Draw Steel vs Invisible Sun
Compare Draw Steel and Invisible Sun side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Draw Steel | Invisible Sun | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Tactical, Heroic, Combat-Heavy, Cinematic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Attacks Always Hit, Lore-Heavy | Atmospheric, Character-Driven, Crunchy, Worldbuilding, Lore-Heavy, Mana Points, Narrative, Roleplay-Heavy, Weird |
| Core Mechanic | 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 — there are 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. | Subtract your venture (skills, spent bene from stat pools, situational modifiers) from the GM's challenge to find the number you must meet or beat on a d10. If venture meets the challenge, no roll is needed. Spending bene from the Sorcery pool casts spells and adds extra dice to magical actions — succeed if any die meets the target — but a flux result on a magic die triggers magical flux, an unintended side effect. The Sooth Deck of 60 cards plays along the Path of Suns board, and each new card shifts which colors of magic strengthen or weaken at the table. |
| Dice | 2d10 | d10 |
| Complexity | High | Very High |
| Accessibility | Medium | Low |
| Runnability | High | Medium |
| License | Draw Steel Creator License | Proprietary |
| Cost | $$$ | $$$ |
| Publisher | MCDM Productions | Monte Cook Games |
| Year | 2025 | 2018 |
| Best For | 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. | Groups who want long-form magical roleplaying in a surreal setting where character arcs and spellcasting matter as much as combat. Particularly suited to tables willing to invest in deep character creation and the elaborate physical components — card decks and the Path of Suns play board — that the system uses. |
| Highlights | Every turn offers multiple meaningful choices with no wasted turns thanks to tiered outcomes, nine classes each with a unique heroic resource and distinct tactical identity, forced movement and positioning are central to combat tactics, full negotiation subsystem with NPC interest and patience tracking for structured social encounters | Four distinct magic orders each use different rules: Vance sorcerers prepare and cast spells learned from books, Makers craft lasting magical items through the Maker's Matrix, Weavers improvise spells by combining aggregates, and Goetics summon and bind demons. The Sooth Deck of 60 cards plays along a Path of Suns board to shift which colors of magic strengthen or weaken in real time. Character arcs are the primary advancement engine — players pursue personal goals to earn Acumen and Crux points, with arcs ranging from short stories to entire campaigns. Between-session 'side-scenes' let characters take significant actions in writing without taking up table time. |
| Considerations | Heroes start with many abilities and options even at level 1, creating a steeper initial learning curve. Significant tracking overhead during combat with heroic resources, victories, conditions, edges, and banes. Explicitly designed for heroic tactical fantasy — the rules do not support dungeon crawling, hex exploration, or survival gameplay | The full game uses an extensive physical-component library — Sooth Deck, multiple spell and ephemera decks, the Path of Suns board, character tomes, and stat pool sheets — all integral to play. Character creation runs eight steps across multiple chapters and typically occupies a full session before play begins. The Satyrine setting and its dream-logic surrealism are built into the rules; adapting Invisible Sun to a more conventional fantasy world requires reworking the magic registers, currency, and order structure. The Black Cube boxed set's premium pricing creates a higher barrier to entry than typical RPGs. |