Licensing, Support, & Compatibility
This article is a little different to the previews we’ve been sharing over the past months. In this article, we’d like to talk about how we plan to support Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition. First up, here’s a couple of terms we use in this article for clarity:
When we say O5E we mean ‘original’ 5E; the existing 5E game you already have
When we say A5E we mean ‘advanced’ 5E; this new Level Up: Advanced 5E game
Support
First off, it’s important to highlight that Level Up: A5E is already supported.
That’s because it is fully compatible with any O5E adventure or supplement out there. All those adventures, official and third-party on your shelves? You can run those with Level Up: A5E. All the adventures, official and third-party, that come out in the future? You can run those with Level Up: A5E. That awesome 400-page monster book you bought from that fantastic third-party 5E publisher? You can use that with Level Up: A5E. If it’s a O5E product, it’s fully compatible with Level Up: A5E.
It’s important to note that you don’t have to buy all that stuff again or invest in a new line of support material or learn a whole new system. All the stuff you already have still works.
Of course, we plan to support the game ourselves, too. Our first official setting will be ADVENTURES IN ZEITGEIST in a gorgeous hardcover book, and a new Level Up: A5E-designed adventure introducing new gamers to the ZEITGEIST setting. We also have a free starter adventure in the works which will walk you through the new concepts introduced in Level Up: A5E. And we have more we’ll reveal later.
Compatibility
So what do we mean by ‘compatibility’? Here’s a few examples:
An O5E adventure can be run with Level Up: A5E straight out of the box
O5E monsters can be used with Level Up: A5E straight out of the box
O5E characters can be used with Level Up: A5E straight out of the box
O5E spells can be used with Level Up: A5E straight out of the box
O5E archetypes (sub-classes) can be used with Level Up: A5E characters straight out of the box
O5E settings can be used with Level Up: A5E straight out of the box
Characters
You can use an O5E character or a Level Up: A5E character. They can adventure alongside each other. The Level Up: A5E character has more options and flexibility, and a bit more breadth and exploration pillar functionality, but it’s not a straight-up power boost.
Now, those who have been following our previews and playtests over the past few months will know that Level Up: A5E character ‘origins’ (what was race, subrace, and background in O5E) are built differently to original O5E characters, instead being made up of heritage, culture, and background. So when it comes to creating your character, you’ll choose either the O5E origin (race, sub race, background) or a Level Up: A5E origin (heritage, culture, background), but the result will be a fully compatible character.
Monsters
Also, we are making our own version of the O5E monster book, which we’re calling the Monstrous Menagerie. When an adventure tells you to use a vampire, you can use the O5E vampire or the Level Up: A5E vampire. We hope you like our Level Up: A5E versions for the extra depth (and we’ve previewed a few of these already) and the new tools we offer with them, but both will work fine.
Do I have to make any changes?
You don’t have to. There are a couple of things you might want to do, and we have a super-short little one-page appendix which summarizes these things for you.
The only ‘conversion’ work you’ll have to do is sometimes work out a creature or character’s Maneuver DC (either beforehand or on the fly). That’s 8 + proficiency bonus + Dexterity or Strength modifier, by the way.
To make the exploration pillar into a fun part of the game, in Level Up: A5E magic is limited in the amount of useful food and water it can create. Only about 3 spells in Level Up: A5E can create ‘Supply’, the resource needed when traveling.
There are occasional terminology changes from the O5E core rules, some of which are done for inclusivity reasons, and others for clarity. We use terms like heritage, mental stress, and narrator; and a handful of spells have their names changed because they reference specific O5E NPCs in their titles. Some monsters we have tweaked a little (and in a couple of places renamed) where there were problematic elements. But these will all be obvious and clear, and should cause no confusion.
Licensing
We will be releasing a System Reference Document under the Open Gaming License. Additionally, we will have a compatibility logo and license. All this will be free, and available online; there will be no application process and you will not need to seek permission to use them. You don’t even have to tell us (though if you do, we’ll happily share the news!) We want to make it as easy as possible for you to create, sell, or share Level Up: A5E material yourself.
Additionally, we will be making the final rules available to some third parties in advance of the Level Up: A5E Kickstarter in October so that they can support the game right out of the gate.