D&D 2014 Survival Guide

Playing D&D sucks right now.

The company split the player base into two sides with the 2014 and 2024 versions.

When someone remembers D&D and "wants to play that, " I need to explain the differences between editions of 5E. You make my darn job HARDER, Wizards. Most people, when I start explaining 2014 vs. 2024, walk away.

This is too complicated for me! If I buy the old books, will I be able to play? Will they be a waste of money?

Some say 3rd-level 2024 characters are equivalent to the power level of 6th-level 2014 characters. So we are dealing with a potential power-level change.

And here I am calling 2014 5E, "Closer to classic D&D." And you know what? It is true. Orcs and goblins are still bad guys. I am not explaining weapon properties. Racial ability score modifiers are there. The art is closer to the classic game.

I have players with 2014 books who don't have the money for new books or want to buy them. They are happy with their game. I have to keep them in the group. If the group is a 2014 group, it is a tough sell to get them to re-buy what they already have and like.

And with the OGL and other mistakes, many won't give the company another dime.

And I am explaining that to new players, too.

The team that designed 2014 was a far better class of game designers. They made a ton of mistakes, but that design pedigree shows. 2014 5E was the perfect game (with a few fixes). The Wizards team even said so. 5E was supposed to be "evergreen." I would rather have had a new edition of the 2014 books with as few changes as possible to clean up a minimal scope. Keep the game the same with no new rules or features, and just give us an updated book to play with.

What a mess.

Another version split.

A divided community.

They did this to themselves.

I can see why some give up and go to an Open 5E clone. But, to the average person who has never heard of them, it isn't D&D. Tales of the Valiant, Level Up Advanced 5E? What are those? They aren't D&D. Not to the average person, 20 years removed from the hobby.

Get your hands on a good set of 2014 books with the character options, and call it quits.

Or go Open 5E and call it "D&D."

Mutant Crawl Classics plus Mutant Future

My first game from Goodman Games was Mutant Crawl Classics (MCC), as we were big fans of Gamma World. I discovered DCC later, dismissed it as being "too much," and then spent a little more time understanding the game, falling in love with the system.

Once you understand that everything in the DCC book is optional, including the tables, the game plays like a rules-light 3.5E, functioning as a streamlined, generic, and quick system that handles a wide range of scenarios and genres.

Once I understood why the spells had so many tables and how spell-burn and spell duels worked, the floodgates were opened. Then, lay Rule Zero over the game, and all of a sudden, you have a fantastic toolbox for rules-light 3.5E.

I came to MCC looking for more of my other favorite post-apocalyptic fantasy game, Mutant Future (MF). This is another classic Gamma World-inspired retro-clone, and it still holds up well today. This game is also cross-compatible with Labyrinth Lord, providing you with even more options for reskinning and use in your game.

Mutant Future is one of the best "stuff books" for MCC, offering an impressive selection of equipment, weapons, vehicles, robots, monsters, and other items to utilize in your MCC game. As a resource and a game in its own right, Mutant Future is indispensable for the realism and grit of the setting. The MF game assumes a feudal, long-gone postapocalyptic world, but has that classic Thundarr and Gamma World vibe, where the ruins of the old world are still recognizable. MCC is more fantastical and alien, with the lost world being even farther back in time and relegated to myth and twisted legends.

MF is an excellent, B/X-style science fiction game. It is compatible with Gamma World (1st and 2nd editions) and Labyrinth Lord. By itself, it is a fantastic game.

As an expansion for MCC, it significantly enhances the game. You receive all the low-level details that MCC overlooks, including gear lists, prices, treasures, weapons, primitive water travel, and all the necessary components to support a feudal society, as well as an explanation of how "all the civilization" works. If you want to barter for an oil lamp and a mutant beast of burden, you can find them here.

These two are my "peanut butter and chocolate" post-apocalyptic games, which pair perfectly together and blend seamlessly, or are wonderful on their own.

The Joy of the SDC Palladium Games

c. 1983, 1996

So many have fond memories of any of the SDC-based Palladium games. Palladium FRP, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas and Superspies, TNMT/AtB, Dead Reign, and many more. I am avoiding Rifts in this conversation as that is the obvious one to focus on, but my interest lies in the games without MDC, and the Palladium system working to its fullest on the low end. I am just looking at the SDC-games, with no mega damage, and the damage systems and character stats are still meaningful and working in the base rules.

c. 1984, 1998

Anyone who has given them a chance generally loves them. They reward creativity and inspire passion. Part of this lies in the high degree of character customization in the rules; even the Fantasy game lets you pick and choose so much, and Heroes Unlimited is still one of the best superhero games ever made.

