Character creation kinda starts around 38:00 But you wouldn't skip half an hour of Uncle Matt's ramblings would you? c: I hope that after launch, we get some official MCDM video guides
I was playing DS with my friends a few weeks ago. Our shadow was surrounded by minions and looking in a bad way. The tactician used Mark on one of the minions, then used Seize the Opening to cause the Shadow to attack the marked minion. Then, he used “Flank them now” to cause the other Tactician to flank, giving the shadow a double edge. Then they got a tier 3 result and killed all the minions! This game is so cool!
While I'm sure its a better Game than 5e, this sentence evokes the same issues most people had with 4e. A better Game with rules that are fun to use, but it's not sparking the imagination with images of the narrative scenes you will be in. And its definitely not at you @HarmonicHewell . Just an observation about the game.
@@drekmastermind The interesting thing about that remark is that it’s devoid of criticism towards the game. You’ve disguised an opinion in a way that sounds like criticism, but really it’s an opinion. You not feeling like a scenario is cinematic doesn’t mean it wasn’t cinematic. It was plenty cinematic to us! These mechanics are fun to use AND they feed into the fantasy. In 5e it felt like we were doing all the work.
@@drekmastermind It doesn't evoke any of those same issues. This is literally a case of "well that's your opinion, man." and isn't really an observation about the game at all, I'm not sure how it could be. In fact (my opinion), I find it baffling this DIDN'T "spark your imagination with images of the narratives scenes you will be in." And here's why: I do not know how this game works, I don't know the rules or how combat works. I don't know what any of these classes are, I don't know what "minions" or "double edge" means mechanically. I don't know what any of these abilities are or do. I literally only know what these words mean in the English language outside of the context of this game, and yet I was able to visualize the situation Hewell was describing and could readily infer how much fun the group had as a result. Seems plenty capable of sparking the imagination to me.
I suspect that the people who only bought the Bestiary are part of a group, where one person buys the player stuff, one person buys the Director stuff, and one person buys the Monster stuff.
"Draw Steel" feels like a samurai calmly challenging you, or an old west-style duel; "Draw Steel!" Feels like an orc or a klingon screaming before pouncing, or a swashbuckler taunting and grinning.
Complete non-sequitur from the rpg, but if that waiting music playing off the synth from the first couple minutes of the stream were an original composition, I just wanted to say I really enjoyed that! It's got extraterrestrial vibes!
Hey! Super glad you liked it! :D It's mostly the Leibniz system from Xaoc Devices. My version of one of Tom Churchill's patches like so: ua-cam.com/video/tuXGlSHvyUc/v-deo.htmlsi=uWGsVbD9yVZTSAmB Here's a whole video just on the binary counter. ua-cam.com/video/tuXGlSHvyUc/v-deo.htmlsi=DNrRMRzqr0oGYVhV
@@mcolville Hey Matt, could you please upload the composition to your Soundcloud (or anywhere)? That would be great, I really liked it as well, and I'd like to be able to listen to it again independently.
That bit about “no one knows anything about RPGs and learns how to play” that’s basically how I learned. No one introduced me to the hobby, I just thought it sounded fun, got the basic rules, and DMed for some friends. It was terrible 😂
Just ran Bay of Blackwater and everyone loved the game and asked if we can keep playing this on game night instead of DnD. Great work. Draw Steel is so exciting.
Thanks for sharing about Tim Powers! I've been in a funk for over a year of not being attracted to almost any books recommended to me. But what you described was intriguing, and the advice that it's not as bad as it may seem gives me enough hope to jump into a new novel instead of just rereading comfort/escapism novels. Anyway, sorry to ramble. Just wanted to say thanks.
Took a crack at your oath from 1:23:00ish Even should the sun stop in the sky Even should the dawn be far a field By this oath, corruption defy I shall not yield Those who yearn for justice, I am your sword Those who suffer in need, I am your shield For Good* King Omend
Nah, I liked the version Matt read better. I kinda think rhyming is overrated to be honest, it's the meaning and the feeling that really matter I think.
@@conlon4332 agreed. Tbh, the only line in here I think would be worth considering is the second line, since he wanted to have the rhyming scheme for Yield and Shield. I just provided some alternative wording/ordering to get the creative juices going.
What I find very cool about that Punishment Curse on a Censor is that you could literally die from healing someone since you use your own recoveries instead of theirs. How fucking heroic is that?
I love how elaborate the backstory is, how many options there are. Instead of just picking a backstory, that being split up into multiple aspects gives so much more nuance, and is really inspiring me as to all kinds of different characters who have all kinds of different cultures and are all different to each other, and how they might come together and know each other, even if their race and some aspects of their background are different.
@@kj8840 I mean, it's certainly not the polearm referred to as a glaive, but I could see them giving it the name of a powerful and versatile known weapon. I mean what were they gonna call it, a bladearang? That's just silly ^_^
I have a copy of the dvd off to my right--I can't believe more people don't get how awesome the world building is...or even at least know the movie exists... :crickets:
Hey Matt, just wanted to say I got Flee, Mortals! for my birthday recently and my group absolutely loved the action-oriented Olothec they fought! Great stuff and can’t wait to use it further!
our shadow did such an amazing job of hit and run tactics, he barely took damage through the entire fall of black bottom, he didn't spend a single recovery, the rest of the party took a lot of damage spent recoveries, but I told him he gained renown for being only a rumor he is now a whispered of cryptid
@@blazegraves working on writing it out in a word doc and then will drop it in here, currently got through act 1. I am not a skilled story teller so doing my best, but also just trying to recall everything that happened and the order of things.
