The TTRPG format has not changed a lot in the past 40 years or so: it is mostly walls of text separated by some tables and some art (all of varying quality). While there are on occasion products that challenge that standard, the vast majority of material, from rulebooks to adventures to setting material, takes this form. And while I like that format for the most part, there are some things I wish publishers did or included in their products.
First and foremost, every new RPG should come with a concise rules distillation booklet (or page or whatever is necessary based on the game in question). I mean a document that outlines the entire game rule structure in a few pages with easy look ups and cleared of all the obfuscating prose. It would look like a rules booklet for a complex board game. RPGs are games, and games are better and more fun when the rules are easy to reference. Too many RPGs bury their rules.
Second, for adventures, I want one look maps of dungeons, towns, locations, whatever. By "one look" I mean a map that tells me everything I (as GM) need to know about the layout, denizens and relationships in the place in order to run it effectively. Graphic design will be a powerful tool here, developing a language of icons and other indicators of who is where, their initial attitudes, their attitudes toward each other, and so on. I actually do this a lot myself with a print out of the map and a couple different colored markers. It is hard with "high production value" maps like, for example, The Abomination Vaults, because they don't print clean enough to effectively mark up. So if you aren't going to give me a one look map, give me clean maps I can print and mark up myself.
Event based scenarios should have similar "maps" in flow chart form -- and not the useless flow charts of Avernus, but actual flow charts that give the GM a concise tool for aiding play.
On the player side, especially for a relatively crunchy game like D&D or Pathfinder, I want class specific rulebooks: everything for playing that class is in that document, including subclasses or the equivalent, abilities/feats/spells, general game rules specific to that class (like grapple rules for melee characters and magic rules for casters) etc... It could just literally be cut and paste of the appropriate sections of the PHB and supplements, but it would be worth an extra expense to me to have everything in one easily accessible place.
First and foremost, every new RPG should come with a concise rules distillation booklet (or page or whatever is necessary based on the game in question). I mean a document that outlines the entire game rule structure in a few pages with easy look ups and cleared of all the obfuscating prose. It would look like a rules booklet for a complex board game. RPGs are games, and games are better and more fun when the rules are easy to reference. Too many RPGs bury their rules.
Second, for adventures, I want one look maps of dungeons, towns, locations, whatever. By "one look" I mean a map that tells me everything I (as GM) need to know about the layout, denizens and relationships in the place in order to run it effectively. Graphic design will be a powerful tool here, developing a language of icons and other indicators of who is where, their initial attitudes, their attitudes toward each other, and so on. I actually do this a lot myself with a print out of the map and a couple different colored markers. It is hard with "high production value" maps like, for example, The Abomination Vaults, because they don't print clean enough to effectively mark up. So if you aren't going to give me a one look map, give me clean maps I can print and mark up myself.
Event based scenarios should have similar "maps" in flow chart form -- and not the useless flow charts of Avernus, but actual flow charts that give the GM a concise tool for aiding play.
On the player side, especially for a relatively crunchy game like D&D or Pathfinder, I want class specific rulebooks: everything for playing that class is in that document, including subclasses or the equivalent, abilities/feats/spells, general game rules specific to that class (like grapple rules for melee characters and magic rules for casters) etc... It could just literally be cut and paste of the appropriate sections of the PHB and supplements, but it would be worth an extra expense to me to have everything in one easily accessible place.