Draw Steel News

[Elvish Lore]

I feel like Draw Steel is a game you almost need to play in a VTT to speed things up and help keep track of all the little rules like Pathfinder 2e.

I agree. And I’m fine with that and I look forward to the VTT that MCDM is coming out with.

I’ve been playing P2e for years on Foundry and it’s a really good experience, so much better than face-to-face (which is a mode of play that I prefer overall).

 

[zakael19]

I agree. And I’m fine with that and I look forward to the VTT that MCDM is coming out with.

I’ve been playing P2e for years on Foundry and it’s a really good experience, so much better than face-to-face (which is a mode of play that I prefer overall).

I guess the sort of “VTT in center of fancy gaming table” hybrid approach would work well?

 

[Staffan]

By contrast Draw Steel to pick a weapon you need a kit. Which has a stamina bonus, a stability bonus, a speed bonus, three damage bonuses, a distance bonus, a disengage bonus, and a signature ability locked to two or three stats with multiple tiers, and a rider.

I'm not critiquing Draw Steel here; this is one of the parts I like. But the idea that Draw Steel's weapon mechanics are simpler than Daggerheart is one I find confusing.

I don't have Daggerheart so I can't compare the two, but in Draw Steel your kit is your whole combat equipment loadout. So you decide on the Mountain kit, for example, which includes heavy armor and a heavy (two-handed non-reach) weapon. Is that weapon a greatsword, a greataxe, a huge hammer, or something else? Are you wearing plate or heavy chain or something similar? That's cosmetic. Or if you prioritize protection, you'd get the Shining Armor kit and trade out the heavy weapon for a medium weapon and a shield. Is it a pick? A broadsword? A battleax? A mace? Doesn't matter.

In my D&D experience, people usually choose one of two methods for gearing up: either the fast one of taking the best available armor, a longsword or a greatsword depending on if you want a shield or not, and go; or meticulously scanning the weapon lists to find the weapon with the right combination of stats to fit what you personally want to do. Draw Steel works much more with the former, except you need to select tradeoffs with mobility and such as well.

 

[Bacon Bits]

In my D&D experience, people usually choose one of two methods for gearing up: either the fast one of taking the best available armor, a longsword or a greatsword depending on if you want a shield or not, and go; or meticulously scanning the weapon lists to find the weapon with the right combination of stats to fit what you personally want to do. Draw Steel works much more with the former, except you need to select tradeoffs with mobility and such as well.

This matches my experience as well, with the exception that after a fairly small amount of consideration you end up with about 5 weapons that people will just always select. The weapon list is really much smaller than it looks. Weapon Mastery helps theoretically, but I think as people gain experience Weapon Mastery will just narrow the list even further. People will just always select Short Sword or always select Scimitar when Vex or Nick proves to be better, etc.

It's kind of like point buy in 5e D&D. Theoretically, you have dozens of potential arrays. In practice, there's like 3 that are most common, and 2 more that are rarely useful, and the rest are redundant. They really could replace the whole point buy system with "pick one of these 5 arrays" and it would cover the whole game with no illusionary complexity.

I genuinely think the kit system is just a better design overall. I don't care what you want to say your heavy armor is or looks like. I don't care if you're using a longbow or a crossbow. I don't want to futz around with whatever simulation details there are, especially when the simulation includes anachronisms and hallucinations like studded leather armor or ring mail.