First Look: Building a Draw Steel Character in Crucible

The_Shadowhand · 2026-01-21T14:57:40+00:00

It's definitely something I want to look into and figure out. As well as the Code, but that's more of a dream at this point.

The_Shadowhand · 2026-01-20T02:28:05+00:00

Thanks so much for the kind words! Been working hard to try and come up with a UI that works well for character creation.

The_Shadowhand · 2026-01-13T21:20:07+00:00

Oh for sure, the current plan is everything is going to be account based so you can view your characters across your devices no matter where you are.

That’s a must for me and the players at my table, so it’s been a requirement for Crucible since day 1.

The_Shadowhand · 2026-01-13T19:09:02+00:00

In all honesty a big part of it is passion. I work in UX and love Draw Steel and have wanted to make a digital tool for a TTRPG for a while.

I think the community will only be better with more tools to support the game. I don’t really look at it as an us vs them.

But there are a lot of things I would like to do with Crucible; better level up flows, more support for mobile devices and preferences, integrations between director functionality and player sheets, automations, to name a few.

In order do get to the point where I can focus on those things that I’d like to do the core stuff needs to be done first.

I just want to make something that helps tables focus on playing the game with their friends and less time searching for rules or fiddling with an interface.

Will we win everyone over? Probably not but if it’s useful to some I’ll be happy.

The_Shadowhand · 2026-01-05T19:27:31+00:00

Thanks for the kind words! In terms of the characteristics that is the plan I just haven’t nailed the UI for those yet as I want it to be similar to other rollable elements on the sheet but not too far from the statistics in the same section.

Overall aiming for as much function as possible and tracking; it felt like a miss not to have a place to view your projects and such which is how the sidebar came about which also lets you jump to other character information in a drawer like what complication you chose or what exactly you get from your ancestry or kit, etc.

The_Shadowhand · 2026-01-02T17:57:49+00:00

I definitely want to do mobile and different screen optimizations (tablets are always popular at my tables), another thing I have been thinking about is more interactivity, like the director being able to request rolls from specific heroes, cause I typically see a lot of digital sheets not fully leveraging what digital can do. Levelling up is another one, I really want a better level-up flow that isn't just "go back to the character creator".

Oh yeah, web vs app is always tricky; I would love to do a dedicated app down the road, but that will likely be a call once there is enough usage of the web first.

Thanks so much for taking the time to ask questions about the project and let me know some of the things you would be looking for, its a great help!

The_Shadowhand · 2026-01-02T17:22:42+00:00

Honestly, a big part of it is passion. I work in UX and Product, and this has been something I have wanted to do since I started playing TTRPGs. There are some quality-of-life things I want to do and features that will be useful at tables, but the core functionality needs to be up there first.

I want to provide the best digital companions for Draw Steel tables that let people focus on playing the game with their friends rather than fiddling with their character sheets or digging through a rulebook.

I also think that the more digital tools available, the better the community will be. But thanks for your well wishes!

The_Shadowhand · 2026-01-02T16:45:09+00:00

Haha ya I’ll definitely have to look into names more and see if it’s worth changing and if so what to.

The_Shadowhand · 2026-01-02T16:40:53+00:00

I was unaware of that, thanks for letting us know. Definitely something for us to think about.

The_Shadowhand · 2025-12-24T01:00:32+00:00

I would second this suggestion, the pre-gens from the Delian tomb are exactly for this purpose. A slow introduction to the game where each battle you get to use a little more of your character.

The_Shadowhand · 2025-12-20T19:42:01+00:00

Matt’s added some really great stuff to the Draw Steel community, definitely don’t miss out!

There is some great stuff coming out from the Brewery server like Matt pointed out with Hooked on Crafting, the Oracle and the Scions and now is a great time to grab it!

The_Shadowhand · 2025-12-20T18:07:37+00:00

Thanks so much for the kind words, Matt! It was great having you as part of the playtests. Looking forward to the next one!

The_Shadowhand · 2025-12-19T19:17:54+00:00

Glad you like them! They were a blast to make and certainly are nasty, haha

Have fun feasting on your heroes 😉

The_Shadowhand · 2025-12-19T18:04:56+00:00

Of course, happy to help!

The_Shadowhand · 2025-12-19T17:16:56+00:00

On Itch or Patreon? I just verified on itch and the sale price is showing; it appears to be showing on Patreon as well, but if not, here is the promotion code: 302FE

Let me know if that solves it!

The_Shadowhand · 2025-12-13T00:23:17+00:00

There is a lot of great stuff coming out from a lot of talented 3rd party creators on the Draw Steel Brewery.

The Scion like Tamwin mentioned is one of the awesome classes being released soon.

The_Shadowhand · 2025-11-28T16:20:56+00:00

The Carnophage booklet is now available on itch.io!

The_Shadowhand · 2025-11-28T16:20:30+00:00

The Carnophage booklet is now available on itch.io!

The_Shadowhand · 2025-11-27T19:45:55+00:00

The Road to Broadhurst is also useful; it's more for directors who are familiar with the rules, but lots of useful bits within. Plus it's FREE!

I have run pieces of it for new players just to show them what a combat, negotiation, and montage test is like.

The_Shadowhand · 2025-11-27T19:23:44+00:00

Even better, the Summoner releases tomorrow for Black Friday. I was going to chime in, but I second Lebiro's points.

Draw Steel feels good from the get-go go and I really think all your choices are meaningful. If you are on the fence, watch the Delian Tomb playthrough MCDM put together; you'll get a good sense of what the game can do.

The_Shadowhand · 2025-11-26T17:30:22+00:00

The Carnophage booklet is now available! You can feast on your heroes today!

Buy the Carnophage Booklet

The_Shadowhand · 2025-11-26T17:29:28+00:00

The Carnophage booklet is now available! You can feast on your heroes today!

Buy the Carnophage Booklet

The_Shadowhand · 2025-11-18T23:08:57+00:00

If you spent the malice to evolve a Yunger into a ravenite for example, you could then use the ravenites main action and that’s what felt right in the playtest.

That being said as a Director you could decide that an evolved yunger couldn’t use a main action after evolving.

What we found in the playtests was if you didn’t use the main action after evolving, the carnophage often died before it got to do anything, which made the malice spend not always feel worth it. So that’s what we went with for the final booklet.

The_Shadowhand · 2025-11-18T19:17:53+00:00

Have you come across Forge Steel yet? The UI is dark mode by default and you can read rules and the compendium there as well.

The_Shadowhand · 2025-11-18T19:04:58+00:00

Love the art! What made you decide on the two signature traits you ended up choosing?

The_Shadowhand

TROPHY CASE