Creator's Kit

Creator's Kit

This is free to use for anyone who already owns the content, is trying the system out, or cannot afford to buy it right now. If you enjoy Nimble and are able, please support the game by purchasing the official content at nimbleRPG.com.

Welcome to creating for Nimble! The guidelines in this document are here to help you craft content that plays fast, fun, and in tune with the spirit of the game. Think of them as a launchpad—not a rulebook carved in stone. Once you’ve got a handle on what makes Nimble tick, feel free to bend, twist, or toss these suggestions aside to suit your vision. Understanding the framework is just the first step—breaking these guidelines for a good reason is where the magic happens. So dive in, experiment, and start creating!

— Evan @ Nimble co.

AVOID FIDDLINESS

Fiddliness: clunky, overly complex, or tedious mechanical overhead that slows down play and distracts from the core fun.

Can I do this in fewer steps?

A single in-game action should typically take only one single real-world action to resolve. Fight the urge to add steps (saves, extra dice, etc.) wherever possible! Ask if the effect can simply happen automatically, or when something else does.

How long an action takes to resolve isn’t about being in a hurry, it’s about concentrating on the fun. Fiddly mechanics dilute the fun, spreading the same amount of fun out over a longer period of time. Take, for example, monster armor. Initially in development it reduced damage by a flat amount. Mathematically this worked, but mechanically it added an additional step to resolve. It didn’t take very long, but multiplied over the dozens of attacks in an encounter, or thousands of attacks in a campaign, it was a suboptimal solution since it took up a significant amount of time.

Asking the question, “Can I do this in fewer steps?” is how Nimble landed on how monster armor currently works. Same end result, but with fewer mechanics getting in the way. This means more time for additional combat, story, roleplaying, and goofing off!

Find a way to eliminate as many steps as possible. Think this way with all of your design: Recognize how many steps are needed to resolve an action and eliminate as many as possible. Think of how it will be physically be resolved at the table.

Can I make the calculation easier?

Math is inextricably tied to TTRPGs, it’s part of the fun! But we should avoid anything but the simplest, quickest, calculations that can be done in one’s head. Even very simple calculations, when there are a lot of them can grind play down to a halt and kill momentum. So we should avoid rolling and summing too many dice at a time. Summing at most 3-4 smaller dice or 2-3 larger dice is a good rule of thumb. More than that, and players will often have to hunt for extra dice, roll them (increasing the odds that one lands cocked, rolls off the table, etc. eating up more time), and adding them all up takes longer as well.

Rolling LOTS of dice is fun—sometimes. It can quickly turn into a chore and add slog to the game when required too often. Lots of dice eliminates variability as well, the more dice that are rolled the more likely you’ll end up with an average result. A fistful of dice should be special and rare.

Where possible think of creative solutions to more quickly generate high numbers. In the core rules we use LVL, d20s, d100s, dXX, or flat damage (e.g. Condemn deals a flat 30 damage, this could have been 12d4, or 9d6. That would have dealt the same amount of damage, but would have taken much, much longer to accomplish).

Exceptions. Iconic or very large spells (e.g., tier 8 or 9 spells) or abilities that happen rarely (1/Safe Rest) can bend or break this rule of thumb. Cantrips or abilities that could happen multiple times in an encounter or even multiple times each turn should be especially quick to resolve.

• Build mechanics where players can immediately see the result rather than find the result 3 (adding dice). Rolling 1d12 with advantage is easier than rolling and adding 2d8. Both have a similar average result—one requires no math, the other does.
• Avoid dividing by anything other than 1/2 (and even that shouldn’t happen too often).
• Avoid multiplying difficult numbers (x2 is easy, x13 is not).
• Avoid adding multi-digit numbers (2+2 is easy, 7+16 is a bit harder). Again, it isn’t that players can’t perform these operations, it’s that they take longer than necessary and add small bits of friction to the game. Those bits add up, stealing valuable brain space, killing momentum, and creating SLOG.
• Design around easy increments such as 2, 5, and 10 as flat modifiers where possible.
• Avoid adding multiple large dice. For instance rolling 4d6 and summing a result of 3, 4, 1, 5 is easy. Rolling 4d12 and a result of 7, 5, 9, 11 is a bit harder. Rolling 4d20 and a result of 7, 16, 19, & 14 is more challenging still.

Much easier would be something like 2d6+5, 1d12+20, and 1d20+30 respectively. They have a similar average result but resolve much more quickly.

For instance, looks at how the Cheat’s Sneak Attack began in development (as much as 10d6 at high levels), to where it ended up in the final version (1d20+20). Much better!

CONDITIONS

Tracking Game States. Be very careful with conditions and other game states that need to be tracked. Mechanics like this are really great for video games where the computer can handle the fiddliness, but for a manually resolved TTRPG it can become a big headache. These frequently result in interrupting the Flow as players remind others about the ongoing state, adding friction and slowing play down.

With this in mind, damage over time should be avoided completely. All damage should be resolved as the attack resolves. Conditions that have a visual component like Prone are easier to remember since you can physically knock the miniature over to represent it. Other conditions that cannot be represented visually should be minimized.

Monsters (or heroes) that can apply 1 condition, or temporary conditions that last only a single round, are fine. When there are multiple different conditions to track simultaneously the fun doesn’t increase—with more to track,generally the fun decreases. If something MUST be tracked, make it as easy as possible. For instance see the Hexbinder class, all of their afflictions apply only to a single monster, and other players need not remember any of them!

MAINTAIN THE FLOW!

Play proceeds most quickly when each player can take their turn without interruption and without waiting on anyone else. This is Flow. Actions that interrupt the Flow should ideally be both important and rare. Failing that, they should at least happen asynchronously.

Important & Rare. A great example of this is Interposing for a Dying ally. This is both very important, and likely happens only on occasion.

Asynchronous. Defend does technically interrupt the Flow, AND can happen rather commonly (each turn), AND is relatively low impact—the saving grace is that this happens asynchronously, or off turn. A hero choosing to Defend can privately calculate their HP without slowing anyone else down. The GM doesn’t care (or even need to know) when a Hero Defends. That’s between them and their character sheet.

Any fiddliness, especially if it disrupts the Flow, should happen off-turn whenever possible. See the Oathsworn’s Judgment Dice, and the Berserker’s “That all you got?!” Those dice are rolled or expended when it’s not their turn. No one else needs to wait for those actions to resolve.

