Dice & Glory vs Draw Steel
Compare Dice & Glory and Draw Steel side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dice & Glory | Draw Steel | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, Universal | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Crunchy, Toolkit, Character Building, Simulation, Tactical, Freeform Magic, Superhero | Tactical, Heroic, Cinematic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Attacks Always Hit, Lore-Heavy |
| Core Mechanic | Dice Check: roll d20 plus a skill modifier (skill rank + attribute + miscellaneous) and meet or beat a difficulty the GM sets. Standard difficulties run from 10 for easy to 35 for impossible. Attack rolls and saving throws use the same d20, though an attack must also beat the target's Agility Class. A natural 20 is a critical success and a natural 1 a critical failure. | Power Roll: roll 2d10 + characteristic and check which tier the result falls into: Tier 1 (11 or less), Tier 2 (12–16), or Tier 3 (17+). Every ability describes three outcomes by tier, so rolls always produce an effect, with no whiffed turns. Edges and banes (+2/−2, or tier shift at double) modify rolls situationally. Each class builds a unique heroic resource during combat, unlocking increasingly powerful abilities as momentum builds. Victories earned from combat and noncombat challenges accumulate across encounters and convert to XP during respites. |
| Dice | d20 | 2d10 |
| Complexity | Very High | High |
| Accessibility | Medium | High |
| Runnability | High | High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Draw Steel Creator License |
| Cost | $ | $$$ |
| Publisher | Ranger Games Publishing | MCDM Productions |
| Year | 2014 | 2025 |
| Best For | Rules-comfortable groups building a long campaign from scratch, who would rather engineer a spell or a fighting style than choose one from a list. | Groups who want deeply tactical, cinematic combat where every ability matters and no turn is wasted. Ideal for players who love build variety and dramatic, heroic battles. |
| Highlights | Experience points work as a currency rather than a level track, so an attribute increase and an extra attack come off the same price list. The core book contains no spell list, so a spell is built from its method and effect and then developed with money and time. Knockout points absorb nonlethal damage while weapons bypass them for hit points, so beating an opponent unconscious and killing them are different outcomes. | Power Rolls resolve to one of three tiers, so every roll produces an effect and a turn is never wasted. Each of the nine classes builds a unique heroic resource during a fight, unlocking stronger abilities as momentum grows. A negotiation subsystem tracks an NPC's interest and patience, giving social scenes a structured back-and-forth like combat. |
| Considerations | Task resolution switches between high-roll d20 checks and roll-under percentile proficiencies, so two scales run side by side. Spells and superhuman powers are built rather than chosen from a list, so two characters of the same level can differ widely in practical capability. Power scale needs policing: fantasy, superheroic, divine, and modern technology all run on one framework. | Heroes start with many abilities and options even at level 1, creating a steeper initial learning curve. Each combat turn juggles heroic resources, conditions, and edges and banes at once, so play carries real tracking overhead. The system targets heroic tactical fantasy specifically, so it provides no rules for dungeon crawling, hexcrawl exploration, or survival play. |