I REALLY fucking like the music at the beginning of this one Matt! Awesome job on the synth (also I’m sure the rest of the stream is great too, I’m just starting the VoD lol)
I'm getting sold haha, it sounds like the Elementalist with the 7 specialties covers everything I would ever want to play and more! Super cool, I love the elements idea! I already can't wait for them all to be available! The only thing is, I'm a sucker for the "everything can interbreed" aspect of D&D which Matt's world explicitly avoids, but I'm sure one could just decide it works that way in their world. For example I love the idea of half-dragons as described in the 5e Monster Manual, and just the idea in general of hybridising fantasy creatures.
I just finished a dnd campaign yesterday, and I’m already trying to sell them for on Draw Steel! after I got the backer packet. And it’s looking good so far. The built in simplicity of dice rolls/successes is super appealing. We had a cleric in that campaign that kinda struggled to do much of anything, so she really liked the idea of always succeed, just how much. Rather than fail to hit a guiding bolt and do nothing for a whole round.
Watching this, I am astounded by how *elegant* DRAW STEEL is. Like, of COURSE your stats are based by your class! Why is it ever any different? Also, I’m such a nerd, I gasped in delight watching Colville format a Google doc in a way I didn’t realize was possible.
I got to watch part of this live but then had family stuff to do. I really enjoy seeing Matt's process and explanation of the game. His excitement for this game is papable
My brother was one of those guys getting hyped on patreon and together we infected almost our entire group :D Draw Steel for me is pretty much the perfect middle ground I've found so far. Most of my experience comes from 5e (~1.5 years) and Pathfinder 2e (4-ish years), plus an assortment of dabbling in other systems. DS feels like it takes the best of both worlds (freedom + relative simplicity and character choices + robust systems), adds quite a bit of your own spice and distils all of that down to the core of the genre. Leaving only pure epic story.
me and my friends got together so we could play as soon as the packet came out, but on the same day it was released one of the players had a huge homework assignment and another got called into work. Proud to be one of the first directors to have a game fall apart before it even begins 🫡
Liquid Death, a good way to die lol. I really love how it feels to drinking fizzy water, and their Teas are very tasty. Draw Steel is such an “80’s Metal” name, and I LOVE it.
On Kits: I appreciate the flexibility to change out kits, but it feels like it would be a lot of itemization to change all of the mechanical bonuses when you do. I can imagine homebrewing kits could be easier/more fun than trying to design whole classes from scratch.
Thank you so much Matt for introducing me to The Blue Nile! I literally have a playlist called City Lights for songs that sound like driving through a beautiful city at night. Btw Nick Drake is amazing.
4:11:45. Goblin Points,Dice Society, & Power Roll. Had heck of a time finding when he mentioned podcasts going over Draw Steel. I would add Average Roll is also a channel to see people run through the playtest.
I wonder if DS would be good for shonen style combat since it has that focus on cinematic heroism, everyone tries shoehorning shonen stuff into DnD and it doesn't translate consistently
I think people didn't leave because they were bored. We enjoy uncle Matt. We just can't all dedicate several hours in the middle of Saturday to hang out
When you said "Declare" I heard "De Cleyre" and was expecting you to talk about 19th century anarchists. It was pretty confusing until you mentioned the author.
I have a warlock in my dnd game that is a warlock of a void entity. The first packet releases and has void magic! Immediately hoarding all of it to use as boons and rewards for the character!
The 'What was taken from you?' is SO good, I'm imagining John Wick writing that on his sheet after his dog (his last chance for a semblence of peace after his wife died) was killed, thus: monster hunter hero
Those Dragon Knights would be a great fit for the Dragonborn in my world; The Scaled Legions, unaging warriors who served the Dragon Emperors in ages past
I know it might not be fun to watch Matt struggle with formatting, but it's so freeing because I get stuck in stuff like this too. If Uncle Matt gets screwed over by formatting, maybe it's ok that I do too. Thanks for being human on camera. Oh, also. I'm so excited to take my players through this as soon as my current adventure is over.
I read thief and was wondering what a poulder was. As you mentioned the shadow melding, it reminded me of when the poulder disappeared without Heden knowing how/where.
3:50:22 I have a young Eladrin who accidentally slipped into the prime and a Rogue Drow saved her life. He raised her to be a Rogue too and when he was unjustly executed she took a Drow name to seek vengeance for him. Names in dnd can be very meaningful and have an impact on the character as well as the story. /If/ you put in the work for it.
Elric was a good series. the way Elric was described in first intro hooked me. Other good "Dnd" books that aren't LOTR would be Fafhrd and the grey mouser! Also loved Bellgariad and the Mallorean series. Those were so good too. of course Wheel of Time (Books, not garbage show)
The wheel of time is the best book series that I will never reread. There were so many times while reading that series that I would yell, "Get to the point!" at the author. It was enjoyable but very frustrating.
Looking forward to peeling through the material in the backer packet release, reorganizing it in a way that's interesting for me to absorb & experience, and then try to entice my friends to run it
On the topic of no-image rules, I think what those people mean is having rules with proper layout emphasis and sections is similar to current dnd book since all the images are not helping the text. Like yes I know how generic dwarf looks like it doesn't help me learn the racials and rules about them. If the pictures explain the rules it's a different story. And as far as playtesting I saw an interview with Marvel Snap CCG dev who said they are playtesting the game with mspaint images on cards since that greatly helps with card games, so you're right there, it's easier to associate a thing with an image than a text.
Pretty cool humans, I'm working on my own ttrpg and my humans have the ability to breed with monsters and create monstrous and intelligent races such as a Drakin (a human with horns, scales, tails, hands, and feet like dragons).
the backer packet is really cool! though i know i want my first character to be a memonek sailor of some sort, one who's been stranded in Orden (or it's equivalent) for a while and is searching for a way home, but i haven't figured out how to do that in the backer packet stuff yet.
