I will admit to an ongoing dalliance with Fantasy D20 level and hit point designed games, despite my instinctive preference for lower fantasy skill based systems with static(ish) wound thresholds, so in the Warhammer and Dragonbane mode. It seems clear that I will put up with the ascending competence bubble for the visceral delights of levelling up. There’s also something of a joy to the engorged high fantasy tone, with menagerie populations and thoroughly unlikely super hero powers, popping off amongst the ale, simple farmsteads, and lost towers of the ghoulish Deathdealer King.
As you may know, I returned to these games after a long time away, mostly summoned by the prospect of my daughter becoming a Critter and starting to play D&D. This was a magnetic draw, initially fuelled by Green Ronin’s Dragon Age, and then unleashing the contrarian in me that took me to the adjacent Pathfinder 2nd Edition, which I played and very much enjoyed, and onto a huge spend fest on D&D 4th Edition. 4e over Covid with a great group and an epic campaign will live long in the memory.
Much as I enjoy the big blocks of F20 rules and ability lists, and copious monster options, there was always a desire to have it all without the bloated weight of the text walls, perhaps because I am a slow reader. So, I produced Heroic Fantasy, a Black Hack based game that delivers a similar experience but in a slim fast play volume. Some people out there really enjoying playing it, as do I. The earth was tilled and primed for the next crop of temptations.
My good friend Dom, who understands my gaming journey, introduced me to his most recent kickstarter backing: Nimble RPG. This is exactly the sort of D&D adjacent game I have been looking for. He knew it. Stripping back a lot of the 5e guff, you have a fast play ‘rules tight’ heroic fantasy game with 1-20 levels of ascending power, highly focused and very simple to play. That it also takes design inspiration from Pathfinder 2, D&D 4e, Savage Worlds and even out to ‘Into the Odd’, only added to my delight. Sixty page rulebook? That’ll do.
Nimble is perfect for someone like me, having quietly purchased a shed load of F20 adventures and campaigns, flowing from Bundles and indiscrete, over enthusiastic, DrivethruRPG shopping grabs. Nimble can take any of this rich input and, with conversion ‘on the fly’ produce a game of Nimble in a trice. I may know that the mouldering digital pile is unlikely to see much, if any play, but with Nimble I can now pretend that I have a ready vehicle to turn the steaming feat load into some actual play.
Even now, I look at the gothic nonsense of Elderbrains’ ‘Crown of the Oathbreaker’ campaign and think that I could, at last, get it to the table. Back to Greyhawk for some more of my Bandit Kingdom sandbox? Nimble. That nice looking Pathfinder adventure path? Nimble. That dodgy third party campaign module with inadvisable line art? Nimble. A simple one off for a convention? Well, that’s easy.
That it inhales some tactical vapours from Savage Worlds and 4e really works for me, instinctively taking me over to Foundry VTT, where I discovered that it had a beautiful and free Nimble system module full of ready to use compendium.
Attractively, the Nimble community has a busy Discord, supporting websites, great VTT support, a regular zine, and, perhaps most important of all, a phenomenally talented and approachable creator. The third party licence is open and generous, doubtless foretelling a mushroom of community content.
The Kickstarter has just a few days to go. My digital pledge has been ‘Cybergothed’ (Dom’s online handle name) to a matching physical box tier, swept up as I am by the excitement of play. Virtual Grogmeet will be its first outing for me, and expect many more to follow.
Although unlikely to supercede Dragonbane in my affection, I still have a place for Nimble. It might nudge my own Heroic Fantasy game out of the way, at least for a while. I’m looking forward both to playing in Dom’s forthcoming game, and to inflicting this ‘5e but not’ on others, including possibly yourself!