One thing my last DM did that helped at high levels (also low levels, but especially high) was to split solos into, effectively, three monsters. So a dragon might become the head, the body, and the tail; while a demon might be head, body, and arms, depending on the powers. He would divide the solo's actions up and give each piece hitpoints so that two of the pieces were equivalent to an elite monster and the third was equivalent to a standard monster. Each piece gets its own initiative and set of standard/move/minor actions, and players target pieces separately (so, for example, an assassin could shroud the head, but wouldn't get shroud damage if he then attacked the body).

You would want to adjust the specific mechanics for your own game - we tended to address issues like whether "slowed" affects one piece or the whole creature on the spot and depending on how the creature was split up - but if your aim is to reduce complexity, it would be worth figuring out satisfactory answers to common effects up front. Then once play starts you already know the answer.

It ends up being significantly simpler for the DM since you have the strength and threat of three monsters, but the abilities and powers of only one to keep track of. It also requires fewer additional monsters/terrain/whatever to build out the encounter, again reducing the complexity of any given combat. You also get the advantage that a combat against a solo becomes much more interesting, because you've got three parts of the monster moving and acting independently (preventing the solo from being pinned down and focus-fired), which again increases the fun without increasing complexity.

It's pretty reasonable you're annoyed. One of your fellow players secretly plotted to kill your character for revenge (and it worked), the DM - the one guy you pretty much have to be able to trust - was in on it, and your fellow players offered you no emotional support at a point when you clearly needed it and instead made things worse for you.

People have been annoyed over character deaths, but you also have the issue of a betrayal of trust.

Different groups (and different DMs) handle stuff like this in very different ways - some handle it well, some badly. You had a conflict within the party, and a conflict between two people, and some character death and secret plots on your hands. These are often things groups don't talk about beforehand, but should. As the DM, I wouldn't have allowed this secret plot and would've talked to you two outside the game to get this enmity settled at first signs.

(And honestly, if this was real out-of-game racism you were experiencing, I wouldn't have tolerated that either.)

So now the guy who betrayed you is the DM and you want revenge.

Don't do it.

A good plan is to decline the invitation, not play, leave, and find something else to do or another D&D group to play with. This is not advice for how to ruin Bob's day. This is advice for how to avoid having your own next two months ruined, and possibly several weeks or months after that as well, and instead have some degree of peace for yourself.

You're pissed off. But, proverbially:

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
— (Not sure who first said this)

So you're going to have several gaming sessions and two months in which you're busy being pissed off at Bob, stressed out working out how to get revenge, and suffering over the lot of it - and expecting him to suffer for it. Eventually. At some point. Maybe.

That's not working out in your benefit.

Here's how the next two months are going to pan out according to this plan.

• Bob's the DM. The universe of the game you're considering bends to his whims.
• He doesn't like you to begin with, resents you for something you did to him, and apparently is subtly vengeful. He might give you a hard time for the next two months. This is going to feed right back into you being even unhappier in general, and unhappy to be in that game. This may even increase the degree of revenge you want, something you might not even get to begin with.
• You're going to be preoccupied being annoyed at him and not really actually just enjoying a good game of D&D. (Not that this game is going to be a good game of D&D for you necessarily anyway.)
• Eventually, you might actually find a way to get back at him. But, since he's the absolute controller of the game's universe, he can just say: "Oh. Well, my guy's goddess smiles upon him and heals him. Then she teleports your character into the plane of fire. Alright, whose turn next?"
• Or you don't get anything out of it and you're just annoyed.
• Or a month in, before anything even really happens, he or your fellow players ask you to leave because you're not being very fun to play with. You probably won't be. You're here for revenge, not to enjoy a good game.
• And you're playing with this guy as your DM the whole time, again. That's worth repeating. Why would you want that?

This entire plan is toxic to you and you alone. It's going to be really unpleasant for you, and more likely than not won't get anything out of it - and if you do, it probably won't be very satisfying.

Don't do it.

But I really want revenge!

This is an issue between you and another person, not an issue D&D will help with. Don't try to solve it through D&D, and don't try to solve it by playing with this guy as a DM for a few months.

Deal with it out of the game somehow. Maybe talk to him and get stuff off your chest. Consider walking away and leaving it behind you rather than let this weigh on you. Different things work for different people. I don't know what will work for you, personally. But spend these two months of your life doing something else. Find peace, somehow.

A surprising option is forgiving him - and not for his benefit, but for yours. Forgiveness is just as often so you can stop holding onto the negative emotions you have - the ones which are affecting you much more than anyone else - and let them go and find some inner peace. You might not be prepared to do that, but I advise you try it.

D&D is normally not like this.

(But sometimes it can be.)

There are going to be groups more supportive of first time players. There are going to be groups where you can genuinely be friends with most people, get along with all of them, and reliably trust the DM and your fellow players. This wasn't one of them, clearly. I suggest you find a group that suits you if you want to keep playing D&D.

One thing that normally goes unrecognised is that several D&D players at the same table, playing the same session at the same time, are usually not even playing the same game. They have different expectations of what a good game constitutes, different ideas of what's OK and what's not, different understandings of the rules, and different opinions over how issues like loot and character death should be handled. Usually, they assume that everyone else shares a similar view, without realising that everyone probably thinks very differently - to each other, as well.

An analogy is having several people sitting around a table to play a game of cards, but they are playing different games: one person is playing Poker, another Hearts, and another Go Fish. That wouldn't work very well, but somehow that's how D&D gets played without anyone realising it.

This disconnect is the reason why someone authored the Same Page Tool - which, as its name suggests, exists to get people on the same page. Its author also wrote about The Roots of the Big Problems and A Way Out (from which I drew the card game analogy). All three of these links discuss this issue and the situations that arise from it, and how to deal with them.

This group was not on the same page as you, and were not what you were after. Another group might be.