Draw Steel vs NewEdo

Compare Draw Steel and NewEdo side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.

	Draw Steel	NewEdo
Genre	Fantasy	Cyberpunk, Fantasy
Tags	Tactical, Grid-Based, Combat-Heavy, Character Building, Crunchy, Resource Management, Attacks Always Hit, Cinematic, High-Power, Strong GM Support	Cinematic, Character Building, Crunchy, Classless, Faction Play, Heroic, High-Power, Urban Fantasy, Tactical
Core Mechanic	Roll 2d10 plus a characteristic modifier for a power roll: 11 or less gives tier 1, 12–16 gives tier 2, and 17 or more gives tier 3. Edges and banes modify the roll or its tier. Tests and abilities specify results for each tier.	Contests use a dice pool combining Core Trait d10s plus Skill dice (d4, d6, d8, or d12 depending on Focus) against a Target Number, with d10s exploding on 10s. Before each contest, the player Rolls their Fate on a d100 and resolves any matching lines on their personal Fate Card, which fills up with triggered effects as the character develops through Path abilities and in-game choices. Legend is the character's reputation and acts as a resource pool: spending up to 5 points of Temporary Legend per Round adds that total to a dice pool for cinematic stunts, and Legend is regained by doing memorable things.
Dice	2d10	d4–d12 dice pool
Complexity	High	High
Availability	Free core rules	Paid
Runnability	5 of 5 book tools	5 of 5 book tools
License	Draw Steel Creator License	All Rights Reserved
Third-Party Publishing	Commercial publishing allowed — Creator license	Not yet researched
Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing.
Publisher	MCDM Productions	Salty Games
Year	2025	2022
Languages	English	English
Best For	Groups who want heroic fantasy campaigns with coordinated grid combat and extensive character customization.	Groups who want deep character customization across magic, cybernetics, and skills in a near-future city drawn from Japanese folklore and samurai fiction, with heavy factional politics and larger-than-life heroes fueled by their growing reputation.
Highlights	Each class builds and spends its own heroic resource during combat, opening stronger abilities as the battle develops. Negotiations track an NPC’s interest and patience, giving arguments and motivations mechanical consequences. Encounter budgets and objectives help Directors build battles with goals beyond defeating every enemy.	Priority Buy character creation distributes uneven resources across Backgrounds, Magic, Augmentations, Skills, and Core Traits so that no two builds share the same shape. Ten playable Lineages are drawn from Japanese folklore (bakeneko, kappa, karasu, kitsune, oni, saru, tanuki, usagi, human, and the cybernetic half-machine hisanaka), each with two Cultures. Seven Factions and their Paths tie every character to a political stance in the Empire. Magic is built around Shinpi and Rotes granted by tiers of kami: casters negotiate with spirits rather than memorizing spell slots.
Considerations	Combat requires a grid and careful positioning. Each class has its own resource rules to learn and track during battle. Exploration uses tests and cinematic sequences rather than detailed travel supplies or encumbrance.	Dense interlocking subsystems (Legend, Fate Card, Trait Noise, Shinpi, Priority Buy, Derived Traits, Wound tiers, and four Soak types) take significant time to internalize before first play. Core rulebook runs over 300 pages and is paid only, with no free quickstart or SRD. The setting mixes cyberpunk, samurai fiction, and yokai folklore in a single package, which may not suit groups looking for a pure take on any one genre.