Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
Let’s compare characters in Dungeons & Dragons 5E 2024, Daggerheart, and Draw Steel. Specifically, let’s see which ones are the most complex to run during play. We start with setting a baseline by looking at Shadowdark and Pirate Borg as RPGs with simple characters. Then, let’s look at a fighter and a wizard in each of the three RPGs and compare how many things a player has to track during play! Finally, we look at latency to see the impact of complexity.
Contents:
00:00 Comparing Game Complexity
02:56 Shadowdark and Pirate Borg as Baseline
03:55 Shadowdark Fighter
06:05 Shadowdark Wizard
08:15 Pirate Borg Classes
10:59 What Increases Complexity?
12:34 D&D Species and Background
14:15 D&D Fighter
22:39 D&D Wizard
29:00 Daggerheart Ancestry and Community
33:14 Daggerheart Warrior
37:25 Daggerheart Wizard
38:40 Draw Steel Ancestry and Culture
42:56 Draw Steel Fury
45:34 Draw Steel Elementalist
51:20 Comparing the RPGs
54:22 Latency
59:24 Support the Show
Support me and join our community to help shape this show (and get a copy of my Adventure, Encounter, and Monster Design Tools): alphastream.org/index.php/support
You can find more RPG and D&D insights on my blog, alphastream.org
Subscribe to my newsletter to receive a FREE product and get updates on new RPG products and blog posts! alphastream.org/index.php/subscribe-to-alphastream-org
Follow me on Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@Alphastream
Follow me on Patreon: patreon.com/Alphastream
#DnD #DrawSteel #ttrpg #miniatures #tabletopgames #rpgs #MCDM #MattColville #daggerheart #dungeonsanddragons #characterdesign #characterbuilding #charactercreation #dndworldbuilding #tabletoprpg #dnd2024 #shadowdark #PirateBorg #CriticalroleRPG #darringtonpress
Let’s compare characters in Dungeons & Dragons 5E 2024, Daggerheart, and Draw Steel. Specifically, let’s see which ones are the most complex to run during play. We start with setting a baseline by looking at Shadowdark and Pirate Borg as RPGs with simple characters. Then, let’s look at a fighter and a wizard in each of the three RPGs and compare how many things a player has to track during play! Finally, we look at latency to see the impact of complexity.
Contents:
00:00 Comparing Game Complexity
02:56 Shadowdark and Pirate Borg as Baseline
03:55 Shadowdark Fighter
06:05 Shadowdark Wizard
08:15 Pirate Borg Classes
10:59 What Increases Complexity?
12:34 D&D Species and Background
14:15 D&D Fighter
22:39 D&D Wizard
29:00 Daggerheart Ancestry and Community
33:14 Daggerheart Warrior
37:25 Daggerheart Wizard
38:40 Draw Steel Ancestry and Culture
42:56 Draw Steel Fury
45:34 Draw Steel Elementalist
51:20 Comparing the RPGs
54:22 Latency
59:24 Support the Show
Support me and join our community to help shape this show (and get a copy of my Adventure, Encounter, and Monster Design Tools): alphastream.org/index.php/support
You can find more RPG and D&D insights on my blog, alphastream.org
Subscribe to my newsletter to receive a FREE product and get updates on new RPG products and blog posts! alphastream.org/index.php/subscribe-to-alphastream-org
Follow me on Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@Alphastream
Follow me on Patreon: patreon.com/Alphastream
#DnD #DrawSteel #ttrpg #miniatures #tabletopgames #rpgs #MCDM #MattColville #daggerheart #dungeonsanddragons #characterdesign #characterbuilding #charactercreation #dndworldbuilding #tabletoprpg #dnd2024 #shadowdark #PirateBorg #CriticalroleRPG #darringtonpress
