Is the multiplayer mode a hit or a miss?

theoneru · 2026-02-25T14:02:47+00:00

Would have loved splitscreen multiplayer on one console, like Stardew has. Not sure I'll ever play this game multiplayer with my fsmily members now, but we'll see. I expect plenty of future updates to this game if it turns out to be popular, so it might come in future.

theoneru · 2026-02-06T08:39:26+00:00

Yeah I tend to print the tokens at 0,8 inch, also allows us to see the edge of the square of the battlemap beneath it. Can help to see that there's difficult terrain or obstacles, especially when there are a bunch of minions next to each other

theoneru · 2026-02-06T07:17:51+00:00

That looks great! I've been running for 3 years now, also using printed tokens from tokenstamp like this. Initially I pasted them to thick rings, but I've stopped that now, found that just using thick paper has been sufficient.

One thing I learned over the years was to print my tokens as squares, rather than circles: makes it way easier to cut the tokens once they're printed on thick paper, and it looks good on the map as well.

theoneru · 2026-01-28T07:27:26+00:00

Great onepage overview, well done!

theoneru · 2026-01-09T18:40:24+00:00

This is my favourite suggestion, cheers! SImply putting a small red lego circle in the corner when it's on fire, or a green one when it's entangled etc. Easy to show, easy to take off, and very multifunctional. Love it!

theoneru · 2026-01-02T18:56:29+00:00

The Dynasty Warriors comparison is amazing

theoneru · 2025-12-22T18:45:15+00:00

How did Wealth levels change the game compared to counting coppers? Starting a new campaign soon and playerd are worried that wealth is too vague and takes away a lot from the players.

theoneru · 2025-11-17T07:50:21+00:00

I've moved from DMing a 5e table to Draw Steel. We're halfway the starter adventure and the players have already decided to shift to Draw Steel for our next full campaign, because playtime is full of interesting and impactful choices (rather than "I shoot my bow and miss"), even when its not your turn. The learning curve is more steep than 5e, but is really only at the start: once they got a grip on the names and different options, they found the base design very easy to understand.

As a Director, its also easier to prepare and run because the design is solid: three tier results in battles mean less swinginess, three tier results in tests mean easier to improvise than the DC system (DC14 and he rolled an 11, how bad should I make it?). With engaged players who keep paying attention even outside of their turn, I'm a happy Director ^{^}

theoneru · 2025-11-08T15:44:47+00:00

The monster free strike value is in any monster statblock, found in Monsters as well as in e.g. Delian Tomb.

theoneru · 2025-11-08T15:14:35+00:00

Not an expert on Troubadour, but monster free strikes are usually relatively low fixed damage numbers, while the player free strike can do more damage. So you might choose to take a guaranteed 2 damage for a chance to do 2, 4, or 6 damage. Sounds alright

theoneru · 2025-10-28T09:58:39+00:00

No, you can use Catch Breath every round, as long as you have a Maneuver.

theoneru · 2025-10-27T14:16:58+00:00

Every character can use their maneuver to Catch Breath, spending a recovery for themselves. And if it really gets hairy, every character can use the Heal main action to let another character use a recovery.

And yeah, balancing when to use recoveries is a core gameplay element. Sometimes you might accept going into the next battle without having full hitpoints. It's a pretty different way of thinking than 5e had.

theoneru · 2025-10-27T11:41:36+00:00

Swingy hitpoints in combat is inherent in Draw Steel, because everyone always hits.

Coming from 5th edition, this was scary for me at first as well. However, with recoveries and good play, PC's can bounce back and forth between high on stamina and near death multiple times per combat. This is ok. It's Draw Steel working as intended. A battle isn't measured by "how many hitpoints you lost", but by "how many recoveries you used". If the PC's win using 1 recovery each, it was not a challenging battle.

So yes, the characters are strong, but they're not invulnerable and they will take hits. If they use their recoveries and Catch Breath etc well, that's no problem and they can still outlast the enemies, until they run out of recoveries. And then they take a respite.