THE WORST OFFENDER

The worst offender for breaking the Flow is any mechanic that requires information from another player before proceeding (e.g., in older d20 fantasy games: rolling to hit vs AC, rolling initiative, or saving throws). These are common (they happen for EVERY attack), are often low impact (it would not be game breaking if they just happened), and they completely halt play for everyone until the multiple steps and back-and-forth is resolved. Avoid these mechanics like the plague if you want the game to run smoothly.

This is why saves should be quite rare and meaningful. If a save MUST take place, consider if you can have it not tied to damage but an additional secondary effect. This way, if 3 of the 4 targets die first, you only need to roll 1 save instead of 4. Saves should be… saved for very meaningful (e.g., ones that can apply powerful conditions) or uncommonly used abilities (e.g., 1/encounter).

Cantrips and low level spells should NOT require a save or any other feedback from other players. Take a look at how these spells changed over the course of playtesting:

Old version (Entice cantrip)

Entice Cantrip, 1 Action, Single Target

WIL Save. The target takes 1d6 damage and moves 2 spaces closer to you. Repeat until they save.

Note that this initial version potentially required numerous save rolls AND damage rolls; combine that with this being a low impact cantrip, it could conceivably be cast 3 or more times EVERY ROUND. It took far too long to resolve this single spell. So it was simplified to resolve very quickly and a small bonus was added to compensate.

Final version (Entice cantrip)

Entice Cantrip, 1 Action, Single Target

Damage: 1d4 (ignoring armor). On hit: target moves 2 spaces closer to you.

The final version uses a single roll to both determine damage and movement. Instead of a save, a d4 was used as the damage die to put a reasonable limit on how often this can take place (the d4 is most likely to miss when cast multiple times). Similarly, let’s take a look at the initial version of Vicious Mockery:

Old version (Vicious Mockery)

Vicious Mockery Cantrip, 1 Action, Single Target

WIL Save. 1d6 psychic damage. The target’s next attack is made with disadvantage. +1d6 damage every 5th level.

Note that this initial version breaks many of the guidelines. It is a low impact cantrip that requires a save. Lacks clarity (if I land this twice, are their next 2 attacks with Disadvantage, or their next single attack made with Disadvantage 2?), and the spell adds dice as one levels up (up to a maximum of 5d6 at level 20). Too fiddly, too slow. Here’s the updated final version:

Final version (Vicious Mockery)

Vicious Mockery Cantrip, 1 Action, Single Target

Damage: 1d4+INT psychic (ignoring armor). On hit: the target is Taunted during their next turn. +2 damage every 5 levels.

The final version of the spell does essentially the same thing (a small amount of damage and a debuff), but does it in a more streamlined, clear, fun, and intuitive way.

Special attention must go toward ensuring that each action is simple and quick to resolve. Each step doesn’t take long, but when multiplied across every attack of every round, it adds up to slog. People start checking their phones, losing interest, and you can’t do as much cool stuff.

Flow should be maximized and interruptions minimized. If there is an interruption it should be minimal (in terms of how long it takes to resolve), big (in terms of the result it has on the game state), heroic (or conniving—for the bad guys), and rare.

THE SOURCE OF FUN

The fun comes from how all of these simple pieces interact with each other and how the heroes and monsters shape the story. Complex rules elements that time a long time to physically perform don’t add to the fun, they detract from it.

DESIGNING CLASSES

Front-load the fun (but don’t overwhelm). It’s not very fun to have to wait until level 14+ to see a hero’s build fully come online. Try hard to “front load” the really cool things by levels 3-7 (without making the very early levels overly complicated or busy). A class should feel quite complete by then, with additional levels simply giving more options and power, but the class fantasy should already be essentially fully unlocked.

Level 1. Should give a small taste of the unique mechanics of the class. Think simple and flavorful. Level 1 should NOT include any additional choices. There are enough choices being made at level 1 already: class, ancestry, stats, background, etc. no need to slow things down further.

Level 2. You can introduce 1 or 2 pieces of additional mechanical complexity (e.g., mana, more options to use their resource), just not too much.

Level 3. Subclass choice. Each subclass should push the class in one particular direction: more offensive, more defensive, better at range, better at buffing allies, better at hindering enemies, etc.

Utility! Around levels 2-4 a class will typically get some fun out of combat utility ability as well.

Level 4. By now you are nearly a fully fledged hero. Typically introduces a big choice from among a list of class options (e.g. Savage Arsenal or Underhanded Abilities). Classes with a lot going on already may have their options at later levels. Simpler classes may have class options more frequently. Aim to have enough options so that by level 20 a hero would have chosen roughly 1/2 to 2/3 of them.

Level 5 & 10. Typically a big damage increase or other large jump in power level.

Levels 7, 11, & 15. Additional subclass boons. Do something you can already do, but better/more often. Gain a new iconic ability. Fill in a weakness. Overcome a common constraint other classes have.

Levels 4,8,12, & 16. Key Stat Increase. And a optionally another small boost (e.g., unlock an additional tier of spells).

Levels 5, 9, 13, & 17. Secondary Stat increase and a larger boost.

Levels 18, 19, & 20. Big feature (LVL 18), Epic Boon (LVL 19), Capstone (LVL 20). Very few people will ever reach levels 10-12, even fewer will reach beyond these levels—but don’t let this stop you from really putting in the work to make sure the higher levels remain interesting! Level 20 in particular should be a BIG DREAM type of ability. Something players can think about, theorycraft with, and imagine being awesome using it. It should serve as a motivation to play the class, even if they never reach level 20, it’s fun to dream of “how awesome it would be if…”

Level	Feature
1	Simple Taste of the Class
2	More Fully Fledged, Utility Ability
3	Subclass: Push 1 Direction
4	Key Stat Increase, Cool Choice
5	Secondary Stat Increase, Damage Increase
6	Cool Choice
7	Subclass
8	Key Stat Increase, New Core Ability
9	Secondary Stat Increase, Cool Choice
10	Improve level 5 Feature
11	Subclass
12	Key Stat Increase, Cool Choice
13	Passive Buff, Secondary Stat Increase
14	Cool Choice
15	Subclass Capstone
16	Key Stat Increase, Cool Choice
17	Secondary Stat Increase, Ability Boost
18	Big Iconic Improvement
19	Epic Boon
20	Dream Big Capstone

Note. These framework features are only a starting point. If a class has other core abilities (e.g., spellcasting, sneak attack) the cadence may vary slightly. Full spellcasters gain a new spell tier every other level. Half casters may gain new spells slightly slower.

