Draw Steel vs Ironsworn
Compare Draw Steel and Ironsworn side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Draw Steel | Ironsworn | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Play Style | Tactical, Heroic, Cinematic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Attacks Always Hit, Lore-Heavy | Narrative, Solo-Friendly, Rules-Light, Sandbox, Low-Fantasy, Exploration, Theater of the Mind, Open Source, Random Tables |
| 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, 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. | Roll 1d6 + stat vs two d10 challenge dice. Beat both for a strong hit, beat one for a weak hit, beat neither for a miss. Momentum can cancel challenge dice. Progress tracks measure long-term objectives; iron vows drive the narrative forward. |
| Dice | 2d10 | d6 + 2d10 |
| Complexity | High | Low |
| Accessibility | High | Very High |
| Runnability | High | Very High |
| License | Draw Steel Creator License | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| Cost | $$$ | Free |
| Publisher | MCDM Productions | Shawn Tomkin |
| 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. | Solo or small-group dark fantasy questing with fiction-first moves, oracle tables, and zero GM-prep play. |
| Highlights | 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. | Fully free PDF, well-designed solo play, momentum system creates tension, oracle tables eliminate need for a GM |
| Considerations | 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. | Progress track math can feel opaque at first, oracle tables can produce contradictory results requiring interpretation, limited asset variety in the base game, momentum economy requires careful management |