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Patreon Q&A with the Draw Steel Design Team (Patreon)

Published:
2025-08-11 20:00:32
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Draw Steel is OUT! And you got Qs, and we got As. Dael is going to be live this Thursday August 14th at 4PM Pacific time here on Patreon asking Djordi, James, Matt, and Willy your questions about Draw Steel, The Delian Tomb, and Road to Broadhurst.

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 in the comments below, and Dael might ask them on air! See ya then!

—James

Comments

Agile Monk

It’s going to be lovely. 😊

Adam K

When you're customizing creatures, what's can you recommend ways to decrease its power level on the fly?

Hive_Indicator

What's a little piece of design that you're really proud of but think might get overlooked because it just fits so neatly into its spot?

Flumph

If a character is Slowed, can they benefit from any increase to their speed, as with the Troubador's Choreography Routine or similar? Would that change if the bonus was given before or after they were slowed?

Tom Flynn

Because the content mill never stops consuming: do we have any loose ETA on a Beastheart playtest, if one is intended (which it may or may not be)?

Evan Miller

What kind of pets do we have so far for the beast heart?

Tom Flynn

When Running the Game first came out, Matt has shared it was because he felt WotC weren't doing enough to teach new players (in part due to resource). Are there plans to teach Draw Steel?

Benjamin Appel

Is there an idea of what product some of the other Elementalist and Talent subclasses will come out in? One of my players got really excited to play a Rot Elementalist and was disappointed that it isn't in the core rules

Flumph

In love with the game you guys have built. It delivers masterfully on its four design maxims and is truly a delight to play. We can't wait to see everything you guys come up with next!

Evan Miller

Do polders have an equivalent to New York style pizza?

Corey Knowler

Regarding the Delian Tomb, and the town of Broadhurst, do you imagine this town showing up in other adventures (ie, Crack the Sun, Dark Heart of the Woods, etc) I am curious as to if there will be a throughline that can be picked up, or if you imagine all adventures to be unconnected

Andrew Miller

Do you think any facets of design you like today and put in the finished product, a younger you might disagree with? For example a stack of gold versus a wealth level.

Joseph Meehan

Is Van Helsing (2004) a Draw Steel movie?

Tom Flynn

To any staff that have to read it: I promise I'm not trying to be a sod or dress up as an investigative journalist. I just like Draw Steel and am also a bit dumb/could do with a hand. 😂

Jeremy Scroggs

I did not see anything about the content that was originally going to be "The Player's Guide to Capital" in the rough roadmap. Is there any chance some of that content might be released to Patrons in smaller chunks?

JBR

With the Beastheart and Summoner well on their ways, is it possible that there's any more Classes that are getting ready to be worked on or will subclasses for the core classes be more likely after the Summoner and Beastheart ship?

Etienne Hébert

We have some adventures for level 1. Eventualy, we will have "crack the sun" starting at level 3. Is there something for level 2 in the horizon? "Hearth of the wood" seem just for a quest, not the whole level.

Alexis

It sounds like the team is busy at work with upcoming classes, adventures, and more! My question for each person on the team is: what upcoming product are you most excited for?

Stephen

What's the process for bug fixes on the core PDFs? Will it be similar to what we've already seen with the Delian Tomb?

Patrick Woodcock

Is there any foresight you can share about the release of campaign setting content for the Timescape? My players are really excited to be spacefairing fantasy adventurers!

Mattamue

What classes would everyone's respective pets play?

GM Seven

I like this question. I want to ask the related question, "has working on draw steel changed your opinion or perspective on your design *ideology*? (*Ideology: I just couldn't think of a better word. I mean rules, guidelines, or some such statement about the design process. Basically the same as what Andrew meant with the gold v. Wealth example.)

GM Seven

They have already done so with videos, basic rules, and an adventure structured like a tutorial. I don't think they plan to stop here either.

Callum Grier

Now that it’s out and in front of people, is there anything you’d do significantly differently (either game or product design)?

Callum Grier

Willy: Why is the Lich the only undead that is weak to holy damage? (Asking for my party’s conduit)

AltheDM

I would say also like to know if there is recommendation for increasing powers on the fly. I usually just put more minons and/or up there stamina

Eli Feliciano

Thoughts on discourse that Draw Steel had a "quiet release"?

Lewis Tinley

I would love more YouTube shorts to explain small parts of the game (for me to link my players with during encounters). Do you have plans for this within MCDM, or are there existing channels you can recommend?

Jacob Schoch

What is the one thing people are talking about now that the game is released that surprises you the most, good and bad?

Jonathan Rowan

What kind of design changes or refinements came out of the Delian Tomb playthrough we’ve all just started watching?

Aerrol

I know that the design intent behind the streamlined classes was for more unique, self-contained classes, but as someone who LOVES multiclassing and customization in games, I have to ask: Can we expect to see official prestige classes or class options anytime soon? In particular, I'd love more options to mix and match, rather than just more pure subclasses to choose from.

Louis, Thomas

Is there any plans on making an official Director Screen?

