What gets me playing Draw Steel and not Pathfinder 2e?


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There was definitely a bit of "new game with a lot of tags/keywords/rules" to work through tonight, but we had a lot of fun wading in to teh Delian Tomb. It's not as interesting an opening as the Road to Broadhurst (or as varied), but I think the way it slowly unlocks the sheet/actions helped us avoid overloading.

Tons of fun flinging people around, cleaving through minions (the Null: ok, so that's 9 damage against the Sniper. Me: yeah so that kills all of them. Him: no, I just hit the one. Me: No, you overkill all 3. Him, Ohhhhh narrates that).

I think that once people get used to the Tiers of Success and more comfortable with the actions, it can become really cinematic by letting the players narrate how they erode the stamina/move people around/etc based on their rolls.
 


That’s interesting. I haven’t read the Monsters book yet. Presumably that was a group of minions the Null attacked?

Yeah. I had to read the minion rules multiple times to fully absorb them - but basically they’re a pool of HP, and so if the total damage dealt is > then an individual’s you overkill appropriately if more are in range.
 


There was definitely a bit of "new game with a lot of tags/keywords/rules" to work through tonight, but we had a lot of fun wading in to teh Delian Tomb. It's not as interesting an opening as the Road to Broadhurst (or as varied), but I think the way it slowly unlocks the sheet/actions helped us avoid overloading.

Tons of fun flinging people around, cleaving through minions (the Null: ok, so that's 9 damage against the Sniper. Me: yeah so that kills all of them. Him: no, I just hit the one. Me: No, you overkill all 3. Him, Ohhhhh narrates that).

I think that once people get used to the Tiers of Success and more comfortable with the actions, it can become really cinematic by letting the players narrate how they erode the stamina/move people around/etc based on their rolls.
This is 100% our same experience when we played last night ^

It felt minis skirmish game style, reminded me of Necromunda plus the addition of minions rules.

Not a deadly game. I suppose characters can die, but there are tons to options to keep that from happening from just a few bad rolls.

Honestly, overall, combat was great, and genuinely fun and action packed. Oh, and the "Off turn" options you have are great. Kept most players engaged even when not their turn. The "never miss" thing is not even noticed because of the menagerie of powers, abilities, and movement going on.

We took extra time to learn and play out the social rules. both as a way to early-end a combat and as a normal NPC persuasion scene. The rules work very well, and while a little obtuse on tiers as social stuff, they better mapped roleplay of negotiations better than anything D&D and Pathfinder ever had. And i do mean Better. Like, it was fun and every character could be useful, and it didn't take any longer than anything in PF or D&D. but it did result in interesting "offers" and "counter offers". Vampire the Masquerade could learn a few lessons from this here....
(personal note: I feel that PBTA's "Negotiate" move actually does this with the same results but more efficiently. because at the end of the scene Draw Steel was always "you did it, they do the thing or believe the thing", or "you did it with complications here they are"... both PBTA and DS rarely got the fail result of "you pissed them off/took too long"... they can get those results but not often. So in the end the roleplay+move did what 3 rounds of DS negotiate ended getting the same result as. )

We also took time to do the Montage scene. it was perfect for acknowledging time/travel passing. Each player got 1 roll over two 'rounds' of montage and it summed up and built a few complications while getting us "there".
(Personal Note: This part was VERY "PBTA move" style to me, which is fine. I think PBTA handles it better/clearer while achieving the same quality and feels. )

My advice for Draw Steel = For the first few games make Tiers of success and how they change or what they are setting "open and visible and tracked" to everyone at the table. If just the GM sees this then the players feel like the roll results are unclear as to their exact effects.

TL/DR
The combat is fine, fun, good stuff. Unlike Daggerheart, we were able to have agency over our characters and when they could or could not use their special abilities. Draw Steel is a fantastic game that has tons of pure roleplay narrative drama kid stuff as well as tactical combat blast.
 

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