Draw Steel General Thread [+]

[Zetesofos]

Let me ask a followup to that. If I was curious, how much could I glean by buying the Heroes book only. How vital would the Monsters book be? I wouldn't expect to be GMing this as my interest is more towards lighter non-tactical games. I'm open to playing tactical games but have worn out my interest in PF2E (what I was both playing and running until the middle of last year) for various reasons.

So as a player - I assume my minimum ideal buy in is the Heroes book. That seems to be the 'official party line', but is it accurate. Is the Monster book full of interesting tidbits, or just monster manual stats and lore?

The monster's book is pretty much vital, but you only need ONE copy of it for the whole table.

The game is built on combat, which requires the monster stat blocks which are are all very detailed.

BUT - you can get the Delian Tomb for $10 if you want to get your feet wet OR you can find the text for free on sites like Steel Compendium

Steel Compendium: Draw Steel Rules

steelcompendium.io

 

[Teemu]

I haven't seen a mod to do that, but the mod 'Draw Steel Plus' does at least make the 'Characteristics' always visible so you can click them while looking at any other tab.

Maybe this is better, maybe it's worse. This mod author has a similar mod for Daggerheart - that also cleans up their UI a lot in ways that some will like (myself), and others won't.
View attachment 432428

It does the same thing for Hero sheets.
View attachment 432429
From just a quick look last night, it seems like mod support for Draw Steel is still ramping up, though there are some good features already.

I tested the module and yes, it's a big improvement. I actually use the creator's Daggerheart Plus module, although I think the base DH system is fairly comparable at this point. I do like the Draw Steel Plus monster sheet layout way, way more than the default. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Zaukrie]

They mention having some sort of code bundle in the post which lets you do a "me and my 5 friends are all going to play DS! together."

It also looks like it comes loaded with the full Delian Tomb adventure, and all the monster book stuff? For $15 or 20 per person that's a solid amount of fun together, and you don't have a recurring subscription fee.

They also frequently point out that Owlbear Rodeo is a great solution for "play together online for free/the GM's subscription" in that post.

Every other VTT has gotten rid of per player costs. It doesn't work. It's a terrible model.

 

[CommodoreKong]

Since Foundry is getting Draw Steel premium modules I’ll likely go with Foundry in the future just given that’s what the people I play with use (though we did try the Codex for the Delian Tomb).
It will be interesting to see if the Codex can really take off if players have to pay to use it (or more likely the GM will have to buy a license for everyone that plays it).

 

[zakael19]

Every other VTT has gotten rid of per player costs. It doesn't work. It's a terrible model.

I'm ok with MCDM trying something different than endless freaking subscriptions and purchases falling on the GM's shoulders. It's a Bold Move Cotton & etc, but if it's truly a premium experience that Just Works with quality automation and such it might change the paradigm.

Our modern subscription based hellscape is terrible. The cultural expectation that most players dont have to buy anything isn't ideal either (for the GM or the companies alike).

 

[Zaukrie]

I'm ok with MCDM trying something different than endless freaking subscriptions and purchases falling on the GM's shoulders. It's a Bold Move Cotton & etc, but if it's truly a premium experience that Just Works with quality automation and such it might change the paradigm.

Our modern subscription based hellscape is terrible. The cultural expectation that most players dont have to buy anything isn't ideal either (for the GM or the companies alike).

Several Others tried this. They all got rid of it for a reason. It sucks. Every player you add has to pay, and they only get one game? Compared to all the other VTT options?

 

[zakael19]

Several Others tried this. They all got rid of it for a reason. It sucks. Every player you add has to pay, and they only get one game? Compared to all the other VTT options?

People pay $20-30 a session for paid DMing.

If Codex truly makes it easier to run and play DS! then all the other VTTs (the "killer app" style thing), I would absolutely require players to pony up. I had players shelling out $40+ for individual books in D&D just for the hell of it, plus their Beyond subscriptions!

 

[CommodoreKong]

I'm ok with MCDM trying something different than endless freaking subscriptions and purchases falling on the GM's shoulders. It's a Bold Move Cotton & etc, but if it's truly a premium experience that Just Works with quality automation and such it might change the paradigm.

Our modern subscription based hellscape is terrible. The cultural expectation that most players dont have to buy anything isn't ideal either (for the GM or the companies alike).

Just based on an early version of the Codex I was super impressed with the level of automation built in. My guess is that it will take a very long time, if the Foundry version is ever able to get up to the level of automation that the Codex had. Like for example different classes have different ways of gaining heroic resources during combat (typically based on something an ally or enemy does) and that was automated for my players. I just don’t know if that’s possible for Foundry.

I’m not sure if it will be worth it for people who are already using Foundry or another VTT. One interesting thing I saw the trying was a monster AI module allowing the VTT to run monsters - I wonder if people will eventually be able to build single player video game style Draw Steel modules with the Codex which would be cool.