RESTING

There are NO abilities that recharge on Field Rests. Field Rests should be identical for every class, they are only to regain lost gain HP. Otherwise the party can be divided, some wanting to continue adventuring, others wanting to rest after every encounter. See the 5e Warlock and Monk as somewhat infamous examples of this dynamic.

Players will often adopt “optimal” but unfun play patterns if allowed. Don’t create mechanics that incentivize playing unheroically or annoyingly. GMs can disallow frequent rests at their own table by forcing “random encounters” upon the party, but that just further slows the story down and is a band-aid. Or they can homebrew a rule, but then risk becoming “the bad guy” not letting their players play how they want. Best to have the rules as written be the bad guy.

Don’t incentivize sitting around and doing nothing. The optimal thing should also be the most fun, most heroic thing.

HOARDING & GOING NOVA

Intelligently saving and using resources can be very fun, but their extremes: hoarding (NEVER spending resources) and going nova (immediately spending ALL of your resources) are both generally unfun play patterns. Since it can trivialize challenging encounters, or characters can feel underpowered or bored if they have spent all of their resources and have no way to regain it (or are afraid to spend them). Also frequently players will guess incorrectly when to hoard (going back to town with plenty of mana remaining) and when to spend their resources (there is another big monster right around the corner).

Lean toward “per encounter” and similar abilities, and you can encourage the wise spending of resources by allowing heroes to regain a small amount of spent resources temporarily.

LANE PROTECTION

Be careful not to step on the toes of other classes, maintain the unique mechanics and flavor of each class. No two classes should deal damage the same way, avoid damage the same way, move around the same way, etc. They should all fill a unique role and feel different to play. No class other than the Mage should have access to 3 spell schools and deal damage primarily through spending mana casting spells. No other class should get their damage increased when they are attacked or be able to freely Interpose—that is the domain of the Oathsworn.

RETRAINING

In Nimble, heroes can retrain chosen abilities during a Safe Rest, think of a fun/thematic task the hero can perform to engage with the world and role play the means by which they choose new skills. Think of ways to get heroes to look for new NPCs, new areas, and ask questions of the GM to retrain. This allows the GM to introduce important new allies, environs, or even new problems and quests (the local wizard/soldier who retrains the mage/ commander can ask for a favor afterward).

MULTICLASSING

Don’t worry about building or balancing classes & subclasses with multi-classing in mind. That will exponentially complicate your work and also dilute the fun of the base class. It’s okay for multiclassing to be overpowered, easy to break, and a bit silly. Let it happen, and leave it to local GMs to adjudicate or even to allow it or not.

CLEAR & CONCISE WRITING

Avoid overly wordy explanations designed to block “rules lawyers”—those who might exploit technicalities—since this can make the rules harder to read and less enjoyable for most players. Write in a way that’s clear and concise, instead of exhaustive detail that tries to cover every possible loophole. Trust the heroes and GM to interpret the rules sensibly, and don’t let the fear of rules lawyers bog down your writing with complexity. If you can also prevent rules exploitation without making the text longer or harder to read, that’s fine—but never sacrifice readability for it.

Take for example, the Birdfolk ancestry boon was initially worded: “You have a fly speed as long as you are wearing Leather or lighter armor.” Compared to how it ended up in the final version: “You have a fly Speed as long as you are wearing armor no heavier than Leather.” Both are brief and easy to read, but the second also prevents the GM from having to deal with unfun technicalities (“but I’m wearing Plate AND Leather armor so…”).

For an example of a change that was overly wordy and technical, look at the rules for dual wielding. The rules do not go into deep detail about attacking with different sized weapons and multiple instances of disadvantage and other edge cases. A simple example is given, and the GM can adjudicate any edge cases with the rules given.

Additional Clarity. If such is needed, can be supplied in sidebars or FAQ! Simple rules followed by an example or FAQ in a callout box is often better than overly wordy core mechanics. Making it bite-sized helps with information transmission.

We should aim for brevity, even when clarity isn’t an issue. For example, here is a comparison of how one feature was initially worded VS how it ended up in the final books:

Old version (Key stat increase)

Key Attribute Increase. You may increase one of your key attributes (STR or DEX ) by +1.

Final version (Key stat increase)

Key Stat Increase. +1 STR or DEX.

“Stat” is more clear (and shorter) than “Attribute,” and we can cut an entire sentence, communicating the same idea in much fewer words. It may take a few rounds of revisions to hone your wording, but it’s worth it!

NAMING CLASSES

Use class names that do not have lots of built-in preconceptions. This will free you from explaining why your warlock or your sorcerer works this way instead of “how it’s supposed to work”.

STATS, SKILLS, & EQUIPMENT PROFICIENCIES

Be VERY careful handing out shield and wand proficiency. They are VERY good. Likewise with plate and mail armor proficiency, but to a lesser extent.

AVERAGE HERO STATS

Hero Level	Hero HP	Hero Armor	Effective HP	Damage Per Turn
1	15	5	32	10
2	21	7	45	12
3	28	9	60	14
4	34	10	70	16
5	41	11	80	18
6	47	12	90	21
7	54	13	100	24
8	60	14	110	27
9	67	15	120	30
10	73	16	130	33
11	79	17	140	36
12	86	18	150	39
13	92	19	160	42
14	99	20	170	45
15	105	22	182	48
16	112	24	196	51
17	118	26	209	54
18	125	28	223	57
19	131	30	236	60
20	137	34	256	64

Armor. This takes into account equipment and other defensive abilities (e.g., Ice Shield).

Effective HP. The base combat math assumes Heroes, on average, spend 1 action defensively per turn. This number includes the hero’s Armor x the average number of rounds in an encounter (see below).

Damage/Turn. This assumes 2 actions per turn spent offensively. Some classes will output less damage (but they can aid combat in other useful ways), others could output more if the situation is ideal (AoE abilities, assistance & setup from allies). This need not be a target per se, but if your numbers are very far off you should have a good reason for it.

