I really love pbta games but I would agree with you that they are not rule light so much as “rule lighter than d&d”
there’s lots of one page systems out there that are truly rules light.
that said once you know the rules I would say that it provides a system that is easy to plan for, it’s easy to play in, and it flows very naturally.
I ran dungeon world and monster of the week campaigns for years, playing probably 3 to 4 hours once a week on average most of that time.
I think I did maybe 2 hours a month of prep? something about like that.
I loved how pbta games would allow me to basically spend all of my prep time coming up with cool ideas and not having to worry too much about the mechanics because I either had a framework too accomplish them already or I could just make it up on the spot.
some of my group’s favorite moments in our campaign have come from me just making things up on the spot and them being able to react to it.
when I used to DM for d&d or Pathfinder those kind of moments would take hours of prep work.
I would say the obsession is more people finding something that has freed them from the heavy rule set rather than something that is truly rules light.
I really love pbta games but I would agree with you that they are not rule light so much as “rule lighter than d&d”
there’s lots of one page systems out there that are truly rules light.
that said once you know the rules I would say that it provides a system that is easy to plan for, it’s easy to play in, and it flows very naturally.
I ran dungeon world and monster of the week campaigns for years, playing probably 3 to 4 hours once a week on average most of that time.
I think I did maybe 2 hours a month of prep? something about like that.
I loved how pbta games would allow me to basically spend all of my prep time coming up with cool ideas and not having to worry too much about the mechanics because I either had a framework too accomplish them already or I could just make it up on the spot.
some of my group’s favorite moments in our campaign have come from me just making things up on the spot and them being able to react to it.
when I used to DM for d&d or Pathfinder those kind of moments would take hours of prep work.
I would say the obsession is more people finding something that has freed them from the heavy rule set rather than something that is truly rules light.