What I want in a Fantasy RPG

For what is ostensibly a D&D blog, I have played very little brand name Dungeons and Dragons in the last 15 years.  Granted there was very little sustained gaming for 10 of those years, but most play has been in a home brew - retro style game.  My recent 2e campaign only came about because the group had "topped out" at level 10 and wanted "more".

Why?  In short, Ease. 

Even a few years into 3e, we started to fall out of love with the fiddly bits of the game.  Mostly due to being adults with jobs and responsibilities.  When time allowed for play we went back to Basic and using later edition rules as garnish to those rules.  In time, and as a way to stay engaged with the hobby when games became less frequent, I codified it into a 64 page homebrew game.  This was about 2003?, its been revised a number of times to get closer to my platonic ideal game.

Features

Quick Start: I want the rules presented in a way that new players (without guidance from a veteran) can set up a and play in less that 20-30 minutes.  The game should not take any longer to start than a complex board games

Focused Choices: For the sake a quick start and player sanity, the choices presented need to be focused, meaningful, and easy to understand. Only present choices to the player that will matter in the long run (Race, Class, Weapons/Spells). 

Generating Ability Scores is a pain, and the difference between a 14 and a 16 strength doesn't really change the way the character "feels", its enough to know they are stronger than average and rely on that strength.

The differences between options should be self explanatory, Warrior, Sorcerer, Rogue.

Optional Options/Expand-ability:  For the above to work, you need limited options, but I want there to be the chance for repeat/advanced players and GMs to easily mix in more options without breaking the system.

That said, I still have a few quirks, a Silver coin based economy and some particular thoughts on how magic should work.  But that is all under the hood stuff, when presented in the rules, it simply IS.

I'm currently in the middle of an (eventual) revision of my homebrew, and will likely post the basics here.