Draw Steel General Thread [+]

[zakael19]

Yup. It’s the best way to dip your toe in with a group by far. Solid adventure, tutorial level.

 

[CommodoreKong]

Finished up running my game of Draw Steel’s Delian Tomb. Everyone in the group really enjoyed Draw Steel and are planning on playing Crack the Sun with me later this year. One of my players has already called running the new Summoner class.
Codex is still alpha software but it’s going to be a powerful tool for automating running Draw Steel.
Draw Steel is really an excellent and streamlined system for running a fantasy combat focused RPG.

 

[Halifax Brent]

Draw Steel is really an excellent and streamlined system for running a fantasy combat focused RPG.

I've introduced it to my group as well, and they love Draw Steel! because they DON'T LIKE COMBAT! Why Draw Steel!, then?

• Negotiations are fun as hell! Especially the poking around and finding clues about motivations and pitfalls (sneaking into private quarters, questioning servants, etc.)
• Montages are way more cool than 5E's group checks.
• Combat matters! Fighting was the least interesting part of 5E to them. Now the only fighting they do is climactic. No more filler fights.

 

[overgeeked]

I've introduced it to my group as well, and they love Draw Steel! because they DON'T LIKE COMBAT! Why Draw Steel!, then?

• Negotiations are fun as hell! Especially the poking around and finding clues about motivations and pitfalls (sneaking into private quarters, questioning servants, etc.)
• Montages are way more cool than 5E's group checks.
• Combat matters! Fighting was the least interesting part of 5E to them. Now the only fighting they do is climactic. No more filler fights.

I think that's one of the downfalls of 4E. That same level of mechanical detail in fights was expected of all fights and they kept the filler fights, at least in the official modules. Dungeoncrawling in 4E was such a nightmare. I love everything about 4E except combat.

How does Draw Steel handle non-combat magic? Are there equivalent to rituals as there were in 4E? Would that be a kind of montage or downtime clock?

 

[zakael19]

How does Draw Steel handle non-combat magic? Are there equivalent to rituals as there were in 4E? Would that be a kind of montage or downtime clock?

You can generally use any in-combat power out of combat if it solves an issue, with resources available equal to victories, and a limitation like once per Respite or something?

 

[overgeeked]

You can generally use any in-combat power out of combat if it solves an issue, with resources available equal to victories, and a limitation like once per Respite or something?

I mean bigger magic. Non-combat magic. Like 4E rituals. Speaking with animals, sending messages miles away, teleporting vast distances, identifying magic items, creating magic items, etc.

 

[zakael19]

I mean bigger magic. Non-combat magic. Like 4E rituals. Speaking with animals, sending messages miles away, teleporting vast distances, identifying magic items, creating magic items, etc.

Those are all built into various classes as core fictional permissions. A 2nd level Censor can have:

A Sense for Truth

You are trained in secret techniques from your order that allow you to discern the truth with supernatural precision. If a creature is of a lower level than you, you automatically know when they are lying, though you don’t necessarily know the actual truth behind their lie. Additionally, you gain an edge on tests made to detect lies or hidden motives.

A 3rd level Void Elementalist has:

Distance Is Only Memory

Each time you finish a respite, you can open a two-way portal that leads to any place you have previously been. You and your allies can pass through the portal, which remains open for 1 hour or until you dismiss it as a main action.

Identifying magic items isn't really a thing, creation is handled via the unified crafting rules.

 

[HatWearingFool]

I think that's one of the downfalls of 4E. That same level of mechanical detail in fights was expected of all fights and they kept the filler fights, at least in the official modules. Dungeoncrawling in 4E was such a nightmare. I love everything about 4E except combat.

How does Draw Steel handle non-combat magic? Are there equivalent to rituals as there were in 4E? Would that be a kind of montage or downtime clock?

I know you probably want a succent answer to this, but I'm not that guy (I don't know the answer). I am however the guy that will drop a link to the draw steel srd equivalent.

Rules Index - Steel Compendium: Draw Steel Rules

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think that's one of the downfalls of 4E. That same level of mechanical detail in fights was expected of all fights and they kept the filler fights, at least in the official modules. Dungeoncrawling in 4E was such a nightmare. I love everything about 4E except combat.

How does Draw Steel handle non-combat magic? Are there equivalent to rituals as there were in 4E? Would that be a kind of montage or downtime clock?

I love D&D 4 combat, but I agree that I would hate using it for the multi-encounter dungeon crawls, which is what many of the adventures were. Typically, we had a few set piece combats (which were usually pretty tough, maybe I should have used a few easy combats for fun sometimes), and those were fun, but then it was back to story and character development.

You can go into the dungeon in 4E, I think, but don't force the players to crawl room by room, trying to have some game of attrition or a series of set piece fights - rush them as the dungeon denizens become alerted by the first fight that breaks out (balancing the dungeon as a big encounter, basically.) Better one long but exciting and dynamic fight than 6 medium fights with little excitement and no real story or character bits between them. Unfortunately, I don't think the WotC adventure writers fully realized that...

 

[gnarlygninja]

My players have now basically resolved all the side quests in Act 2 of the Delian Tomb, and have had a third character die. I'm pretty sure the fact that I was having to run one player's character is the only reason there wasn't a TPK, keeping track of the Tactician's stuff was enough brainpower to keep me from remembering important things about the monsters.
Next week I'll get to see how long it takes for them to figure out what to do next. I know they have completely forgotten about the titular tomb, and that they've solved the problem of how to get past the barrier. It's also entirely possibly some of them have not mentally connected that the

Spoiler

Amulet of the Delian Order

and the Delian Tomb are related.