ToV & A5E

I like both of these games, and I have room to play either. I have done some serious reading of ToV's alpha, and it is a quality, sound, solid system. But what is the difference between them?

Level Up Advanced 5E is my 3.5E, 4E, and Pathfinder 1e replacement. This design pulls the best from many past editions and rolls them into a 5E compatibility base. A few reviews of A5E loved the bard's inspiration song and said it was what they loved the most about 3.5E - and that is here. We get the warlord class from 4E. The team here looked back and asked, "What did we love from the old editions?" and added that to the game.

Much of the A5E supplemental material is forward-looking, but it brings back the "best of" from earlier editions. Exploration and social mechanics are a nod to classic, OSR-style play. Looking back and feeding my nostalgia bug is a good thing, and having a version of 5E that plays like an OSR game is beautiful. I would consider A5E an OSR-style game with a 5E engine driving the action.

Play A5E if you sit there and say, "I want my bard to play how they used to."

Play ToV if you sit there and are happy with the new direction of bards; the same goes for any class. ToV will make some changes to modernize, but they are done through the 5E lens.

And they rewrote everything, so they are not subject to any OGL-related insanity. They cleaned-roomed this game, a heroic effort, and were years ahead of the market.

Tales of the Valiant? Forward-looking. Improving 5E and creating a guilt-free decolonized edition of the 5E rules. ToV is not as concerned with the past as it is with improving the present and creating a starting point to move forward. This is "Future 5E," with characters who operate at a power level a notch above old 5E characters, and the super-heroic aspects of the game are turned to 11. There are a lot of "crowd pleasers" in this game, like how when you get a talent, you don't have to forego an ability score increase - you get 1 point and choose a talent pick.

Where A5E is rebuilt to simulate an old-school experience, ToV maintains a high level of 5E compatibility. If I had a setting book with many custom subclasses and options, I would use ToV to play this since there would be fewer headaches with making it all work. The Arcanis setting is an excellent example since they rewrite 80% of the classes and present an almost complete game as a part of the setting. If you have a lot of 3rd-party books and want the best compatibility, choose ToV.

With A5E, you get into issues with the subclasses not having the parts needed to make the exploration game work, and there are a few breaks in compatibility created to support old-school play. A5E is a bit "in its own sandbox," but it is enjoyable. There is also fun in playing a sandboxed game like this with fewer books since the game is more straightforward to grasp, and there isn't a lot of mess to deal with with compatibility.

This became clear once I saw Level Up A5E as my Pathfinder 1e replacement. Is it 100% Pathfinder 1e? No. Is it close enough to what I liked about Pathfinder 1e in how I used to play the game? Yes.

Pathfinder 1e is a little dead to me now, with 2E changing the tone and flavor of that world so much that I barely recognize it. It is not the classic picture on the first book's cover anymore. There is nothing edgy or cool. There isn't any youthful, rebellious energy to Pathfinder 2E. The game grew up, got a job downtown, and sits on the bus every morning, regretting its life choices. And filling out a character sheet that looks like a tax form. I wish I liked Pathfinder 2 more, but it isn't for me.

Wizards killing the OGL in spirit killed Pathfinder 1e for me. I loved that game. And I can't forgive them for that, either. Yes, I have the books and can still play it as it was. But it feels like listening to the songs of a pop star who passed before their time. The sad feelings are there. This is a memory, not life energy, to move forward with.

I could sell all my Pathfinder 1e books and move on.

The rebellious energy I crave in the design sphere has also moved out of the OSR. I rarely find much here except endless Xeroxes of specific game editions by year and version. Oh, this is 1981 D&D! Mine is 1982 D&D! Dungeon Crawl Classics is one of the last rebellious places, but at 100 modules in, they need to refresh that energy, or they will become part of the establishment, too.

The rebellious energy these days is in the Open 5E movement.

Both A5E and ToV are holding a middle finger up to the establishment, telling Wall Street to get out of our gaming communities and deliver rebellion and change.

You can't put a price on that.

And this youthful, rebellious energy will make or break a game.

Just like it will make or break a generation.