That's all for now! I'm excited to show off the gunslinger for the first* time. If you have any questions about aspects of the design, please give me an excuse to talk more!
* assuming you aren't the half of the DS homebrew community who has already seen it bouncing around the past year and a half.
The high damage bonus also helps those low ammo count kits be directly attractive, while simultaneously keeping them from being exploited. Sure that +4/+4/+4 kit seems strong (and it is), but the moment you try to use Strike Now! or similar abilities to double dip the ammo cap restricts hard.
But on the low ammo weapons, like shotguns with +4/+4/+4 or rifles with +0/+2/+5, it becomes MUCH stronger. However using it means you aren't reloading your weapon, which with only 2 or 4 shots at your disposal is a costly tradeoff to make. You can reload using your heroic resource, but it's pricey.
Specifically, it buffs the damage by the *kit's damage bonus*. Then by having a standard progression of damage bonuses across the max ammo amounts, double tap become a balancing factor. On the high ammo kits with only +1/+1/+1 damage, it's a minor maneuver you use basically every turn.
A kit with 2 ammo is going to need to reload practically every turn. A kit with 12 ammo could go an entire combat without needing to reload once. The main balancing factor is the gunslinger's second maneuver (besides reloading): Double tap. It buffs the damage of an ability, at the cost of +1 bullet
One of the things I really wanted to do with the gunslinger was have different kits have different maximum ammo counts, depending on weapon. Pistols have 6, of course, shotguns have 2, rifles have 4, gatlings have 12. A nice solid variety. But the difference between 2 and 12 ammo is massive.
One week until the Gunslinger for #DrawSteel goes live!
www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...
As I hinted at last time (for anyone who bothers to read 8 deep into my ramblings), this time I'm going to spice up the promotional post by going in depth into how I balanced different ammo counts for kits.
Cover for a TTRPG zine called BELLADINA'S LIGHTLY CURSED GOODS. The art shows a woman in voluminous purple robes showing off some super sketchy magic items for sale. She has a cracked mirror, a deeply haunted looking doll, and a horn surrounded by bees. VILE BREWS ISSUE #01 BELLADINA'S LIGHTLY CURSED GOODS 17 somewhat sketchy magic items and 24 colorful merchants to sell them Powered by DRAW STEEL
I just finished a zine with content for MCDM's rpg DRAW STEEL! It's got a bunch of sketchy magic items, and roll tables for making cursed item merchants.
Available PWYW on itch here:
archifex.itch.io/vile-brews-01
Every issue of The Blacksmith's Guild is now in a handy bundle. You can start your collection here.
tabletopnonsenseverse.myshopify.com/products/the...
#drawsteel #mcdm
Dog
Drawing Steel Day 171:
Dog
Of course, you’d rather save up HR to use a powerful heroic, or maybe use a different more fun All-In outlet. But it provides tactical flexibility, especially for the kits with lower bullet counts.
If you want to know about why/how kits have different bullet amounts, stay tuned for next week!
;D
All-In is a unique mechanic where whenever the gunslinger uses a signature ability or spends Nerve, they can spend ALL of their nerve. There are a few different effects, but the most basic is just +1 bullet. This ties the two resources together, and ensures that a gunslinger can always fire.
But in order for *having* bullets to matter, then *running out* needs to have consequences. Doing this is trickier than it might seem. Draw steel avoids the null result, and for good reason. Using a maneuver to reload is pretty obvious, but what if the gunslinger is dazed? This is why All-In exists.
What’s the difference between tracking arrows in a quiver vs bullets in a gun? Mainly that I don’t track how many bullets you have in your pockets. The only thing that matters are the immediate concerns: will these two bullets be enough for the round, or do I reload now? Tactical and Cinematic!
The key fantasy of a gun, as I see it, is tied up in the reload. Counting your shots, making that last bullet count, reloading when there is a break in the action. You might think this doesn’t line up with Draw Steel’s design philosophy of not tracking the little stuff. But I think it does.
While the gunslinger doesn’t have two heroic resources (that’s coming in for a later class 👀), it does still have two resources in Nerve and Bullets. Nerve works like any other heroic resource: gain 3~5 a round, spend it on heroics. Bullets can’t work that way, that’s not the fantasy of a gun.
The big issue was that players felt like they didn’t have control and thus couldn’t play tactically. If you were all wrath no virtue and your party was dying, nothing you could really do about that. Or you ended up flooded with virtue and had no offensive capability beyond signatures.
Only two more weeks until the #DrawSteel gunslinger goes live! www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...
To make this more than just a promotional post, I’d love to delve a little bit into the design. Specifically, the issues MCDM identified with the conduit having two resources, and how I handled it here.
This is one of my favorite monster bands to come out of the homebrewery server. Lots of cool stat blocks to flesh out humans. Check it out!
A #DrawSteel commission I did for MCDM in which we applied each of the 21 kits to their iconic Wode Elf Shadow, Gwyllith.
The Carnophage booklet is still on sale! Help support the art for the next monster booklet. #ttrpg #drawsteel
I'm incredibly excited to announce the release of my next product for #DrawSteel - the Reliquaries of Orvab the Handless!
heart-of-arcana.itch.io/the-reliquar...
Updated. I had just been using the default backerkit wording on those. It doesn't particularly matter to me either way, though I'm optimistic I'll be able to convince you.
Itch.io cover for The College of Infinite Reflections, featuring iconic hero Ridian Glass and their multiversal doppelganger charging through a storm of lightning, clouds, and broken glass.
My psionic shadow subclass for DRAW STEEL, the College of Infinite Reflections, is now live! Summon reflections of yourself from across the timescape to maximize your potential — check it out, and please let me know what you think! 🪞 #drawsteel
tintenseher.itch.io/infinite-ref...
17 days left until the Gunslinger for #DrawSteel is available to back!
In honor of the recent Codex launch I’d like to shout out the wonderful @haezan.bsky.social for their work creating the codex integration for the gunslinger (and the codex itself!)
www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...
Having playtested a lot with the magewright over on the brewery server, I can attest this is an absolutely fantastic class. Lots of fun and interesting design, and overall very well balanced.
Give it a shot!
Soooo... I started designing a Draw Steel hack 😬 Playtesters seemed to like the prototype, so I decided to share it with y'all! Quick Steel is coming 🗡️
www.patreon.com/posts/154923...
It's happening! LAUNCH DAY. Huntsman Class Preview (Levels 1-4) available as PDF or Forge Steel sourcebook #DrawSteel
www.backerkit.com/c/projects/c...
Only 19 days until we’ll be showing it off!