Average Combat Length. Typical encounter math assumes 3-4 rounds of combat (or, for Legendary encounters, 15 hero turns). If an encounter lasts much longer than that it may start to feel like a slog; much shorter, and players may not have time to see the payoff to their setup and be disappointed. Again, these are not hard rules! Some of the most fun is when we deviate from the average, just make sure you’re doing it on purpose and for a good reason.

DESIGNING MONSTERS

Monsters should not simply be differently shaped bags of Hit Points. Each different kind monster (even with identical stats) should FEEL different to fight (their tactics, how they deal damage, how they avoid it, etc.). Monster groups (e.g., Kobolds, Goblins, Bandits) should have a share ability that all monsters of that type have. It should be simple but give a big sense of flavor for that monster. Goblins laugh at you when you miss, kobolds get stabby when you kill their friends, bandits are crafty and particularly don’t want to die! Each of these will make players engage with them differently and use different tactics.

In order for a heroic party to be able to have variety in their encounters with a monster group (and to be able to encounter them at varying levels), each monster group should have a fairly wide band of monster levels, for example:

• Kobolds: LVL 1/3 to LVL 1
• Goblins: LVL 1/3 to LVL 2
• Bandits: LVL 1/3 to LVL 4
• Snakemen: LVL 1 to LVL 8

Don’t feel the need to cover every level, especially if a monster’s nature doesn’t allow them to reason’ably scale up or down to very high or low levels. Giants, for instance, their lowest level may be in 11 the double digits, and that’s okay.

MONSTER ROLES

Monster groups should also have creatures that can fulfill a variety of roles: Melee, Ranged, Controller, AoE, Summoner, Striker, Ambusher, etc. A GM need not even be aware of these, the design of each monster should make the optimal play pattern obvious. Some creatures can fill multiple roles for flexibility (e.g., goblins are equally good at range and in melee).

• Melee: Most effective when toe-to-toe.
• Ranged: Most effective at Range.
• Controller: Hampers the heroes, low damage.
• Support: Primarily boosts the damage or abilities of their allies.
• AoE: Deals damage to multiple heroes at a time (cleaving strikes, shouts, auras, etc.)
• Summoner: Summons additional monsters to the battlefield (usually minions).
• Striker: High damage, low survivability.
• Ambusher: Not immediately visible when combat begins.
• Defender: High survivability, low damage.

DON’T LEAVE THE GM WONDERING WHAT TO DO

Give the GM a hand, make it as easy as possible to run the monster! Monster should always either have 1 action to perform, or 1 clear BEST action to perform. For instance a Troll can use either Claws or Bite. Bite deals far more damage, but it requires a creature to be Prone. Claws can knock Prone. The order of operations is immediately clear, use Claw until someone falls down, then Bite.

Note also that the Troll’s 2 attacks use the same die size to make running it easier and smoother for the GM, and one attack’s damage is clearly much better than the other (Claw: 1d4+10, Bite 1d4+20). If Claw instead was 6d4 and Bite was 1d4+20, it’d be much less obvious which is stronger.

Monsters that will commonly fight together will ideally all use the same dice (e.g. goblins all use d6s, kobolds all use d4s). This helps prevent the GM from needing to search for lots of different dice at the table. It’s a very little thing, but every way we can make the GM’s job easier, and remove mental overhead for them, means they have more capacity for strategy, role playing, lobbing insults, jokes, and telling an interesting story.

MONSTER ATTACK EFFECTS

Causing effects other than damage is a great way to distinguish between different kinds of monsters, even when they have the same HP and their attacks deal the same amount of average damage. These are by no means exhaustive, but for starters:

• Automatic. Hit or miss, some effect happens. Think, a shockwave from a Giant’s strike. Even if it misses or a hero Defends, you might still get pushed back or knocked Prone.
• On Hit. An effect even if all of the damage is reduced to 0. Grappled or restrained by a huge bug, snakeman, or plant creature.
• On Damage. What could uniquely happen when blood is drawn, even 1 single point of damage. Think poisoned blades from an assassin, a deathly touch from a wraith.
• On Crit/Miss. What could happen what an monster’s attack succeeds wildly? They could knock Prone, Daze, they could even swallow the hero entirely. You could have some other powerful effect, even in place of rolling additional damage.
• On Death. Care must be taken HOW these creatures are taken down. Plant creatures full of acid, explosive fire elementals, etc. Their allies could get free movement or attacks.

WHAT TO AVOID

Avoid monsters that heal. Subtracting and adding HP is fiddly. Monsters can be given armor, more HP, or other defensive abilities instead, giving the same flavor but with reduced mechanics.

Avoid “kiting” monsters. Monsters that constantly run away from heroes and permanently stay just out of range can be more frustrating than 12 fun. Flying monsters are notorious for this kind of mechanic (flying also adds a 3rd dimension that can be hard to physically portray at the table). Monsters should at least spend some time in the “danger zone,” getting close to heroes or landing in order to attack. Skirmishers and flying monsters are less frustrating at higher levels as heroes gain more tools to deal with it. For wall/ceiling-crawling monsters like spiders, ensure ways to knock them down (e.g., damage, critical hits, or destroying webs).

Avoid complex individual monsters. Each monster should be very simple to run with a crystal clear “this is what I will do on my turn” for the GM to execute. Monster groups as a whole should feel tactically unique and complex without any of the parts actually being complex. Consider how these different monsters will be mixed together (yes, an individual goblin or kobold isn’t particularly interesting to fight, but that will never happen — they only exist in a context of other kobolds and goblins.

Avoid being too detailed or too brief. Each statblock should contain enough information to run it easily, but not so much that the important bits get lots in a sea of text. Let’s take a look at a goblin boss stat block in a few different TTRPGs:

:: goblin stat block comparisons

The first statblock (left) is a bit too verbose, it would take a new GM a long time to sort through all of that information, and even experienced GMs risk missing something important the longer a statblock is. The other (above) is MUCH more concise, but perhaps a tad too brief. A newcomer looking at it may find all the abbreviations too cryptic. We should strive for a statblock that is both concise AND easy to read. See the Nimble equivalent statblock (below).

Goblin Taskmaster

LVL 2, SMALL

• M
• ♥ 30

Meat Shield

Can force other goblins to Interpose for him.

