Ahoy, question for the panel:
I've been reading through the original and continued EN World threads where m20 was originally announced and developed. Yes, all of them. DON'T JUDGE ME!!!
Anyway, there seemed to be a prevailing thought at the time, even by its original author, that m20 was better suited for "one-off" or "pick-up" games, as character creation and refereeing were both quick and easy. On the other hand, if players wanted something with more depth, they should look to a more "full-fledged" system like D&D or Pathfinder.
I'm interested to hear anyones thoughts/experience either way on this. Part of me agrees that Purest Essence alone doesn't lend itself to in-depth/long-term/campaign-style play. On the other hand, there was a time where that's what the rulesets looked like, and I'm sure some of those folks were involved in longer campaigns.
I feel like the compact m20 base, with some judicious additions inspired by newer editions, could still produce a general-use system that provides enough "variety" to be compelling while retaining the compact playability it started with.