Episode 2025.24 Published on 5 December 2025

News: Crack the Sun Crowdfunder, Codex VTT For All Patrons, Third-Party Crowdfunder Record | November Roundup

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Intro

Public playtest of the beastheart, private playtest of Dark Heart of the Wood, The Fall of Blackbottom and the summoner is released, patron playtest of the Codex, and a huge crowdfunder launching soon! Draw Steel Christmas came a month early!

I'm Jon de Nor and this is Goblin Points.

December Crowdfunder

If you're listening to this episode as it releases; it's nearly upon us! If you're listening to this a few days after it releases; the crowdfunder is upon us!

For the past few months I've always had a section about the crowdfunder, but soon we'll know how much they're aiming for, what the pledge tiers are, how expensive the Cthrion Ironizir edition is, and what extra products you can pre-order.

There are only two things I want to mention about the crowdfunder: The biggest, baddest, most expensive version of Crack the Sun, the Cthrion Ironizir edition, will be available for the first 48 hours of the crowdfunder going live. Instead of a limited number of boxes, it's time limited. After 48 hours, it will no longer be available.

The second thing is that patrons will get digital versions all of the products in the crowdfunder as part of their patron membership, as long they're long-standing members. This includes the PDF version of Crack the Sun.

When a product releases, you divide the price of the product by eight, round that number up, and that's the number of months before the release date you had to be a paying patron to get the product "for free". If the product costs $16, you divide that by eight to get two months. If you've been a paying patron for those two past months, consecutively, without any pauses, you qualify.

The Summoner

The Summoner has released. This is 61 pages of calling upon minions to do your work for you.

The summoner class comes with four subclases, called circles. Circle of Blight for summoning demons; Circle of Grave to summon undead; Circle of Spring to summon fey; and Circle of Storms to summon elementals.

In addition to the complete class, the product includes nine new trinkets, across all four echelons; four new leveled items; six new titles; a retainer summoner which are easier to run; and four summoner rivals from level two through ten.

At the end of the document, there are three pages with advice on how to play the summoner as a player, a section for directors on how summoners affect the game, combats specifically and how to handle that.

The last page of the summoner document, has instructions on how to convert the minions that come with the summoner class into regular monsters for the director to use.

If you've been a paying patron of MCDM, without stop, since September 28, you should've received an email with a code to download the summoner from the MCDM shop. Everyone else can get the summoner for $14.99.

The Fall of Blackbottom

The Fall of Blackbottom is also finally out! This is an adventure to start of the campaign with - and with a BOOM! at that!

The new version of The Fall of Blackbottom is an expanded version of the adventure of the same name that was included in the first backer packet back in September of 2024. The new version has more content and the potential to grant the heroes 16 victories.

As it so often does, the adventure starts with the heroes meeting at an inn. But in this case, the inn is on fire, there's a huge iron ball that's been dropped through the roof and through all three floors, demons are spewing out of the ball, and the other guests are in mortal danger from fires, fiends and a colllapsing building.

After getting out of the inn. How are the heroes to get out of the fallen city, possibly with a flock of shellshocked civilians in tow?

You get The Fall of Blackbottom if you've been a consecutive paying patron since August 28, or in the MCDM shop for $19.99.

Updated Core Rules

MCDM has also sent out an updated version of the core rules. Both Heroes and Monsters have been updated to version 1.01. This version includes all the fixes mentioned in the errata document, and probably some more. There is no more detailed changelog than the errata document.

Whichever way you ended up getting the core rules, you should've received an email from MCDM by now, either via BackerKit or the MCDM shop, with a link and/or details on how to get the updated version. If you haven't received the email, check your promotions folder. And if all else fails, email them at hello-at-mcdmproductions-dot-com, and they'll get you sorted out.

Playtests: Beastheart & Dark Heart of the Wood

MCDM also released two playtests in November. At the beginning of the month, they published an open playtest of the Beastheart, and then near the end of the month, a patron-only playtest of the Dark Heart of the Wood.

The beastheart is the upcoming pet companion class for Draw Steel. You play alongside your companion, with the two of you having a special bond that makes you act in unison, in a way that no other allies do.

