Draw Steel General Thread [+]

[gnarlygninja]

Yeah absolutely. They were happy with spending them on skill checks in the Montage though, once I reminded them that was an option.

My group of Shadow/Talent/Elementalist/Conduit is not the most balanced of things, but they're making it work.

I think part of the issue is that Directors (including me) can forget about them too, and if you're not earning more of them through out the session it can make them feel like things to be hoarded.

 

[zakael19]

I think part of the issue is that Directors (including me) can forget about them too, and if you're not earning more of them through out the session it can make them feel like things to be hoarded.

God are we supposed to give them out too? Yeah that's not happening, haha - although I guess it's a good way to reward a Crit on a random Test! I do need to remind people that they can spend them as a reaction to a big hit to gain a recovery worth of stamina.

 

[gnarlygninja]

God are we supposed to give them out too? Yeah that's not happening, haha - although I guess it's a good way to reward a Crit on a random Test! I do need to remind people that they can spend them as a reaction to a big hit to gain a recovery worth of stamina.

Yeah, if the heroes do something sufficiently heroic you can give a token or as part of a test outcome reward. Spending two for a free recovery is usually what makes people save them in my games.

 

[zakael19]

Oh, maybe I'll give them as a reward for a sub-montage when I spin those out, since those are usually too small for a Victory...

I have a great loathing of vibes-based / GM-granted reward systems so I just never think to do that.

 

[Reynard]

This is not DS specific but: i really HATE complaints about a system that basically amount to "we aren't playing it right and we had a bad time." It's like people complaining that Savage Worlds is too stingy and deadly, but then they mention they aren't using Bennies.

 

[zakael19]

This is not DS specific but: i really HATE complaints about a system that basically amount to "we aren't playing it right and we had a bad time." It's like people complaining that Savage Worlds is too stingy and deadly, but then they mention they aren't using Bennies.

Was this directed at anything in this thread, or just a generalized grumble? I've definitely seen a lot of this posting on Reddit, but I dont think anything we're talking about here (Hero Tokens are a meta currency that's hard to track and a group-pool that replenishes on session) counts for that.

 

[Reynard]

Was this directed at anything in this thread, or just a generalized grumble? I've definitely seen a lot of this posting on Reddit, but I dont think anything we're talking about here (Hero Tokens are a meta currency that's hard to track and a group-pool that replenishes on session) counts for that.

Yes, I was responding to the idea that not remembering to use Hero Tokens made the game not work as designed.

 

[zakael19]

????

 

[gnarlygninja]

I'm not sure forgetting to use hero tokens is going to impact the game enough to make it not work, it's been going (mostly) fine even when people forget them until they take a ton of damage in the last 30 minutes of a session.

 

[Staffan]

In the Actual Plays I've seen, hero tokens seem mostly used as backup Recoveries. It seems fairly common that someone (often a Fury) wades into combat and takes a lot of damage in order to also deal a lot of damage – partially because of reckless behavior in getting into good positions, and partially because Furies in particular get rewarded for taking damage (through more Ferocity and in some cases specific abilities). On one hand, this is good because it saves everyone else recoveries, both by acting as a focus for enemy attacks and by shortening combat length overall. But it does lead to lopsided use of recoveries. I've seen quite a few cases of "I've got 7 recoveries left so I'm fine. – I'm at 5 so I'm happy to take on another fight. – I'm at 1."

I think to some degree this might just be people not being used to the peculiarities of the system – in D&D, you can build a character to have a fairly high AC which reduces the damage they take and often negates it entirely, but in Draw Steel all attacks hit and deal at least some damage, so tanking isn't possible in the same way. You want to spread the love around a bit to make sure the use of recoveries is at least somewhat even.