Old School Essentials is still solid. Two small books and infinite possibilities. What I love about this game is that it encompasses everything found in shelves of 5E books, plus more, in two small tomes (for Advanced, Basic is one book). This is a "bug out" game, one you could take with you on a trip, camping, or toss in your backpack for fun wherever you go. Shadowdark is similar, but this has far more in terms of levels, classes, races, spells, treasures, monsters, and campaign scope.
Games do not have to be bigger to be fun.
So many games are horribly overwritten these days, with page after page of meaningless filler, likely AI-generated text filling the pages, saying nothing. Most of the 2024 D&D DMG is like this: two to four pages rambling on, and in the end, they tell you to "make something up yourself."
Do you have any clear ideas on what I'm supposed to do to run your game, or are you just stalling and filling up the word count?
OSE is the opposite. Every page spread is designed with super-tight spacing, leaving ample whitespace and good space between lines, making it readable. Bullet points and charts are used to convey information, and the design and layout remain clean and legible at a glance, ensuring that the information you need is readily available.
I can see how some see this game as the "smallest with the most" and ignore every new game that comes on the market for this beautiful pair of books. For a game that uses your imagination, it stays out of the way, inspires with art, and gives you what you need to play. Everything else you make up yourself.
Less is more.
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