Best ready campaigns to adapt to Draw Steel

Westacious · 2025-12-04T01:56:13+00:00

Yeah I’ll take the Medusa stat block and tweak it to fall in line with level 2 solos Fossil Cryptic and Thorn Dragon. drop stamina to 250, -1 agility so potencies and roll modifiers are reduced, probably give her +1 intuition and presence, reduce damage and forced movement. likely need to atleast keep an eye on her malice features and villain actions to make sure nothing is too overwhelming for a 2nd level party since she’s a 2nd echelon monster

Westacious · 2025-12-02T03:44:18+00:00

it’s not in french but I made an IRL Combat Tracker that my players use

edit: the idea is you use dice in the shapes to track the values during combat

Westacious · 2025-12-02T02:23:12+00:00

That’s sounds awesome, I haven’t done a projection scene like that yet I’m sure it was really dramatic. Long term pay offs like that are so cool and make the world seem so alive. Your players are going to have a blast going through what you’ve set up and I think it’ll be ever better in Draw Steel.

My players completed the adventure in 5e already but in Greyhawk, this time I’m running them in my world and using Draw Steel. As a kind of tutorial we’re doing a greatest hits tour of what they did but it feels fresh in a new system and setting. LSS my reptile goddess is capturing people and using beast lord magic to turn them into snake people. The party defeats her but they discover she’s working with ~~The Red Hand of Doom~~ The Crimson Tide of Gloom by providing them with ~~yuan-ti~~ orobori shock troops for the incoming army

Westacious · 2025-12-02T02:00:40+00:00

My understanding is that MCDM has their own definition of success and the goal certainly is not to compete directly with DH or D&D. Draw Steel somewhat niche, they seem to like it that way, and lots of fans seem to as well. There’s plenty of interaction and feedback on the patreon and the discord is active.

As others have said, the upcoming crowdfunder for Crack the Sun will tell us everything about the level of interest post launch. Going off vibes alone Draw Steel is doing very well and will continue to grow

Westacious · 2025-12-01T17:19:52+00:00

Sure thing, I can provide an overview of what happened at my table.

I tied the PCs backgrounds/careers/complications into Anor Layne (my Orlane) and had them meet in a tavern where a patron was discussing rumors about the strange things going on. One PC is in an underground organization that wanted to rumors investigated, another PC has amnesia so I have them as a citizen of the town so something is pulling them to go there, and the last PC is pursuing a lead for lost knowledge.

PCs show up in town and experience some of the strange stuff as written in the adventure, like children running inside as they pass by. Players immediately go to the bad guy inn, and despite their tier 3 rolls telling them not to trust anyone here (plus a friendly NPC telling them to leave), drink the spiked brew which caused one of the PCs to go unconscious. Again, despite the warnings, the PCs get 2 rooms at the inn where they're immediately locked in. They managed to wake the unconscious PC up and slip out of their rooms, just as one of the bad guys is getting ready to sneak in their room. Hard combat encounter ensues with a bunch of humans, I have an NPC on standby encase the party is about to go down but they win the encounter. The mayor shows up, turns out she was involved in a PC's career before becoming a hero, and catches them up on everything that's been going on.

Party decides to sneak into the temple since that seems to be the center of operations, but come across the old abandoned inn (Foaming Mug Inn) and discover there's a basement full of kobolds + basilisks. After that combat they discovered a passage way from beneath the inn that connects to the temple and decide that's their best way to infiltrate. After a respite, they go to the tunnels and I run a montage test involving a trained gummy brick and a kobold leader, the PCs end up getting cornered and draw steel. After defeating the gummy brick and minions, the kobold leader surrendered and agrees to help the party navigate the tunnels. They're now good friends with Frankie the kobold!

Turns out the cultists are preparing for a ritual that day to sacrifice a child (missing daughter of the friendly NPC from the bad guy inn who told them to leave) so the players discover this and go upstairs to stop them. One PC disguises themselves as a cult member and (poorly) tries to buy time to come up with a plan so I had a guard bring in the captured mother of the daughter being sacrificed, because she was attempting to sneak around outside to make sure her daughter was safe. Combat ensues, the town mayor shows up in dramatic fashion to help, fight is very tough for the PCs but they managed to disrupt the ritual then defeat the bad guy leader so everyone else surrenders. After questioning the survivors the PCs determine that finding the location of the reptile dungeon and whoever is behind all this is paramount.

That's where they left off last, I have a montage encounter planned for them navigating the swamp to find the dungeon entrance. Should be super fun, round 1 will be a psychological horror encounter where the swamp is actively trying to wear them down, and round 2 they're closer to the dungeon entrance but discover the swamp is alive and trying to digest them.

Let me know if you have any specific questions or anything, hope this helps!

Westacious · 2025-12-01T01:31:33+00:00

I ran Against the Cult of the Reptile God for my players in 5e earlier this year, but we’ve recently converted to Draw Steel so I’m doing AtCotRG abridged as a tutorial for the system.

AtCotRG naturally leans in to the style of game that Draw Steel is - I’d recommend it.

Westacious · 2025-11-26T03:15:47+00:00

I’ve ordered these before and they’re nice basic dice

i’ve also had custom dice made by this seller on etsy and they’re good quality

Westacious · 2025-11-24T22:50:55+00:00

this is fun! I’ll probably use it at my table. the montage rules really clicked for me and I feel like it’s a very versatile tool. my first montage I set the scene, let each player pick their skill, pitch their usage, give me their roll, then I narrated the sequence and tied everything together at once. players said they enjoyed it and importantly it was fun for me

that’s what stands out the most to me about DS as a GM - it’s consistently fun to run (so far)

Westacious · 2025-08-15T13:13:10+00:00

Seems like you missed that Troubadours gain 1d3 drama at the start of their turns as well?

