Level Up (A5E) Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition Is Coming!

Level Up is the working title for a standalone 'advanced 5E' backwards compatible tabletop RPG coming to Kickstarter in 2021 from EN Publishing.

A crunchier, more flexible version of the 5E ruleset which you know and love. If you love 5E but would like a little more depth to the ruleset, Level Up is the game for you!

Level Up is the working codename for a standalone hardcover roleplaying game brought to you by the team which brought you EN5ider Magazine and Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters!

Sign up for news about Level Up! This mailing list is for news, surveys, feedback, and playtests. Or simply register your interest in the Kickstarter.

Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

The standalone 'advanced 5E' backwards compatible tabletop RPG!

www.levelup5e.com

This is an ‘advanced’ version of the 5E ruleset, presented as a hardcover standalone game. It adds more customization and depth to the game. Basically, it’s a ‘crunchier’ version of 5th Edition. It's still the game you know and love. We love it too! All your 5E books will be compatible with this new game.

We already have a list of what we want to include in Level Up, although this list is not yet final We’ll be using surveys to adjust that list. We hope to include a fully developed exploration pillar, flexible character choices at each level, a new approach to heritage, martial maneuvers, a ‘cinematic/gritty’ toggle, spell-less ranger and warlord, and followers and strongholds, and more. Keep an eye out for the surveys!

We are also recruiting a diverse team of expert 5th Edition writers. We’ll have more news on that soon.

 

[Charlaquin]

I have a really peculiar wish for this project. I'll probably be trashed for preoccupying myself with pointless stuff, but here it is:
I wish the art and general look of the book will be somewhat consistent with the presentation of WotC books. It does not require to be the same thing or try too hard to replicate it, but an evocative art-style, like the one currently used for the placeholder name in the OP. Sometime, and I really mean no offense and it does not have any effect on the actual quality of the content, the art used in some ENsider products are a little all over the place, mixing classical piece, stock images and more cartoony ones. The more recent kickstarter for MF&MM had really good art, the only piece I found clashing, at least in the preview I saw was the 3D-modeled Cthulhu. I hope the book will reflect the same quality in imagery as seen in this last project.

Anyway, just my personal non-content-related wish for this project, hope I did not hurt anybody.

I think that’s a very good point to note, actually. 5e has a distinct visual identity, and part of making a product feel compatible with 5e is making it aesthetically compatible.

 

[Morrus]

I think that’s a very good point to note, actually. 5e has a distinct visual identity, and part of making a product feel compatible with 5e is making it aesthetically compatible.

And also it's something we literally cannot do. Trade dress is a thing. It will not look like a WotC 5E book. But it will look as good as one.

 

[Charlaquin]

This will test a personal theory of mine that part of 5e's success (before streaming and the 'rona), is that people who wanted more "decision points" stuck to Pathfinder and thus absent at my table, thus they aren't around to bring down the vibe at the table by complaining about how 5e doesn't fit their expectations.

Not everyone who wants more decision points even likes Pathfinder. In fact, I think a lot of the demand for such options is actually coming from the 4e crowd, who largely broke for 5e over Pathfinder, but have never been fully satisfied with 5e’s lack of character customization options.

 

[Retreater]

Not everyone who wants more decision points even likes Pathfinder. In fact, I think a lot of the demand for such options is actually coming from the 4e crowd, who largely broke for 5e over Pathfinder, but have never been fully satisfied with 5e’s lack of character customization options.

My groups include one of 4E apologists (now playing PF2) and another of newer 5E players wanting more options and wondering why it doesn't work more like other tactical based CRPGS or board games. I think this could be a good fit for both of them. However my group that finds 5E too rules heavy probably won't like it, as we're sort of starting to lean to OSE currently.
(Side note: how am I running THREE weekly games?!!!)

 

[Marandahir]

And also it's something we literally cannot do. Trade dress is a thing. It will not look like a WotC 5E book. But it will look as good as one.

Less about font and trade dress, and more about art-choice.

Pathfinder is defined by Wayne Reynolds artwork, for better or worse (as was 3e Eberron).

4e had its own visual identity of choices of artists.

WotC 5e has a visual identity of its own artists. I think the ask is to be less like this is a hodgepodge of 1e/2e/3e/4e/5e/other style artwork, and rather that the artwork chosen for the books, while not being the same pieces or necessarily even the same artists, feels in line with the 5e books.

 

[Charlaquin]

And also it's something we literally cannot do. Trade dress is a thing. It will not look like a WotC 5E book. But it will look as good as one.

Oh, I know you can’t make it look like a WotC 5e book. But I believe it would be possible to make it look like something that would fit into the same family, you know? I’m thinking of books like AiME or the old Tal’Dorei campaign book. They didn’t look exactly like WotC products, but they did fit into what I would describe as “aesthetically compatible.”

Of course, if you go with something more visually distinct from WotC’s books it wouldn’t be deal-breaking. But I think it’s something worth putting some thought into, for sure.

 

[Marandahir]

Oh, I know you can’t make it look like a WotC 5e book. But I believe it would be possible to make it look like something that would fit into the same family, you know? I’m thinking of books like AiME or the old Tal’Dorei campaign book. They didn’t look exactly like WotC products, but they did fit into what I would describe as “aesthetically compatible.”

Of course, if you go with something more visually distinct from WotC’s books it wouldn’t be deal-breaking. But I think it’s something worth putting some thought into, for sure.

YES. This is what I want in terms of art design. Tal'Dorei and AiME don't look like they're from DMs Guild or WotC official books, but when I open them up, the art direction of the insides feel like 5e books, not like something out of a different edition of the game or a completely different roleplaying game.

 

[Charlaquin]

My groups include one of 4E apologists (now playing PF2) and another of newer 5E players wanting more options and wondering why it doesn't work more like other tactical based CRPGS or board games. I think this could be a good fit for both of them. However my group that finds 5E too rules heavy probably won't like it, as we're sort of starting to lean to OSE currently.
(Side note: how am I running THREE weekly games?!!!)

PF2 certainly had a lot to attract the 4e fans. Unfortunately, it didn’t do it for me. It’s trying to walk a dangerous line between 3e and 4e, and to me it fell too far to the 3e side.

 

[Retreater]

I guess my own art preferences are "hodge podge." Show a variety of different worlds that can appeal to a variety of GMs and players. Have black and white and color art. Have stuff that appeals to modern day video game players, anime enthusiasts, classic fantasy art, and hell, put some ancient hieroglyphs in there too. Adventures and settings books can be more evocative of a particular theme. For a core book, I like a variety.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

YES. This is what I want in terms of art design. Tal'Dorei and AiME don't look like they're from DMs Guild or WotC official books, but when I open them up, the art direction of the insides feel like 5e books, not like something out of a different edition of the game or a completely different roleplaying game.

AiME is exactly what I had in mind (considering I'm still convinced that this is the best thing that came out in 5e), but also 5 Torches Deep and Donjon (the french version of DnD).