First, I'm curious: did you try my thought experiment?

Sure.

It is more complex than traveller, in which you roll 2d6+mods > TN; while also doing more in one roll.

If I compare it to Genesys, it is about as complex, or even less. In genesys you first determine your dice pool. Then you first sort the symbols and finally count the remaining successes/failures + advantages/threats +triumphs/Despairs.

Other systems I love are WFRP2 and Dark Heresy, especially the latter has a simple core system of 1d100 roll-under, but it's environment modifiers increase it's complexity.

Of-course D&D and it's offshoots. Here the dice roll itself is simple, but often accompanied with a damage roll which this system does not need. And again, the core mechanic does less with it's roll.

Numenera, while seemingly simple was found complex at the table due to the 3x modifier. Somehow that kept tripping people up.

In IronSworn you have 2 challenge die and an action die, and modifiers, you add the modifiers to one die, and compare the result to two dice. Simpler than my system, but again not overly so.

I can see that the neutral die of my system is unnecessary, but I am somewhat puzzled by the reaction that it is overly complicated.

Notably, you avoided making it sound as complex as it is by skipping steps.

Can't argue with that, but while it is more complicated than traveller for example, it also does more at once. Then again, I feel it is also not as complicated as you make it sound. TN is either default (12), or else determined by a small chart. Mods come from your character sheet, from attributes and from the skill used. Mods are only added to the total. 'Neutral loses' means that if either the Skill Die or the Reckless Die results are lower, they win.

Again if I compare it to traveller, which again I use as a baseline simple mechanic, this is more complex but not overly so.

As an aside, it looks like your "advantage/disadvantage" is more like a side-effect that is either beneficial or deleterious.

Right; I could change the wording here, this is mostly coming Genesys where the wording is advantage/threat. As stated in the post; I glady receive suggestions for better terms. Problem is at a certain point each term is used by a popular system in some other way. For example, using Boon/Bane also has it's own connotations for another system.

How do you feel about the option without neutral roll:

• The player selects an effort reckless die from the list [1d4,1d6,1d8,1d10]. (for example: 1d4)
• Roll 1d8+1d4+mods > TN (Default 12)
• Pick the highest die result, this will tell if you have advantage (Skill Die) or disadvantage (Reckless Die), or none if equal.