I finally checked out Pathfinder; Story Teller Meta-Rules

Its Nice... but its So much to learn. My brother commented "why not just use Pathfinder" and I was worried about it having a steep learning curve... and there is one. A very big learning curve and data to crunch.

I want to go back to Low-Powered Fantasy, where what is powerful makes sense. So I'm sticking to D20 SRD. Its simpler, and some rules are still flawed or doesnt make sense... BUT i have the power to over rule and make certain details and reason come into play.

Story Teller Meta-Rules.
A set of rules that can be placed over many game systems.

Game Currency - Action Points, Drama Points, Destiny Points, Bennies, etc... and even some Character Points or XP can be used in this way  anything that can influence success and survival in the game. Typically it requires some story telling aspect, as to "WHY" or "HOW". The way game currency works is that it allows the GM to have a means to give the players an option to Voluntarily Complicate their lives at the potential gain of the currency.

In a given situation a GM offers the Player unit(s) of currency to RP a flaw, a disadvantage or background, or to Elaborate/detail an aspect of the Character's past that may be relevant. If the player refuses then no harm, although it looks bad, if they accept there is a chance they can RP the situation into something more interesting and valuable for the group OR worse case is they burn the currency to negate the ill effects. Best case scenario it leads to more interesting story telling AND some success aids in the future.

Story over Rules: Elaborate, Detail, and Tell a Story and we bend the rules.
There are a lot of things Possible but disallowed by the rules or not in the books. Ex. the difference between a Lance and a Long Spear in DND3.5. if your a history buff, then you know the BIG problem with how the game "balanced" out these weapons. There are various details at your disposal that shoves games rules aside to allow for common sense. Why can't a long spear be effective as a lance or vise versa on horseback or readied against a charge...
The GM has the ability to bend the rules, heck he is expected to use common sense FIRST and rules second. Blind adherance to rules, especially RPG rules falls into many reasoning traps.