I love the setting of Brancalonia. I love the humor, I love the folklore, and I am currently learning Italian in evening classes to boot, so this is basically a perfect mix.

But I do not love that the authors picked D&D 5E as the rule system for this setting. Don't get me wrong, I find D&D 5E perfectly acceptable for heroic fantasy campaigns (and, in fact, I am running such a campaign right now). And I can understand this choice from a business perspective - it makes a lot of sense to tie your setting to the most popular RPG system out there.

However, Brancalonia PCs are not supposed to be great heroes, but fairly unimpressive never-do-wells. The rules deal with this by capping character level at 6, but I feel that this leaves the PCs with too little room to grow and removes much of the proper D&D experience. I'd rather use a rule system that was intended for weaker protagonists, rather than trying to distort D&D into something that is not.

So, what alternate system would you use for Brancalonia?

I hear good stuff about Blades in the Dark, but I'm not too familiar with it. I wonder if that would work.

I'd recommend Pathfinder 2e's combat then, though I haven't played Brancalonia to know if it's a perfect fit.

Maybe use some GURPs, or FFG's system might actually work really well here.

Pathfinder 2E has a very similar power curve as D&D 5E. In fact, it might even be worse for Brancalonia as characters basically get their level as a flat bonus on everything.

The Cypher System is great for everything, but especially underdog scenarios like yours. It also helps the GM be a participant in the game rather than an adversary or a god. It’s such a rich, rewarding system.

BitD is extremely focused on thief/assassin gameplay. It's nicely setting-agnostic, but it isn't a system suited to rural gameplay.

Check out legend in the mist, new system that just dropped recently. Seems like this would mesh well with the rustic fantasy motif it has going on and its also easily adaptable

This! Such a fantastic system for storytelling by the players rather than against them (fuckin' Gygax), and years before its time, too. 🤘🏼

If your bonis flat, talk to your doctor.

If bonis not flat for more than four hours, talk to your doctor.

@juergen_hubert Fire Ruby's Warlock! which is a WHFRP retroclone. The style matches Brancalonia much better.

There’s a rule variant called proficiency without level which removes the flat bonus.

Gotta say I got the opposite feeling when I DMed it a while back. It's a clumsy system that badly needs a 2nd edition where they fix all the papercuts. I remember it being particularly unnecessary how the difficulty number has to be multiplied by 3 before you can use it. Just have the scale be from 3 to 30 to begin with so I don't have to remember what numbers are pre- and post-multiplication.

That said, it is somewhat easier to DM than 5e (which itself is heavily simplified compared to older systems).

I'd maybe go the other way and embrace the comedy. Use Powered by the Apocalypse in the same way Pasion de las Pasiones does. Replace the soap opera elements with whips made out of spaghetti or something.

PF2e has proficiency without level for a grittier experience, but even then I don't think it's the best option for low lives and ne'er-do-wells unless you limit it to about level 3. Might be worth looking at Hopefinder, which is a PF2e hack, but the default setting is a zombie apocalypse and I think it relies a lot on short stories.

Probably start by forking from WFRP 2nd edition. You'd have to strip out the Warhammer setting specifics, but it works well for a game of underdog antihero adventurers in a late mediaeval/early modern setting.

Rolling for shoes can be applied to any setting

I haven't looked into it but there are two other games that exist in the system. I immediately thought of "Band of Blades" which is a low fantasy bandit setting. It's an assumption but might be an alternative

Cortex Prime. Extremely hackable, nearly impossible to break. Powerful to reinforce flavor with mechanics (which is what I think you're going after). Simple mechanics (if you don't go ham with the Mods).