I like die pools too. One, it's satisfying to roll a handful of dice. I'm a GW gamer from back in the day, so handfuls of d6's are my happy place. Two, I like systems that use ranges of success. If I set the difficulty at 3 successes and the player rolls two successes, in a lot of systems that means success with complications. Once you get used to it that's a great handle for a GM to advance the narrative in all sorts of neat ways. Three, I'm a huge fan of exploding die pools. Not for every roll, but for some things. Rolling three sixes out of five dice and then getting to roll three more dice is about as satisfying as die rolling gets. Plus it generates a lot more nuanced occurrences of additional success, not just roll a 20 or not.
Not that I don't like d20 mechanics, they're fine, but die pools are cooler, IMO anyway.
Not that I don't like d20 mechanics, they're fine, but die pools are cooler, IMO anyway.