Once you understand character creation, the game is a B/X level of simplicity and fast play. The characters take time to design because you are doing "game design" for the role you will play in the game. It is well worth it, and rules-light games fail to fill the investment you get after you finish Palladium character design.

Remember, do all physical skills FIRST! These often change your attributes. After that, weapon skills to figure out combat bonuses, and then everything else. Print out the physical skills page or find or make a summary. Do this, and your speed at character creation is faster and more straightforward.

The games utilize asymmetrical balance, with classes not on equal power levels, but the specialists excel in their area of expertise. This makes a game that naturally needs a group, where you get this "team of specialized experts" who are not each good at everything, but the individual members can shine at what they do best.

c. 1984

You have a system that builds a group like facets of a diamond. Everyone specializes and is the absolute best at what they love to do. They all have weaknesses and must rely on others. Because you are the best at what you do, you feel fantastic when you finally get to shine. Then, you step back and rely on others for everything else.

Games that design-in everyone's powers into everyone else are boring and anti-group. Why do I need anyone else if every class has self-healing, damage, stealth, magic, defense, social abilities, and so on? You aren't playing D&D with a group; you are playing with a group, alone.

This "playing with others, alone" design mentality has killed interaction in MMOs for years and is the death of many games. Nobody needs a group; everyone is a solo-er, and few play together. We live in an age of "me, not us," and we put influencers on pedestals, and everyone wants to be one. As a result, our games become "what I do" each turn instead of "what we do."

c. 1988, 2005

Palladium is an entirely different design rooted in classic party dynamics. In this model, everyone has a well-defined strength and a collection of weaknesses they must rely on others to fill. What happens in this model? There will always be a moment for every player where they "save the day by being the most awesome." The party cohesion will be powerful. The moments you were allowed to use your class's OP powers will be remembered for the rest of the player's days.

c. 2008

Unlike B/X or most D&D-style games, you aren't a wimp when you begin. 5E tried to up the starting power level to about 3rd level, but you are still weak, and you don't really shine in your role versus everyone else. Nobody needs your abilities in most situations; everyone can do almost everything. D&D also has this terrible thing where casters have all the powers of rogues, and they eventually do everything better than them.

c. 1995

The core seven SDC games, the ones Rifts pulls from for dimensional beings, are all amazing and stand up independently. You can make a "non-Rifts mega-verse" just out of these games, say "Rifts never happened," and have an amazing, multi-versal, cross-dimensional game with many options and diverse character types.

c. 1985, 2001

And they are worth playing on their own. The TNMT-inspired After the Bomb game can be a post-apocalyptic or gritty street-level heroes game. The TNMT RPG is also being reprinted this year, and you can still get a pre-order in. This is still the best "fighting humanoid animals" game ever designed, and it is the king of this niche, no matter how many animal-cracker "all the same" shapes D&D 5.5E wants to say it has. In AtB, you have it if you can dig, tunnel, use sonar, claws, tusks, hooves, fly, glide, or any other remarkable ability! It isn't just, "oh, a plus to a few ability scores and pick some feat" or some other weak-sauce, water-it-down, make-it-pedestrian, nobody-gets-anything-special mass-market game design D&D is so good at.

I can be a badger-man in AtB with digging claws, poison resistance, brute strength, extra mental and physical endurance, and night vision. I can get tunneling if I want. I can pick a few weaknesses, like musk glands, to balance my points. In D&D, if they had a badger race, I would allocate ability score points like everyone else and look like a badger, but do nothing like a badger. It would be pure cosplay, vapid and meaningless, with no powers given.

We live in this false age of pretend, where Wall Street companies tell us they are giving us something, peer pressure us into saying X is Y, and they deliver nothing. Palladium games are more complicated, but you always get the real thing.

And this badger would work in any of these seven worlds just fine. He could fight alongside superheroes, survive zombies, exist in a fantasy realm, fight ninja clans, be a suave super-spy, investigate mysteries, or have any other adventure you could imagine. The powers, tunneling, claws, and every other power would still work in any other sister-world.

You can do this in GURPS, too. But in Palladium, a lot of the work and base idea-crafting has been done for you, at least for character archetypes, and you are not starting from scratch. Palladium games have been played so much that the designers hone in on the best character options that provide the most fun and significant party synergies, and ship those with the game as the default options.

