What products do you consider innovative?

[Glyfair]

I know this is the 3rd or 4th thread on this theme, but I thought it was enough of a tangent to need its own thread.

What recent products do you consider innovative? Why were they innovative? What was so different that it hadn't been done before? Was it good? Was it successful?

 

[Gothmog]

Some of these might not be the most recent books, but they are all very innovative in their design, concepts, or execution to me.

Book of the Righteous- the only book with a fully developed pantheon and mythology, as well as details of each religion. No other religious themed books has even come close to it.

Grim Tales- this is the best toolkit for the D20 system for running any low-magic game, bar none. It cleaned up the rather clunky D20 Modern system, and made it a consistent whole with more versatility.

Midnight- this is one of the few really innovative settings out there, not for the races or trappings of the setting, but for the themes protrayed in the setting, and is the only published setting I consider to be "heroic" (struggling against evil not for riches, glory, or fame, but because it was the right thing to do and to survive).

True 20- A really elegant streamlined and simplified version of D20, that I would love to run or play someday. Also seems like it would be great for lower-magic or modern games, without all the clutter of D20 Modern.

Mutants & Masterminds- a great superhero system, probably the best ever. Shows how versative D20 can be without adhering to the D&D sacred cows.

 

[jdrakeh]

As I've stated elsewhere, innovation is not the be all end all of design - I've seen plenty of really innovative stuf that was horribly, horribly, impractical if not outright broken. That said, some innovative and functional products that I have seen in recent years:

• Castles & Crusades, as the first truly 'light' version of the d20 System commercially published. Also innovative in that it was the first game to combine this new system with retro design sensibility.
  
  
• Little Fears, as the first functional game to truly model childhood terror in actual play, both mechanically and conceptually. Seriously. This game gave me nightmares for a few weeks after I read it. I had to check my closet before I went to bed.
  
  
• Midnight, as the first D&D setting to truly turn D&D conventions on their ear. Midnight was very much straight horror about characters who were forced to be heroes out of necessity, not because they were born walking stereotypes.
  
  
• Eberron, as the first D&D setting to take 100% of the existing D&D rules and build the world around them rather than pre-exisitng in some other format and being terofitted to work with the D&D rules.
  
  
• kill puppies for satan, for its clever, multi-layered, social commentary that makes blatant fun of the very people it was ostensibly marketed to, while doing so in such a manner that same said people really missed the joke entirely.
  
  
• SQU3AM, for being the first RPG designed to mechancially model 80s slasher flicks and teenage kids taking a machete in the noggin because they drank/smoked pot/had sex/went to summer camp.
  
  
• The Ascension of the Magdalene, for opening up the world of Unknown Armies to D&D players and vice-versa. A very well-written adventure that sets the bar for dual-stat supplements.
  
  

 

[jdrakeh]

Book of the Righteous- the only book with a fully developed pantheon and mythology, as well as details of each religion. No other religious themed books has even come close to it.

Actually, I'd say that it has some stiff competition from The Divine & Defeated in that department (i.e., it contained an entire pantheon, as well as a lengthy creation myth and history of strife between all of the gods therein).

 

[ForceUser]

• Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition
• A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe
• Expanded Psionics Handbook
• Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed

 

[Glyfair]

• Castles & Crusades, as the first truly 'light' version of the d20 System commercially published. Also innovative in that it was the first game to combine this new system with retro design sensibility.

Now, here is why innovative is a tough term to use as a criteria for judging products. I consider this the opposite of innovative. Nothing here is new, it's all rehashed concepts in a new package. That doesn't address it's quality, just that this doesn't really do anything that hasn't been done before.

 

[jdrakeh]

Nothing here is new

Really?

it's all rehashed concepts in a new package.

The last of of that sentence is pretty odd, then

just that this doesn't really do anything that hasn't been done before.

Untrue. As I noted, it was the first commercially published 'light' version of the d20 system. As it was the first such system made available commercially, this had, in fact, never been done before

 

[Glyfair]

Untrue. As I noted, it was the first commercially published 'light' version of the d20 system. As it was the first such system made available commercially, this had, in fact, never been done before

By that definition, the Spell Compendium (an example drawn because it lead indirectly to this discussion) is innovative because it's the first collection of most of the WotC expanded spells. Complete Divine is innovative because the rules for relics hadn't appeared elsewhere.

Is a "light version" of an existing rules set really innovative? Why isn't the D&D Basic game innovative (and I don't consider it to be).

Again, I'll point this out again because I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, I'm not really judging the quality of a product, just how innovative it is.

Of things that have been mentioned here that I have personal experience with, here is my personal opinion of how innovative it is.

Book of the Righteous - Not really innovative. It's been done before for other systems (Cults of Prax comes to mind). Just because it's the first D&D/d20 product to cover a pantheon in depth doesn't make it innovative in my book.

Mutants and Masterminds - Innovative. The damage system really hasn't been done in that fashion in any game I remember dealing with.

I'm of two minds on the character generation system. It's a cross between Champions & D&D, is that innovative? In this case, I think I could argue both sides of the issue.

Eberron - Mildly innovative. While pulp & noir roleplaying games have been published before, I don't think any had them in a fantasy world.

 

[LostSoul]

I just got Dogs in the Vineyard, and while it may not be innovative to some, it sure seems that way to me!

For instance, I was playing with my brother last night. What was at stake was "Do I get over my (unrequited) love for this girl?" The way it played out, he didn't, and he was worried that they wouldn't be friends any more. But then we realized: that wasn't at stake, so you're still friends! Pretty cool.

kill puppies for satan, for its clever, multi-layered, social commentary that makes blatant fun of the very people it was ostensibly marketed to, while doing so in such a manner that same said people really missed the joke entirely.

"Geeks", right?

 

[Jdvn1]

Expanded Psionics Handbook
- A fresh new type of magic

Draconomicon
- Never had there been so much detail and color on one type of creature!

Races of...
- A lot of people dont' like these books, and that they discuss races isn't innovative, but I think these books are most useful for new players to get a feel for the races--and it does a wonderful job of that. I don't think any set of books have ever been so useful to new players