I am currently waiting to play ToV again, but it is in my upstairs closet while I am reworking my shelves. I still love the game, and it is one of the best Open 5E implementations out there, besides Level Up Advanced 5E. And I support the Kobold Press crowdfunding projects.
I am trying to cut down my Tales of the Valiant library and streamline and simplify the game. There is no way I can play this game with eight shelves of books; I need to cut this down to the best-of-the-best corebooks. Even the Midgard books will be kept in the closet; I just want the core books as a core game engine.
To rehabilitate a game, you need to minimize your library.
Currently, I am playing Level Up A5E again and re-reading the books. I like how they rebuilt the engine and rewrote the SRD to be their own IP. They made dramatic changes that were criticized, but these were the same things people held against ToV for being too conservative to make.
The changes in A5E make the game worth playing and increase depth through design, without contributing to bloat. A5E also supports all the pillars of play, including a robust exploration game, and adds some very nice enhancements to social gameplay support. There are rare spells that are used as found treasures. The martial classes and their Combat Maneuvers are a solid addition to the game. I wish some of the advancements in A5E were reflected in ToV, or that they had made more changes than they did.
But, keeping the ToV rules nearly 100% compatible with 2014 D&D was a solid design goal. I can see why they did that, but there is a feeling of "why switch?" I switched on principle, and to ensure that the 2014 version of the rules survives past the end of D&D 5E and 5.5E.
A5E is a different beast, a worthy game in its own right, and different enough that it is worth playing.
