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Draw Steel Flips D&D’s Most Boring Mechanic: A Conversation with James Introcaso

Draw Steel Makes D&D Heroic

Draw Steel Flips D&D’s Most Boring Mechanic: A Conversation with James Introcaso

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with James Introcaso, the lead designer at MCDM Productions, to discuss the philosophy behind their game, Draw Steel. We talked about how they subverted traditional mechanics and fixed what many consider to be the most boring part of D&D: resting and resources.

The Problem with Resting

When developing Draw Steel, James and the team started by asking themselves what makes a heroic story. They realized that the traditional D&D experience of locking yourself in a room to recover spell slots does not feel heroic. In a true heroic narrative, characters often face grueling trials, getting beaten and battered but pressing on until they finally face the villain. To capture that feeling, the team designed a system where:

  • Your healing resources dwindle over the course of your adventuring day.
  • You gain “heroic resources” as you participate in combat.
  • You spend these resources to perform more impactful abilities, meaning your fights actually become more impressive as they progress.

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The Gameplay Loop: Victory and XP

One of the core design pillars in Draw Steel is the concept of “Victories”. Every time players succeed at a fight, puzzle, negotiation, or montage test, they earn a victory. These victories serve as a clever “push your luck” mechanic:

  • At the start of every battle, your pool of heroic resources is equal to your number of victories.
  • Players must weigh the choice of resting to recover healing versus pushing forward to take advantage of their accumulated combat power.
  • When players finally do take a rest, those victories convert into experience points, which are then used to level up.

Shedding “D&D Brain”

Creating a game from the ground up is a challenge, especially when you have played D&D for a long time. James noted that he and the MCDM team had to actively fight “D&D Brain,” which made it difficult to envision gameplay that didn’t rely on established tropes.

The most difficult thing to let go of was the traditional equipment system. The team initially assumed they needed specific mechanics to differentiate every type of sword, axe, and spear, but they eventually realized that Draw Steel is about archetypes. By abstracting equipment into kits, they focused on what it means to be a specific kind of hero, like a heavily armored knight, instead of getting bogged down in weapon spreadsheets.

A Look at “Crows”

In addition to the ongoing work on Draw Steel, James is currently developing a new project called Crows. He describes it as a dungeon-crawling, survival-horror, post-apocalyptic fantasy game.

Crows uses the core Draw Steel power roll, but flips the resource management on its head: instead of building up resources, you are constantly winnowing them away. Equipment is central to the game; what you can do is determined by what you are carrying, and if your character falls, another adventurer can literally loot your body to use your spells.

GM Advice: When the Dice Aren’t in Your Favor

Finally, James shared some excellent advice for GMs dealing with moments where the dice dictate that the heroes should lose. He suggests that killing the party is not the only – or even the most interesting – outcome.

Instead, he encourages GMs to think like a television show writer:

  • Have the villains take the party prisoner.
  • Force the players to witness a defeat, such as the destruction of a village they were trying to save.
  • Use these moments as catalysts for character development rather than just ending the story.

If you want to look at my raw session notes, get access to full unedited interviews with game designers like James, or download my personal library of licensed Dyson Logos maps, consider supporting Short Rest Studios by joining the Adventurer’s Guild on Patreon.

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