The Nimble 5e game is an interesting box set, and they currently have a Kickstarter going for a sorely needed monster expansion book, and the game now feels complete. The original game felt woefully short of monsters, and while all the existing 5E monsters (and magic items) are directly convertible, the game desperately needed its own bestiary. There are also expansion classes in this Kickstarter, so the game is growing.
Everything I dislike about 5E I like about Nimble. They fix the number one problem that 5E has, the size of the game and books. The only issue is that, like most 5E books, this is an expensive game and a premium product. The price of everything has gone up, and unlike OSR games fighting to keep the value proposition, this is not an inexpensive hobby. Thankfully, you only need the core books, and the per-player cost is lower than the gamemaster buy-in.
A few digest-sized hardcovers are all you need to play 5E. Nimble 5e captures the magical Old School Essentials compact design style perfectly, and it proves you do not need fifty pounds of books to play and enjoy 5E. Nimble 5e perfectly serves as an OSE 5E, capturing that heroic playstyle in a small-book format without needing to go hardcore Shadowdark. While Shadowdark is a great game, Nimble replaces the need to have a massive, multi-shelf library to support heroic 5E play.
Nimble 5e does everything 5E does, but with far less tripe, overwriting, and worthless fluff. Please don't force me to break my back carrying hundreds of pages of coffee-table art to a game, or listen to the game designers spend a dozen full-sized pages explaining what a paladin does. Obviously, a lot of 5E books are paid-by-the-word, and it is our shelves and backpacks that suffer. In the era of endlessly-generated AI fluff and pure generative agentic e-waste, Nimble 5e is refreshing.
They state Nimble 5e has no AI content. All of this is real. Another huge thank you!
Also, there do not appear to be any passive checks in this game, and it leans more into the "say what you do" old-school sensibility, limiting checks to what matters. Finally. Passive skills are horrible, putting the GM in VCR mode, and it removes interactivity and verbal exploration. If something is a "passive check," then just say it. Why are the rules forcing you to hide information, and putting whether you say it or not behind rules tied to character builds? If there is a pit trap, telegraph it. There are two rules in Nimble that put a wooden stake in the heart of the "hidden information" game:
"When information is necessary: Choose one hero who "knows" the information. For instance: the Hunter knows about this forest, the Mage knows what an arcane symbol means. Alternatively, have everyone roll a skill check and reward the hero with the highest roll with the information. They are the ones who knew it!" - Nimble, GM Guide, Page 5.
So if you have a rogue character or a machinist, they will have the trap knowledge. Have one with the party? Make them automatically spot the suspicious floor ahead, and give them the best information. If you don't, you still see something is off, but you don't have the best information on what it may be. And:
"Telegraph Danger. You MUST be clear about danger: you are their eyes and ears. They cannot make meaningful decisions if they are in the dark about how deadly a situation is. If you telegraphed danger and the heroes still make bad decisions, let them suffer the consequences of their choices." - Nimble, GM Guide, Page 5.
And they say make traps obvious, and not to gate critical information behind skill checks. This even applies to lore, persuasion, and other checks. Do not gate story progression behind the skill system, or hide information that is needed to move forward.
This is an area where modern games "get it," and D&D tries to walk the line between OSR play and modern adventure gaming, and pleases no one. While I love my OSR-style "10-foot-pole play" and "verbally poke and twist everything" sort of verbal, descriptive puzzle-solving, there exists an equally viable "narrative action RPG" style of play that does away with those tropes and focuses on combat and roleplaying. You can have both, but D&D tries to codify the old-school play style in endless rules and fails terribly in a passive quagmire.
Also, no whiffs or to-hit rolls. Just roll damage. If you roll a one, you miss. If you roll max, damage explodes. This is good stuff, and it speeds play. What is the difference between a low damage roll and a miss anyway? In 5E, versus a monster with 30 hit points, rolling a one on damage might as well be a miss. Only make me make rolls that matter, thank you.
Where is the game still lacking? Honestly, utility spells and magic items. The former is solved easily by a bit of GM fiat, letting similar or attack spells have utility uses, or just allowing a skill check to produce a utility magical effect. The latter is solved easily by using magic items from any 5E game. Similarly, popular utility spells from 5E can be ported in using scrolls, either finding or creation (passwall, teleport, etc.). These are not huge problems and are easily solved.
Personally, I like being able to control game-changing and story-breaking utility spells like passwall, ESP, telepathy, teleport, gate, scrying, banishment, and resurrection through spell scrolls. You find a scroll of teleportation, use it wisely since this may be the only one you find. They are still "in the game," but not so accessible that they are breaking every story the players come across.
There is a lot to like about Nimble, and as a lightweight (but not rules-light) system that can play all my 5E adventures without breaking my shelf, hurting my back, or wasting my time.
The Kickstarter for the monster expansion is worthy. This is the last week, and this is a worthy game and buy-in.
Highly recommended.
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