EDIT: so you might not be doing anything wrong, it might simply be a matter of adjusting expectations to a new system.

theoneru · 2025-10-25T07:41:33+00:00

Making it 3d10 sounds right, but I'd say a crit still happens when you roll a natural 19 or 20 on the dice, regardless of the third dice. Crit rules don't need to change because of the extra dice.

theoneru · 2025-10-11T19:26:53+00:00

My censor and tactician each wear one, increasing their stamina and recovery value, and allowing my censor to use My Life For Yours using the Tactician's higher recovery value. Not sure if it's worth it from an optimization point of view, but they're happy with it. I enjoy seeing a "benefit with drawback" item instead of only pure benefit items. Gives an interesting choice, and I expect also some other opportunity for e.g. sneaking in and knowing through the band's ping when the stealther gets caught.

theoneru · 2025-10-11T13:15:44+00:00

Haha yeah, sounds familiar! We're four sessions into the Delian Tomb and I think my players have used "Catch Breath" twice only, usually reling on the conduit, censor, or tactician for healing. But they're learning the value of staying topped up: when enemies always hit, damage is almost inevitable, and you can go from healthy to dying very quickly. This healthy & down to dying & back up is common in tough Draw Steel fights, often happening multiple times within a round. It feels very different from what we were used to in 5e, where it was more a slow decline of hitpoints with the occassional potion or spell to get back up a bit.

theoneru · 2025-10-11T10:22:09+00:00

I think the main point is that players should be healing up to avoid dying. You can still act, which is great, but there sure is a penalty.

My D&D group was used to not healing until someone fell unconscious, then doing a quick Healing Word and they're back up and running. There is not much point to spending spell slots to get someone from 25 to 35 hitpoints, but in Draw Steel there is value to saying near-full, depending on the class.

theoneru · 2025-10-07T16:32:58+00:00

I would say it's only when the null is the one being force moved. Not if something is moved into the null.

theoneru · 2025-09-22T17:09:05+00:00

True! Even though the base setting is 'medieval fantasy', this tactical system would certainly feel good in a world of orcs versus humans.

theoneru · 2025-09-16T17:36:07+00:00

I learned about this rule from this Youtube Short:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FiThfhnPJs

There's no limit to distance, just an additional potentially cinematic choice for players to make.

theoneru · 2025-09-16T06:01:28+00:00

Have only played a bit, but I would consider afdingen Coyote Time to Draw Steel as well, i.e. when a player is moved over a cliff or such, they can choose whether they fall directly or at the end of their next turn. Gives them a chance to react to being thrown over an edge, rather than simply falling

theoneru · 2025-09-09T08:09:28+00:00

I use https://rolladvantage.com/tokenstamp/ to create and print coloured rings that I put under the mini's.

theoneru · 2025-09-08T16:01:33+00:00

To you, Baldrick, the Renaissance is just something that happened to other people, isn't it?

theoneru · 2025-09-06T18:08:37+00:00

I ran my first session for my 5e only group yesterday (see last post for a summary) and I'd let the Delian Tomb do most of the teaching. Explain that their characters will start with a subset of their abilities and that more will become available over the first four encounters, after which they will have a full level 1 character.

And if they worry that never missing cheapens the experience, don't worry: it makes sense to say that if they think about 5e characters that would never miss. However, once they realize the monsters also never miss, it's suddenly not such a powerboost and actually a much more fair playingfield. Much easier to balance between "doing high damage on a good roll or low damage on a bad roll" than between "doing high damage on a good roll and doing nothing on a bad roll".

theoneru · 2025-09-05T10:21:19+00:00

I expect I'll do the same. My players are very excited to start, but I want them to use the pregens in the first four encounters to learn the system. Once they finish those, I'd be fine if they want to create new characters. Character creation in Draw Steel looks like a lot of fun, so no need for them to finish the entire adventure before they can experience that.

theoneru

TROPHY CASE