Be warned: This article doesn't explain terms very much, so if you want an idea of what I'm talking about go skim Wizards of the Coasts' D&D 5.1 SRD. That should be enough context, but also feel free to message me on bluesky (@crimson2877.bsky.social) if you have any questions. Anyways, on with the show.
I think part of my issue with so many ttrpgs is I have such a nostalgic attachment to the d20 system (dnd 3.5 and derivatives), and in particular my attachment comes from growing up playing kotor, which uses the first d20 swrpg system.
Because I was so young when I started playing it, I got used to basically playing crpgs like diablo, something I've realized recently. Basically, I just run the difficulty down to easy, click on the enemies, and watch my party kill them, while (in kotor esp) picking whatever attack sounds cool/useful to me. I never considered what a "build" even was, let alone trying to make a strong character. I just went on vibes.
As such, I have attachment to the way skills and attributes work in d20, but not how combat works or how feats really work. In a video game, the combat's intricacies work automatically, and situational feats are applied automatically as needed. When I moved to ttrpgs, I recognized that I was playing a similar system (pathfinder and 5e) but found them incredibly tedious, as turns went on forever and figuring out/remembering which feats are 1. available to me as i level up 2. useful in the combat and 3. not outright useless really grated on me, though I didn't know why at the time, I just got bored/sleepy at the table (was prob understimulated).
But now I'm stuck loving skill systems, but also liking class based systems, loving the unified d20 style, but hating situational feats that you can't write on your character sheet without copying a whole paragraph, and hating combat that's tactical beyond "on a grid". And there's just nothing that really fits that in the ttrpg space as far as I can tell. Everything that simplifies d20 focuses in places I don't care about, like how many of them remove skills or reduce character options. 5e is actually pretty close to what I want, but the feats are pretty situational, and the concept of bonus actions is diametrically opposed to quick turns. Literally if that was fixed I'd be significantly more into it. Besides that, I like Cypher system, but it feels like a designer's baby rather than something easy to hold in your head. It's a little too elegant for it's own good.
Dragonbane kicks ass, but I can't get a grasp on it tonally, and I prefer a class-based system to a skill-forward one.
Genesys is dope but the dice make it such a hard sell, same vibes as cypher in a lot of ways, but also it's just runequest (same as dragonbane) but with actual classes, which is awesome. Also once again feats/powers are too complex for memory imo.
The list goes on like this. Nothing's quite right. Rules lite systems love to drop skills, or replace them with larger backgrounds, which aren't as enjoyable to me. Crunchy systems are almost exclusively crunchy in tactics and combat, which is a non starter to me. More specific games exist, like blades in the dark and stuff, but that stuff doesn't really inspire me. I just want to play dnd 5e with no bonus actions and concise, useful feat writing, that you can hold in your head as a concept.
This was originally a bluesky thread, but I'm posting it here because maybe I'll work on developing these instincts into a proper ttrpg system based on the 5.1 srd! I'm not entirely certain how much work that'll be, but at minimum I would like to go through 5e to rip out bonus actions and rewrite the feats and spells to be less situational and easier to remember. That feels like a better starting point than anywhere else.