Draw Steel News

[Zaukrie]

Colville does most of his promotion and talking up of his game through his Twitch livestreams. The people who really give a darn about what he has to say tune into those... and he has said that while his YouTube audience is larger, they don't tend to want the actual nitty-gritty of what is going on, they just want top-level info: What's the status of the game? When is it coming out? And so forth.

He came to that conclusion a long time ago that his Twitch and Patreon followers were the ones who actually cared about the deeper level information which is why that's where you tended to find him.

I'm not sure his YT channel has even been doing that, but maybe I missed it.

 

[liteberer]

Why would you not wait to start promoting it when people can start buying it? If you promote it earlier, you get even more wild speculation than what you see going on here. I have a suspicion that this is part of a plan to avoid the downside of online TTRPG toxicity while building momentum for when the physical book actually comes out.

"Here, let's talk about this thing that we just released. Look you can get the pdf now, and we'll send you the actual book in a few months."

 

[overgeeked]

For those who actually want to talk about the game here’s a + thread.

Thread 'Draw Steel General Thread [+]'

Aug 1, 2025

The [+] is to keep things positive and prevent the same already tired arguments about Draw Steel, tactical-crunchy play, and the Kickstarter / patreon nonsense. There are plenty of other threads to hate on games and play styles you don’t like.

There are a few people on here who backed Draw Steel and want to talk about it without the constant negativity of the other threads, so I thought we should have a general [+] thread about the game.

If anyone has any useful links related to Draw Steel, please feel free to post them.

• overgeeked
• Replies: 83
• Forum: *TTRPGs General

• 

 

[Staffan]

Why would you not wait to start promoting it when people can start buying it? If you promote it earlier, you get even more wild speculation than what you see going on here. I have a suspicion that this is part of a plan to avoid the downside of online TTRPG toxicity while building momentum for when the physical book actually comes out.

"Here, let's talk about this thing that we just released. Look you can get the pdf now, and we'll send you the actual book in a few months."

They might be looking to pushing more in connection with the physical release. Hopefully.

I saw that they had uploaded part 1 of an actual play using the Delian Tomb (the adventure Matt designed in one of his videos as an example of "Look, it doesn't have to be more complex than this!"), both to the MCDM channel and to Matt's own channel. I noticed two things when checking it out:

• For someone who's in the process of releasing what is likely a career-defining product, Matt seems kind of disinterested during the video, spending a lot of time checking his phone(!). The other players seem much more into it. That might just be fatigue – I gather they've been having a bit of a crunch period getting things ready. I did enjoy his barbs toward James when the 5-person party encounters six goblins, and he says "Is that all you've got?" (it wasn't). I remember Matt seeming much more animated when doing things regarding Flee, Mortals!, but I could be misremembering.
• On the MCDM channel, the latest video before this one is 7 months old.

 

[Zaukrie]

They might be looking to pushing more in connection with the physical release. Hopefully.

I saw that they had uploaded part 1 of an actual play using the Delian Tomb (the adventure Matt designed in one of his videos as an example of "Look, it doesn't have to be more complex than this!"), both to the MCDM channel and to Matt's own channel. I noticed two things when checking it out:

• For someone who's in the process of releasing what is likely a career-defining product, Matt seems kind of disinterested during the video, spending a lot of time checking his phone(!). The other players seem much more into it. That might just be fatigue – I gather they've been having a bit of a crunch period getting things ready. I did enjoy his barbs toward James when the 5-person party encounters six goblins, and he says "Is that all you've got?" (it wasn't). I remember Matt seeming much more animated when doing things regarding Flee, Mortals!, but I could be misremembering.
• On the MCDM channel, the latest video before this one is 7 months old.

7 months, for a company partly built thru YT. I also thought Matt seemed bored at times.

I'm also shocked Delian Tomb isn't a free starter. Like, very.

 

[Aldarc]

I noticed two things when checking it out:

• For someone who's in the process of releasing what is likely a career-defining product, Matt seems kind of disinterested during the video, spending a lot of time checking his phone(!). The other players seem much more into it. That might just be fatigue – I gather they've been having a bit of a crunch period getting things ready. I did enjoy his barbs toward James when the 5-person party encounters six goblins, and he says "Is that all you've got?" (it wasn't). I remember Matt seeming much more animated when doing things regarding Flee, Mortals!, but I could be misremembering.

And I noticed that Matt also said in the video before the stream, that this was also some of the most fun that he had playing a roleplaying game, so there is also that to consider as well.

But I don't know why some people are so desperate to forcibly read failure for Draw Steel in the tea leaves.

 

[Zaukrie]

And I noticed that Matt also said in the video before the stream, that this was also some of the most fun that he had playing a roleplaying game, so there is also that to consider as well.

But I don't know why some people are so desperate to forcibly read failure for Draw Steel in the tea leaves.

I'm not sure how questions and comments about the release are desperation to read failure?

 

[TiQuinn]

I'm not sure how questions and comments about the release are desperation to read failure?

I also thought Matt seemed bored at times.

I mean, c’mon.

 

[Neonchameleon]

And I noticed that Matt also said in the video before the stream, that this was also some of the most fun that he had playing a roleplaying game, so there is also that to consider as well.

The trouble with this is when what we see doesn't match what someone says and they have a very good reason to say what they did even if it isn't true which takes precedence?

Colville does most of his promotion and talking up of his game through his Twitch livestreams.

He ... does know he can put Twitch videos on YouTube?

The people who really give a darn about what he has to say tune into those... and he has said that while his YouTube audience is larger, they don't tend to want the actual nitty-gritty of what is going on, they just want top-level info: What's the status of the game? When is it coming out? And so forth.

And as pointed out he hasn't been bothering to do that. Either on YouTube or on Kickstarter/Backerkit. A paragraph every couple of months isn't much.

He came to that conclusion a long time ago that his Twitch and Patreon followers were the ones who actually cared about the deeper level information which is why that's where you tended to find him.

In other words he only cares about the hardcore fans.

I don't want Draw Steel to fail. If I had I wouldn't have backed it. It should on paper be my jam. I just find it is failing.

 

[Zaukrie]

I mean, c’mon.

How is that desperate for failure? I noticed it white watching the video. Nothing more or less.. I've been critical of the marketing, but I want it to succeed. It seems pretty clear to me both can be true. Just as I criticized the lame 50th anniversary celebration from WotC and want DND to succeed. Looking in the mirror and trying to make things better is how things get better. Ymmv, of course.