Sometimes it's good to know the roots of where things came from.
Most if not all functionality in todays Fantasy RPGs can trace their lineage to D&D (Gary Gygax).
But interpretations of the abilities and skills first created by Gary have come a long ways. Millions of designers and players over many decades have redifined functionality in ways I am sure few envisioned.
A couple of the unique functionalities that were first seen with EQ1 were Feign Death and Kiting. And Kiting was a complete surprise to them I think originally.
I still recall how quickly after those first few druid players in EQ1 realized they could solo multiple high-level mobs somewhat easily. Almost overnight EQ1 server populations swelled with newly created Druids.
Feign Death was a radical new idea as well. And was used very creatively by players in ways the designers never imagined.
I recall my old EQ1 guild on the Rathe had a Monk that used FD to drag a clerics corpse to the zone-in point for the Plane of Mischief. The Monk had the cleric rez item which effectively then allowed the Cleric to CoH the guild effectively into PoM. And upon entry into PoM a unique single-use item was used to bind non-casters to PoM. It was a single charge item, but players had figured out if you sold it to a vendor then bought it back, it's single charge was refreshed. The cost was very high, but the guild had enough plat. to cover it.
True sandboxes are the only places we see original ideas evolve. Give us tools, abilities, skills, functions. Let us evolve.
Thanks Gary.
The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.
- Gary Gygax