Mucho credit for coming up with a significantly different game than most of the d20 clones. It isn't a game that will be for me (just too complicated, too many choices, too much going on), but I have great respect for your process and wish you luck.
Divine Interdiction is like Wish from Pokemon: a high max stamina/hp user can heal a low max stamina/hp target for massive a percentage of the targets max stamina/hp, making glass canons and such way harder to take down.
Ok, I thought the non-organic but naturally occuring mecha people with psionic technology were pretty cool. But then the god damn Time Raiders! Let's fucking go 😝😍👍
I possess one set of dice that I received from my older brother when I was like 12. The only die I have lost is the percentile die which would serve as my second d10 >.
I have a question. How does a Hakaan become a Revenant? If they can see the moment of their death, and they turn into rubble when they die outside of that moment and reconstitute in 12 hours, how could one die unjustly outside of that criteria? My thought is that the vision that they see of their death is also sometimes a trick; maybe the vision of their death is actually based on how they think that they should die, but sometimes it is wrong.
Seems a little strange to call them Dragon Knights. It makes me feel railroaded in backstory, personally. I suppose it's similar to the devils, where you can just say the railroaded reason for a devil being there happened a long time ago to an ancestor, and you have your own life...but with dragon knights that feels like it's related to a set time and place. I'm very excited for the RPG, but just voicing why I would be hesitating to pick a dragon knight unless I wanted that backstory.
Just change the backstory. Nobody is going to arrest you for doing so. He even explicitly said that multiple times through the video and even goes so far as to say they EXPECT people to do that. Take the mechanics and aesthetics, ditch the background. People should really feel more emboldened to use the parts of games they do like and change the parts they don't.
Did Matt make this character sheet available anywhere? Going to be running the playtest with 6 PCs and I thought it would be fun to use this as the 6th to avoid doubling up on classes.
@@mcolville Awesome thanks I was struggling on the backerkit site but the pre order was the key word i needed. Super excited, I think you have a phenomenal perspective on TTRPGs and can't wait to see how it translates to a full game.
0:00 synth music
5:07 intro (talking about books)
14:37 intro (talking about Draw Steel)
31:10 step 1: find a blank character sheet
39:10 step 2: choose an Ancestry
1:34:20 step 3: make your (or choose a premade) Culture
1:37:00 3a: environment
1:41:42 3b: organization
1:46:25 3c: upbringing
1:47:38 step 4: choose your Career
2:13:25 4a: Inciting Incident
2:16:01 4b: stop to pee
2:19:51 step 5: choose your Class
2:33:25 5a: Class details
2:36:00 5b: Stats (o7 Endurance)
2:38:20 5c: Stamina, Recoveries, Victories, & Heroic Resources
2:44:50 5d: Abilities
3:51:30 Step 6: Select a Kit
4:06:27 Step 7: Determine your Complication (optional)
4:20:58 outro, closing thoughts
Thank you!! 🙏
When I saw the length of this I was praying someone went through the tedious task of making time stamps - Thank ya for your service! 😌
You're a hero. Thank you!
thank you so much!
Stopping to pee is always a crucial step
You forgot the Blue Nile break at like 3:13:00
This Vod took me from "this seems really cool but idk if I'd have the time" to "I will make time to run this game".
Agree!
idk if I have the time to watch the video, but maybe if I split it up into a few sessions.
@@invisibledooley 100% worth it, lots of history and relevant design theory.
One fighter at a time returns, huzzah!
Character creation kinda starts around 38:00
But you wouldn't skip half an hour of Uncle Matt's ramblings would you? c:
I hope that after launch, we get some official MCDM video guides
2:19:00 ish for Return of the Matt
I was playing DS with my friends a few weeks ago. Our shadow was surrounded by minions and looking in a bad way. The tactician used Mark on one of the minions, then used Seize the Opening to cause the Shadow to attack the marked minion. Then, he used “Flank them now” to cause the other Tactician to flank, giving the shadow a double edge. Then they got a tier 3 result and killed all the minions! This game is so cool!
While I'm sure its a better Game than 5e, this sentence evokes the same issues most people had with 4e. A better Game with rules that are fun to use, but it's not sparking the imagination with images of the narrative scenes you will be in.
And its definitely not at you @HarmonicHewell . Just an observation about the game.
@@drekmastermind The interesting thing about that remark is that it’s devoid of criticism towards the game. You’ve disguised an opinion in a way that sounds like criticism, but really it’s an opinion. You not feeling like a scenario is cinematic doesn’t mean it wasn’t cinematic. It was plenty cinematic to us! These mechanics are fun to use AND they feed into the fantasy. In 5e it felt like we were doing all the work.
Just the names of the abilities "Seize the opening" and "flank them now" help to evoke the cinematic feeling for me
@@drekmastermind It doesn't evoke any of those same issues. This is literally a case of "well that's your opinion, man." and isn't really an observation about the game at all, I'm not sure how it could be. In fact (my opinion), I find it baffling this DIDN'T "spark your imagination with images of the narratives scenes you will be in." And here's why: I do not know how this game works, I don't know the rules or how combat works. I don't know what any of these classes are, I don't know what "minions" or "double edge" means mechanically. I don't know what any of these abilities are or do. I literally only know what these words mean in the English language outside of the context of this game, and yet I was able to visualize the situation Hewell was describing and could readily infer how much fun the group had as a result. Seems plenty capable of sparking the imagination to me.