If people malign Palladium games, it is usually third-hand or later knowledge. People talk trash about these games to pretend they are an influencer with a popular opinion. Many who have played them still stand by them to this day. I find a deep sense of loyalty and love for these books that transcends even decades of being away from them, like they were a part of someone's life, and they still hold that close.

Even those who have moved on to other games remember these games fondly.

Yes, they are dated, but some of the best music ever made is dated, too. We just don't know what we had when it first came out, and the fact that we can still play these brings me back to a better time. The fact that they have not changed keeps them rooted in those better days, like an original recording of a song you love.

For many of these games, you can build a soundtrack for the year they were released, including a two or three-year period before. I put that soundtrack on, pick up the game, and am instantly taken back like a time machine.

Today's games don't do that for me. They play like highly processed "food in a box"—too slick, commercial, and full of salt and preservatives (anger and platform lock-in). They aren't "real food" to me. Are Palladium games perfect? No. The songs I love from those days are not perfect creations either.

With Palladium games, I have 40 years of time machines on my shelf.

I can go back.

I only have to open a book.

Off the Shelf: Palladium Fantasy

If you are going to go as far as RuneQuest or Rolemaster, then Palladium Fantasy is another classic. This is still a good game, but it's older than the OSR, and it's another game we played back in the day.

The love and nostalgia for this system are real.

This is without Rifts or any other Palladium game. Just fantasy.

Every character class is a mini-game. Every system of magic works differently. It feels on the level of a Pathfinder 2, where a player plays one character class and becomes the expert in that class for the group. It uses a d20 for combat (roll high) and percentage rolls (roll under) for skills. That does not bother me and feels natural. The characters take a while to craft, since there are many choices.

The level of depth and customizations to each character class blows 5E away.

Some classes are wildly more combat-capable than others, but it does not matter since advancement is based more on story and choices than killing and treasure. You can be a clever and resourceful "peasant farmer OCC" and out-think and out-play Conan and rocket up the levels faster.

The XP system rewards defeating enemies and avoiding violence equally. Ideas and plans of action get you XP far faster than killing rooms full of enemies. Putting yourself in danger and self-sacrifice gains you XP. Skill use and daring actions give you XP. Helping others gets you XP.

Finding a thousand gold in a dungeon and donating it to the local down-on-its-luck town so they can rebuild their aqueduct will probably gain you more XP than the adventure itself. Sure, you could keep it for yourselves and be rich, but the love and adoration of the entire community are worth so much more.

The game rewards action, daring, ideas, clever play, helping others, playing in character, saving lives, avoiding violence, and roleplaying. Combined with the radically different alignments, this creates a different play dynamic where character motivations and actions come first, and treasure and killing are far behind.

Print out that XP chart and keep it handy.

This is playable with just the core book, and the only other books I recommend getting after this are the Monsters & Animals book as a bestiary. If you want "dark elves, " start with an elf, change their skin color to anything you want (ebony, white, blue, violet, gray, etc.), and give them an evil alignment.

Another handy book is Adventures on the High Seas, which is perfect if you want to include bards and other entertainers in your game. The core game does not have "magical music," it keeps the traditional magical traditions as pillars of the world's magic system. I like that, as it keeps magic from being too much like high-fructose corn syrup, and in every character class imaginable.

If you wanted a "magical bard," that would be a Mind Mage (core book) with a few performance skills. Looking this over, it would be a much more enjoyable (and powerful) bard than the ones they have in most games, including 5E.

Again, power is not everything. Even if you have extraordinary powers, that does not make you invincible. The entire game is built on the idea of asymmetric power, but puts advancement on gameplay and creativity, not power and loot.

This is still a worthy, fun, fantastic game that challenges you to think outside the box, create detailed characters, do something different, and enjoy a game that isn't D&D.

Or one that retains the same old D&D loot and power sensibilities and focuses more on character actions and creative gameplay.

Stripped Down A5E

The mistake I made with Level Up A5E was buying too many third-party books. You can dilute your game into this sloppy collection of cartoony books, serious books, strange settings, piles of magic items, so many monsters and spells, cute books, evil books, and books you like that don't match the tone of your game.

My game became a mess.

Add to that a second version of the game with Tales of the Valiant (ToV). I liked ToV a lot, but it wasn't for me.  ToV has it all: tons of monsters and magic, solid rules, and great support and adventures. The setting is fantastic. The adventures are numerous and all well crafted. If you just want a well-supported version of 5E minus Wizards, play ToV. I tried it, I liked it, but it was not the game I wanted or expected.