The Dark Heart of the Wood is a quest, a shorter adventure granting the heroes 5-6 victories. In the Dark Heart of the Wood, the heroes come upon a town that has been stricken by a blight, and they have to investigate the source of the problem... in the nearby wood.

The Codex

As of Friday November 28th, all patrons have access to the Codex. This is the first proper test phase for the Codex.

For this test phase, they've implemented the first three levels of all the classes, and they've implemented most of The Delian Tomb, including the progressive pregen characters. Which means you can start playing The Delian Tomb with the dialed back heroes, and then "upgrade" them after each of the first encounters.

Everyone who's had access to the Codex in the previous test phase will continue to have access until the full release of the Codex, but to get access, you can no longer request keys directly from DMHub. Those who want access need to become a paid patron of MCDM, connect their Patreon account to Discord, then head over to the MCDM Discord server and use the /requestmykey command to get the Steam key to download and access the Codex.

While in this pre-release test phase for the Codex, all patron also have access to five additional keys they can share with their players, for a total six keys. This allows them to share access to the Codex with any players that are not patrons.

The final version of the Codex, though, will require everyone to pay for access. MCDM considers the Codex to be a premium product, and to make a premium product, you need to spend a lot of money. If you want to play Draw Steel virtually there are already add-ons and extensions for Foundry VTT, Owlbear Rodeo, Fantasy Grounds and Roll20, which will only become better over time.

To get access to the Codex will require you to buy a digital product from MCDM. Buying it as part of a physical product also counts; which means you can buy Heroes from your local friendly game store, contact MCDM, and they'll hook you up with the PDF and access to the Codex. Buying digital of physical directly from MCDM will also automatically grant you access to the Codex.

MCDM will also offer a "party pack" of Codex licenses to make it cheaper for a whole gaming group to get access to the Codex. The price that's currently being considered is $100 for a pack of five keys. The price is not final, and we'll only truly know the price once they launch the party pack when the Codex fully releases.

Once you do have access though, you'll have access in perpetuity. There are no additional subscription, and you have access to the full version. There are no different versions of the Codex, everyone have the same version with the full feature set to either play as player or as a director.

For some, no matter which way look at it, the Codex is going to be out of reach. Spending that much money on a virtual tool that only works with one game might not be feasible for the whole table. This will sadden some, and annoy others. I think the best way to think about it is that the Codex is not meant to be a recruitment tool, but for the people who are (financially) invested in Draw Steel. And with the open license, the community projects will be able to provide solid alternatives on other platforms.

Personally, I've been playing in the Codex almost weekly for the past six months, and it outshines any experience I've had with Foundry, Roll20, Fantasy Grounds or Owlbear Rodeo, when it comes to implementing a system and ease of use. Each of the other platforms have their strengths, but to me, the Codex has delivered the best complete package.

Community Shoutouts

MCDM published a video on their channel, where Matt talked about two things: the future of Draw Steel, the upcoming crowdfunder, and the Codex. The second part of the video was him basically listing off a lot of the fantastic creations from the Draw Steel community.

While it is incredibly flattering to be mentioned myself, I was happier about the focus directed to all the fantastic work being done in the community. As someone who pays close attention to everything that gets published and shared in our growing community, and tries to bring those creations to people's attention, I really appreciates Matt doing it too. MCDM and he has a reach I'll never have, and the stuff being made is deserving of more attention than what I'm able to bring.

The Delian Tomb Dice

If you want a set of Draw Steel dice with the 20-sided d10s and a 6-sided d3, Chessex is currently selling the The Delian Tomb dice set on their website.

This is the set of dice they've been selling at a few conventions since Draw Steel released. When you buy the dice set, you also get a code you can redeem for the adventure in the MCDM shop.

As I understand it, this is limited stock that's left over from the production run they did. So if you're interested, don't hesitate to get a set.

You can order the set directly from Chessex' website for $19.98.

Hooked on Crafting

The Dice Society is currently working on Hooked on Crafting, collection of quest hooks for every crafting prerequisite in the core rules.

You can currently pre-order the supplement on Itch, and as part of the pre-order, The Dice Society also ran a funding campaing. If he received enough funds through pre-orders, he'll be able to improve the quality of the supplement with better layout and more art. And through the power of the fantastic Draw Steel community, he's already met the goal.

