Dracones

My biggest stumbling block with a lot of modern RPGs is the 500 page rulebooks you need to memorize just to start playing. Pathfinder 2 is 600+ pages, Shadowrun is a mere 300+ pages, unless you want to go with 5th edition which is 500. Numenera is two books clocking in at 400 pages each, Shadow of the Demon Lord is pushing 300(quite the lightweight!). Even the 5e D&D player's handbook is 300 pages, with another 300 for the dungeon master's guide. Fantasy Hero is only 250 which makes it practically a modern marvel though it still feels like a 'build your own fantasy game' kit. Also, props to Hero Basic which is 120 pages. It's the only thing that got me started into Hero. The old D&D box sets(BECMI) were around 50 pages for the players and 50 for the DM books. The advanced D&D books? 100 pages for 1e players book and 120 in the DMG, with another 100 pages of treasure and tables. Even the GAZ setting books were about 60 pages a pop with modules clocking in at 30. So yeah, I think the old red box D&D was probably the sweet spot. A light afternoon of reading the rules, 5 minute character creation, and a blank fantasy sandbox to play around it.

Re: Undead Labor: why not? Really interesting thread. I don't think the military implications could be overstated. A force that never routes, doesn't eat, never tires, doesn't fear death, obeys all orders and strikes fear into mortal men. Unless there was an easy counter necromancers or those that control the armies(maybe through a passphrase) would wield immense power. There's a book called Warbreaker I think, by Brandon Sanderson that covers something like this. But I think one aspect of this is the meta physics of it. There's no such thing as a free lunch(perpetual energy) and I'd think the same would apply to magic as well. The force that propels that skeleton that turns the water wheel or carries the stone from the quarry has to come from somewhere. So where from? Maybe in areas with undead labor stillborn deaths are more common. Maybe mysterious diseases break out and wipe out entire villages. Maybe crops die and famine is a fact of life. Maybe the people in charge even know about the "price" of the undead but keep it to themselves. Maybe other groups find out and oppose their use(likely druids). Or maybe other people find out and begin to find other ways to channel that power(death cults). What about the slippery slope effect? Once it becomes okay to use undead, well, what about cheating death itself? Vampirism, lichdom, all it'd take is enough wealth or power to secure either.