• Stab.

  1d6+2 (or Shoot, Range 8) Then:

  Then:
• Get in here!

  Call a goblin minion to the fight.

HELPFUL GM GUIDANCE

Help the GM as much as possible! Any lore, tactics, or twists they don’t like they can ignore or change. It’s better to supply usable ideas rather than make the GM come up with it themselves. Include some basic background information for the GM to work with. This helps distinguish this monster group from other monsters with similar stats.

Lore. Interesting and practical information that How do these monster interact with one another? What is their society like? Who is in charge? What do they want? Some ideas to make GMs and heroes say “oo, that’s cool!” Give specific info on each monster too!

Loot. Thematic items for when heroes say “I loot the corpse.” They need not be magical items, but feel free to include RP items and quest related items!

Premade Encounters. Themed, pre-made groups of monsters grouped by party level. Brief information on how they interact with one another and the heroes on the battlefield. Each one should feel mechanically and thematically different.

Increasing the Difficulty. Optimal tactics designed to make the GM feel like a mastermind! Explain the subtleties of any interactions of your monster statblocks.

Decreasing the Difficulty. How to run the monsters in a subtly sub-optimal way to ease up on the heroes when the GM has over-tuned an encounter or for when the heroes are particularly unlucky or playing poorly.

Names. If there is a chance the monster group will engage in role-playing include names!

What to Say in Combat. For monsters that can talk in combat, give the GM some idea seeds to work with to push combat in a desired direction:

• Hint at a weakness. Damage vulnerability, RP, lore weaknesses, etc..
• Boast about a strength. Reveal how abilities work, resistances, etc.
• Make the heroes hate you more. Taunt and goad heroes! “Yes, we killed your pathetic friend, he begged for mercy!”
• Make the heroes more willing to parley. “You are an honorable foe, I submit.”
• Hint at lore. “The High Flamecaller will avenge!”
• Tip hand at tactics (make combat easier). “Surround the little one and strike!”
• Mislead (to make combat harder). “Horde, strike that one!” (but really attack another hero)
• Egg them on. “Haha, you are so easily fooled!”

Defeat/Parley. Alternative options for the GM rather than a TPK or what could the monsters do if they are losing?

LEGENDARY MONSTERS

If it’s important for regular combat encounters to be easy to run (and it is), it’s even moreso for legendary monsters. Having overly complex legendary monsters can be especially bad because these are often the climax of a multi-hour session or even potentially a year’s long campaign. If the BBEG is a cakewalk (or an unintended TPK) because the GM missed some fine print in the statblock, that’s going to sting even more deeply.

Legendary monsters must be easy to run at a glance. Avoid the temptation toward too many mechanics that interrupt The Flow, or those that are too fiddly.

TENSION OF BATTLE

What makes for an interesting battle is uncertainty. If the bad guy is clearly winning and the heroes have no hope, it’s not as much fun. Likewise if the heroes are clearly always winning and the bad guy has no hope, the excitement dampens. The most fun is where there are moments where it looks like the battle can go either way. At some portions of the fight, the heroes should be winning (typically early on in the fight), only for the bad guy to make a sudden comeback (Bloodied & Last Stand). How exciting!

The HP/Damage values on the legendary monster chart in the GMG allow for the heroes to have an edge in the first half of the fight, then for the bad guy’s Bloodied effect to shift the tide of battle temporarily. The Last Stand should be a VERY dangerous situation to be in for more than just a few turns. This is when heroes can go all out to clinch a win!

Change it Up! If you want to vary this cadence, you certainly can! You could make the boss extra difficult in the beginning, only for a severe weakness to show up when bloodied—just in time for the heroes to rally!

THE MATH

The math behind legendary encounters assumes roughly 15 hero turns to get to the Last Stand. So a party of 3 heroes is expected to each get roughly 5 turns, a party of 5 heroes are expected to get 3 turns each.

Legendary Monster HP & Armor. All other things being equal, it’s recommended that a legendary monster have Medium armor. If it is unarmored, make sure you compensate for their 17 survivability in some other way (see Dravok, All-Seeing Tyrant, in the GMG). An entire fight against a Heavily armored enemy can feel frustratingly slow. If they do have Heavy armor make sure you’re careful to give some weaknesses that can be taken advantage of, or make it degrade as the fight goes on, or improve to Heavy from a lower armor level. The HP of a legendary monster with Medium Armor uses a multiplier of 80% compared to unarmored, heavy armor uses a multiplier of 60%. So an unarmored monster with 100 HP is roughly equivalent to one with medium armor and 80 HP, and 60 HP with heavy.

Low Levels. The legendary monster table in the GMG already accounts for lower levels since heroes tend to have fewer ways to deal with armor then.

GIVE A SCRIPT!

Possibly more important than the stats and mechanics with legendary encounters, is the STORY. Don’t forget that combat is a great place (possibly the best) to inject memorable story beats.

No need to write everything a legendary monster might say, but giving the GM a few lines to taunt the heroes is good fun. What do they say when they crit a hero? When they drop a hero to 0 HP? When they are bloodied or hit their last stand? Do they negotiate, do they taunt the heroes about releasing an even greater evil with their death? Do they alone have information the heroes desperately want? Egg the heroes on, make it memorable and special to fight legendary creatures. Here’s an example from The Vanishing Caravans adventure in the GMG:

• Opening Attack: “You should have taken my offer. Now, I’m afraid I’ll have to make this hurt!”
• On Crit: “Oh, did that sting? Good! I want you to remember it.”
• Gaining the Upper Hand: “I’m almost starting to feel bad for you—almost.”
• Bloodied: “You think this is over? I’m just getting warmed up!”
• Last Stand: “Did you really think I’d fight fair? You have no idea who you’re dealing with!”
• On Death: “You think this ends with me? You’re in deeper than you know… You’ve just made enemies in very high places…”

MAGICAL ITEMS

Unlike in other TTRPG systems, magical items (e.g., weapons) are not needed for classes to output the expected amount of damage across the level curve. Magical items instead should be thought of as a way to add interest to the story by giving the heroes more options to make choices that matter.

