I’m looking for a better TTRPG experience. Started with AD&D in satanic panic era, left, came back to 5E a half dozen years ago. Got a great group & GM but some things just don’t suit me. For one, wouldn’t mind being done with Hasbro. My biggest issues in D&D? Character regret, & swinginess. Rolling up a character idea that sounds fun, but in-game always seems to go some completely different direction & now I’ve got an established character everyone depends on but locked into an un-fun stat / ability set. And ALWAYS whatever my concept is I can’t seem to roll for crap in those stats even with the bonuses, failing check after check when it’s the one thing I should be good at. That should only be possible rarely IMHO. Goals: I want above to go away or be much weaker. I want to be able to introduce friends & family who are new & unsure, probably rules light? But I do like dice rolling & some structure, don’t know if a pure storytelling game would work. Can’t be purely abstract. I love a good campaign but also a lot of times just want to be a beer league player, sit down, go to a cave & smash stuff, without needing a complex story to it. Party needs gold, rescue the missing turtle, let’s get swinging. Have thought for a long time about maybe west marches type scenarios. Show up, solve problems, check boxes, bring a new sheet to the next game whenever. Would work great for some of the gang. Not at all adverse to player death. Sorry so long, love to hear opinions!
Recommend you check out dungeon world. It’s fairly rules light, it’s got a d&d feel, and you have all your “regular” d&d style classes.
It’s a “powered by the apocalypse” system, which means it utilizes a 2d6 rolling mechanic that leans towards success.
That is, generally speaking, it’s a graded scale. Roll 2d6, add modifiers. under 6 is failure, 7-9 is a “medium” success, and 10+ is a “great” success. It leans towards success because the average of 2d6 before modifiers is 7, the lowest success number.
One thing that might trip you up running it (I know it did me), is that enemies don’t get a “turn”. The enemy turn is essentially the player’s failures. You go in to attack and roll a 6? The enemy parries your attack and counters you.