Patreon Q&A May 2025 on Thursday May 8th!
Added 2025-05-05 18:00:04 +0000 UTCHey folks! Dael is going to be live this Thursday May 8th at 4PM Pacific time here on Patreon asking Djordi, Willy, and James your burning questions about the Delian Tomb and other Draw Steel adventures! Get ready for us to reveal a bit more of what's coming down the pike.
The stream will be hosted here on Patreon. We'll send out a post with the video right before we go live. And don't worry! If you miss the stream, you'll still be able to access the video later.
In the meantime, post your questions for us about Draw Steel adventures in the comments below, and Dael might ask them on air! See ya then!
Comments
No, no plans for GenCon in the immediate future. It's not really our kind of show. -MC
MCDM Productions
2025-05-09 07:02:07 +0000 UTCAre there any plans for MCDM to have any presence at Gen Con this year? I would love a chance to play Draw Steel there and possibly meet any of the designers. Love you guys.
Bruce Brown
2025-05-08 23:01:50 +0000 UTCAs you begin dreaming up new games and products have you considered some of those products also using Orden as their "default" world?
Christian Keegan
2025-05-08 01:05:50 +0000 UTCis there plans to make something akin to Stronghold rules for DS, some of the projects feel like there should be or am I missing something obvious?
The Yaki
2025-05-07 19:28:48 +0000 UTCJames mentioned Goblins as a playable ancestry on this week's live stream. What do you think are the important hallmarks of being a goblin PC?
Ryan Williams
2025-05-07 16:51:22 +0000 UTCWho has worked on Draw Steel the most who DOESN'T work at MCDM? Who are your biggest freelancers?
Ryan Williams
2025-05-07 16:49:11 +0000 UTCShould people avoid Drawing Steel in their zeppelinized, art deco, industrial-nightmarish worlds? Or is Draw Steel fit for any fantasy story about fighting monsters?
Herma
2025-05-07 12:25:02 +0000 UTCAs writers, how does the idea of writing full campaigns vary from writing them for d20 fantasy? What are the challenges you face in one system versus another? Also how’s editorial coming along?
Ben Milne
2025-05-07 04:32:27 +0000 UTCI understand the need for lower and mid level adventures especially for the release of the game. Thinking a bit more long term are there any high level adventures in early planning or on an idea board somewhere?
Christian Keegan
2025-05-07 01:42:28 +0000 UTCI understood there are plans to have the MCDM version of Orden become a "living setting" with slowly evolving lore as time goes on and/or new places are "discovered". Will there a way players/patreon members can contribute to this, if so how?
haggis42
2025-05-06 21:39:36 +0000 UTCWill you please speak about campaign styles for Draw Steel given downtime projects and respite requirements? Delian Tomb has a hub and spoke model with gates in the tomb. This seems great but how can you approach a more epic campaign filled with lots of travel and time away from a safe place to respite in?
Sean Convery
2025-05-06 20:58:29 +0000 UTCI really appreciate the tactics blurbs for fights in the playtest adventures. Are there any plans for videos or guides to help directors get the most out of all the cool new monster types, abilities, powers? It would be really cool to see someone from MCDM run a fight and talk us through all the tactical decisions. Thanks!
Raster Thornwhistle
2025-05-06 20:54:59 +0000 UTCI know you have lots of plans for adventures, but (so far as I've heard) there's nothing that's been announced about a War Dogs adventure? Is that something you'd like to get to or is it best to think of the War Dogs as connective tissue to use when tying adventures together into a larger campaign?
Callum Grier
2025-05-06 12:32:21 +0000 UTCHi MCDM In the Delian Tomb adventure, the heroes are supposed/guided to explore the tomb, hit a barrier to progress, leave and come back with the “key” later. Is there a particular game/adventure design reason for this structure or some narrative intent?
Christian Lange
2025-05-06 11:45:11 +0000 UTCWhat do you think makes a good encounter?