Here's an example from the supplement

Blood Essence Vial A ruby purloined from a vampire

Many villages in Rhöl are accosted by vampires and, not coincidentally, they do tend to amass quite a few precious gems over their long lives. Sneaking into their lairs is no easy feat, so waiting until the vampire is out prowling the streets before stealing from them is highly advisable.

Montage (Moderate): Steal from a vampire. Challenges: Distract Spawn, Infiltrate Lair, Find the Treasure, Disarm Traps, Sneak Away.

You can still get Hooked on Crafting for the pre-order discounted price of $10 on Itch.

Masterful Smithing

MrMattDollar is back with another skill based supplement. This time it's Blacksmithing.

With Masterful Smithing, he's bringing a new title, Blacksmith, which makes you better at smithing, but you need to complete three crafting projects using the blacksmithing skill before you can get it.

There are two new perks: Warsmith, which makes you able to outfit a whole village with quickly made weapons in the matter of a few days, through the use of your smithing expertise. And Masterwork, which grants you a downtime project to create your magnum opus. When you complete the project, you get renown and potentially an artisan follower.

Then there are a bunch of weapon and armor trinkets, two leveled weapons, an artifact for a total of more than 30 treasures. There's also four new artisan followers, and a new blacksmith retainer.

Masterful Smithing is available on Itch for $5.

The Cave of Amber Tears

If you're listening to this, you've probably already heard about Paul Ligorski's The Cave of Amber Tears crowdfunder. It started off with a bang, and ended up being the most funded third-party product for Draw Steel to date, with just north of $6000 raised, by 187 backers.

The adventure is estimated to ship by April 1st, 2026. I assume Paul puts up a pre-order option sometime before that.

To Defy the Stars

If you listened to my recent interview with Paul, you'll heard him mention that To Defy the Stars was released this month. This is a seventh level adventure that brings the heroes to the timescape.

Mysterious rifts have started appearing. The Universal Solar Legaue, UNISOL, has increased their presence in previously unpatrolled areas, near the rifts. Now UNISOL is bearing down on the heroes, having detected contraband aboard their ship.

To Defy the Stars is designed to be run in one to two sessions, for four to six players, with the possibility to earn up to eight victories.

You can pick it up for $5.99 on Itch.

From the Ashes

Dima Serbin has released From the Ashes. An adventure meant to be a campaign's starting adventure. The heroes are tasked with purging an old settlement of a blight, left behind after a battle between two mighty enemies, long ago.

The adventure is designed for five players, and includes adjustments for three to six players, is three to four hours long and the heroes can earn up to six victories.

You can pick up From the Ashes for pay-what-you-want on Itch.

The Bale Crossing

James Gorman has published The Bale Crossing. An adventure that can be used as a follow-up to The Fall of Blackbottom.

The adventure takes place on the ship Nutmeg. The heroes are crossing the waters between Blackbottom and Capital, when they come across a ship that was reported as sunk. Now they must investigate.

The adventure is designed for three to six second level heroes, is four hours long and the heroes can earn up to eight victories.

You can pick up The Bale Crossing for free on Itch, but if you pay for it, the proceeds go to the Gift of Life Donor Program.

Glyphs for Translators

Again form MrMattDollar comes something really cool, to my mind. He's previously published a font with the symbols used in the core rules. He's now updated that font with French and Ukrainian translations.

I know there are people working on translations to both of those languages, and it'll be useful for anyone wanting to publish supplements in those languages.

In the post about the update, MrMattDollar also says he's available to update the font with even more languages if someone desires it. He recommends reaching out to him on Discord.

Link to the announcement post can be found in the link section.

Codex Fabuludens

Ghost of Ezekiel has made cards to use for your in-person Draw Steel game. There are cards with the options you have on your turn, cards to use as hero tokens, cards to use as surges, and cards for all the conditions.

All of the cards come with beatiful artwork and text that explains what each card means in mechanical terms. The hero token cards explain what you can spend hero tokens on, the surge cards explains surges. The condition cards, in addition to the description text, includes a place to mark whether the condition ends with a save or at the end of the turn.

This set is updated and, in my opinion, upgraded version of the same cards Ghost of Ezekiel made before the game was finished.

You can get the cards on Itch for $6.