ToV was good, but it still wasn't as good as A5E. The mix of 5E game rules and the best ideas pulled from 3.5E and 4E in A5E was spectacular. The martial classes were terrific. I liked the support for exploration and social encounters a lot. Rangers did not suck. The old-school, deadly play, combined with multiple fixes for all of 5E's problems, made me miss A5E.

So I put all my books in storage. My shelves were cluttered with two games, multiple sourcebooks, piles of unused items, and an unfocused game that occupied five shelves of space.

More is nothing. I hated it all.

So I came back. Why?

When I started, I had a good game going. The setting and rules worked together very well. Other games struggled to tell the same story. This wasn't a D&D thing; it was a classic hero story that relied on the super-heroic elements, not the invincible ones. I have other games more closely tied to GURPS, the system of advantages and disadvantages, which describes the characters best. A5E told this story the best, since this is how I started it

I asked myself, "Could I limit the game to the best parts?" By getting rid of books, could I make this game fun again?

It is a hard thing to do. In my opinion, all my Kobold Press books needed to be excluded. That is a massive library with thousands of spells and monsters. Those books are for Tales of the Valiant. If I ever play with those rules, I will save them if the character and system options improve. Some excellent Roll for Combat books needed to be excluded; they are great and highly recommended, but not for the game I want to play. Most of my random magic items and class books must be removed.

Many books intended to "fix" 5E are worthless and can harm the game if used. Some books are designed to supplement D&D classes and offer options that can break the fixes A5E implemented. Some books intended for the original 5E will be better with Tales of the Valiant instead of A5E.

I just did not want to deal with other books. They were extra complex campaign settings I did not want to use, or subsystems that would detract from my core inspiration.

Roll20 has a good character sheet for the game. I found this after I decided to return, which was a pleasant surprise. This will help me with my digital conversion and save my games online. I have cleaned my place considerably by removing my gaming table, which may sound like heresy.

What do I have left? The core books, plus some 3rd party books written for A5E that provide options. The collection is very tight and focuses on the core books, plus the books strictly written for A5E to offer options in that framework.

The MOAR Complete book is fantastic, adding many options to the game. I have a few multiclass guides that provide synergy feats, and I have the homebrew and hacking guides written for A5E. For rules, that is about it. The A5E Monstrous Menagerie gives me detailed monsters with some mechanical interest.

If D&D 2014/24 is B/X, then A5E is full-blown AD&D. The complexity and detail are welcome for a game that glosses over far too much and lacks exploration and social mechanics.

I have a few Dante's Guides from Yellowbyte Studios, just for some Diablo-like monsters. There is an excellent Sandy Peterson Cthulhu book, but too many bad guys ruin the game, so that is sidelined. Classic D&D had Hell and demons as the ultimate bad guys, and after the Satanic Panic happened, this went in a hundred "family-friendly" directions, and we got mind flayers, drow, dragons, evil gods, and so on. D&D still has too many "junk drawer" big bad guys.

You could play AD&D and assume most of the monsters and humanoids were "touched by the blood of Satan" or a god, and even dragons were that way and wrestled with their sinister side. Classic Greek Mythology plays into this with one drop of blood spawning an entire etymology of creatures.

Sorry, modern interpretationists, my monsters are classic monsters and not reflections of West Coast street culture. What you see around you is not the world, nor history, nor the classics these games were based on, nor any facet of meaningful truth regarding fantasy gaming. Hiring great writers for these games is becoming more challenging as the education system implodes and classics and history are no longer taught. Anyone with a traditional education can get a better job elsewhere since these skills are in demand and getting harder to find.

Once fantasy gaming "reflects the modern world," it is no longer fantasy gaming.

It is meaningless self-reflection based on vanity.

There is another nice demon guide written by Robert Schwalb (of Shadows of the Demon lord) for 5E, and this is another nice resource for a Diablo-like game. If 5E mainly resembles an ARPG like Diablo, then that is how it plays the best. This was my original A5E game, and I missed it since D&D does ARPG play well, and all of the other pillars of play horribly. With A5E, I get the pillars of play covered, so I have a complete game that covers everything, plus ARPG combat. I also get a fixed game with balanced math and numbers, where D&D or its clones still have terrible balance and scaling issues.