Sixfingeredmage

Do y'all plan on doing more promotional material and advertisements for the game now that official release has hit? Things like learn to play videos, breakdowns of the classes, core mechanics, etc?

Sean Convery

Road to Broadhurst kicks off with a pretty big fight, lots of complex mechanics for the director to manage, and the players with a brand new character sheet in a game they've never played before. I know this is designed for a con but if I imagine running this at my local game shop I think it would be overwhelming to many folks. Thoughts?

Axrameula

Besides the Summoner and Beastheart, what other classes (if any) are you working on or have plans to create at some point?

Robert Aguilar

For those of us building out a new campaign world to use for our Draw Steel campaigns, what advice would you give about what to include/exclude that feels unique to Draw Steel? In other words, how can we worldbuild in such a way that feels like it fits into the Timescape

Ben Milne

With the release of the core rules 1.0, making homebrew content is a lot more stable now. Would the team be willing to make a reference tool for third party creators to properly balance their creations, or at least as a baseline?

Cyrus Mach

Why does it feel like there has been zero marketing or promotion for this release are y'all waiting for the physical books? I've seen a few people discouraged by the price of the books not realizing that all you need to get started is the delian tomb starter set.

Robert Praetorius Jr

I had a similar question, I had a player exited for an Elementalist subclass that is not in the core rules. Are you going to finish off each classes missing subclasses in a book/PDF of their own( Like a PDF for just Elementalists) ? or will it be more like a player book 2 with all the subclasses that are missing?

Dhavaram

I really really really want a physical copy of The Delian Tomb and was going to see if I could get Lulu to print me a personal hardcover copy from my pdf copy, but apparently they can't or won't. Is there anyway to get one printed

Jonathan Rowan

For what it’s worth, if MCDM WAS doing a big marketing or promotion push, in an ideal world we would never know the promotion would be exclusively reaching new people. This is the Patreon; trying to promote Draw Steel to us is wasted ad spend.

Jonathan Rowan

I would add to this, not necessarily what fits in the Timescape, but is there anything about a setting that makes more Draw Steel-y adventures arise more naturally/by default?

Jonathan Rowan

I know just reading the classes got my mind spinning about how I might help a player who didn’t find the existing Druid-like options druid-y enough. Easy to borrow a little Green Elementalist, a little Nature Conduit/Censor. If nothing official comes out, I’m sure the community will fill the gap!

Jonathan Rowan

Maybe it hasn’t been long enough, but: has any of the post-release response changed or shifted how you think about past design decisions, or about future design work?

Stefan Ursem

When is the encounter book releasing? :D

Mockington

At this point are there any plans for additional classes beyond the Summoner and Beastheart?

Tabletop Nonsenseverse

What is the process of coming up with an adventure product idea? What happens in those first couple of meetings?

Alan-Michael Havens

Echoing the questions about content about the Timescape - I know part of a benefit of a default multiverse-style setting is it is easy to drop in other modules and the like that have been converting, but are there plans to come out with a setting book/supplement, or is it more of a case where the Timescape is never heavily defined, and instead is revealed bit-by-bit in rulebooks and adventures?

Noah Heining

Congrats on the release! Two questions: 1. Now that you've crossed the finish line, have you gained any new noteworthy insights related to making RPGs? 2. Since release, are there any particularly cool character builds from the community you like?

Kaos Dean

What are some of your favourite community based Draw Steel projects you’ve seen and what do you think makes them stand out?

The Yaki

I second this, although the asides in the Dealian tomb "live" play where you address the camera to explain things are the sort of tone I would like, just a min of one of the team going through the power roll, potency etc.

Ernge

I would especially like to hear this in the context of classes, variant rules, and other game content

Realm Referee

Do you have any tips for building a side quest encounter with only one player?

GriffinMuffin

I think I'm just keen for future products and am so excited to get into Draw Steel. While its difficult to gather players here in Melbourne, Australia - I'm doggedly pursuing people to join a game of Draw Steel! Will MCDM consider holding games of Draw Steel at PAX Aus in the future?

Jonathan Rowan

Might be hard to get an answer to this one. I think both James and Matt have mentioned avoiding community content on purpose, to avoid inadvertently stealing the community’s ideas.

Jonathan Rowan

What I remember from recent livestream mentions: - The Operator: a mech or power armor pilot. Had a prototype during the core rules development, but keeps getting bumped off the production line. - The Acolyte: someone given powers by a powerful being, and is slowly becoming more and more like their patron. Speaking of, if no one else is going to ask for the Q&A: what was the recent design breakthrough for the Acolyte?! And how did the team get there?

DailyPasta

What lessons have you learned from the process of making Draw Steel can you take into your next game(s)? Thanks! :)

FoxTrick

Now that the rules, design, and adventures are finalized. Do you feel a flood of new ideas, or did you already get most of them into the game?

FoxTrick

Will Codex data, like character types, levels, and time played, be used in future projects? How might it guide your design decisions?

