Jack, what you say is all very reasonable. I completely agree that no great advanced study is necessary for acol opponents. Playing against Precision can be more of a problem since they have a lot of relay bids, so even with the best of intentions, their explanations are often a bit mystifying unless studied in advance. In acol after 1C-1H-1NT, we know the opener has a balanced hand with 15-17 (or approximately that) and a shape that warrants opening 1C rather than 1D. Good enough.
I think the only gadget Carl and I play that opponents need to know about in advance is Flannery, the old fashioned version where there are exactly five hearts and four spades, with a minimal point count, usually 15, but a Jx in a minor might not be counted as a hcp. Assume a max of 15 highs, allow for an extra useless J somewhere. We do not play that the auction 1H-1S promises five, although responder might choose to skip over a four-card major on occasion.
I like the general idea of trying to get this basic stuff straight. And I like accepting that there is a limit. Not for a long time, if ever, have I had a partnership with highly detailed knowledge. For example, with one partner he opened 1NT, my Rho asked if he could have a five-card major, I said we had no agreement that it could not be, but while I often did it I had never seen him do it. Meckstroth and Roswell do not bid exactly alike although I am sure they are more likely to demonstrate clone-like bidding than I and any pard are apt to display. Steve Robinson's Washington standard says that holding a 3=2=4=4 minimum hand you can open either minor. Ok, but I tend to open it 1D. I try to be straightforward about these things but there are cases where I could not give more detail without making it up. We don't have fifty pages of bidding understandings, we try to make sure we know whether a bid is artificial or natural and go from there. Any gadget I do play I like to just find it written somewhere and play it that way rather than re-invent the wheel.
I expect this to be interesting and fun. That's the way I like it.