I suspect that the people who only bought the Bestiary are part of a group, where one person buys the player stuff, one person buys the Director stuff, and one person buys the Monster stuff.
Yeah could be! In which case, they are well served by each getting a packet!
Congrats to MCDM for Draw Steel and creating such an epic game!
"Draw Steel" feels like a samurai calmly challenging you, or an old west-style duel; "Draw Steel!" Feels like an orc or a klingon screaming before pouncing, or a swashbuckler taunting and grinning.
Complete non-sequitur from the rpg, but if that waiting music playing off the synth from the first couple minutes of the stream were an original composition, I just wanted to say I really enjoyed that! It's got extraterrestrial vibes!
Hey! Super glad you liked it! :D
It's mostly the Leibniz system from Xaoc Devices. My version of one of Tom Churchill's patches like so:
ua-cam.com/video/tuXGlSHvyUc/v-deo.htmlsi=uWGsVbD9yVZTSAmB
Here's a whole video just on the binary counter.
ua-cam.com/video/tuXGlSHvyUc/v-deo.htmlsi=DNrRMRzqr0oGYVhV
Legit. I think this is the music of lawful entities like Modrons.
@@mcolville Hey Matt, could you please upload the composition to your Soundcloud (or anywhere)? That would be great, I really liked it as well, and I'd like to be able to listen to it again independently.
That was good
@@lambrosfouloulis5714 Alas I'm not really happy with it. I'm going to noodle on it some more to get it more muscial.
That bit about “no one knows anything about RPGs and learns how to play” that’s basically how I learned. No one introduced me to the hobby, I just thought it sounded fun, got the basic rules, and DMed for some friends. It was terrible 😂
Literally doing the dishes as Matt called me out :D
dude he caught me with this the other day, and then I lost my place on the video and started over a few days later and he got me AGAIN
When you first started describing Maneuvers, my first response was, "it's more of a gesture." Glad we were on the same page.
hoocha hoocha hoocha, lobster!
Well remembered
Just ran Bay of Blackwater and everyone loved the game and asked if we can keep playing this on game night instead of DnD. Great work. Draw Steel is so exciting.
Thanks for sharing about Tim Powers! I've been in a funk for over a year of not being attracted to almost any books recommended to me. But what you described was intriguing, and the advice that it's not as bad as it may seem gives me enough hope to jump into a new novel instead of just rereading comfort/escapism novels. Anyway, sorry to ramble. Just wanted to say thanks.
I have a problem caused by draw steel, finished running fall of black bottom and I do not want to go back to D&D.
Took a crack at your oath from 1:23:00ish
Even should the sun stop in the sky
Even should the dawn be far a field
By this oath, corruption defy
I shall not yield
Those who yearn for justice, I am your sword
Those who suffer in need, I am your shield
For Good* King Omend
Nah, I liked the version Matt read better. I kinda think rhyming is overrated to be honest, it's the meaning and the feeling that really matter I think.
Good job!
@@conlon4332 agreed. Tbh, the only line in here I think would be worth considering is the second line, since he wanted to have the rhyming scheme for Yield and Shield. I just provided some alternative wording/ordering to get the creative juices going.
*Good* King Omend
@@grantdixson1442 How uncivilized of me to include the epitaph. Fixed.
I come for the character build, but I stay for story time with uncle Matt.
Love the Krull callback with the half giants, legit classic
It's just too cool an idea to leave in an obscure movie that flopped in 1982.
@@mcolvilleone of my favorite movies! Crazy it flopped! It's too classic! Like the Glaive inspired so many other weapons, like Turok 2.
Am I the only one that thinks the modular synth intro sounds like an alien carnival is coming to town?
Killer Klowns from Outer Space, for sure
In case it's helpful to anyone, the Blue Nile song at 3:14:01 is "Because of Toledo". Thanks for introducing me, Matt!
What I find very cool about that Punishment Curse on a Censor is that you could literally die from healing someone since you use your own recoveries instead of theirs.
How fucking heroic is that?
I love how elaborate the backstory is, how many options there are. Instead of just picking a backstory, that being split up into multiple aspects gives so much more nuance, and is really inspiring me as to all kinds of different characters who have all kinds of different cultures and are all different to each other, and how they might come together and know each other, even if their race and some aspects of their background are different.
I deeply appreciate that the races have a personalized identity within the context of the world, and we’re not dealing with Tolkien copycats
55:45 I GET THAT REFFERANCE!! Its the cyclops from Krull, with the hero who has the bladed star thingy he throws out.
THANK YOU, I thought it was just me!
In the movie it’s called a glaive, it’s not.
@@kj8840 I mean, it's certainly not the polearm referred to as a glaive, but I could see them giving it the name of a powerful and versatile known weapon. I mean what were they gonna call it, a bladearang? That's just silly ^_^
I have a copy of the dvd off to my right--I can't believe more people don't get how awesome the world building is...or even at least know the movie exists... :crickets:
Adventure idea: Rescue Vant from the Chrysopolis
Enter Matt at 5:07
14:25 My favorite part of the old Halloween Nethack stream was when you read "Rohan had come, at last!"
"Half the people watching are doing dishes, you cant fool me" me right now literally doing dishes while watching vod. Uhhh yes i am Matt lol
I was on the dentist's bench
Hey Matt, just wanted to say I got Flee, Mortals! for my birthday recently and my group absolutely loved the action-oriented Olothec they fought! Great stuff and can’t wait to use it further!
our shadow did such an amazing job of hit and run tactics, he barely took damage through the entire fall of black bottom, he didn't spend a single recovery, the rest of the party took a lot of damage spent recoveries, but I told him he gained renown for being only a rumor he is now a whispered of cryptid
This is so awesome! Any chance you can do a summary of your game and keep me updated?