My world books? The best I have are the Frog God Games "Lost Lands" settings, and I have a bunch of old-school adventures converted from S&W to 5E. This good old-school world doesn't carry Wizards' baggage, the Forgotten Realms GMNPCs, or sci-fi elements. It works as-is with enough depth and detail that it feels old school without being tied to anything else that could wreck my game.

I have a mega-dungeon converted to 5E (Rappan Athuk), and plenty of other smaller adventures to toss in everywhere else. This is one of the better "generic 5E worlds" you can get since it flies under the radar of many, has extensive adventure support, and lets you do what you want. Nobody expects that characters from Baldur's Gate 3 will show up here to steal the show and act like GMNPCs in this world, and I am free to shape this however I want.

The world is old-school and traditional, feeling like a medieval fantasy world. Lords rule fiefs and kingdoms, peasants till the land during the seasons, and life continues. Parts of the world are in the early Renaissance, but you can change these and make the world in your vision. No starships are flying overhead. We don't get much in terms of jarring pop culture. The entire setting feels serious.

Also, the setting doesn't try to rewrite the base 5E rules like a few others I have (Brancalonia and Arcanis). Those are excellent settings, but they would work better with a base system closer to D&D, like Tales of the Valiant. I just want a setting that gives me 5E stats and adventures, and isn't trying to rewrite the fighter class or give me entirely new spell lists.

I am down to one and a half shelves of books for my game.

There is nothing on there that is a distraction, nor do I have cute monsters running around.

I am happy with this version of 5E, finally.

PoD Prices Going Up 50% or More?

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2025/03/rpg-drivethrurpg-warns-publishers-of-rising-print-on-demand-costs-in-the-us.html

This will drive a stake through the heart of small and indie publishers. There have been a few reports of PoD prices increasing by 50% in the US due to tariffs.

I hope this is a temporary thing.

If not, prepare for many price increases and the closure of many smaller companies. If this goes on long enough, not all the games we love may survive.

My Last 5E

There are times I wonder, "Why would I ever go back to 5E?"

I have far better fantasy games, and ones that speak to me more than 5E's soft, power fantasy, super heroic, broken past level 10 mush. I have Dungeon Crawl Classics, which does that power fantasy far better, and with much less predictability. I have GURPS Dungeon Fantasy for the fantastic character builds. I have Rolemaster for the crit charts, and HARP for a version that actually plays smoothly. I have Swords & Wizardry for the 0e game, and I have Adventures Dark & Deep as my classic first-edition style game. Castles & Crusades and 3.5E are good games.

I have enough fantasy games.

If I had to keep one before selling the eight storage crates, what would it be?

It would not be Wizards D&D. That is getting sold. I can understand wanting to stay with 5E, but not D&D. Get the CC 5.1 SRD printed if you need a rules reference for play.

Tales of the Valiant is also being sold. Despite this being the best-supported and produced Open 5E versions out there, the game is too cartoony for me. Additionally, there are very few differences between ToV and 5E; the two are essentially the same game. This was done for maximum compatibility, which is a plus for some with a lot of 3rd-party content. This may be the game for you if you fall into that category.

It still has the same flaws! I can't support a game that is very similar down to the things I dislike about 5E. What is the point? A slight difference in character options and a CL+1 power level? It isn't made by Wizards? That is enough for many, but I wanted more. I am still holding onto my library and hoping things change for the better.

I wanted structural improvements, drawing on past versions to incorporate the best features in terms of rules, classes, content, and systems. There are still excellent rules from past versions of the game that could be incorporated into 5E. Why do we have to lose all that hard work and progress?

The quality level of the ToV books is fantastic, and there is a wealth of content to enjoy. Thousands of monsters and spells await your use. The only issue is that character creation requires electronic tools, and there is a lack of player options in the core books.

I love you ToV, but you are not for me. I have a better version of 5E in my hands today. Despite the fantastic quality and support for ToV, my heart is with a better-crafted version of 5E.

And no, it isn't Shadowdark. I am keeping this because it is an S-Tier game in its own right.

This is a 5E to me, but the small shelf space is not a question. Additionally, it boasts the best "pick up and play" ability among all 5E games. The game has a great community, heart, and is well-supported. Shadowdark, I can play with anyone, and I can do so instantly, with about 5 minutes of prep.

Shadowdark is more of a competitor to "B/X OSR clones" for me at the moment. Having a game that plays like 5E, yet has the simplicity of OSE, is a winner, especially for pick-up games with new people. I am not describing the OSR, OSE, or any other conceptual "buy-in" sort of theory to new players.

