@transcendentempress I avoid dealing with money if I can, unless there's an interesting plot point around scarcity to explore. As a player, I do not enjoy grinding for a paycheck, and as a GM, there are so many other things I would prefer to think about.
@transcendentempress (d&s 5e, for context). I ignore weight and jumping rules. I think I'm the stingiest DM in the known universe as I do require players to track their gold, and they usually have to save up for nice things. That's not intentional, I'm maybe taking the DM rules on treasure too literally. I ignore spell components unless there is a gold cost associated with the spell. I also ignore passive perception, simply as it renders active perception a bit pointless.
- XP - Spell components that don't have a gold value listed - Encumbrance, except when the campaign has survivalist elements and it is thematically appropriate - distance to a target on a hypotenuse: I just use the bigger of the X and Y - initiative for every monster. Mostly enemies moves on the same initiative, except for bosses. Anything that joins combat in progress does so at the top or bottom of the initiative order as necessary.
Not sure if this is what you're interested in but I also don't bother with plot or adventure or campaign design. I do extensive (pathological?) world building and NPC design and then just start the thing running. We uncover the plot at the table.
@evilchili I mostly do the same for stories, the world is build, and Things Happen, I follow. xD Also same for XP, I don't bother with is, leveling up is with things accomplished in the story.
I do like the idea for initiative, would be less cumbersome to manage.
@transcendentempress Stacking all combat into "players go, then enemies go" has a lot of knock-on effects you have to be careful of. If enemies get to go first random enocunters can become deadly in a hurry. On the other hand a well-oiled player machine can destroy an encounter in a round or two. My players are mostly not interested in tactics so this hasn't been an issue.
I also have 6 players which means I minimize the wait time for each one to take a turn. I rely on lair actions and legendary actions (even for low-level critters) to keep combat from being a slog.
@transcendentempress I stop caring about money for D&D after 4th level. I tell players to manage encumbrance and food. Ive stopped telling them how their spells work. They tell me
Money. Also, #thedarkeyerpg apparently has all sorts of clothes in the inventory list, down to underpants/briefs. If I want to do a laundry-check I'll do it around the house; it's not why I play #ttrpg.
@transcendentempress Initiative. The party acts together on their turn, and the enemies act on theirs. No more annoying tracking, and the players don't get bored out of turn.
@transcendentempress It depends of many things, but usually we discuss about it with the group during a session 0.
If the party likes survival and dealing with such stuff, I try to play accordingly (assisted with tools, like VTT). Otherwise, I arbitrary decide weither it's leggit or not (being pretty laxist). Anyway, rule of fun is the golden rule, but I really think fun is about playing with fair rules and trying to find solutions based on those rules. It's a balance game and it's different everyday. It's a game within the game, a meta-game, for the DM to find the perfect set for everyone (DM including).
But to answer with my preferences, I tend to like less and less formulas for this kind of things and I prefer to decide on the fly. Sometimes I include my players in the choice: "Do you all think it's fair/fun to play like this?"