@blazegraves well I can certainly try. I cannot promise to avoid spoilers with such a tale, and I recommend all those who fear such horrors go no further... continued below. In standing with the MCDM license, this post is an independent product published under the DRAW STEEL Creator License and is not affiliated with MCDM Productions, LLC. DRAW STEEL © 2024 MCDM Productions, LLC.
I think this is far enough down
first to introduce our cast of heroes that will be referred to by their class to protect the anonymity of our actors. I served as the director, and played many rolls, the fool chief amongst them, as we were all learning together.
Our conduit was a young human woman that walked between life and death. She was sickly as a child, and with no hope of cure, threw herself into an ancient primordial bog to end her woe. The bog gave her protection from poison and corruption, and while sapping some of her resilience it left her without her sickness, it refused to take her life, for she had other work to be done. The bog granted her the domains of life and death to wield. She was found by mercenaries traveling through who decided she must be lucky and took her in. She now calls the bog to wither her foes and it causes the ground around her to be most difficult. The rise of Ajax has ruined her comrades’ careers hard to be mercenaries when it is so much easier to throw people into the body banks to make troops.
Returning to the Bog to commune it gifted her an ancient entity filled with rage and fury an enforcer to help in these dismal times.
Our Fury is a revenant once a corpse it has awakened in the bog and now follows about the young lady, it seeks to destroy threats, and crush foes, destroying the greatest of dangers with a berserker’s wrath. What drives him is unclear, what will sooth his soul is unknown, but he tends to bring woe to his foes. A mountain of a man, his origins long since lost to time. His armor though is incredibly outdated.
The human tactician was a fellow member of the mercenaries, armed to the teeth with no thoughts in his head, somehow this gentle himbo has always been able to help everyone fight to their best ability. Leading the charge as a vanguard, targeting foes, guiding allies, and inspiring them to keep going. Our tactician was an NPC and thus went with whatever direction the team felt best.
Staying at the same inn a charming devil with gleaming eyes and that could see through darkness and horns that stood proudly atop her head. She had long since learned how to wield flames and was a skilled elementalist. Her magic reached far and she could slings spells with the best of them.
Our final guest was but a mere shadow, a wode elf you could barely notice, some even claim they were never really there, only a few survivors express of his presence. But the heroes know that many a foe died to a sudden dagger blade, or a knife coming out of nowhere.
It was a crisp morning, with the smell of delicious food fresh from the harbor of black bottom in the air, our heroes could smell omelets with lobster mixed in, the sea air, and a feeling of calm. As they left their rooms taking note of the others, they made their way towards the stairs to descend from the third floor. Suddenly a thunderous crash came through the ceiling an orb of iron blazing with flames hurtled through each floor and came to a resounding thud on the bottom floor. Suddenly the building was in flames, the roof was gone, and the city was burning. Not to mention demons were making an absolute mess of everything. Dragging off innocent people tearing them apart and feasting on their souls. Hearing both the screams of frightened civilians and the danger to themselves the heroes quickly began to act in concert. While not knowing each other the best they quickly learned how to work together. The elementalist released lances of fire from their hand and launched a demon into a pillar, using their magic they knocked another one into the whole made by the orb. Running over to where some civilians were being attacked and helping them escape. In quick order each hero struck down demons and rescued civilians, including the conduit bravely helping two people slip out between rubble. And the shadow brutally stabbing a demon that had cornered someone in the baths. After making quick work of the top floor, the ground collapsed and they found themselves on the 2nd floor. Using various tricks such as teleportation, using a grappling hook to swing across the way and other clever tricks they landed between the demons and some fleeing civilians, having charged up the elementalist released a massive blaze that destroyed many of the demons before they could act, and the shadow flicked in and finished off one of the demon leaders before they knew what hit them. The fury took the brunt of the threat on and smashed many foes while the tactician granted him additional strikes, many foes were pushed through the holes to fall to their death, one teleported most of the way back up only to be bonked back down to its own demise. The shadow ran into a sealed door with a civilian behind it, refusing to leave him behind he used a window to gain line of sight to the balcony and teleported through allowing him to bully the person to get the heck out. Others went door to door, grabbing those that they found inside, or lifting heavy objects out of the way. When it came time to go down to the third floor our heroes chose to leap down and control their descent. Our fury landed on top of the orb and immediately went to work smashing it, enraged by the black sphere bringing forth demons instead of morning exercise music. The others were attacked by a vicious magic wielding demon that brought forth an area of fleshy goo that harmed those that moved through it. Then pushed our friends through it causing them to suffer. The conduit immediately set to smiting them to punish them for their transgressions and found the demon wanting before her divine might. The elementalist once again ignited a large group of foes burning them to dust, and with a bit of a trick up their sleeve blew one through a wall with a fiery explosion. The shadow seemed to appear and disappear constantly with another monster simply dying each time. A step here and a shot there, and a poof of black ash. A demon known for similar power injured by its fall from the upper floor warped to the top of the orb grabbed the fury by the throat and teleported them both above the flames falling to the ground it burned up but the revenant was seriously wounded. Waiving his net around his head like a shirtless frat bro at a party the tactician brought his trident down on a demon and inspired the fury to continue pushing forward soothing an elemental force within the fury. Who turned around and dealt the final blow to the orb. Our heroes were able to save all those in the inn, and shatter the Iron Orb, these heroic deeds earned them victory over the burning inn, and some extra healing this ended session 1, and also Act 1.
Act 2 to follow
@@blazegraves working on writing it out in a word doc and then will drop it in here, currently got through act 1. I am not a skilled story teller so doing my best, but also just trying to recall everything that happened and the order of things.
