You make a really good point! My table doesn’t like 5e or pathfinder because, as you said, combat drags on a lot, there’s a lot of ways to just avoid problems via spells, and there isn’t a lot of tension. We went pure OSR systems and it went the other way, players were so focused on problem solving out of combat the planning phases would drag on - instead of having cool tense moments, they were agonizing over making the correct decision so their character wouldn’t die after one or two bad rolls. EZd6 feels like an excellent middle ground - as long as they players have karma, they feel empowered to make mistakes and try things. Once it runs out, death is only one or two bad rolls away and they need to strategize.

Your idea of giving big bads Luck Dice rocks! I might even test having decisions the players make add or subtract from their luck dice pool - the longer they take to kill the big bad, the more luck die they have, for example, or the more magic items they take from the tomb the angrier and more powerful the guardian mummy becomes. Thanks for the idea!

Thanks for reading! Glad you enjoyed it!

I’d say give One Piece another shot, it’s long but it’s great the whole way through so it never feels like a slog.

Choujin X is a more recent one that’s super good, amazing art and interesting characters in a pretty mysterious world. It has an amazing first chapter and first volume in general, so give it a try!

Finally, I’d give Undead Unluck a shot. It’s gonna be an anime soon, but it keeps getting better and better in my opinion.

Hope that helps!