Tim Ashley Jenkins

Regarding the upcoming playable Fairy ancestry - what are some of the design challenges you face making tiny fluttering fairies work in a game designed around human-sized heroes, and what do you have in mind to address them? Will itty bitty Fairy Furies be able to kick people across the room? Are Fairy Furies called Faeuries?

Joseph Meehan

Did you ever consider a subsystem similar to 4e's Rituals?

Caernunnos

My players and I are a bit perplexed by healing potion. It seems thaty as they are, they break the idea of characters becoming more vulnerable but more powerful as the adventure goes because nothing in the rules (but the GM just saying "no", which I don't find satisfying) stops player from mass crafting or mass buying them (especially with the wealth system) . So I wanted to know: what is the philosophy behind healing potions ? I'm fully aware that my players as well as me might have overlooked something or not understood another. But right now the way I've been "fixing" that perceived issue has been to have healing potion heal twice as much stamina but that it costs a recovery. That way ressources are still being used but healing pots aren't useless

Caernunnos

The Fury is ,or at least is seen, as the "barbarian stand in" of draw steel. But it feels very magical, are there plans to release strictly mundane classes and subclasses in the future?

Oskar Taubert

When playing online with a VTT, I've found that negotiating whose turn it is quite awkward and slow, since players are hesitant to talk over each other. E.g. the 5e initiative gives a clear order with the drawback that players sometimes tune out while waiting for their turn. The Draw Steel initiative system seems to lie somewhere in between. Have you felt any issues with that? Do you plan to include some feature in the VTT that helps resolving that negotiation differently when playing online?

Jonathan Rowan

Slight pet peeve of mine, there’s a non-VTT technological solution for this: positional audio! Human brains are great at distinguishing multiple voices at the same time when they’re coming from different directions. And we can adjust voice chat to mimic that. Last I’d checked was a few years ago, and the only implementations of positional audio were for simulating in-game position, not for making voice chat more manageable. After a brief search today, looks like the only chat-focused implementation is… Microsoft Teams. Words cannot convey the depth of my disappointment.

Jonathan Rowan

Page 313, first two sentences of the Found, Earned, or Crafted header: “The rules of the game account for worlds where the average person— sometimes even the average noble—doesn’t have regular access to treasures. There might be an apothecary in the capital city of a region, but they’re selling herbal remedies, not supernatural potions.” So, mass purchasing of healing potions is out. As for mass crafting, outside of a Breakthrough, it takes at least two days to craft a single healing potion; 3-4 days is more typical. If the stakes are low enough that the players can take that long of a break without the villain advancing their plans, it’s probably not a Draw Steel adventure. Or your players decided cheesing the boss encounter was more important than saving the villagers, at which point it’s on them. On top of that, you only get to work on one project at a time, so every day spent crafting a healing potion is a day NOT spent crafting something cooler, or more important, or more impactful. Craft your potions; I’ll be over here working on my Hellcharger Helm or my Chain of the Sea and Sky.

haggis42

Are yous planning any livestreams and/or how to vids to help folk learn the game? I've onboarded dozens of new players to various RPGs over the last three decades, and having YouTube vids to send them helps a lot. The Delian Tomb is fab, but different folk learn in different ways. If not would you be open to having patreon/community members make some and signpost folk where to find stuff?

haggis42

Have yous recovered from the release of DS yet?

Callahan Johnson

Rivals are cool! But why no Censor or Troubadour rivals?

Podunk Pedant

This will be the third day in a row that James has done a live Draw Steel Q&A. My questions are: How long will this marathon last? And will James have any answers left by the end?

SirNumeral

Similar situation here; I'm running a pirate-themed game and one of my players would love some powers for an air Elementalist that puts wind into the ship's sails

Jong Hoon LEE

+1 to this! My wife loved the 5e Beastheart and wants to play again for our next campaign, and I'm kinda waiting to see when we'll have a playtest version to start it

Lemon

Why can't the talent yoink the abilities of other psionic enemies in DS unlike the 5e class?

Jordan Klotz

Question: Can we expect a Delian Tomb box set/starter set hard copy? I would love to have some old school standees, maps, and handouts.

DL_Pharaoh

Are there plans to release a standalone "Draw Steel is Out!" video or official tutorial videos? Are there plans to create an official token pack for non-Codex VTTs or plans to promote fan made ones compatible one for those VTTs? The token making process is currently my biggest hurdle to running the game for my online group.

Jason Gettel

I'm going to make a recommendation from my experience with remote meetings for collaborative work: just find a way to raise hands. If people can independently identify that 'they would like to do something next' then you just go through each of those people one at a time until a consensus is reached. I don't think this is a software problem as much as it just is a remote comms problem, so normal solutions to that kinda thing probably get you 90% there.

Oskar Taubert

I'm probably focusing too much on it, but I was thinking about how to nudge players towards a certain desired behavior through system design, either software or the game itself. I'll probably experiment a little with different approaches. At some point I might even talk to them and suggest, that they try raising hands :D, but next up is sanctioned rudeness: lowest initiative starts, higher initiative gets to interrupt.

dax mcanear

Can someone point me toward the videos of all the design stuff. I joined to watch it and I can't find any of it