I think Kobold Press has been placed in a difficult position by the adjustments Wizards has made in their design goals regarding the '24 D&D books. Six months ago it appeared Wizards was making significant changes to 5e by adjusting, removing, or adding quite a few rules. Kobold Press announced during this time that Black Flag would be the ruleset to keep 2014 5e alive. Then Wizards scrapped many significant changes because they feared straying too far from 5e 2014 would invalidate their entire 5e catalog. Now it appears the current Wizards playtest walks back many of those changes and is much closer to 2014 D&D than ToV.
Kobold Press has some interesting decisions to make with ToV now. Do they stay true to their earlier intention of carrying on 5e for future players or do they dig in and start minimizing the SRD content even if it makes ToV less compatible than D&D '24? They already committed to using mostly SRD content in their game, but Wizards gets to use all the IP in the D&D '24 books. It is basically impossible for KP to make a more compatible 5e version if WotC stays the course. However, who knows if WotC will adjust their design goals back to making significant changes in the future.
I hope KP leans in to making ToV their own interpretation of 5e. This needs to be their game-not Wizards'. Kobold Press should present a product gives Midgard it's own base system. Heroes should cast different spells and use different abilities. I love seeing new feats and subclasses in the playtest and would prefer to see new spells and monsters in the future. Bring as much Tome of Beasts, Tome of Heroes, and Deep Magic as you can fit into the game to make Midgard it's own world.