Set Sail

Humble Braggarts Press has published Set Sail, a supplement that features rules to upgrade your ship.

The ship is designated a given number of Space, with the suggested number being three. By completing downtime projects, you're then able to upgrade your ship, where some of the upgrades consume some of the Space.

Making the ship more maneuverable, or the hull stronger, won't consume any of the Space. But outfitting the ship with arcane cannons to fire cannon balls with typed damage, or a workshop to work on downtime projects while at sea, will consume some of that precious Space.

There are also Ship Features, which are a bit like titles, but for the ship. After completing the prerequisite, members of the crew of the ship get certain benefits. If the ship is known across the seas, the famous crew gain edges when they try to influence people at sea or in port cities.

You can pick up Set Sail for pay-what-you-want on DriveThruRPG.

Carnophage Monster Booklet

Shadowhand Gaming has released their Carnophage Monster Booklet. This is a monster band of 14 monsters and two new dynamic terrain.

The carnophage is a carniverous monster band, and the booklet warns that it features body horror, and gore.

One interesting feature is that most of the monsters have an ability named Cannibalize, which let's them consume peers to end effects on themselves. But if the director spends Malice on the ability, the carnophage is also able to mutate and evolve into a stronger monster.

There's also an art piece included of the Carnophage Sovereign, the patriarch of a family of carnophages.

You can pick up the Carnophage Monster Booklet on Shadowhand Gaming's Patreon, or on Itch for $8.99.

Draw Steel NPC Generator

EspressoBeanz has created a Draw Steel NPC Generator. A quick way to generate detailed NPCs to use in your game.

You can go for something completely random, or set parameters for ancestry, gender, background, geographical region, age, primary language, two motivations, and two pitfalls.

The result is a named NPC with an ancestry, background, age, list of languages and skills. There's also a physical description of the person, a few bullet points about their personality, how they express themselves when they speak, and two motivations and two pitfalls. Lastly, there's a "downtime hook" to help you make them relevant to heroes during downtime.

Link to the generator is in the link section.

Community Highlights

And now for some rapid fire highlights:

  • Apparel of The Brawler, a leveled treasure set, originally developed for Jams of the Timescape, now revised, by Biscuit Wolf Games.
  • Jackaltornmoons' tables of kit and subclass comparisons.
  • The 0.9 release of the Draw Steel Foundry VTT module by ChaosOS and MetaMorphic Digital.
  • RollToRead's audiobook style readings of the Dwarves fiction and the Dragon Knight fiction.
  • The adventure Tournament at Castelo Verde by Sage Unwise.
  • The new update to the Draw Steel Owlbear Rodeo extensions by Seamus.
  • The Dice Society's new podcast episode, detailing the Crack the Sun adventure.
  • Triglav Games' The Boggits of Kingsmire is now available for pre-orders on BackerKit.
  • And the ettins monster band published by ValuedDragon.

Outro

November was a wild ride! With the drops and releases from MCDM, the crowdfunders doing bonkers and the hype for the Crack the Sun crowdfunder reaching boiling point! It's a good time to be a Draw Steel player!

If you want to be featured on Goblin Points, or know of someone else who should be, leave a comment on YouTube or Spotify, or send me an e-mail on tips@goblinpoints.com.

Links to everything, including this script can be found in the show notes, and on goblinpoints.com.

If you want to support my work, you can become a Patreon member. As a paying member you can submit questions for upcoming guests. You also get access to premium features on Stawl. Stawl is digital tool set for playing and running Draw Steel: digital hero sheets, looking up monsters, or read the core rules. Go to Stawl.app. S-T-A-W-L-dot-app.

Next episode is on the 15th. I'm joined by Sam McGurran and Subharup Roy who's currently running a crowdfunder for their psionic city setting supplement, A Refugee's Guide to Nomas.

See you next time. Snakkes.

Links

From MCDM

The Delian Tomb Dice

Hooked on Crafting

Masterful Smithing

The Cave of Amber Tears

To Defy The Stars

From the Ashes

The Bale Crossing by James Gorman

Glyphs for Translators

Codex Fabuludens

Set Sail

Carnophage Monster Booklet

Draw Steel NPC Generator

Community Highlights

Draw Steel Homebrew

Draw Steel Media

Draw Steel Tools

From the Web