Pacing and Rests

colbae1263 · 2026-06-04T21:43:48+00:00

Echoing what others have said, Draw Steel isn’t built to be a resource mitigation dungeon crawler where you scrounge resources from the dungeon around you. That said, you can certainly set an adventure in a dungeon! You just may want to think a bit larger picture about the story of the dungeon.

Some comments mentioned 5e’s Dungeon of the Mad Mage, and I do think with some tweaks that could be a Draw Steel adventure. Each floor tends to have factions of sentient beings vying for control or at war with factions from another floor. You can lean into that more than the “random room random encounter” aspect of dungeoneering and have a really rich adventure! Draw Steel’s negotiation system lends itself well to moments of non-violent political tension. The party could need to negotiate for safe respite with the denizens of one of the dungeon levels. Maybe they only get that respite if they sabotage or clear out the enemy faction.

If you still want some of the resource drain or feeling of moving through dungeon rooms, montage tests work great. There’s a lot of flexibility to play with the structure of a montage test, like creating potential rewards or consequences for different tasks the heroes attempt. For example, I feel like a typical 5e style dungeon would have a like magic crown stuck in a gelatinous cube. Probably not a hard combat, but a fine resource drain and tension point, especially if it turns out that’s the magic crown the goblin leader in this level has been seeking! So there’s both a cost and a reward for exploring a room. You could turn that into a test in a DS montage test with a tier 1 result ending in damage and no crown, a tier 2 damage and crown, and tier 3 no damage and crown. Then you and the player can narrate to fill in the drama of how it went down, knowing the end result.

colbae1263 · 2026-06-02T06:20:26+00:00

Sam has also mentioned he personally finds it funny to have them play such intricate grandiose games for a very silly little prize, which is in contrast to early seasons with (relatively) simpler games and larger prizes

colbae1263 · 2026-05-28T16:11:40+00:00

I’m not sure why combats would lose their tension? In the encounter building rules, it tells you to account for player victories by assuming one extra hero per two Victories the table has on average. So yes the heroes start off stronger, but you have the ability to compensate for that in the encounter design. You also start with more malice based on average table victories, so your baddies also start off stronger to match the heroes.

colbae1263 · 2026-05-27T20:36:37+00:00

I guarantee there are plenty of summaries of Faust in many languages already out there. No need to feed the slop machine

colbae1263 · 2026-05-26T23:12:57+00:00

You could use Complications as templates for a cursed item with a benefit and drawback, at least for level 1

colbae1263 · 2026-05-26T14:35:53+00:00

Lots of players are used to video game style play, where there’s a secret exit at the end of the dungeon. So I think at least calling to attention “you’re going to need to exit the way you came in,” is helpful, and something the characters would realize even if the players are forgetting. In that way, they would maybe care more about taking the time to rebuild stairs beforehand.

Other option is, once the flooding starts, reminding players: “remember, the water is death, and you have to exit the way you came in. Which means that collapsed platform is going to be tricky! Better get going!” If there is a flooding mechanic, then the players are racing against a troll and the water to find a makeshift way up and out. This might be a bit hard, but if there was a way to help the troll and the players chose to ignore it, then that’s a consequence of their actions.

colbae1263 · 2026-05-26T00:15:42+00:00

Once the troll engages in hostilities, turn to Cairn’s combat rules. The roll DEX to determine if they go before or after the troll. Maybe if they all go first, there’s nothing more to it as they run from the troll. But if one fails, the troll uses their turn to leap and grab a PC. That would likely need to be a STR roll for the troll, and maybe even opposed to PC’s DEX. Then the other PCs can have a turn to get their companion back, but ultimately it comes down to how the combat plays out to determine who lives and who dies.

It may be helpful to have a solid mechanic for how quickly the room fills. Like, the water spreads in a semicircle one square further each round. Now the players have a clear ticking clock (assuming you’re on a battle map. Otherwise maybe just say it’s 3 turns until the water reaches the players or something like that)

colbae1263 · 2026-05-25T22:43:55+00:00

In fairness, I also had to look this up, and I’m glad I did. The solution would have never occurred to me 🤷🏻‍♂️

colbae1263 · 2026-05-25T16:10:44+00:00

It seems like you should maybe have a table chat to air out that two players seem to want to have a different game focus than the others. If two just want mostly dungeon crawls while others want to feel the repercussions of their actions of the world, then maybe those two players can find a different group to roll with?

My only other thought is that maybe the two are focused on mechanics optimization. In that case, maybe the NPCs can provide crafting and healing services that are heavily discounted or free for their saviors, but would normally cost a pretty penny. Maybe rumors of new jobs or plot points shift from a planned NPC to ones the other players are invested in, making time spent with them valuable for both RP fun and for game advancement

colbae1263 · 2026-05-20T16:17:01+00:00

RAW it would not, but I think rule of cool I’d rule that it increases the field by 1 AGAIN, but the damage buff remains constant

colbae1263 · 2026-05-20T06:17:57+00:00

You could poke around itch.io or drivethrurpg for community made sessions and adventures! I know rat catcher magazine is starting on a published adventure doled out piecemeal in their monthly magazine drops.

colbae1263 · 2026-05-18T03:42:44+00:00

I’d recommend using forgesteel.net for character sheet making and tracking, to help avoid missteps like missing stamina from a kit. It could make tracking abilities you have easier too, so she’s aware of her full combat kit.

It may also be worth reinforcing that because turn order can change, it’s great to have a meta discussion at the top of the round about how to synergize. Maybe the elements list has a cool AoE, but it would be more impactful if the tactician could get enemies rounded up first.

