Draw Steel General Thread [+]

[gnarlygninja]

Tonight's game will begin with Downtime Activities, and I am expecting the process of getting my players to understand how it works to be mildy irritating. Bumped up to very irritating because I would bet none of them actually wrote down and kept track of the project sources they've been rewarded.

 

[overgeeked]

Tonight's game will begin with Downtime Activities, and I am expecting the process of getting my players to understand how it works to be mildy irritating. Bumped up to very irritating because I would bet none of them actually wrote down and kept track of the project sources they've been rewarded.

Downtime does seem like a bit more convoluted version of clocks.

Have you done negotiations yet? If so, how was it?

 

[gnarlygninja]

Not in this game, but I did negotiations with this group during the playtest. It went...badly, which normally I would blame on my players but the way they struggled with them has been pretty consistent in all the games I've been a player in as well. There's something about rules for interacting with other people being explicit that makes some people's brains freeze up.

 

[overgeeked]

Not in this game, but I did negotiations with this group during the playtest. It went...badly, which normally I would blame on my players but the way they struggled with them has been pretty consistent in all the games I've been a player in as well. There's something about rules for interacting with other people being explicit that makes some people's brains freeze up.

Hmm. I haven’t encountered that. Do you think a lighter or simpler version would make it easier to grok?

 

[zakael19]

Funny, my players highlighted the structure and ability for everybody to contribute to high stakes social events without having to be “in the conversation” as a high point.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Hmm. I haven’t encountered that. Do you think a lighter or simpler version would make it easier to grok?

I'm not sure. I don't really understand why people in the games I'm in struggle with them so much, but my players are...I'll be polite and call them odd players, and most of the games with random people I've joined have had a lot of people for whom English isn't their first language, both are probably coloring the experiences I've had with them.
Because the way they're designed makes me feel like zakael's experience should be the norm.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Downtime activities at the moment are coming dangerously close to being skipped, none of them want to do anything except one person who wants to craft something but none of them wrote their project sources down.

 

[ffanxii4ever]

Downtime activities at the moment are coming dangerously close to being skipped, none of them want to do anything except one person who wants to craft something but none of them wrote their project sources down.

I think Draw Steel is actually stronger than most other games for Downtime Activities, because it gives examples that aren't just crafting, and maybe some generalized way of making money, which is a difficulty (I feel) that exists in many other games, if they even have longer-term downtime mechanics at all.

 

[zakael19]

I think Draw Steel is actually stronger than most other games for Downtime Activities, because it gives examples that aren't just crafting, and maybe some generalized way of making money, which is a difficulty (I feel) that exists in many other games, if they even have longer-term downtime mechanics at all.

There's also ways for everybody to come together and work on one thing; the Gather Info downtime activity which is basically "lets lay the groundwork for the next phase of adventuring" and cooking/fishing which is just adorable.

 

[Staffan]

I think Draw Steel is actually stronger than most other games for Downtime Activities, because it gives examples that aren't just crafting, and maybe some generalized way of making money, which is a difficulty (I feel) that exists in many other games, if they even have longer-term downtime mechanics at all.

Yeah. After the very thorough (but perhaps not entirely balanced) rules for downtime in Pathfinder 1's Ultimate Campaigns, I was rather excited when I heard that PF2 was designed from the start to have delineated modes for both combat, exploration, and downtime. When I got the PDF, I was quite disappointed to see that the downtime rules were one (1) page long, and mostly covered retraining.

OK, there are also some more stuff in the skills chapter: about 2 pages on earning income, about 1 page of crafting (which is basically earning income with extra steps), and maybe another page or so spread between the Subsist activity (which can be either Society or Survival, depending on whether you're in town or the wilderness), Create a Forgery, and Treat Disease.

Draw Steel, by comparison, has a much more interesting system for downtime, both with built-in respite activities like switching kits and other class features as well as all the various projects.