Magical items should always inspire choices, deepen the story, or enhance the fun, never just inflate power. Magical items could:

• Shore up a weakness. These items are best given to allow heroes to make the choices that are most fun for them. For instance a group of friends who all want to play the same class—it’s not the most tactically wise decision, but it’s what they find to be fun. These items make that more possible, or at least less punishing. Some party compositions may need help healing, or doing other magical things that a more balanced party could already naturally do: give flight to a party without access to wind spells, disguises, or the ability to speak a language they otherwise couldn’t, etc.
• Improve a strength. The cheat’s magical dagger could grant a shadow-step ability to teleport short distances, or a mage’s staff could enhance their favorite spell (both ideally, at a cost).
• Cause a wrinkle. A cloak that grants invisibility might whisper temptations to the wearer, or a sword could enrage its wielder, risking collateral damage.
• Hook into the story. An item that starts a new quest: A mysterious locket might spark a quest to uncover its origins, or a cursed ring could require a ritual to remove it.
• Decoration. A Dwarven axe carved with runes and silver inlay, or Scholar’s Robes that shimmer with arcane threads.
• Prestige (Titles). Grant titles or symbols of renown, like “Knight of the Crimson Order” or a medallion of a secret society. Earned through heroic deeds, these carry social weight, opening doors to elite circles or swaying NPCs.
• Get out of jail free. Items that bypass obstacles or grant favor, such as a duke’s signet ring, the secret handshake of a thieves’ guild, or a tattoo respected by the city guard.
• Push your luck. A weapon that can deal extra damage or give you an ability, but can backfire (if used too frequently, on a miss, if something else happens). 19
• Add silliness: Include lighthearted items for fun and flavor, like a ring that instantly grows a magnificent beard or boots that leave glowing footprints.
• Temporary/Consumable. A legendary artifact that must later be given back, spell scrolls, wands, potions. Consumables in particular make for great items but Some heroes are very hesitant to actually use them. If they are available enough and affordable enough this can be greatly ameliorated. But the adventure can add some expiration date (an healing ice crystal that’s melting), or some other catch (it only works in this dungeon) to encourage use and discourage hoarding.
• Grant unique power: Provide abilities that feel special but aren’t flat power boosts. These can unlock new hero builds, or inspire creativity or teamwork not otherwise possible. A sword that uses INT instead of STR, armor that ignores proficiency requirements, or a staff that can cast a spell with a chance of failure. It should be some ability that is either limited, comes at a cost, has a chance of not working, etc. So that it is a choice, rather than brainless and automatic.

FIND IT OR BUY IT?

You should have loot heroes can both purchase and find. When would you give either?

• Buy. Flat bonus items (e.g., armor upgrades, a bigger sword) can give heroes a sense of progression. They’re a good reward for heroes who save up their gold and can upgrade a piece of equipment. A lot of the fun for these is not so much having them, as much as looking forward to buying them. So they are most rewarding when saved up for and BOUGHT, not found. Even moreso if the vendor can customize it for them!
• Find (or Given). Other magical equipment is most rewarding when FOUND or rewarded, not bought. Prestige rewards are likewise best when given as a reward for heroism. A purchased title is worthless, a title bestowed due to bravery is priceless and can be game-changing.
• Consumables. Are great whether bought or found. They can permit a party to adventure away from home for much longer, and have built in limitations and choices—they go away when used.

”STRICTLY BETTER” IS STRICTLY WORSE

No item should be strictly better than all others in all situations. A Dagger is sometimes better than a Shortsword (e.g., when you value crits above missing), and vice-versa. Even for equipment that is clearly better, like the Tower Shield is better than a Wooden Buckler. One costs far more than the other, and has a strength requirement to compensate.

If you design a new shield, it should have some benefits AND drawbacks the existing shields don’t have. Take for instance the Tower Shield (Req. 3 STR, +6 Armor), how could we modify this base item?

• Ethereal Tower Shield. We could reduce the STR requirement, but only if we also make it cost more, block for less, or have some other reason it is not strictly better than the regular Tower Shield.
• Junky Tower Shield. We could make this one block for the same amount, but instead cost much less, or maybe it breaks when crit?
• Flying Tower Shield. While worn, perhaps this tower shield allows the hero to fly, but it requires mana, or saps HP, or causes wounds, or they can’t Defend or interpose while flying.

WHY IT MATTERS

Items can be better in certain situations — but never strictly better. Otherwise we rob the heroes of meaningful choices, both when selecting gear and during combat. Do they prioritize durability, cost, or a unique ability? These choices enhance player agency and keep the game interesting.

By designing items with clear trade-offs, we can allow for meaningful decisions rather than automatic ones.

SPELL FRAMEWORK

Spell Range. The typical spell Range is 8. This is because it is just beyond how far a creature can move in a single turn (6 spaces). Spells with less Range should have some benefit, spells with a longer Range should have some drawback.

Actions. Cantrips cost 1 action. Tiered spells typically cost 2 actions. Reaction, or non-damaging spells can be reduced to 1 action instead. Ranged AoE spells, should cost 3 actions.

Spell Schools. Each spell school should have its own flavor and mechanics. Radiant spells, for instance, have Reach (not Range), aid allies and punish evildoers. Wind spells use the d4, are Vicious, and interact a lot with movement. Ice spells are very defensive and controlling, etc.

Spell damage scaling. The average damage of a spell per tier is listed below. If a spell does more than the average it should have a drawback (limited Range, status requirement, etc.), if it does less than this it should have some other utility or benefit (ignores armor, doesn’t miss, etc.). Note. These numbers assume no additional benefit or drawbacks, spells can and should deviate from the average once other benefits or drawbacks are considered.

Average spell damage

Spell tier	Average damage
Cantrip	6
Tier 1	14
Tier 2	23
Tier 3	33
Tier 4	44
Tier 5	56
Tier 6	69
Tier 7	83
Tier 8	98
Tier 9	114

Remember! Damage is often NOT the most important aspect of a spell or ability. No single spell should be so good that it is the “go-to” spell in every situation. A spell’s secondary effects are frequently the most important, fun, and memorable aspects as they allow for more creativity. Having a toolbox of different spells that are each best in their own situation is far more interesting than hyper-consistent (boring) spells that always hit exactly on the average damage curve, have no restrictions, or other benefits, drawbacks, or weirdnesses.

Add wrinkles. Spells that only deal damage in a straightforward way are boring.

