't fully played to their strength.
And now we're talking. Here's someone who's producing solid design and whose ideas are in line with what WotC itself wants to see in D&D.
There's no such thing as "awesome" design inherently threatening a corporate's vision of D&D. (I mean, you think BW or Mouseguard is of interest to WotC? Hardly.) It's when the two - innovation and corporate vision - coincide that we see the sparks flying left and right, and things move onto "Alriiiight, now lets base your innovative design ideas on solid math, shall we?"
I find very little innovative on 4E. What's new and exciting is that ideas that were formerly half-baked got a much more smooth engine to support them. (I'll excempt skill challenges from this estimate, but the rest is right up there.)