@blazegraves well I can certainly try. I cannot promise to avoid spoilers with such a tale, and I recommend all those who fear such horrors go no further... continued below. In standing with the MCDM license, this post is an independent product published under the DRAW STEEL Creator License and is not affiliated with MCDM Productions, LLC. DRAW STEEL © 2024 MCDM Productions, LLC.
I think this is far enough down
first to introduce our cast of heroes that will be referred to by their class to protect the anonymity of our actors. I served as the director, and played many rolls, the fool chief amongst them, as we were all learning together.
Our conduit was a young human woman that walked between life and death. She was sickly as a child, and with no hope of cure, threw herself into an ancient primordial bog to end her woe. The bog gave her protection from poison and corruption, and while sapping some of her resilience it left her without her sickness, it refused to take her life, for she had other work to be done. The bog granted her the domains of life and death to wield. She was found by mercenaries traveling through who decided she must be lucky and took her in. She now calls the bog to wither her foes and it causes the ground around her to be most difficult. The rise of Ajax has ruined her comrades’ careers hard to be mercenaries when it is so much easier to throw people into the body banks to make troops.
Returning to the Bog to commune it gifted her an ancient entity filled with rage and fury an enforcer to help in these dismal times.
Our Fury is a revenant once a corpse it has awakened in the bog and now follows about the young lady, it seeks to destroy threats, and crush foes, destroying the greatest of dangers with a berserker’s wrath. What drives him is unclear, what will sooth his soul is unknown, but he tends to bring woe to his foes. A mountain of a man, his origins long since lost to time. His armor though is incredibly outdated.
The human tactician was a fellow member of the mercenaries, armed to the teeth with no thoughts in his head, somehow this gentle himbo has always been able to help everyone fight to their best ability. Leading the charge as a vanguard, targeting foes, guiding allies, and inspiring them to keep going. Our tactician was an NPC and thus went with whatever direction the team felt best.
Staying at the same inn a charming devil with gleaming eyes and that could see through darkness and horns that stood proudly atop her head. She had long since learned how to wield flames and was a skilled elementalist. Her magic reached far and she could slings spells with the best of them.
Our final guest was but a mere shadow, a wode elf you could barely notice, some even claim they were never really there, only a few survivors express of his presence. But the heroes know that many a foe died to a sudden dagger blade, or a knife coming out of nowhere.
It was a crisp morning, with the smell of delicious food fresh from the harbor of black bottom in the air, our heroes could smell omelets with lobster mixed in, the sea air, and a feeling of calm. As they left their rooms taking note of the others, they made their way towards the stairs to descend from the third floor. Suddenly a thunderous crash came through the ceiling an orb of iron blazing with flames hurtled through each floor and came to a resounding thud on the bottom floor. Suddenly the building was in flames, the roof was gone, and the city was burning. Not to mention demons were making an absolute mess of everything. Dragging off innocent people tearing them apart and feasting on their souls. Hearing both the screams of frightened civilians and the danger to themselves the heroes quickly began to act in concert. While not knowing each other the best they quickly learned how to work together. The elementalist released lances of fire from their hand and launched a demon into a pillar, using their magic they knocked another one into the whole made by the orb. Running over to where some civilians were being attacked and helping them escape. In quick order each hero struck down demons and rescued civilians, including the conduit bravely helping two people slip out between rubble. And the shadow brutally stabbing a demon that had cornered someone in the baths. After making quick work of the top floor, the ground collapsed and they found themselves on the 2nd floor. Using various tricks such as teleportation, using a grappling hook to swing across the way and other clever tricks they landed between the demons and some fleeing civilians, having charged up the elementalist released a massive blaze that destroyed many of the demons before they could act, and the shadow flicked in and finished off one of the demon leaders before they knew what hit them. The fury took the brunt of the threat on and smashed many foes while the tactician granted him additional strikes, many foes were pushed through the holes to fall to their death, one teleported most of the way back up only to be bonked back down to its own demise. The shadow ran into a sealed door with a civilian behind it, refusing to leave him behind he used a window to gain line of sight to the balcony and teleported through allowing him to bully the person to get the heck out. Others went door to door, grabbing those that they found inside, or lifting heavy objects out of the way. When it came time to go down to the third floor our heroes chose to leap down and control their descent. Our fury landed on top of the orb and immediately went to work smashing it, enraged by the black sphere bringing forth demons instead of morning exercise music. The others were attacked by a vicious magic wielding demon that brought forth an area of fleshy goo that harmed those that moved through it. Then pushed our friends through it causing them to suffer. The conduit immediately set to smiting them to punish them for their transgressions and found the demon wanting before her divine might. The elementalist once again ignited a large group of foes burning them to dust, and with a bit of a trick up their sleeve blew one through a wall with a fiery explosion. The shadow seemed to appear and disappear constantly with another monster simply dying each time. A step here and a shot there, and a poof of black ash. A demon known for similar power injured by its fall from the upper floor warped to the top of the orb grabbed the fury by the throat and teleported them both above the flames falling to the ground it burned up but the revenant was seriously wounded. Waiving his net around his head like a shirtless frat bro at a party the tactician brought his trident down on a demon and inspired the fury to continue pushing forward soothing an elemental force within the fury. Who turned around and dealt the final blow to the orb. Our heroes were able to save all those in the inn, and shatter the Iron Orb, these heroic deeds earned them victory over the burning inn, and some extra healing this ended session 1, and also Act 1.
Act 2 to follow
I think it might be too long, or might be getting deleted either way it seems I cannot
Can we all agree that when Draw Steel gets an inevitable third edition we call it 3DS? ...Anyone?
