I believe I miscommunicated, my apologies! When I said "max gear" I did not mean "full inventory" but rather "best gear". Normally by Dungeon 4, my party has the best armor and arms, with enough money to buy all the dungeoning equipment our different sized hearts could desire and then some! My word choice was admittedly lax.
However, the misunderstanding doesnt obfuscate your point, which I absolutely understand, wanting "the focus to stay on exploration and adventure, rather than accumulating increasingly powerful gear." The reticence to expand into full domain play is also understandable; theres a very tight line to walk in 'rules light' and I think Fatal Tomb hews it well.
To the last, fortresses and mass combat were exactly what I had in mind! At least for my Fatal Tomb games, those two provide pretty good wholesale outlets for money spending and progression.
Thank you for all the work youve done on this project and for generously offering it to the public for free. All the best!