Talkback: Draw Steel

This week, it's the listeners' responses to our Draw Steel episode.

Excerpt:

Question: What do you think of Draw Steel?

Adam Schwaninger: I was able to play 3 sessions of Draw Steel earlier this year and for me, it is my favorite tactical fantasy rpg.

I have played and run 5th edition, I play in a weekly Pathfinder/Starfinder 2e game, and my group has fond memories of 4th edition D&D from back in the day. In fact, the current GM proposed either retrying 4th ed or trying out Draw Steel and I’m glad we went with Draw Steel.

Playing Draw Steel evoked all the good nostalgia of 4e without the weird annoyances and previous edition cruft that you remember when you actually stop and think about 4e.

Now to why I like it better than 5e and Pathfinder. When running 5th edition, I noticed that during encounters, players would often try and build towards satisfying “Big Turns”. Like the monk jumps on 3 guys’ heads like Mario, flipkicks a dude off a wall and uses a bonus action to, idk, punch a dragon four times or whatever. Big impactful turns, big spotlight moments. They feel great and it looks good for any twitch streamers who are still playing D&D with any of the rules.

Pathfinder encounters might look like D&D but in my experience it’s much more about your team against the monsters. The way the numbers work, it’s common for you to flub 2 out of your 3 actions but if you take the party as a whole, you’re coming out on top on average. Spotlight moments feel more rare and communication and teamwork feel more important so your team hemmoraghes resources slower than the opponents. 

You can probably tell where I’m going with this - Draw Steel hits that sweet spot where you get Big Turns that also work together with the other characters. Plus I know Thomas already talked about the victories rules in the episode, but the switch from attrition management to push-your-luck feels like such a good change as a player.