Old-School Roleplaying

I really like Pen-&-Paper Tabletop RPGs. A lot; it's almost debilitating.

I've been looking at a lot of systems. D&D of course, because most people enter from there. I started in 4e, with a Dwarf Artificer, and looked at 5e when it was published. I know Fate, I know the Powered by the Apocalypse games. I've looked at Pathfinder, played with Dungeon World. I've read plenty, but was always slightly dissatisfied. I was enamored with online discussions about how mechanics facilitate play, and was unknowingly pretty convinced by it. Playing around with game mechanisms is enormous fun, hence min-maxers. 

But recently I've become...burnt out. All these systems, these ideas, and nobody really wants to play. Most want to play 5e, and create mad characters in line with Critical Role - and for me, that isn't particularly fun. The characters are overpowered, advantage is nice but consistently feels like a huge boost, the monsters aren't very easy to run, and its attempts at balance make me shudder. I want something simpler that isn't so hard to hack without a legion of Grognards coming down on you. Mostly, I've looked at DW, and have familiarized myself with how the 6-stat system works.

In the past weeks I've been looking at Kevin Crawford's work; Scarlet Heroes, Stars without Number, Spears of the Dawn, Wolves of God etc*, Ben Milton's Knave**, B/X D&D, and the B/X reformat Old-School Essentials***. B/X is on the face of it a homebrew system with odd table-specific rules, which boils down to the 6 stats and their associated bonuses. Knave is so bare bones it can be hacked into anything, and all of Kevin Crawford's work is excellent and deliciously compatible with most B/X based Old School Roleplaying systems. Reading through Mr Crawford's AMA, and came across this question and answer...

And he is 100% correct.

People want to play games, and everybody knows the basic D&D model. Game mechanics be damned - I want to play a game with friends. And the point of the game is a having a great time with people. Not "dice pool" or "+2" or "Flat Footed AC". If you and your friend like 'em, go for it. Flex on those numbers and plan your PC to Level 20 bois.

Not my vibe.

Unless the mechanics make it literally impossible to do certain things (which D&D shies away from, being a combat simulator with a "higher number wins" approach to everything else) I really don't see a good reason to play anything else.

The 6 stat system with bonuses is perfect. Allows me to concentrate on what I want, a fun time with people playing in the make believe world I want.

* Check Kevin Crawford's other games: Sine Nomine Publishing
** Ben Milton's Knave
*** Old-School Essentials Basic Rules (the best starting point; rip it apart to see how it works)