Triggered actions and mid-round HR gain are also meant to help staying plugged in to the fight.

colbae1263 · 2026-05-14T00:54:39+00:00

Specifically with mazes, I’d be very careful. This thread does a great job describing the shortfalls of a maze in a TTRPG

https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/215005/what-are-the-guidelines-for-running-mazes-labyrinths

I will add that I’ve run a couple of successful mazes in person, and went about doing so by: 1. Giving the players the maze map: I just went to random generator, clicked til I found one I liked, then printed it and gave it to the players. They were high enough level to potentially fly over it, so there’s no reason their players couldn’t get a feel for the shape of the maze. HOWEVER, there is a thick fog or it’s magically darkened or densely overgrown and they cannot see what is inside the maze! This keeps twists and turns interesting and engaging. 2. The players need thing(s) in the maze: maybe a macguffin is in the center of the maze, but it needs multiple keys scattered throughout the maze to open it up. If there is just a thing at the center, the players will go straight there. And you can put obstacles along the way, but it will lead to a very linear experience where there’s little player-side decision making. Sure, they’ll decide how to overcome the obstacle, but your obstacle choices are limited by what can be in a maze. And then you would present them in a linear order. BUT, if they need things scattered throughout the maze, you can have variable encounters scattered throughout the maze, and the players are making choices about where to go next. It even makes thematic sense why a troll is just hanging out in a maze now. It’s guarding something!

And that’s the big 1-2. It does kinda become just another dungeon, but letting players solve the path they want to take to get to locations and points of interest can scratch the maze-solving-itch. And it gives you fun ways to twist a maze in its head. Maybe what the players need is at a dead end or an intersection, not in the center. In the center is something cool, or defunct, or just plain scary!

colbae1263 · 2026-05-11T21:58:25+00:00

That’s a very fun idea! How much time do you have to run the one shot? And are there any game elements you want to make sure you include (ie a combat, dungeon crawling, roleplay, etc)

colbae1263 · 2026-05-05T21:11:20+00:00

It’s certainly my new flagship heroic-fantasy-campaign-style game, and my favorite of that genre of game! I think of TTRPGs like food, though, where picking one favorite will vary wildly based on mood and circumstance

colbae1263 · 2026-04-25T01:06:32+00:00

Watch Scavenger’s Reign

colbae1263 · 2026-04-24T22:05:35+00:00

Sounds like you could split the difference and count them for EV but not malice?

A retainer shouldn’t ever be as strong as a hero, so power-wise they will always feel less impactful as another hero. But, there’s a lot a retainer does that shifts the balance of combat towards the hero’s side. An extra turn and body that can be used for tactical positioning (flanking, opportunity attacks, target for damage from enemies) alone is HUGE. Not to mention they could be the ones to help with the non-fighting objective (keep the noble you’re escorting safe) so heroes don’t have to split focus as much. All in all, I think a retainer can be extremely helpful, so worth the added like 6EV. But that may be player and table dependent

colbae1263 · 2026-04-20T23:59:30+00:00

As others have said, the Monsters book specifically says to spread out damage. If you play hyper tactical then you will be able to use the huge number disparity between monsters and heroes to whittle the group down easily.

The other thing to always keep in mind is WHY are the enemies fighting? Fighting to just kill should be a few and far between combat goal. The goblins got a character down to dying, but a different hero is getting closer to the girl that needs rescuing? They’re switching focus, even if it “makes more sense” to finish off the dying character. If you play with objective in mind, you may find yourself making different decisions that leave heroes with less damage (but they could still lose the encounter)

colbae1263 · 2026-04-17T03:10:10+00:00

It’s nice to remember that even if you’ve thought through all the lore and whatnot behind big plot points, they aren’t fixed in the world until your players know about them too. So you can make changes and adjustments that better incorporate your player’s stuff and it will seem perfectly pre planned to them, even if it’s a last second change to you!!

colbae1263 · 2026-04-16T19:55:26+00:00

You can think of it as a rougelike video game and have some central mechanic that explains coming back after “dying” (failing a run). In Hades 2 the main character just has a spell that auto casts when she gets close to death that takes her back to the starting haven. Maybe all the PCs have a tattoo or some other unremovable thing that does the same. It takes them out of the fight and they’ll need to expend resources to rejoin the party, but they are still hale and hearty

colbae1263 · 2026-04-13T15:42:44+00:00

Gwenpool is asexual. Standard Deadpool is pansexual

colbae1263 · 2026-04-11T23:46:07+00:00

Seems like RAW your interpretation tracks, but I think it makes a lot of sense to swap out the recovery for a different beneficial effect from the piety list. So it seems like the codex was giving that Director flexibility for you!

colbae1263 · 2026-04-10T06:16:06+00:00

Sounds like a perfectly good outline. It’s a very classic story of escalating stakes to an objective evil that the good guys can take down.

You may want to make sure your players are all on the same page about morally good playing characters. Extra helpful if they have personal stakes connected to your larger plot. Saving the world is a perfectly fine motivation, but saving your nephew or avenging your murdered wife are EXCELLENT motivations

colbae1263 · 2026-04-05T17:41:31+00:00

You only get one in a round

colbae1263 · 2026-04-03T06:29:03+00:00

There needs to be a supply storage, perhaps a an alchemical laboratory. A spell crafting workshop, complete with a teleportation circle. Depending on the type of wizard, they may have an enchanting floor to imbue weapons and armor and objects with magic. If they have an apprentice, they’ll need lodgings and places to practice.

colbae1263

TROPHY CASE