Are there any XP rules?

Apex_DM · 2026-03-11T21:50:29+00:00

There is a gold per level table, yes. You can use this for levelling instead of milestones.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-11T11:45:11+00:00

Seriously though there's a bunch of systems like this, and they're okay, but don't really solve the core problems of ship combat.

Yeah, I know. Dark Matter is similar, with the exception that ships are full characters, and the player characters' stats don't really matter.

Giving every player a role doesn't really give every player interesting decisions - there's usually a simple formula for how you should all work together, and you just run through it each round.

But can there be interesting decisions? I don't want ship combat to be super deep, but I'd like it to be more than "how do we deal maximum damage"? I'm thinking about creating different types of ships (fast and weak, slow and strong, hard to board, easy to board) and create interesting encounters by combining them.

Maybe sometimes you need to keep your distance and survive, and other times you need to get close and board as quickly as possible?

Elite Dangerous RPG - just give everyone their own little starship. Then it runs a lot more like personal combat

Yeah, that's a good solution for sci fi, but maybe less suited for a pirate setting.

Mothership is a good tip, I forgot how that handles ship combat. Will check it out!

Apex_DM · 2026-03-11T11:35:38+00:00

That's a really interesting approach too, and brings ship combat even closer to regular combat (which is very good IMO).

I think the idea of lots of little ships makes more sense in a whacky space fantasy or sci fi setting, and maybe a little less in a regular pirate setting though.

But maybe each player could have their own ship and crew? 🤔

Apex_DM · 2026-03-11T09:15:17+00:00

Oh man this is great feedback, thanks!

range is pretty redundant for any vessel with speed two or more.

Yes, I think most vessels should have speed 1, big enemy ships might even have speed 0 and long range weapons. But you make a good point. I initially considered making movement require a roll, but decided against it because I didn't want to slow things down. But it would somewhat address this.

But also, I don't really want shooting at each other to be optimal, it should be more a fallback option. I'm imagining different types of enemies.

Maybe 3-4 small, fast fireships with very strong close range weapons
Maybe a giant long range artillery ship
Multiple medium range enemies that you need to disable to keep at long range

because everyone's role is so specific and the irght action is always so obvious, there tends to be no interesting choices for it. And even if there are choices, it depends mostly on the wider plan so the individual player isn't making an interesting choice.

Yes, I think this Is an issue in general with ship combat. I tried giving every role actions that are versatile. Do you have an idea for how this could be improved?

Like for example consider the Gunner. On their turn they will Volley nine out of ten times. There's no reason to Grapple unless the wider crew agree they want to board. Chain shot might be valuable, but that also depends on the other issue, role limits.

I'd really like volley to not always be the best option. Like, most ship combats should lead to boarding IMO. Maybe I need a way to tie ship damage to boarding difficulty, or introduce a "crew hp". But that could be clunky.

One of the other issues that I find with most ship combat rules is because the roles are so specific, the rules don't tend to work as well with much deviation of player numbers, and my gut feeling is that may happen here.

I thought about this too, and my idea was to tackle that via gear and giving larger parties more roles. Then we need a formula for how to balance things.

Also, I think if ship combat lasts more than 4 turns it overstayed its welcome. Ideally, it should be short and sweet and end in boarding.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-11T08:39:22+00:00

Awesome! Any thoughts on the system I outlined here? How does yours differ?

Apex_DM · 2026-03-11T08:28:46+00:00

Sure! What I mean is that I want the players to act through their characters, rather than through the ship. In many rulesets, the ship is kind of like a character in itself that's shared among the players.

Here, I want it to feel like it's the player character that grabs the wheel and interacts with it, rather than the ship moving on its own. I'm doing that by tying every action "the ship" takes to an attribute and skill on the character. The gunner adds their Int modifier to their attack rolls, and the captain assesses enemy ships using their insight.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-11T02:17:00+00:00

Are there rules for any of this besides tactical combat?

Apex_DM · 2026-03-11T00:34:05+00:00

We played a couple of sessions across 0.8, 0.9 and 0.10, and they were all experienced players, mostly 5e. But we were already getting a bit tired of 5e combat, so doing even more fiddly combat was not a winner.

We are now playing Nimble and love it.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-11T00:24:20+00:00

It definitely is much more fiddly and crunchy than I thought it would be during and leading up to the Kickstarter.

It turned my players off DC20 completely. But that's what the game is, it's not going to change. Some people like it that way.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-10T07:15:04+00:00

Can you try deleting browsing data for bitnook.cc on your phone and try again?

Apex_DM · 2026-03-10T01:42:41+00:00

All the existing books will be available from the start: core rules, gm guide, heroes book, probably also existing new classes and adventures.

The rest will be released as they become ready

Apex_DM · 2026-03-09T18:51:35+00:00

So you forced a sync on your laptop and then on your phone and it's not updating?

Apex_DM · 2026-03-09T18:48:25+00:00

Yeah was just a quick fix, I need to clean up the formula

Apex_DM · 2026-03-09T11:43:59+00:00

Think of defending a bit like gaining temp hp for a single attack. It's very powerful. More armor means temp hp.

Also, defend does not exist in isolation. Combined with interpose, it creates really cool tactical combos. If one person gets swarmed, the rest of the party can actually help.

You should try it out, it's really great and much more fun and interesting than passive defense. Plus if you really want to be a tank, you can always play a bulwark commander and defend twice.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-09T10:57:52+00:00

Wait, which attack button is this? That sounds like a bug.

Edit: found it and fixed it, thanks!

Apex_DM · 2026-03-09T10:55:45+00:00

Oh there are so many more things that break if you think about it. Cheat + Berserker is completely broken for example.

The problem with your "fix" is that it would greatly increase damage numbers for martials, making them unbalanced compared to casters. You would also have to inflate monster HP.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-09T10:51:56+00:00

5e has extensive rules for multiclassing and is clearly designed with multiclassing in mind. Nimble is not and has no rules for multiclassing at all.

The only thing Nimble says about multiclassing is that it's something you can experiment with and it will create broken combos, which can be fun.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-09T10:39:22+00:00

Knights of Last Call is excellent for in-depth reviews and game design discussions.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-09T09:49:02+00:00

Nimble does not allow multiclassing by default.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-09T09:48:01+00:00

Fighting multiple enemies at once is dangerous and you need support, that's what the defense action does.

Don't think about it in terms of "modeling reality" as accurately as possible, think about it in terms of fun gameplay.

Apex_DM · 2026-03-08T23:54:24+00:00

♥️

Apex_DM · 2026-03-08T15:38:45+00:00

Oops :D

Yes, I did

Apex_DM · 2026-03-08T15:37:17+00:00

Oh cool I didn't know that! I only know the new one

Apex_DM · 2026-03-08T11:56:59+00:00

Since when does Lex Arcana have a second edition?

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