MCDM's New Tactical TTRPG Hits $1M Crowdfunding On First Day!

Matt Colville's MCDM is no stranger to crowdfunding, with three million dollar Kickstarters already under its belt. With the launch of The MCDM RPG, that makes four!

This new game is not a D&D variant or a supplement for D&D, which is what MCDM has focussed on so far. This is an all-new game which concentrates on tactical play, with a fulfilment goal of July 2025. It comes in two books--a 400-page 'Heroes' book and a 'Monsters' book which is an adaption of the existing Flee, Mortals!

The MCDM RPG: Draw Steel

Whether you’re a group of local heroes sent to investigate mysterious goings-on in the nearby haunted wood, or famous mercenaries plotting and scheming in the big city, the MCDM RPG makes building adventures and fighting monsters fun.

www.backerkit.com

The game takes aim at traditional d20 fantasy gaming, referring to the burden of 'sacred cows from the 1970s', but point out that it's not a dungeon crawling or exploration game--its core activity is fighting monsters. The system is geared towards tactical combat--you roll 2d6, add an attribute, and do that damage; there's no separate attack roll.

At $40 for the base Heroes PDF and $70 for the hardcover (though there are discounts for both books if you buy them together), it's not a cheap buy-in, but with over 4,000 backers already that's not deterring anybody!

Even more ambitiously, one of the stretch goals is a Virtual Tabletop (VTT). There's already a working prototype of it.

 

[Velderan]

My attitude is that I don't need to back ot for that. The PDFs will be broadly available when the game fulfills anyway. If I really want access to the playtest, that's a reason to back it.

That’s how i felt about ToV. I wasn’t interested enough to back it but I'll follow it’s release and if I change my mind, I’ll pick up some PDFs or books on release. This sounds interesting enough that I’ll for sure at least want to read the rules for myself so I’m fine with committing the money to it now.

 

[Morrus]

that limited edition box with the mini sold out (999 available copies @ $500.00 a pop) with in two hours. People seem to have a lot more money to spend on RPGs now than when i was teen/young adult in the 80s.

They got older, got jobs, and now geeks run the world!

 

[Retreater]

I eagerly backed this project. I like most of Colville's design ideas. I'm pretty optimistic and excited, to be honest.

 

[UnplayedRanger]

I’m sure everything will turn out great, and I’m happy to see it blowing away its funding goal. But I personally need a little more meat on the bones before I could convince myself to back. I’ll have to wait for the final release, or maybe preorder down the line when things are more finalized.

 

[mamba]

Haven’t decided yet, I think this is more superheroic than I want it to be, and required grid is also a bit much.

Shadow of the Demon Lord / Weird Wizard is probably closer to what I want, if I want a switch from D&D to something that spans 10 levels

Will see, I am somewhat curious what Matt comes up with

 

[R_J_K75]

Man that is a long way off... I am not sure the pledge is worth playtest access...

Yeah, July of 2025 is a long way off. I'm still waiting to get my hard copy of ShadowDark and every update I get, the delivery date is pushed back 2 weeks to a month from the last time. Starting to make me mad as it was supposed to be fulfilled by this Fall iirc.

 

[Staffan]

They got older, got jobs, and now geeks run the world!

 

[Velderan]

Yeah, July of 2025 is a long way off. I'm still waiting to get my hard copy of ShadowDark and every update I get, the delivery date is pushed back 2 weeks to a month from the last time. Starting to make me mad as it was supposed to be fulfilled by this Fall iirc.

Update today on that was great news!

 

[R_J_K75]

Update today on that was great news!

I saw the Tues Dec 5th update and it was still kind of vague when it'll be delivered late Dec/early Jan, unless I missed something?

 

[Shardstone]

Yeah, they're in a tough spot in a way. Their existing fans, who are throwing money at this project right now, for sure know it as "MCDM RPG." But presumably they hope to grow beyond that core audience, and having a name that suggests absolutely nothing to the broader audience will be a hindrance.

I imagine the brainstorming sessions are tough.

They madeca million in 24 hours man.