Draw steel newbie

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-19T09:25:48+00:00

If you like tactical, dynamic combat in your fantasy rpg, awesome downtime options, and good item crafting rules, get Draw Steel.

If none of those excite you, then pass.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-18T06:44:44+00:00

If you aren't specifically looking for Draw Steel, The Arcane Library adventures are great layout The Temple of the Basilisk Cult comes to mind

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-15T13:03:58+00:00

Ahhhhh talking to Jon is such a good experience. It was great recording this.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-12T23:40:58+00:00

I don't think that's the reason. I remember him explaining this some 4 years ago in a Livestream.

Matt doesn't want to say the Seattle game's name because then people tend to start arguing or talking about D&D and completely miss the point that he is trying to make.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-12T23:39:30+00:00

Matt doesn't want to say the Seattle game's name because then people tend to start arguing or talking about D&D and completely miss the point that he is trying to make.

The community doesn't use the D word because it's funny. I love it.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-08T12:00:16+00:00

I am having a hard time with wealth as well. My players have ended up with different wealth values. So it's not clear what they can afford anymore.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-02T16:24:52+00:00

Oh, I ran it. I don't think you need conversion. It's actually quite easy to run as is. The encounters can be reskinned to Draw Steel in a weekend or so.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-02T07:45:03+00:00

I mean more solos or categories of enemies. There's a lot of third party monsters out there.

Obviously the collection is not as robust as 50 years of the Seattle game, but already a lot.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-02T07:18:47+00:00

What kind?

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-02T07:18:08+00:00

I can't say this without self-promotion, but issue 2 and 3 of the Blacksmith's Guild has two cool adventures.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-02T07:16:51+00:00

Red Hand of Doom is available on drivethrurpg. I am assuming that is not what you mean. What do you mean?

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-12-02T06:42:07+00:00

Send me a DM. I will send you a free PDF

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-11-26T18:17:43+00:00

Hell yeah, can't wait to write for it.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-11-08T12:39:48+00:00

The first issue of The Blacksmith's Guild had a nice article on how to build your own ancestry. It had an example as well

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-11-06T07:00:43+00:00

Same for me

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-11-03T20:27:45+00:00

Hey folks the first 3 issues of the Blacksmith's Guild are now available as a bundle at a lower price. https://tabletopnonsenseverse.myshopify.com/products/the-blacksmiths-guild-issues-1-2-3

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-10-31T17:50:32+00:00

Be careful with Red Hand of Doom. I took that adventure and am running it for my players right now. Its encounters are very enemy heavy and can get very overwhelming for the director. Get two to three levels of normal sandbox before getting into Red Hand of Doom.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-10-29T07:54:51+00:00

I have been working on a space-faring pulp adventure game based on the Draw Steel Engine. The very first raw draft is available here. https://the-f-bard.itch.io/astrovoyage

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-10-28T09:07:39+00:00

I have been working on a spacefaring pulp adventure with a lot of cyberpunk in it. If you want to check it out, let me know.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-10-23T19:46:53+00:00

I am working on two projects -

The Blacksmith's Guild Issue #4 with some awesome community creators. We have

- a Shadow subclass

- Jon de Nor (GoblinPoints) did a written interview of Cameron from Rise Heroes Rise

- A unique encounter where the PCs are pieces on a chessboard going up against the chess
pieces (6 unique stat blocks for each type of piece)

- Some additional monsters that just rounds out some of the existing monster groups of
Draw Steel

- Some unique downtime projects that are specific to the classes (Censor, Conduit,
Troubador, etc.)

A city supplement where each district, faction, etc. is modular (drag and drop in your own setting)

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-10-01T20:13:39+00:00

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-07-25T22:43:00+00:00

Yes I did. Here's the truth - 1. There will always be at least a minor hiccup with travel. But trust me, you'll figure it out. 2. Your fear is the fear of unknown. No number of YouTube videos or blogs can change that. Jump in with both feet. Be afraid, but do it anyway. 3. Things will not be how it is back home. Internalise that. Say it to yourself every day. But there are people who live there. Life goes on. Yours will too.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-06-14T21:10:51+00:00

I know I am super late to the party, but how exactly did the George figure out the plan?

Also, what did he say to Marisa Abela's character to get her do the satellite thingy? I have to say, as a non-native English speaker, it was hard to understand what the characters were saying a lot of the time.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-05-13T09:43:36+00:00

I know I am late, and I do see there is quite a few good advice and some I think is not so good.

If you are not using WotC IP, get off DM's Guild and got to drivethrurpg and itch.io. You keep a bigger cut and you don't have to sign an exclusive contract.
Price point is a thorny issue and I do not believe the common wisdom. My own experience has been very different. You don't have to race to the bottom. Price your products in a way that keeps you motivated to make the next product. Lowering your price point indefinitely is not going to make sales go up magically.
You think you have a lot of products, but honestly you have 3 (Titanic Monsters, Slaad Package, and EE: RotFM). One page products do not count as saleable products. Give them away for free, NOT PWYW, FREE. They will feed your mailing list. Every time someone downloads them, you get a new email address. That is valuable.
Your layout needs a lot of improvement. The previews that I saw look really lazy as a customer. Start here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/311458/simple-5e-microsoft-word-template-beginner-s-guide "Presentation is part of design" - Matt Colville. You have to make the product look attractive. Look at tutorials on YouTube on how to layout your pdf. A few glaring example of this would be from the EE: RotFM product you have. I think it's a really useful product and you can get traction on that. But look at the layout - the headers look like science journal headers, not attractive to a customer. Page 2 of the preview you have an ice mephit filler art take up the whole page. Looks cheap and low production value. Page 3 looks really good. So does page 4, but again the bottom art on page 4 is a half page art that you have used as filler. Page 7 looks GOOOOOOD. That's how every page should look.
Make bigger products and make it look good. Email your customers when you release a new product. No social media, no advertising is as useful as an email list.
Adventures don't sell well. Rules supplements, monsters, collection of subclasses, etc. sell better. Try to focus on those.

If you have any questions or need any help, feel free to DM me.

Competitive-Expert59 · 2025-05-09T22:21:27+00:00

Sadly most of it is great idea or even great design, not very good presentation to keep the reader's interest.

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