Antan Karmola
2025-05-06 07:00:47 +0000 UTCThis is for everyone (including Dael!) if you could shoehorn your favorite fantasy or sci fi race into the ancestry book, what would it be? Can't be something already canonical to Orden!
Vitruvian Link
2025-05-06 05:35:50 +0000 UTCAre there any plans for pre-made retainers in any of the adventures (named NPC followers or whatnot), and if there are, will they be meaningfully different mechanically from retainers present in the monster book? The monster book is certainly going to feature a titanic amount of cool monsters, mounts, and potential allies-- are we going to see anything not in the monster book in these adventures, and how many non-monster book creatures can we expect to see in a given adventure compared to its monster book originating counterparts? What are some fun mechanics or pieces of game design your developing (or noodling on) uniquely for any of the adventures you're developing, and what makes those adventures best suited to explore that new mechanic?
David Penguin
2025-05-06 03:42:51 +0000 UTCI wonder which Dael we're going to get this time!
Ryan Brutz
2025-05-05 23:16:57 +0000 UTCI want to know the math behind all the monsters stats as with EV, HP, Damage output, and anything else that is set to a formula for monsters
Joey Virtue
2025-05-05 22:44:36 +0000 UTCFollowing on from Matt's conversation with Quinns recently, any thoughts on how to run a short-form Draw Steel campaign that is concluded in something like 4-12 sessions?
Antan Karmola
2025-05-05 20:31:31 +0000 UTCWhen writing a Draw Steel adventure, what's the main difference in mindset compared to d20 fantasy? How do you actually incorporate Victory Conditions and Titles as rewards, for example?
Pedro Velho Lira
2025-05-05 20:05:51 +0000 UTCMore monsters when?
Zach Fero
2025-05-05 19:22:32 +0000 UTCWhen a director is writing their own adventure, what can they do to make it a Draw Steel adventure?
aiden davenport
2025-05-05 19:17:52 +0000 UTCMaybe not 100% related, but forget to ask earlier. Do you have also planned another encounter with more mundane animals in the Delian Tomb? And do these animals (which can be build from individual traits) also have villain points in the newest version of the monster book?
holidayPictures4You
2025-05-05 19:06:38 +0000 UTCThe adventure was originally written for D&D, and the starter characters all have a D&D feel. Do you plan on releasing other starter characters that use the other DS races? My own table immediately jumped on the Hakaan and Time Raiders, as well as a Revenant, and I think they are a huge part of the appeal for DS characters. Would you put out more level 1 pregens just to give people more options? Or is the spread you have good enough to give people a taste?
Michael LaRowe
2025-05-05 18:55:43 +0000 UTCWill we get adventures in all of the different regions of Orden? (Vanigar, Higara, Kehmhara, etc)
Cole Jay
2025-05-05 18:55:03 +0000 UTCWhat, in your opinioni, is the best way to structure an adventure for publication?
Subharup Roy
2025-05-05 18:52:18 +0000 UTCregarding the victory objective, James already answered that on the reddit post. I imagine you'll get the same answer?
GubDM
2025-05-05 18:48:54 +0000 UTCWhat's your approach to adventure design when it comes to Director burden? In Draw Steel, how much and what kind of prep is expected of a Director running an official adventure?
Eli Feliciano
2025-05-05 18:48:38 +0000 UTCAnything new to share about adventures after delian/blackbottom? In a perfect world, how many adventures are you expecting to release this year? Thanks!
Corey Knowler
2025-05-05 18:48:21 +0000 UTCI have interest in buying one!
GubDM
2025-05-05 18:47:28 +0000 UTCHow is the progress of the Summoner and Beastheart going? IE going to next stage of testing soon, or going into further rounds of internal and contracted tester phase. Also from a game design would internal testing be considered alpha or pre-alpha testing?