Avoid legalese. Spells, more than other abilities can fall prey to Legalese: the language that lawyers speak in when writing contracts. Legalese is long-winded and not fun to read. Take for instance this iconic 5e spell:

Wish

Level 9 conjuration, 1 Action, Range: Self, Components: V, Duration: Instantaneous

Wish is the mightiest spell a mortal can cast. By simply speaking aloud, you can alter reality itself. The basic use of this spell is to duplicate any other spell of level 8 or lower. If you use it this way, you don’t need to meet any requirements to cast that spell, including costly components. The spell simply takes effect.

Alternatively, you can create one of the following effects of your choice: Object Creation. You create one object of up to 25,000 GP in value that isn’t a magic item. The object can be no more than 300 feet in any dimension, and it appears in an unoccupied space that you can see on the ground.

Instant Health. You allow yourself and up to twenty creatures that you can see to regain all Hit Points, and you end all effects on them listed in the Greater Restoration spell. Resistance. You grant up to ten creatures that you can see Resistance to one damage type that you choose. This Resistance is permanent.

Spell Immunity. You grant up to ten creatures you can see immunity to a single spell or other magical effect for 8 hours. Sudden Learning. You replace one of your feats with another feat for which you are eligible. You lose all the benefits of the old feat and gain the benefits of the new one. You can’t replace a feat that is a prerequisite for any of your other feats or features.

Roll Redo. You undo a single recent event by forcing a reroll of any die roll made within the last round (including your last turn). Reality reshapes itself to accommodate the new result. For example, a Wish spell could undo an ally’s failed saving throw or a foe’s Critical Hit. You can force the reroll to be made with Advantage or Disadvantage, and you choose whether to use the reroll or the original roll.

Reshape Reality. You may wish for something not included in any of the other effects. To do so, state your wish to the DM as precisely as possible. The DM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance; the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong. This spell might simply fail, the effect you desire might be achieved only in part, or you might suffer an unforeseen consequence as a result of how you worded the wish. For example, wishing that a villain were dead might propel you forward in time to a period when that villain is no longer alive, effectively removing you from the game. Similarly, wishing for a Legendary magic item or an Artifact might instantly transport you to the presence of the item’s current owner.

If your wish is granted and its effects have consequences for a whole community, region, or world, you are likely to attract powerful foes. If your wish would affect a god, the god’s divine servants might instantly intervene to prevent it or to encourage you to craft the wish in a particular way. If your wish would undo the multiverse itself, threaten the City of Sigil, or affect the Lady of Pain in any way, you see an image of her in your mind for a moment; she shakes her head, and your wish fails.

The stress of casting Wish to produce any effect other than duplicating another spell weakens you. After enduring that stress, each time you cast a spell until you finish a Long Rest, you take 1d10 Necrotic damage per level of that spell. This damage can’t be reduced or prevented in any way. In addition, your Strength score becomes 3 for 2d4 days. For each of those days that you spend resting and doing nothing more than light activity, your remaining recovery time decreases by 2 days.

Finally, there is a 33 percent chance that you are unable to cast Wish ever again if you suffer this stress.

Long-winded specificity can also kill creativity. Even worse than its length, however, is how this kind of legalese can set up an adversarial expectations between the heroes and the GM. The game shouldn’t expect players to word things “as precisely as possible” nor should it expect the GM try and foil the hero’s request. A similar spell in Nimble it might look something like this:

Manifest Reality Tier 9 (1/Safe Rest)

Reshape reality in a single, decisive way (e.g., you could gain forbidden knowledge, conjure wealth, undo death, rewind time, or grant an extraordinary boon to yourself or allies). However, such immense power can be volatile — if your wish strains the fabric of reality too much, it may unravel in unpredictable ways. After casting, make a DC 10 STR save or permanently lose the ability to cast this spell. This DC increases by 1 each time you cast Manifest Reality.

Some examples are provided to help seed some possible ways this spell could be used, but beyond that, room is left for creativity. Since this is a collaborative game (and not adversarial contract law) with a GM who can fairly adjudicate anything that is unclear, we don’t need that much detail. The play- ers and the GM all want the most fun possible, we should leave the specifics to them.

ADVENTURE FRAMEWORK

Emphasize tight writing, no extra stuff. Full sentences are neither necessary nor recommended. Prioritize brevity so the text can quickly be scanned at a glance and repeated in the GM’s own words rather than read like a script.

COMPONENTS OF A TIGHT ADVENTURE:

Total Adventure Length. (1200-2000 words)

• Cool, Evocative Name. Should get the GM excited to run it, and the Heroes excited to play it.
• What Really Happened/Adventure Background. This is for the GM to read beforehand. It should contain secrets the heroes can discover as they play. Think of adventures as a mystery that is solved as the heroes delve further into it. What is the mystery/problem? How is it solved as we play? (100 words).
• 2-3 Adventure Hooks. Different factions who ask, different rewards promised. This makes it easier to slot into widely varying campaigns (100 words).
• 2-4 treasures. Not all will be given/found. Not necessarily powerful magical items. Interesting things to be used creatively. Some simple, maybe 1 powerful one (100 words).

EXPLORATION EVENTS

2-4 traveling events (200-300 words) Complications/interesting things that happen along the way the players can respond to: foreshadowing a monster, getting lost, overcoming an obstacle, learn some backstory, motivate the heroes (these bad guys are really BAD because…), etc. These “set the stage” for the adventuring environment, how is this place different from other places? For example:

• In a desert. How can we make the heroes feel/ struggle with the heat? Can we do anything with mirages? Lack of water? Sandstorms? Anything else to make it FEEL like the desert?
• In a forest. Do they get lost in the dense undergrowth? Are they hunted by beasts? Are they caught in goblin traps? Are they tricked by a faerie? Can they ask the forest animals for aid?
• In the sewers. How bad does it smell, what effect does that have? Anything else unique about these particular sewers? Do the rats talk? Does the water contain magical runoff?

DUNGEON LOCATIONS

6-10 “rooms” (Doesn’t have to be a literal dungeon. It could be a grove, palace, ruins, ravine, cave, sewers, hideout, airship, etc). This is the meat of the adventure (600-1200 words, 50-100 words per room). Each room must have a name and:

• Description. A few words of descriptive text (max 1 sentence). The idea is that the GM can quickly scan this description and use it as the prompt for the heroes to begin interacting with the area, asking questions, etc. What do they immediately see, hear, etc. Give enough information for the heroes to start playing with, but no more.
• Additional Bullets. 2-4 additional things to interact with, accomplish, learn, etc. These contain the answers to questions players will ask, the challenge present, the bits of interest. What can they DO here?