I REALLY fucking like the music at the beginning of this one Matt! Awesome job on the synth
(also I’m sure the rest of the stream is great too, I’m just starting the VoD lol)
I'm getting sold haha, it sounds like the Elementalist with the 7 specialties covers everything I would ever want to play and more! Super cool, I love the elements idea! I already can't wait for them all to be available! The only thing is, I'm a sucker for the "everything can interbreed" aspect of D&D which Matt's world explicitly avoids, but I'm sure one could just decide it works that way in their world. For example I love the idea of half-dragons as described in the 5e Monster Manual, and just the idea in general of hybridising fantasy creatures.
I just finished a dnd campaign yesterday, and I’m already trying to sell them for on Draw Steel! after I got the backer packet. And it’s looking good so far. The built in simplicity of dice rolls/successes is super appealing. We had a cleric in that campaign that kinda struggled to do much of anything, so she really liked the idea of always succeed, just how much. Rather than fail to hit a guiding bolt and do nothing for a whole round.
Watching this, I am astounded by how *elegant* DRAW STEEL is. Like, of COURSE your stats are based by your class! Why is it ever any different?
Also, I’m such a nerd, I gasped in delight watching Colville format a Google doc in a way I didn’t realize was possible.
I got to watch part of this live but then had family stuff to do. I really enjoy seeing Matt's process and explanation of the game. His excitement for this game is papable
My brother was one of those guys getting hyped on patreon and together we infected almost our entire group :D
Draw Steel for me is pretty much the perfect middle ground I've found so far. Most of my experience comes from 5e (~1.5 years) and Pathfinder 2e (4-ish years), plus an assortment of dabbling in other systems. DS feels like it takes the best of both worlds (freedom + relative simplicity and character choices + robust systems), adds quite a bit of your own spice and distils all of that down to the core of the genre. Leaving only pure epic story.
Dance of the Spooky and Malevolent Sugarplum Fairy
me and my friends got together so we could play as soon as the packet came out, but on the same day it was released one of the players had a huge homework assignment and another got called into work. Proud to be one of the first directors to have a game fall apart before it even begins 🫡
Liquid Death, a good way to die lol. I really love how it feels to drinking fizzy water, and their Teas are very tasty.
Draw Steel is such an “80’s Metal” name, and I LOVE it.
On Kits: I appreciate the flexibility to change out kits, but it feels like it would be a lot of itemization to change all of the mechanical bonuses when you do. I can imagine homebrewing kits could be easier/more fun than trying to design whole classes from scratch.
There's only a couple numbers and an action with each. And I doubt people will be doing it that often
Thank you so much Matt for introducing me to The Blue Nile! I literally have a playlist called City Lights for songs that sound like driving through a beautiful city at night.
Btw Nick Drake is amazing.
4:11:45. Goblin Points,Dice Society, & Power Roll. Had heck of a time finding when he mentioned podcasts going over Draw Steel.
I would add Average Roll is also a channel to see people run through the playtest.
I really like the group from Average Roll. They're pretty cool. And a longtime choob is the Director!
The intro music is insane. Loved it!
I wonder if DS would be good for shonen style combat since it has that focus on cinematic heroism, everyone tries shoehorning shonen stuff into DnD and it doesn't translate consistently
I think people didn't leave because they were bored. We enjoy uncle Matt. We just can't all dedicate several hours in the middle of Saturday to hang out
Summoner killed during the ritual, stranding the Devil?
Robert Asprin is very pleased 😊
LOVED the Myth Inc. books as a kid!
2:46:40 "An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded." - librarian, WH40K Dawn of War
The realisation that a knight can be a fury and not tactician is changing everything
But can they be a furry?
Draw Steel Squirrelfolk when?
@@conorkelleher2571homebrew it! Open license and all that makes it easier
When you said "Declare" I heard "De Cleyre" and was expecting you to talk about 19th century anarchists. It was pretty confusing until you mentioned the author.
It is I.... LECLERC !
Dude, the Kim Philby story is crazy. I really love Tinker Tailor; it's what got me into real life spy stories.
Man just listening to the bar scene was...❤❤❤
I have a warlock in my dnd game that is a warlock of a void entity. The first packet releases and has void magic! Immediately hoarding all of it to use as boons and rewards for the character!
I regret that I had to drop out of the stream before we had The Blue Nile break. One of the best bands of all time.
Ok doomsight is the dopest shit I've ever heard of
Big Whirrun of Bligh energy
@@cholulahotsauce6166 Oh, a first law reference. Nice
The 'What was taken from you?' is SO good, I'm imagining John Wick writing that on his sheet after his dog (his last chance for a semblence of peace after his wife died) was killed, thus: monster hunter hero
Those Dragon Knights would be a great fit for the Dragonborn in my world; The Scaled Legions, unaging warriors who served the Dragon Emperors in ages past
I know it might not be fun to watch Matt struggle with formatting, but it's so freeing because I get stuck in stuff like this too. If Uncle Matt gets screwed over by formatting, maybe it's ok that I do too. Thanks for being human on camera.
Oh, also. I'm so excited to take my players through this as soon as my current adventure is over.
haha, ive listened to soooo many hours of Matt while doing dishes
Chores listeners rise up
@@chrism6315 ASSEMBLE!!
I read thief and was wondering what a poulder was. As you mentioned the shadow melding, it reminded me of when the poulder disappeared without Heden knowing how/where.
It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who felt some shit during your dune readings lol 14:48 (edit to add time stamp)
"Story Time with Uncle Matt" is the best fucking thing ever.
46:00 me literally watching VOD while doing the dishes
Same!
