Level Up Review

 

I thought long and hard about backing this project while it was on Kickstarter.It looked interesting, sure, and I liked the fact that they had gone back to Tome of Battle over giving everyone their own powers (a move I'll get back to later). But the books were expensive, and they'd gone with the three book model, and I just didn't want to shell out a bunch of money for something I didn't know I'd be using or not. So I wished them well in their development of a game system and moved on.

Six months passed and I forgot about Level Up.

And then one day Marty contacted me completely out of the blue. "CHECK OUT THIS GAME SYSTEM, IT'S ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD." 

Three guesses as to what the game was.

Now, Marty is stupidly picky with his games. Like, really really picky. He has the one thing he wants a game to do, and will GM the hell out of that one thing. And he really GMs the hell out of it. Marty could pick a bad game and I'd play in that campaign, because he'd do such amazing things with that game that I'd not care otherwise. But that doesn't mean I don't have to call the system good, right?

Spoiler: this is a really good game.

Now, let's get this out of the way: this is not a "light" game. It's quite crunchy. There's bits and bobs and crazy things in here. You could pull 5e characters into this campaign in the same way you could attach a tricycle to a car and go on the freeway with your child. Sure, you  could do it, and sure the child may be able to hang on and maybe even have a good time... but you know where it's going, at the end. On this count I think Level Up fails: while you technically can bring in 5e stuff, I don't think you should.

But what Level Up does I’ve not really seen another game do: the modern combat system known as DnD WELL. There is nary an original idea in this whole game. I can find the progenitors for all these ideas in not just DnD but several systems. So Level Up isn’t an original game by a very long stretch. You won’t find any flashy new ideas in here. What you will find is that each and every idea adapted to perfection and integrated into a holistic engine. It all flows. It works. My herald (paladin) feels just right: part spellcaster, warrior, Charisma skill monster… and none of it feels like anything got shafted to do it. I’m not super specialized but I didn’t want to be, that’s why I picked herald! Instead I can flit betwixt the tricks in my bag with ease.  Taking a look at the rest of the book the same level of care is everywhere. Everything is tweaked just on this side of right. Even the fighter (my least favorite class) has been made into something with care and love in it. Heck, I’d venture that you’d find more love and care in the first level of a level one Level Up fighter than the entirety of 5e’s Player’s Handbook.

Not that that’s a terribly high bar.

Running the game is easy: if you need to set up a fight there’s a chart that literally tells you exactly how it all breaks down. That… technically makes it easier to run than 4e? I feel grumpy about admitting that. But I mean, there’s the chart folks! What else am I going to do? Lie and pretend they didn’t make the system the simplest it’s ever been???

I wish.

Oh well.

Look folks, I don’t particularly care if Level Up is compatible to one of the most underwhelming games ever made. The game itself is amazing. Character creation and options are legion. Setting up encounters is literally not going to get easier. Yeah it’s crunchy but that really works in its favor here. I’ve been having fun since I opened the PDF.

And I freaking hate PDFs.