Crows Officially Announced by MCDM

The new dungeon-crawler game is being led by James Introcaso.
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MCDM Productions has officially announced Crows, a new dungeon-crawling RPG. The new RPG is being led by James Introcaso, with Nick De Spain directing the art. The game is described as a game about staring death in the face and grabbing as much loot from dungeons before your luck runs out. The game is played using D6s and D10s, with a health system similar to Knave in which inventory slots doubles as a health tracker.

In a Patreon post released today, Introcaso described Crows and its differences from Draw Steel. For one, experience points is determined by calculating the value of loot taken from a dungeon. Crows retains the power roll from Draw Steel but with some differences as to the result of the roll. Unlike Draw Steel, where the power roll always results in some kind of benefit for the player, the power roll in Crows has negative results for low rolls. However, players have no limit to the number of circumstantial bonuses they have in Crows, which can result in higher results with good planning.

Other nuances mentioned in the post include that all players can use any equipment they might find (spellbooks were given as an example), but some character classes will be more attuned to certain kinds of equipment. There's also a base building component to Crows, in which players build up the town they're headquartered in. There will also be a default campaign setting for Crows, described as a world in which Archmages were eventually corrupted by the magic they wielded and became Necromancers who waged war on each other until they all disappeared.

No release date was announced for Crows, but MCDM plans to provide updates on the development of Crows via its various social media platforms.
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


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I’m curious how this interacts with draw steel. Does is build the MCDM base any or does it muddy the water of it being a different game underneath their banner from a casual rpg player. Will they think it’s an extension and think the 2 work together and find out they aren’t (yet that we know of).
More details in the patreon post but this is, I think, the big one.

Crows does share one part of its core rules DNA with Draw Steel—the power roll. Like Draw Steel, Crows uses 2d10 + a characteristic (Strength, Agility, or Mind) + a relevant skill to overcome challenges. If the result of the roll is 11 or lower, you fail (and quite often suffer a setback), on a result of 12 to 16, you achieve partial success or succeed with a consequence, and on a 17+ you succeed. If you roll a natural 2 or 3, you suffer a Doom! That means extra bad stuff befalls you. If you roll a natural 19 or 20, you score a Critical! That means extra good stuff befalls you.
 

Both donkeys and mules are excellent at crossing rough terrain. THere's a reason we did logistics trains with the latter especially! Sure, they're not defying physics the way a goat can but anywhere you'd get a heavy treasure load you could get ponys/mules.

Plus ya know, mules have a great temperament and don't quietly eat the leather armor and metal you just looted :P.
Yes, but goats are metal.

black and white goat GIF
 




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