I tried Nimble today. I also learned why the classes were renamed. Supposedly it was a deliberate design choice to stop DnD fans for complaining about how this or that class doesn't work as as they do in 5e. eg. The warlock is more of a minion class. The fighter is actually a support who can do things like move other characters or grant them free attacks.
Since
@EleventySeven asked, here's my review of it. I liked it. My players didn't. One said he couldn't see how it was different from Savage Worlds, and another rejected the lack of to-hit rolls. The general consensus seemed to be it was fine for a one shot, but not campaign material.
What I liked. Aside from some fumbling with the rules due to not knowing them well, the game ran smooth, but it was a low level game against stock enemies.
I liked how the magic and attacks worked.
Shields were really handy for ignoring chip damage. Because they have to be declared, they feel like part of the game and not just a passive thing that's equipped and forgotten. I like PF2 shields for the same reason.
As a DM the minimalist stat blocks and minion rules made running horde encounters easy and fun.
There were some cool bad ass moments, like the turtle man healer shrugging off insane damage, or the barbarian going ham with an axe.
No min maxing or confusing character builds. The people who rolled characters chose things they wanted to play, not what was optimal. eg. A dwarf mage.
What went bad were a few mechanics I saw as a positive. The mage hated the lack of to-hit rolls. He rolled a few nat-1s (on a d10 no less) so he was just unlucky.
The barbarian and mage hated the armour system, likely because they only had a robe and pecks for protection, and as such it was usually pointless spending an action for damage reduction when they could save the action to do more damage instead, which to me is the system working as intended.
The players constantly lost track of how many actions they had. I think having tokens to track actions like a board game would help here.
The players, when asked if they wanted to defend or not, would be caught off guard. I guess they're used to zoning out between turns, but they seemed to get mad by it. This also applies to support actions. If the wizard is getting beat up, and the tank is right there, use interpose and take the blow for him.
Things I wasn't sure about. How to run damage. Do I announce damage before they react of after? You can only defend once per turn, I announced first as it allowed the player to make an informed tactical choice, but I don't know if it feels a bit gamey. More than once being hit by monsters would be defended or not based on the damage. Letting chip damage go through and damage reducing the big hits.
Side based initiative. I've noticed this is very hit or miss depending on the group and/or player. I've used it in other games with great success. One player was really into it, suggesting ways to stagger actions for maximum teamwork and effect, while the others had no interest in that and just wanted to know if it was "their turn".
As said, I liked it, players didn't.
I think the mage hated it simply because he got unlucky with dice rolls, and his lack of tactical ability (he refused to cast anything other than the games equivalent of Fire Bolt). The rest were more fair in their criticisms. I kind of feel bad for the one player that tried to get into the spirit of the game, only for the other players to not play along.
This might sound like a cop out, but I think it really depends on the group. A comparison a player made to Savage Worlds is apt, in that people who aren't into RPGs might be more willing to go along with it's breaks from convention.
I'm thinking of stealing some of the rules anyway. The minion system can be ported to 5e wholesale, and simply rolling damage and having nat 1s as misses is something I can do behind the screen. I'm not sure if stealing monster stat blocks will work as well as there's no AC listed, and monster stat blocks are a major complaint I have with 5e. Especially when an enemy spell caster turns up.
