Level Up (A5E) Starting a Level Up Game

[Ahzad]

So I'm thinking of running a Level Up game for my players. We are all experienced gamers and I'm personally missing a little more crunch in my 5e games and Level Up looks it'll scratch that itch. We are scattered geographically so we mostly play on a VTT, Fantasy Grounds, and Foundry. When trying out something new I prefer to run something premade as opposed to whipping out something myself. So what would you recommend from EN Publishing to run to give good deep dive into the Level Up system? Memories of Holdenshire, To Save a Kingdom, something from one of the Gate Pass Gazette, or something else?

Thanks,

 

[xiphumor]

So I'm thinking of running a Level Up game for my players. We are all experienced gamers and I'm personally missing a little more crunch in my 5e games and Level Up looks it'll scratch that itch. We are scattered geographically so we mostly play on a VTT, Fantasy Grounds, and Foundry. When trying out something new I prefer to run something premade as opposed to whipping out something myself. So what would you recommend from EN Publishing to run to give good deep dive into the Level Up system? Memories of Holdenshire, To Save a Kingdom, something from one of the Gate Pass Gazette, or something else?

Thanks,

Disclaimer: I haven’t played any of these myself, but I would recommend starting with Memories of Holdenshire to let yourself see if you like the system. If you do, you can proceed onward with TSAK.

 

[Morrus]

The starter box would be ideal. The kickstarter was a couple of months
ago but it will be in retail next year.

 

[Selganor]

Disclaimer: I haven’t played any of these myself, but I would recommend starting with Memories of Holdenshire to let yourself see if you like the system. If you do, you can proceed onward with TSAK.

If you decide to continue with TSAK you might want to check out the adventure before the party reaches Holdenshire as this town is listed in more detail in TSAK. The first (aka "preparation") part of TSAK takes place in/around Holdenshire and during some "downtime" in MoH your players might want to do something (like some of the "get to know the people and area of Holdenshire" quests in part 1 of TSAK)

Just a note if you decide to play Elissar as it is presented in TSAK: It has some setting specific rules in TSAK (like some spells/items/... unknown, unavailable or the like) but since LevelUP/A5E is intended to be a replacement for the O5E core rules those would still be listed in AG/T&T/MM.

So if you got players who take inspiration from all the stuff available in a5e.tools you might have to explain them that some of their ideas might just not fit this setting.

For a longer document where someone took the time to collect "fitting" stuff, check out: https://homebrewandhacking.com/2023/07/05/to-save-a-kingdom-adventure-path-gamestart-brief/

 

[Ahzad]

Thanks for all the advice. I probably should've said I've had all 3 core books for a while and I personally love the Level Up system, at least from the reading, it's now time to roll the dice on the system now. I was looking for a good premade module so my players could kick the tires on the system, and it looks like Memories might be the one, since it's the only one I see on the VTT's that my group uses.

 

[Selganor]

Just note the specific setup of MoH... Some concepts (especially "I'm the shining beacon of everything good") might have problems with the setup of this adventure.

If your players are ok just jumping in you might want to use Pregens (all the "official" pregens are also already included in the MoH Foundry module) and if you decide to continue with TSAK you could then allow them to switch to their own creations (if they want) at level 3. This way the players would already have some experience and familiarity in system and setting but could still use characters in TSAK whose concepts wouldn't work in MoH.

 

[Selganor]

Or if you just want a sneak peek into the system (especially with people already familiar with O5E) you could do what I regularly do in my rpg club and run Mama Bear's Revenge with pregens as a one-shot for them to get to know a bit of the changes to the system and then run a "mini-campaign" with MoH and/or longer one with TSAK.

While Mama Bear wasn't designed for A5E it has parts that can show off the differences to O5E and the adventure (although the "core story" is quite linear as expected for a one session one-shot) offers enough opportunities for almost all of the pregens.

I've run this almost a dozen times so far, always with pregens, often with people who didn't know 5e and quite a few times with people who never played any rpgs.

 

[Larnievc]

So I'm thinking of running a Level Up game for my players. We are all experienced gamers and I'm personally missing a little more crunch in my 5e games and Level Up looks it'll scratch that itch. We are scattered geographically so we mostly play on a VTT, Fantasy Grounds, and Foundry. When trying out something new I prefer to run something premade as opposed to whipping out something myself. So what would you recommend from EN Publishing to run to give good deep dive into the Level Up system? Memories of Holdenshire, To Save a Kingdom, something from one of the Gate Pass Gazette, or something else?

Thanks,

I’m planning to start Memories of Holdenshire to ease a newbie into a reasonably experienced three person party after Xmas so I’ll be interested to hear how it goes for you.