The half-giants sound like the cyclops people from Krull.
They DO sound like that!
@@mcolville Which is awesome
Thank you for some book recommendations. I'll be sure to read a few of them.
3:50:22 I have a young Eladrin who accidentally slipped into the prime and a Rogue Drow saved her life. He raised her to be a Rogue too and when he was unjustly executed she took a Drow name to seek vengeance for him. Names in dnd can be very meaningful and have an impact on the character as well as the story. /If/ you put in the work for it.
Oh yeah, it’s all coming together
I have the german translated Elric Books 1-6 on my Desk right now because of you :D
Elric was a good series. the way Elric was described in first intro hooked me. Other good "Dnd" books that aren't LOTR would be Fafhrd and the grey mouser! Also loved Bellgariad and the Mallorean series. Those were so good too. of course Wheel of Time (Books, not garbage show)
The wheel of time is the best book series that I will never reread. There were so many times while reading that series that I would yell, "Get to the point!" at the author. It was enjoyable but very frustrating.
Looking forward to peeling through the material in the backer packet release, reorganizing it in a way that's interesting for me to absorb & experience, and then try to entice my friends to run it
Looks pretty promising. Hoping to pre-order soon and double hoping my group is open to giving it a shot.
the Dragon Knight Oath SURELY MUST contain "Until the Last Villain Dies."
Saw the packets dropped, excited to get a good look at the content.
On the topic of no-image rules, I think what those people mean is having rules with proper layout emphasis and sections is similar to current dnd book since all the images are not helping the text. Like yes I know how generic dwarf looks like it doesn't help me learn the racials and rules about them. If the pictures explain the rules it's a different story. And as far as playtesting I saw an interview with Marvel Snap CCG dev who said they are playtesting the game with mspaint images on cards since that greatly helps with card games, so you're right there, it's easier to associate a thing with an image than a text.
Pretty cool humans, I'm working on my own ttrpg and my humans have the ability to breed with monsters and create monstrous and intelligent races such as a Drakin (a human with horns, scales, tails, hands, and feet like dragons).
In this video:
Uncle Matt teaches us how to format documents.
Can this whole channel be Matt reading his fiction aloud? 😂
the backer packet is really cool! though i know i want my first character to be a memonek sailor of some sort, one who's been stranded in Orden (or it's equivalent) for a while and is searching for a way home, but i haven't figured out how to do that in the backer packet stuff yet.
Mucho credit for coming up with a significantly different game than most of the d20 clones. It isn't a game that will be for me (just too complicated, too many choices, too much going on), but I have great respect for your process and wish you luck.
Excited for this, but I have to finish Josh Strife Replays 72hr morrowind video so I'll check it out in a day or two!
Cant wait to run some games in this system! Finna look over my packet 👌
Divine Interdiction is like Wish from Pokemon: a high max stamina/hp user can heal a low max stamina/hp target for massive a percentage of the targets max stamina/hp, making glass canons and such way harder to take down.
Ok, I thought the non-organic but naturally occuring mecha people with psionic technology were pretty cool.
But then the god damn Time Raiders! Let's fucking go 😝😍👍
The intro music feels like some kind of surreal horror.
I possess one set of dice that I received from my older brother when I was like 12. The only die I have lost is the percentile die which would serve as my second d10 >.
The only die I have left from my original 1980s set is the d4. Probably because it's the most useless one!
What do you mean squinions won't be in the book?! What is this foolery of tombs?!
Plus humans have potential to become powerful undead while keeping atonemy as undead
I have a question. How does a Hakaan become a Revenant? If they can see the moment of their death, and they turn into rubble when they die outside of that moment and reconstitute in 12 hours, how could one die unjustly outside of that criteria?
My thought is that the vision that they see of their death is also sometimes a trick; maybe the vision of their death is actually based on how they think that they should die, but sometimes it is wrong.
before starting the video I just want to say... Draw Steellll!!
The polls joke got me @37:48 hahaha
Seems a little strange to call them Dragon Knights. It makes me feel railroaded in backstory, personally. I suppose it's similar to the devils, where you can just say the railroaded reason for a devil being there happened a long time ago to an ancestor, and you have your own life...but with dragon knights that feels like it's related to a set time and place.
I'm very excited for the RPG, but just voicing why I would be hesitating to pick a dragon knight unless I wanted that backstory.
Just change the backstory. Nobody is going to arrest you for doing so. He even explicitly said that multiple times through the video and even goes so far as to say they EXPECT people to do that. Take the mechanics and aesthetics, ditch the background. People should really feel more emboldened to use the parts of games they do like and change the parts they don't.
Wow, it takes 4 and a half hours to make a single character in Draw Steel!? (This is a joke, Matt, don't kill me.)
But kinda for real??
@@kylehwilliamsno. It takes about 20 minutes IRL.
Love the 1776 reference!
Did Matt make this character sheet available anywhere? Going to be running the playtest with 6 PCs and I thought it would be fun to use this as the 6th to avoid doubling up on classes.
Dragon Knight = Jedi Knight...
I'm looking at the Soldier career and I cannot make sense of the Hope Token bit. Has it yet been adressed?
is it too late to become a backer. I want to run this for my local game night but I might have missed the boat :(
Never too late to preorder! Google "Draw Steel Backerkit."
@@mcolville Awesome thanks I was struggling on the backerkit site but the pre order was the key word i needed. Super excited, I think you have a phenomenal perspective on TTRPGs and can't wait to see how it translates to a full game.
Has anyone played Veil of Darkness from 90s? The intro reminds me of that game!
listening to your voice i could paint a lot of minis...
Cool intro music!