Level Up (A5E) Questions From Someone Who Was Looking At A5E Right Before The WOTC/OGL Nonsense

[trashHeap]

Hey sorry, ive lurked on and off for years but never needed to make an account till now; and apologies, if this is covered elsewhere. I mostly run a lot of indie systems and OSR content but did run a D&D 5e campaign a year or two ago out of the core rulebooks.

I've been looking at A5E. I've liked what ive read here and there about A5E but I've seen conflicting reports at how "compatible" Level Up A5E is with D&D 5e content. I was already thinking I might have some interest in running the new edition of Midnight down the road. How well would A5E serve as the base for such a game?

Regardless if it would be a good base for Midnight, is there any benefit to grabbing A5E now ? Or should I just wait for the de-OGL-ified revision ? If I buy the PDFs now will they be updated to the de-OGL-ified version when it comes out?

 

[Morrus]

I can't comment on Midnight. I'm not familiar with it. But we run WotC adventures just fine out of the box with A5E.

 

[TheHand]

I'm also not familiar with Midnight, but I've been using A5e seamlessly with official D&D content/adventures, Kobold Press adventures/monsters, some stuff from Monte Cooke, and a smattering of other 3rd parties.

 

[dave2008]

Regardless if it would be a good base for Midnight, is there any benefit to grabbing A5E now ? Or should I just wait for the de-OGL-ified revision ? If I buy the PDFs now will they be updated to the de-OGL-ified version when it comes out?

To be clear there is no guarantee there will be a de-OGL-ified version of A5e. That is an option they are working on, but it is not a done deal. I would go ahead and get it now if your interested.

 

[Pedantic]

A5e is very compatible with bringing in 5e materials, including subclasses, feats adventures and monsters. There's marginally more friction going the other way, but it's all pretty negligible.

 

[Matt Thomason]

To be clear there is no guarantee there will be a de-OGL-ified version of A5e. That is an option they are working on, but it is not a done deal. I would go ahead and get it now if your interested.

I'd also add that it's more likely any de-OGL-ified version might have to change some terminology, making it slightly more work to use with existing 5e material, another reason to get the current version while you can.

 

[Tazawa]

I'd also add that it's more likely any de-OGL-ified version might have to change some terminology, making it slightly more work to use with existing 5e material, another reason to get the current version while you can.

You don’t need to de-OGL-ify Level Up. It looks like existing OGL 1.0a products are safe from any threats from WotC. All that is needed is a method of making supporting materials for Level Up.

That’s pretty simple—adventures, campaign worlds, spells, monsters, sub-classes, etc. can easily be created for most games without relying on anything in the WotC SRDs. These types of content usually only refer to SRD content indirectly:

• 6 goblins wait in the bushes to ambush travellers
• the secret door can be detected with a DC 15 Perception check
• etc.

You don’t need to restate the rules. They are already available in the currently published Level Up rulebooks. They’re not going anywhere.

A simple reference document released under ORC or similar open license would be sufficient to provide support for the game. It could have significantly less material than the SRD and still be effective. People are smart enough to know where to look up the rules without you explicitly telling them.

 

[VanguardHero]

I'd also add that it's more likely any de-OGL-ified version might have to change some terminology, making it slightly more work to use with existing 5e material, another reason to get the current version while you can.

Oh no, they might have to change the term Bonus Action, which refers to something which is neither a bonus nor an Action!

 

[Morrus]

You don’t need to de-OGL-ify Level Up.

We do if we want to allow third parties to continue making material for it.

 

[Larnievc]

Hey sorry, ive lurked on and off for years but never needed to make an account till now; and apologies, if this is covered elsewhere. I mostly run a lot of indie systems and OSR content but did run a D&D 5e campaign a year or two ago out of the core rulebooks.

I've been looking at A5E. I've liked what ive read here and there about A5E but I've seen conflicting reports at how "compatible" Level Up A5E is with D&D 5e content. I was already thinking I might have some interest in running the new edition of Midnight down the road. How well would A5E serve as the base for such a game?

Regardless if it would be a good base for Midnight, is there any benefit to grabbing A5E now ? Or should I just wait for the de-OGL-ified revision ? If I buy the PDFs now will they be updated to the de-OGL-ified version when it comes out?

I’m running Curse of Strahd and Tyranny of Dragons with A5E and it works great. What’s Midnight?