[SOLVED] Minimall distro for installation to a external ssd

Hello, I'm Curtis, and I have a situation, and can't seem to find a solution anywhere else. I'm currently dual booting with Windows 11 and Debian 12, with Debian being my primary system. I want to work on the book, Linux from Scratch, but I've broken my Debian system too many times. I would like to install a distro onto an external ssd. My question is: What distro would be best? My requirements are:

1. Needs a GUI, (I've not yet become really proficient with CLI)
2. Doesn't need all the games that come with a lot of distros

Any suggestins?

Thanks for any help.