You have confused adequate with perfect.

There is space in the hobby for new mechanics and new ways of doing things but in terms of something "Wow!" innovative , not as much

Even games that are considered state of the art like FATE have roots in the first decade of gaming (it and Ars Magica are derived from Melanda from 1981 )

Also a great many games aren't terribly different than old games GURPS is similar toMan to Man from 1985 that there is basically a negligible learning curve  or with a more moderate one Melee from 1977! and D&D 5e is pretty close to older D&D

Also attempts at serious innovation can backfire . 4e D&D was neat and innovative in many ways but it was a flop in many peoples eyes.

Quote from: Bren;886235You have confused adequate with perfect.

Talk to the people who make dictionaries, there might be something about them you may have missed.  

"Innovation" that just re-invents a wheel that is weirder and/or works worse than the original wheel is just dumb.

Yes, it is possible. I am myself still looking forward to a rules - lite horror system that'll still manage to keep fighting on the edge, will have something similar to GUMSHOE's approach to investigative part hard - coded into the system, while still having an easy system for checks needing actual dice rolling.

Quote from: RPGPundit;885512I think that the best innovation seems like a natural extension of tried and true mechanics.  That's part of why the OSR does such good design.

"You can get the mechanic in any variant you like, provided you like D&D"

Quote from: CRKrueger;885946That's the point of subjectivity...if some guy subjectively states "This is the perfect game for me."...it is.

Which is of course what people mean 99,99% of the time they say something's perfect (even if in their slightly more idealistic mindset they truly believe in objective perfection). But what'd be forums without arguing semantics.

QED: Perfection discussion, where no doubt the Platonian ideal of ideal ideas will soon fight the practical, dictionary definition of the term "perfect."