Draw Steel vs Low Fantasy Gaming

Compare Draw Steel and Low Fantasy Gaming side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Draw Steel	Low Fantasy Gaming
Genre	Fantasy	Fantasy
Play Style	Tactical, Heroic, Combat-Heavy, Cinematic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Grid-Based, Attacks Always Hit, Lore-Heavy	Low-Fantasy, Gritty, Deadly, Sword & Sorcery, Corruption, Sandbox, Dungeon Crawl, Random Tables, GM-Friendly, Hackable
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.	Combat uses standard d20 + class attack bonus + ability modifier vs. Armour Class. Out of combat, attribute checks roll equal-or-under (1d20 ≤ attribute, with degrees of success), and skills add +1 and grant access to a level-based Reroll Pool that smooths the d20 swing. Dropping to zero hit points triggers an All Dead vs. Mostly Dead check and a roll on the Injuries & Setbacks table (lost eyes and limbs, broken ribs, madness, permanent scars). Spell casting is uncertain: every cast carries a cumulative 1-in-20 chance of triggering the Dark & Dangerous Magic d100 table, which can mutate the caster, sap Luck, or summon hostile aberrations. The Luck attribute itself is a depleting meta-resource that fuels saves, Major Exploits, and Rescue Exploits.
Dice	2d10	d20
Complexity	High	Medium
Accessibility	High	Very High
Runnability	High	Very High
License	Draw Steel Creator License	OGL 1.0a
Cost	$$$	$$
Publisher	MCDM Productions	Pickpocket Press
Year	2025	2020
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 gritty low-magic fantasy where every combat carries real consequences (broken bones, lost limbs, madness) and where casting a spell is a calculated gamble that can corrupt the caster or summon something worse.
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	Dark & Dangerous Magic puts every spell at risk of triggering a d100 corruption table (mutations, summoned aberrations, Luck loss, madness) with the chance climbing by 1 in 20 each cast until it fires, making sorcery a calculated gamble rather than reliable utility. Martial Exploits layer creative combat moves (Minor, Major, and Rescue) on top of a successful hit, such as disarms, decapitations, or throwing an ally clear of a fireball, fueled by depleting Luck checks rather than a fixed action menu, so combats are improvisation-driven rather than rotation-driven. Every PC designs a Unique Feature at 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th level in conversation with the GM, working off 36 worked examples (Awakened Host, Faustian Pact, Skill Prodigy, Slippery Bastard) that each scale through low, moderate, and high power tiers the table can cherry-pick.
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	Magic Users are deliberately weaker than other classes: no at-will spells, no teleport, no mind reading, no resurrection, and every cast risks a corruption effect, so spell-focused players have to accept playing a high-risk role that can lose its toolkit mid-adventure. The 12th-level cap shortens the campaign arc: the book trades long-haul progression for keeping monsters threatening and magic spectacular, but groups expecting decades-long advancement curves will hit the ceiling. Permanent injuries from the Injuries & Setbacks table are a regular outcome of going to zero hit points, and short of rare in-setting healing magic those disabilities stay, which can frustrate groups attached to keeping their characters physically whole.