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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Travis Henry" data-source="post: 7598185" data-attributes="member: 6985696">Hi, I've been DMing and playing 5E for three months, having co-started a group with three persons, and switching off DMing with another fellow. We've been playing feverishly, like 2 to 3 times per week. Almost through the Starter Set, and we've run several other shorter adventures too. And having fun. Yet still...Man, the game is a bit too complex for me. My brain shorts out.The main fun is running through the stories (adventures), with all their different vibes.I really think I'd have just as much fun (or more fun) if the game was about half as complex as it is now.I'm digging the 5e "action economy": Action + Move. Cool.Yet here are my design criteria:-Start off as 0-level characters. With literally only one power. Like choose: Darkvision or one Cantrip or Proficiency in one weapon, tool, or skill.-No bean counting. No XP.-Just gain one power at the end of each session. A power is a single Spell, Proficiency, Feat, Class Feature, or Racial Trait.-So the characters remain as "ordinary" folk for several sessions. The first sessions of the game would pretty much be about mastering the action economy, and a small handful of humble powers.-No skills. Just ability checks. A Skill Proficiency +2 can be chosen as a power, but otherwise everyone just uses ability check.-Simpler (actually usable) encumbrance system. Bulk points or something.-A visual chart on the character sheet showing the backpack, bags, pouches, pockets, and hands. Or maybe don't keep track of mundane equipment at all, and just say that a player can generally pull out any piece of mundane equipment (from the PHB) which is necessary for the situation. ("It just so happens I do have a rope/candle/pen and ink/ball bearings!") Like in novels and films...who knows what's in the character's backpack? In fiction, the exact contents (of Frodo's or Harry Potter's backpack) are rarely listed out in full.-Spells simplified to have no components and no Concentration (like B/X D&D). Having been raised on BECMI D&D, it's a downer to find out the Cleric can't effectively use, say, Blight (now known as "Bane"), Cause Fear, Hold Person, and Bestow Curse within a single encounter. Then why bother preparing the spells? -Abstract wealth system. (Maybe something like d20 Modern.) How much "Coin" do I have?-Still looks and feels like D&D, and is firmly connected with the D&D Multiverse. Can be used to model all of the existing tropes, adventure sites, spells, character classes, races, monsters, and worlds of the D&D Multiverse.-Uses "roll higher" mechanics (so no THAC0).-Any and all races, classes, and monsters, from all editions, can be represented in a boiled down form. So it's not simplified in the sense that everyone's just gotta be one of the four plain-jane Basic Rules classes. But all classes (from all editions) are simply boiled down into smaller bites.-Has conversion rules for any edition of D&D.-So any adventure from any edition can be run using this simpler D&D.-Is still an RPG, not just a card game or boardgame.Trying to get out from under the complexity. It's a bit stressful and time-consuming. And makes the players stressed about their character dying, since they spent like hours rolling them up and choosing their new powers as they advanced in level. Which is a damper on what's otherwise a great fun.So this week I looked at a bunch of OSR, retro-clone, OGL, and kids games:Basic Fantasy RPGSearchers of the UnknownDungeon Crawl ClassicsKnaveMaze RatsDungeon WorldSavage WorldsWhite BoxCastles & CrusadesOver the WallMicrolite d20DaggerLil' WizardsMutants & MastermindsTails of EquestriaPathfinder Beginners SetTrue20They are all cool. And some of there features are fitting. Yet none of them meet my design criteria.Also considered just going back to B/X, BECMI, or 2E Skills & Powers point-buy. Or restricting my table to just the 5E Basic Rules classes and spells. But those options don't really meet the design criteria either. (e.g. only one starting power, only one new power/spell per session, but access to a full array of features of the D&D Multiverse.)Frustrated, I looked at the official D&D skirmish games, kids versions, and boardgames from years past:Monster SlayersChainmail d20DDM Original Edition (3e)DDM Revised Edition (4e)D&D Basic Game (3e)D&D: The Fantasy Adventure Boardgame (3e) - only released in Europe.Dungeon CommandD&D Adventure System (boardgames)And I see some potential. The simplicity of their "character sheets" (cards) is about right. For example, DDM had only three ability scores: Fort Ref Will. Others have just AC, hp, and a power or two.Maybe all that would be needed is a clarified conversion system, and also an advancement system, of one power per level. But those "simpler D&D" systems are about the complexity level I'm looking for. I wonder if anyone has seen or written a systematic way of converting D&D characters into Chainmail d20, DDM, Dungeon Command, or Adventure System rules?</blockquote>

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