ROOM CONTENTS

• A trap/obstacle/problem. The point of these rooms is to allow space for CREATIVITY and secondarily to expend resources. Traps/obstacles should almost always be obvious. Failing to successfully navigate it can result in damage, Wounds, conditions, alert others, make an enemy, loss of treasure (ONLY as of yet unobtained treasure — be VERY cautious with taking away treasure the heroes have already earned). These rooms can be designed with no particular solution, let the heroes come 23 up with a solution.

• Information. Foreshadowing/information about the theme or direction of the adventure. These rooms can raise questions or provide answers to already existing questions.

  Avoid Info Dumps. Unloading of a large amount of exposition all at once, often automatically and without the request of the heroes. MAKE SURE the heroes initiate any information you give them, and spread the information throughout a dungeon.

• A Combat Encounter. Each encounter should adjust any numbers. What are the baddies doing be scaled per hero so the GM doesn’t need to around). Combat can be the obvious answer, but when the heroes come? (NOT simply standing around). Combat can be the obvious answer, but not necessarily the only answer.

• NPCs. To fight (see above), to rescue, negotiate with, buy from, ally with, bamboozle, from another region/quest, to kidnap & ransom, etc.

• Dilemmas. If you take this path, you can’t take the other path. If you ally with this faction, you cannot ally with the other, etc.

• WEIRD things. Crystals that produce “anti-light”, cannot ally with the other, etc. hands, Paintings with eyes that follow, Mind controlling fungus, Walls made of reversed gravity…

Agency. Each dungeon should maximize player agency. Rather than being strictly linear, there should be some opportunity to meaningfully choose “this way or that way.” Multiple ways to solve traps and puzzles, optional rooms, multiple entrances, secret passages, etc.

Ending. The end of a dungeon should have a satisfying climax, typically this means it culminates in a boss battle of some sort (not always, but usually). Any cool loot the boss has, expect the heroes to want to take. Adventures could end with negotiation, a plot twist, a revelation that “this thing goes way deep than any of us thought”, a cliffhanger.

Aftermath. What happens (good or bad) after they return to town?

Maps. Ideally an adventure will include a map or simple flowchart of rooms. Make it simple enough that the layout can be drawn on the spot on a dry erase mat. Many players have trouble visualizing things in their minds, help them out!

Extra Notes. Think of any notes you’d create as you were reading through the adventure to prep for running it (e.g., simple role-playing ideas, monster statblocks, special rules reminders). If it’s helpful for you, consider adding that to the adventure or clarifying whatever needed it. Do as much of the prep for the GM as possible!

NIMBLE TRADE DRESS

You are certainly encouraged to develop your own trade dress (the look & feel of your own products) rather than mimic Nimble’s. The following is information on why certain design choices were made so you can have insight on how to develop your own style.

A5 BOOK SIZE

The A5 size (148 x 210 mm, or 5.83 x 8.27 inches) is common for printing and easily “handleable” at half the size of other common d20 books. They are com- pact and fit behind the GM screen easily, are not too large & heavy to take with you, or share at the table. The size constraints of the A5 page encourages economy of words rather than writing too much to fill the page. Much (most?) of my time writing was spent editing down and removing words so that they would actually FIT on the page or spread without wrapping to a new one!

It’s a much more approachable format for read- ers new and old, less intimidating due to its diminutive size. The constraints of this smaller form factor is a huge creative blessing.

LAYOUT

A 2 column layout this saves page space from new paragraphs not filling in an entire line (you can typically fit roughly 25% more content per A5 page by using 2 columns), and allows for easier scanning.

Justification & hyphenation provides for a neater layout with the small, tight layout. Instead of extra space between paragraphs, secondary paragraphs are indented. Sometimes you just need to squeeze one more line on a page and these choices allow for that as well.

FONTS

Headlines use Beaufort Pro Heavy. This big, bold, chunky font has fantasy vibes and makes for easy scanning.

Body text uses Avenir Next Condensed at a size of 9.5 pt. Condensed fonts are great at fit- ting more content on a page when it matters, with- out sacrificing legibility. Especially when using a 2-column layout, the width of the font matters far more than anything else. More words per line is important to reduce the needless usage of page space, enables more flexibility of justification, as well as fewer hyphens and ragged ends.

IMAGERY & ART

The amount and quality of imagery greatly depends on your budget, but aim for having a piece of spot art on each spread, and a big splash of art every 2-3 spreads. Art helps “mark” pages like a guidepost when looking for it later, helps set the vibes, and ease the burden of reading giant walls of text for first time readers by breaking it up into more bite-sized chunks.

Assuming you are not an artist, the cost of art can vary dramatically. See the chart below for common ranges for pieces of art (in USD):

• Licensed stock art (from a large company): $1 - $20
• License existing art (directly from an artist): $50 - $250
• Exclusive license existing art (directly from an artist): $150 - $450
• Commission New Small Piece (items, spot art; experienced, smaller artist): $50 - $100
• Commission New Medium Piece (character, no background; experienced, smaller artist): $300 - $500
• Commission New Big Piece (character w/ background; experienced, smaller artist): $400 - $800
• Commission New Piece from a “Big” Artist (character w/ background): $1,000 - $2,000
• Commission New Big Piece from a “Big” Artist (Complex Scene): $3,000 - $7,000+

FINAL THOUGHTS

You made it to the end—well done! You’ve got the keys to what makes Nimble tick: fast, fun, fluid play. But knowing isn’t the goal. Creating is. So don’t wait for the perfect idea or the right moment. Make something today.

Start small, start weird, just start. Whether it’s a scrappy subclass, a wild adventure, or a rad monster.

What to do with your creation. Enjoy it with your friends at your own table, give it away to others, or even sell it and make a lot of money! You could also submit it to a Nimble design jam context, for feedback and the chance to be included in a future official Nimble release. Whatever you do, we’d love to see what you come up with. Join the Nimble Dis- cord and show it off. Ask questions. Get feedback. Inspire and be inspired.

nimblerpg.com/discord