Level Up (A5E) How does 5.5e/6e impact Level Up?

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

There is really nothing WotC could do to make o5e less of a joke of design that I trust them to manage at all. Letalone better than Level Up. I don't even think things like Martials and Casters existing on fundamentally different scales of having agency within the world is something that matters to them. So I'll watch 5.5 with two minds, laughing at how terrible they are at designing games and watching with dread as people continue to throw money hand over fist at a company that is as good at designing games as they are at firing someone who brought on and enabled a serial sexual abuser instead of just pretending to fire him. I know Mearls being ousted wouldn't solve everything, but it'd be a small first step towards improving that they've refused to take for half a decade.

Addendum: Just want to clarify that my hatred of WotC is the core designers, not the Freelancers. I figure there's people here who have or know people who've worked there and that is not who I mean.

The design goal is to make money, and they have succeed beyond almost anyone’s expectations on that.

 

[niklinna]

It is not going to be a new edition. If that is your expectation you are sadly mistaken.

Of course the are unlikely to make any substantive changes to the most popular, most financially successful edition ever. When sales eventually drop significantly, you might see a new edition. But that is looking to be a long time down the road at this point

It's nice to have a cash cow to milk (regular or fey ).

 

[Zaukrie]

Does anything in the stat block change anything?

 

[niklinna]

I don't even think things like Martials and Casters existing on fundamentally different scales of having agency within the world is something that matters to them.

On the contrary, it seems to matter very much to them, so much so they made sure it couldn't happen! Turns out quite a few people are quite fine with it, too. I'm not thrilled with how they did it, but I do believe some narrowing of the gap was called for, nor do I really expect them to revisit such aspects of their design, and so, obTopic, I don't think 5.5e/6e will have much impact on Level Up, especially since a new WotC edition will be coming out years after Level Up.

 

[DeviousQuail]

WOTC's announcement actually sounds good for LU. It's too far away to change anything for LU right now and knowing new 5e will be compatible with o5e ensures o5e compatible 3rd party stuff doesn't lose value in 2024.

 

[Steampunkette]

I like this thread. This has become a good thread.

Also: Pathfinder sounded terrible back in the day. Takes time for a name to gain cultural weight. Level Up will do just fine.

 

[Timespike]

Also: as someone who got his start in the TTRPG hobby with GURPS, I can say pretty definitively that the name of a system has basically nothing whatsoever to do with how good it is ... and whatever your opinion of the Level Up name, it's never going to be as bad as GURPS (which is an accurate acronym for what the game is, but even people from Steve Jackson Games pronounce it phonetically).

The good ol' Generic Universal Role Playing System is a very good game (for certain types of campaign) with some of the best-written and best-researched supplements ever published by any company in the TTRPG industry (I haven't played or run GURPS in over a decade, but I still have all my books; they're amazing reference for any system), but the name is ridiculous.

 

[VanguardHero]

Oh yeah I still have GURPS Martial Arts as a reference book. My issue is that Level Up as a name, as a brand, is fantastic. As a thing to search for in TTRPG spaces, it is AWFUL. "Oh man I wonder if anyone in the Foundry server is excited for Level Up let me just search for it and...welp never mind I guess". For pages dedicated to it, sure, a5e probably helps, but for finding casual discussion it's a nightmare.

 

[Stalker0]

Oh yeah I still have GURPS Martial Arts as a reference book. My issue is that Level Up as a name, as a brand, is fantastic. As a thing to search for in TTRPG spaces, it is AWFUL. "Oh man I wonder if anyone in the Foundry server is excited for Level Up let me just search for it and...welp never mind I guess". For pages dedicated to it, sure, a5e probably helps, but for finding casual discussion it's a nightmare.

Yep that is a factor. Say what you want about GURPS but a quick google search will reveal nothing but the RPG on the front page. That is a big deal.

 

[Steampunkette]

When Pathfinder released the first Google page was all about the Karl Urban flick, the Nissan Pathfinder, and countless local and nationwide businesses.

Cultural weight takes time. And the current Google Search means nothing to what it can be in the future. It's not like there's one monolithically important "Level Up" website, right now. It's just a bunch of podcasts, local gaming stores, a song by Ciara, a low-budget movie and an unrelated TV show which ran 2 seasons on Cartoon Network a decade ago, and teaching and catering courses... Though I'll grant that the TV series was made by D And D Productions which could skew things in the first few weeks of Google trying to aggregate search data.

Add in the fact that Google caters searches to users, specifically, and within a few years of gamers specifically looking for games doing a quickie "Level Up" search is gonna bring them what they want.