This is a simplified, fast-playing, 5E version.

That is all I need to say.

Most of them will give Shadowdark a chance.

And we have a winner.

Level Up Advanced 5E is the only one that would make me dig through my "sell crates" again to pull just it out, plus a handful of the best third-party books, and I would sell the rest of my 5E collection. The designers dared to fix 5E, which they got roasted for at the time, but it turned out to be the right choice. There is a much drier balance to Level Up A5E; the math is fixed, martial classes have many great options, and the three pillars of play are supported and work well.

They incorporate many of my favorite rules from earlier editions, such as a warlord-style battle commander class and rules for sleeping in armor. If there is something about 5E that makes you say, "Isn't it silly...?" then chances are A5E fixes it.

I'm disappointed that I didn't back their second monster book or collected gazetteer hardback Kickstarter; I'll have to wait for that. I thought I was done with the game.

The game is deadly. They polled the play-testers, and they said, "Make the game deadlier." Turn up the challenge. Give us a sense of accomplishment when we complete a battle, like our characters could die. Don't let combats turn into boring "dice rolling dance breaks" from the roleplaying.

Drawing spell and steel matter. It is a dangerous choice.

Easy combat makes roleplaying meaningless.

You need a ranger for exploration play, and they don't suck here. The exploits have been mostly fixed. Martial classes are insanely fun and have fighting-style customizations. The monsters are scary and deadly. I do not have to multi-class. The characters have depth. The world is exciting and dangerous. Characters feel powerful, but not broken. I don't have much experience with high-level play, but the team made fixes there as well.

Supplies matter. Shelter quality matters. You can't comfortably sleep in your armor, like your character was some plastic action figure who can't ever remove it and wear comfortable, everyday clothing.

There is no such thing as infinite "pop-up healing."

Fatigue will kill you, and it won't be an easy resurrection. The spell is 7th level, takes an hour to cast, requires 2,500 gold in components, and requires approximately four long rests to recover from. Even the "death within one minute" revivify spell requires 300 gold in components to function and is only an in-combat option. The doomed condition requires 7th-level magic to remove it.

You can always house-rule in a hardcore death option and require a system-shock roll on resurrections. Make a DC 5 CON roll, with a result of 1 always indicating a failure. Failing means the soul never wants to return to the living and is happy in the afterlife, roll a new character. Increase the DC by one for every death after the first, and by one for every close friend or loved one you have lost in the mortal world.

You are not taking long rests in a closet in the Tomb of Horrors. Even short rests are not something you can depend on, nor will they restore fatigue. You can break down mentally. Obviously, some of the more egregious 5E tropes have been discarded. Dumb things people feel they have to defend "because it's D&D" are a thing of the past.

You can get "expertise dice" for skills. Destiny replaces alignment and controls inspiration, making it matter again. Inspiration has weight to it, and it isn't a meaningless flippable toggle that other classes can set on your character due to "mechanics."

Orcs and humanoids are still monsters here. Yes, EN World is very progressive, but they respect the hobby and its traditions. You can play an orc, if you want, and they can still be the bad guys. I wish forums and gaming sites could be less divided, but this is the world we live in, sadly. The game itself remains true to the hobby and gameplay, which I appreciate.

The fixes and improvements here render Tales of the Valiant unappealing to me.

Level Up is, hands down, the better-designed version of 5E.

Many LUA5E players skipped ToV, saying, "There's nothing new here. I don't see a reason to switch."

Third-party subclasses do have compatibility issues, but then again, LUA5E offers enough depth and options that I do not really need them. 5E NPCs and characters can "play alongside" characters built with this system, but to get the most out of the game, it is recommended to create them according to the rules.

Level Up A5E also has an excellent character sheet on Roll20. This works nicely with my "all digital" conversion going forward. I am no longer using a part of my house for maps and pawns. My home is cleaner, my shelves have more space, and I'm playing more using an all-digital format.

Level Up did a better job fixing 5E than the D&D 2024 rules do. They bring a game back to the table.

If I do keep a version of 5E, this one and Shadowdark will be the only two. Most of my third-party books, and those that distract from the core experience I want to craft, will be removed. What I keep will be a more focused, better game with fewer distractions, and nothing that makes the game "cute and stupid." I want a serious game.

Too many options can also be detrimental to a game. I don't need thousands of spells or monsters to play 5E. Too many books can kill a game. All I want is one-half shelf of the absolute best.

I own far too much 5E.

Owning less, with the best core game possible, will make me like it more.