In this project we take 20+ classic fantasy monsters and design them for Draw Steel. Just to add a little spice, we also designed harvesting mechanics to collect those monster parts and turn them into treasure. What treasures? Oh yeah, we made those too.
Encounters with fantastic creatures, who share the world with the heroes, reinforce verisimilitude. Also, players often like encountering classic fantasy monsters. However, such encounters should be fun for both the director and the players. With the above premise in mind, we decided to take some classic fantasy monsters and reimagine for Draw Steel.
This product, and its stat blocks, are about the feeling of being ambushed while adventuring. We view these as standalone, one off encounters, though the director is free to use these as they wish. Monsters are primarily designed as elites or solos. There are a few bands (2-3 stat blocks) and all of them can be used as one encounter without overwhelming the director.
We did not stop there. Fighting monsters and defeating them is fun. But what's more fun? Harvesting monster parts. So every monster in the book will have treasured bits of anatomy that the heroes can gleefully harvest.
Yes, but what do they do with these parts? Well, the heroes can then either use those parts themselves as consumable treasures, or they can craft some consumable treasures. "What treasures?" you say? Oh yeah, we made those too.
The following are the list monsters in the product. It is important to note that playtesting isn't complete yet. As a result, the design is not final. So although unlikely, it is possible that a few of these might change.
“My name is Caleb D. Cairns and I’m going to be the king of the Draw Steel designers! … Or is that James? Maybe Colville?”
Engineer by trade, Caleb D. Cairns spends his time in ADHD induced day-dreams designing games, crafting stories, doing recreational mathematics or, most-likely, a combination of all three. Caleb is excited to work on LOOK OUT! and many future projects with such amazing designers from the community.
Tucker Bird (he/him) is a freelance game designer with a particular fondness for dynamic monsters and games with some crunch. He's a regular writer for the Blacksmith's guild fanzine under the name Max Falcon, and is a huge believer in the philosophy of "Make it cool first! We'll sort out the balance later."
Anna Lee is a TTRPG designer, life-long gamer, and is just OK at cooking. A data analyst/engineer by day and game designer by night, she lives in NYC like any good superhero. You can reach out for inquiries at [email protected] and release her from talking in the third person.
Jon de Nor is the host of Goblin Points, the developer of Stawl.app, half of the organizers of Jams of the Timescape, and a contributor to supplements for Draw Steel.
Ben Cornforth “Zetesofos” (he/him/they) is new to the freelancing world, but has been playing TTRPGs for over 20 years, as well as an avid homebrewer of all things fantasy and sci-fi. When not working their day job or playing with the dog, they are researching, writing, editing, drawing (maps mostly), and directing their own home games. You can find Zetesofos across Reddit, Bluesky, and Discord - often floating around the MCDM and Draw Steel community, and is excited to work with many other talented creators.
Subharup Roy (he/him) is the producer and one of the writers for The Blacksmith’s Guild. He has 4+ years of experience writing and producing projects for TTRPGs. He has worked on products such as The Lost Art of Hexcrawling (5e), Monster Menagerie, Necronomicon (Shadowdark). Recently, he has written for Draw Steel Encounters (MCDM Productions).
