I'm not sure I can say I gave Draw Steel a full fair test, but I did confirm that it was NOT going to work with the library kids.
Part is on me: I have never run tactical combat the way that DS is designed for, and I found the unfamiliar cognitive load burdensome.
Part of it is on the Delian Tomb, the starter adventure, which opens with 4 big combats with minimal interstitial tissue that, with my cognitive load issues, wore me down.
But the largest issue is these kids is not suited for it: none are tactical or resource minded in their play, two of them are 7th graders with their age's attention issues. By the end they were coming up with cool things to CONCEPTUALLY do but that were outside the scope of Draw Steel's narrow, balanced powers.
You have to learn when things aren't a good fit. So we are back to 13th Age in late November.
And I am looking for a group of 3-4 older, tactically minded players to try again
2/x
There are things I absolutely love about Draw Steel in it's conception, design, embrace of downtown activities and heroism, and so on, but I need players who have a strong drive to understand the mechanics of their powers and how to implement them, and also have me build the encounters from scratch to fit my own style & cognitive limitations.
Unfortunately all the players I know are just flooded with adult responsibilities, as am I. When the DS virtual tabletop drops I suspect I will use it.
@SubplotKudzu When I had a 4e group, 2 of my players just “got” how the interplay of PC powers can be used to amplify each other’s combat strengths… but most of the other folks (myself included) were beer & pretzel gamers and just not as tactically minded.
I enjoyed 4e, but DMing was very taxing as I never felt I used the monster powers to their full capabilities.
I’m quite curious about Draw Steel, but your experience sounds very familiar.
Brian Rogers
Raging Owlbear