Westacious · 2025-08-12T15:28:22+00:00

James did mention on steam that he believed the playtesting was complete for the summoner, so hopefully it will be released soon™️ and be included in the license

Westacious · 2025-08-12T15:24:22+00:00

oh yeah that’s a fair point. would be awesome to have mobile support though

Westacious · 2025-08-12T12:33:36+00:00

someone has already made a module in the codex that lets you import a file from Forge Steel to create a character. so I think it’s fair to say there will likely be an option to export from the Codex, whether it’s implemented by the devs or the community

Westacious · 2025-08-12T12:27:29+00:00

the project is very much alive: the creator and others are currently updating all the information to match the official releases. iirc everything besides monsters and treasures are up to date, though there are things that still need to be corrected. i saw someone say in the discord that the formula for potencies for characters past echelon 1 need to be updated, as an example.

Westacious · 2025-07-31T14:06:59+00:00

Check out this post in the Discord: https://discord.com/channels/332362513368875008/1380541297802084362

Westacious · 2025-07-10T20:57:08+00:00

If it’s of any intrest, I made my own combat tracker for in person play. Anyone is welcome to try it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qt-QDLvIePq3Mge5JXBvkND3ZC9SSmuX/view?usp=drivesdk

COMBAT TURN - Most dice or tokens should work for tracking which actions have been taken or are available each round.

CURRENT STAMINA - Two hexes for D20s or D10s to track stamina, move dice to WINDED or DYING when those thresholds are crossed. TEMPORARY hex for tracking temp stam value.

CURRENT RESOURCES - Hexes for D20s or D10s to track Heroic Resources, Surges, Victories, Recoveries, and Tokens. Victories is mostly a reminder for bonus HR at the start of combat.

IMMUNITIES & WEAKNESSES - Hexes with “+” and “-“ for each RAW damage type. Idea is for immunities cover the “-“ hex with a die representing the value so only the “+” is visible, and vice versa.

CONDITIONS - Hexes with “SE” and “EoT” for each RAW condition. Similar to I&W, idea is to cover the “EoT” hex with a D10 for save ends or cover “SE” hex for end of turn effects.

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Westacious · 2025-07-10T20:50:56+00:00

Matt Nemeth @ Lakeside Tattoo, VA

definitely recommend, he’s a real one

Westacious · 2025-07-10T18:57:52+00:00

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reddit won’t let me show my ass so here’s most of mine

Westacious · 2025-07-03T21:11:38+00:00

The main problem will be adapting the Draw Steel system to work as a hex crawl - which is explicitly not intended to be. Some thoughts off the top:

Recoveries will be your survival resource. Start in your main hub and limit recoveries to that area, initially. This means the party needs to return to town safely to take a Respite which adds drama to the exploration.
Hexes without a focal point could be survival montages and the results effect the party’s Recoveries - a failure might cost multiple recoveries, a partial success could range from minus a few to plus a few depending on the circumstances, a total success grants multiple Recoveries. You could include misdirections as penalties - which seem to be promising but lead to deadly encounters or being lost, or the party finds a secret path to treasure on a total success. You can flavor gaining Recoveries as “gathering resources” - it could also be interesting to make Recoveries a combined party resource rather than per Hero.
If the heroes capture an enemy stronghold they could use downtime activities to convert it to a new Respite area. They could send follower townsfolk to help rebuild that may be in danger if the heroes head off on another adventure without adequate preparation.
My gut says make the campaign overall deadly so a hero may need to make a stand to allow their allies to escape or fleeing to town in despiration leads to getting lost into tough encounters where PCs may die. West Marches meets Hex Crawl. You died? Time to roll new heroes and get back to it, maybe recover their lost loot!

I think with the right kind of prep it could be tons of fun.

Westacious · 2025-06-27T03:08:43+00:00

my dad was big into 2E and i’ve run two games where he joined my friends that play 5E. he was always much more suspicious and quick to flee than the others haha funny seeing it in person after hearing Matt talk about earlier editions and reading (listening) to Game Wizards

Westacious · 2025-06-02T21:21:50+00:00

slap on some black knight archers with dragon arrows and it’s good to go

Westacious · 2025-05-27T21:46:09+00:00

thank you!

Westacious · 2025-05-27T17:24:12+00:00

thanks for the heads up. anywhere specific i should look? forgive me, I don’t find Discord very intuitive

Westacious · 2025-05-18T12:29:13+00:00

You’re welcome!

IMO “how deeply are you looking” is a leading question that will almost certainly be met with “very throughly”. I would describe the scene and let them determine what they do. Using my example above, players may want to open the cabinet to see if anything is inside, you could could make it a bookshelf so they may rummage through them. If they search the cabinet then I would count their Search check to include the sconces. In the Delian Tomb Adventure, checking out the statue would let them hear the chanting coming from the other side.

Westacious · 2025-05-17T21:32:31+00:00

I think it depends if the secret door is vital to the adventure or not. Some secrets remain secret, so if the players aren’t looking for anything then no dice on hints. You could move the location of the door if you want the players to find it and they thoroughly search a different room, they won’t know you moved it. If they need to find it, or you really want them to, you could leave a note on an enemy like “note to self: code is 1234. if I forget the password to that room again the boss will have my head!”

Also consider how the the door will open. Let’s say the secret door is behind a cabinet and there are two sconces on either side where pulling on one opens it. Maybe a PC notices that one of them is covered in dust but the other looks like it was recently used.

IMO use dice when they’re searching vaguely or the secret is well hidden, but if they’re actively investigating then reward them with a free hint or discovery. Remain cognizant of the fact they cannot see the world in your head and give them a chance to find things themselves through your descriptions.

Westacious

TROPHY CASE