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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 9574140" data-attributes="member: 42040">"....And start to dream of somewhereTo relax their restless flightSomewhere out of a memoryOf lighted streets on quiet nights...""Subdivisions," RushMy group has been bouncing from system to system for over a year now, not finding anything that really suits us. A player suggested we go back to "everyone's second favorite system" in an attempt to find stability.My issue is that there are now varieties in that system. Which do I pick to suggest to the players?2014Pros: we own the books and are already familiar with it.Cons: I've repeatedly run into issues with encounter balance, poorly designed enemies, little guidance about awarding treasure. My players complain that there's not enough combat options and that play is boring.Level UpPros: I own the books, addresses treasure rewards better than 2014, supposedly better designed monsters. Presents tactical combat options.Cons: I'm the only one who owns the books. I'm concerned that it might be too crunchy. Don't know how well I can use 2014 stuff with it (will the Level Up characters cakewalk through 2014 adventures? There's not a lot of published adventure content I can use specifically for Level Up.)Tales of the ValiantPros: supposedly better designed monsters and treasure reward guidance. Tactical combat options (less than Level Up). More familiar to 2014 than any other edition.Cons: I don't own anything from the system and don't know enough about it to promote it.I'm not considering D&D 2024 because I would rather support other companies. DC20, Nimble 5e, etc. are out of consideration because they aren't finalized. Shadowdark and OSR games are too "underpowered" to please my players. Pathfinder 2 is too crunchy.If you have any suggestions of which we should try, let me know.Update:We went with Level Up: Advanced 5E, with the option for players to use 2014 if they were more comfortable with that - or if the options weren't available in LU (such as many of the Eberron-specific options).  The campaign lasted about 3 months before it ended with an unceremonious TPK. I had high hopes, but alas, it was not meant to be. Here are some issues we had, specific to Level Up. <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I was the only person who owned the books, so no one really got familiar with how their abilities worked (despite my having shared the online tools with them.) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The massive book was difficult to navigate and just ... handle. One of the players repeatedly dropped my copy. (Multiple times a session.) [On the plus side, it's only a little scuffed - whereas a WotC book would be disintegrated.]</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">It's not really "compatible" as I understand compatibility to be. Trying to go from different versions of D&D (2014, Level Up, Flee Mortals, and OAR's converted B/X adventures) was just a mess. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">If you're going to run B/X converted adventures, you better use characters designed to be thrown away. There's way too much time sink required to make characters in Level Up.</li> </ol></blockquote>

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