Evan Miller
2025-05-05 18:46:16 +0000 UTCWhat part of the Rules (or Monsters) do you think has benefited from layout the most? The biggest difference in how well the design reads as a result of a difference in presentation?
GubDM
2025-05-05 18:42:31 +0000 UTCWe know MCDM has plans to do more classes that are native to multiple settings. Almost universal donor classes. The Summoner, the Beastheart, even stuff like the Operator could originate in basically *any part* of at least the Timescape, or with some imagination even in Vasloria. But the first class MCDM did was the Illrigger, which is super specifically from Hell, and the subclasses are each from an even more specific *part* of Hell! Even the Constantine class floated about Blackbottom seems like a class that *fits* in Blackbottom but doesn't necessarily have to *come from* Blackbottom. Has the team talked about any more classes that are like the Illrigger in that they are native to a very specific part of Orden or the Timescape?
GubDM
2025-05-05 18:29:45 +0000 UTCfor the lols has anyone tried to run an oops all summoners playtest of the summoner yet?
Evan Miller
2025-05-05 18:29:36 +0000 UTCHey MCDM! On the topic of adventures, what's next after the Delian Tomb & Fall of Blackbottom? As we approach the late Summer / early Fall release date of DS, should Directors expect other published adventures to be available for Levels ~2-3?
Markstellar
2025-05-05 18:26:30 +0000 UTCHello! It might be early to ask - and equally might have already been asked - but is there interest in doing compilation books of smaller adventures, like Dungeon Delve from D&D 4e?
Aaron Bolger
2025-05-05 18:25:35 +0000 UTCAt one point it sounded like it was the plan to have both the Delian Tomb and the Fall of Blackbottom release at around the same time; is that still the plan? What does adventuring in a post Ajax Blackbottom look like? On the Delian Tomb front, what was everyone's favorite moment from your playthrough together?
Robert Lane
2025-05-05 18:20:37 +0000 UTCHow do you feel about introducing new classes and/or subclasses bundled along with certain adventures? For example, maybe an adventure featuring elemental creatures is also where new elementalist subclasses get introduced.
Xochilex
2025-05-05 18:16:36 +0000 UTCHi guys! Three questions: 1. Are the Core two PDFs still on track for release this Summer, and are Patrons who have been on the Patreon for long enough still receiving them? 2. Will Patrons be getting the Delian Tomb, like how there is / was the plan for the Core Books? I'm really looking forward to using that to show the game off to my TTRPG group. 3. Will Patrons continue to receive new Draw Steel products, or is that a one off for the Core Draw Steel books?
Michael Hughes
2025-05-05 18:07:57 +0000 UTCIs it confirmed Patrons who have been Patrons for long enough will receive the Draw Steel PDFs?
Nicholas Nguyen
2025-05-05 18:06:31 +0000 UTCThe Monster Whisperer perk reads as follows: "You can use the Handle Animals skill to interact with nonsapient creatures who are not animals." There is a non-negligible chance that a player wants to use this to bypass a combat encounter. For example, in the Delian Tomb adventure, one hard encounter worth 2 Victories is against a non-sapient solo monster, and it just so happens that one of the pregenerated characters has Handle Animal and Monster Whisperer. How should this be handled, then? Should the Director improvise and run a one-on-one negotiation challenge solely for the character with Monster Whisperer, while the other characters stand around, unable to communicate? Should the Director call it a hard test to bypass the combat or otherwise work out a deal? ~ Are players supposed to know encounter victory objectives? I have had a look all throughout the Delian Tomb adventure and the attached starter rules, and I cannot find any clear-cut, unambiguous statement along the lines of "Players should be made aware of encounter victory objectives." The Monsters book suggests doing so, in a sidebar, but that is not in the Delian Tomb packet. This is important when several encounters stipulate something similar to "The encounter ends when so-and-so is defeated, prompting the remaining enemies to flee or surrender."
Earth Seraph Edna
2025-05-05 18:04:51 +0000 UTC
