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Message: <blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 1590116" data-attributes="member: 10201">There were at least 2 other groups, elsewhere in the US, that were --><--this far from inventing RPGs. If EGG hadn't done so, someone else would've within a few years. As to his influence on current RPGs--i'm not sure that's something to brag about. This is not, in the slightest way, EGG's fault, but i do think that the very fact that most RPGs haven't strayed very far from the model OD&D laid down is a bad thing, not a good thing. The fact that i can pick up any RPG supplement published in the last 20-25yrs, save a handful, and it is mechanically similar enough to be mechanically compatible with whatever game i'm playing, has some good points, but also speaks to the lack of innovation in the RPG field. This, of course, has nothing to do with EGG, one way or the other. But i don't think it is an unquestioned good that a lot more than the fundamental concept (role-assumption with mechanical guidelines) has been copied by most RPGs. IOW, the fact that you can see his influence "all over the hobby" isn't necessarily so good. The hobby and industry would be healthier, IMHO, if there was more diversity. Think how much poorer fiction would be if everything was clearly descended from, say, C.S.Lewis--that's, sort of, where we're at with RPGs. And, as long as they're all gonna be the same, i personally wish they were based on a different model--what if RPGs had grown out of story circles, or round-robin writing, or improvisational acting, or fanfic, or any number of cooperative, rather than competitive, group activities, rather than wargames? Oh, and as a nitpick: it'd be hard to pick two games closer in pedigree than Ars Magica and V:tM. It's sort of like trying to demonstrate how someone has a huge influence on "the sports world" by citing NFL and XFL.</blockquote>

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