I tried a Creality Ender 3 a couple of years ago. Struggled a lot, for me, it required a lot of aftermarket replacements to make it work well. I sold it about 6 mo later.

In Mar, I bought an Anycubic Kobra. Out of the box, worked like a champ and has continued to. None of the struggles I had with the Ender. Only add on was a sensor to let me know when I’m out of filament.

You’ll probably hear from folks who bought an Ender and had great success, and folks who struggled w/a Kobra, though. It’s like an automobile… you’re going to hear good and bad stories for each model.

Honestly, I read a lot of articles and just found what fit my use case, expectations and budget. Your first one will definitely be a learning experience.

Good luck!

Try this as a starting point? https://campaignwiki.org/osr/ It’s a list of a metric ton of OSR blogs.

Funny enough, I’ve gone in the reverse direction.

But I think if I were to do that, I would: be up front with players, try to mask a lot of the mechanics (unless the switch was to bring crunch to the players), be patient and willing to backtrack, have some after-game-discussions on how things went.

Mostly re-reading Classic Traveller 3 little black books from 1977. Amazing how much of a complete game is there and yet an open framework for implementing just about any sci-fi setting you can imagine. That is, if you’re willing to do the work that 1977 RPGs expected from referees. Definitely not an “open and just run table procedures” type of game!

I played “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” on the Intellivision that my g/f had at the time. Most everyone else had Atari 2600s, so it felt rare (at the time) to play on it. It had a funky controller with weird keypads and a disc that was like a joystick, but hard to play with.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Cloudy_Mountain

For players that want crunch: AD&D 1e (if they can’t get the books, then OSRIC is the AD&D retroclone).

For when I want to make a setting and need D&D rules: OD&D - the original 3 books. I need little else. If folks need a PDF, the Swords & Wizardry White Box 3rd printing is free and handy.

For when I want to make a setting and need sci-fi rules: Classic Traveller - I’d use the original 3 little black books from 1977, but anything from the classic era (1977-1985, pre Mongoose) works. If folks need a PDF, the CT “facsimile” is the 1981 version with errata applied.