itch.io

Thank you so much for the detailed reply!  I’m still starting out on my journey as a game designer, and this feedback is genuinely helpful for moving forward.  Hopefully I can answer some of the points you raised here:

(re: Theme) this is maybe the third or fourth idea I had while figuring out what I could bring to the game jam; and I went with it because I figured it’d be the most broadly applicable and actionable.  The idea in my head was to look backward in time a year ago to the other TTRPGs I/we were playing, and bring some of those fantasies forward into Draw Steel, filling niches that weren’t covered in the core rulebooks.  Sorta a celebration of the journey we’ve been on - I can definitely see and understand that that might not have been super well communicated, and you aren’t the first to raise this concern.

(re: the Ascetic) That is the way the design is meant to work, Rules-as-Intended - if you are bleeding, you gain the bonuses, otherwise you take the damage shock… and then gain the bonuses as well.  Looking back, I should be able to update the Power Roll chart to include that information and streamline the Effect text in the eventual revision.

(re: the Intercessor) I think I mentioned it in another comment here, this is the Kit option that I’ve been genuinely the most interested to see people’s responses to, because of how far in a different direction I took it.

A lot of the ideas that went into this Kit was my desire to have a healing-focused kit that didn’t step on the design of other character creation options in Draw Steel.  That’s where the “recover spent recoveries” mechanic came from - it fulfilled the fantasy and was broadly unique, design-wise.  But there’s the inherent complication there: it disrupts the gameplay loop of chasing victories and burning through recoveries until a respite is required; so I figured to include this type of ability it’d need to be modulated by some sort of attrition mechanic (which I figured needed to be actionable, “complicates the plot further”, and overall just *more* to fit into the no-oatmeal ethos).  Ergo, Missions - you have to pay it back.  Since the kit doesn’t imply what god or saint responds, I figured the dramatic moment could be one-upped by perhaps receiving your boon from an opposing force (Ajax intercedes on your behalf, and now you owe him… what do you do now?).

Your take on this not really feeling like the classic signature abilities in Draw Steel isn’t lost on me either.  Noting again that where this is where I pushed the design the most, I played a bit of a semantics game and figured that the text on the tin said “signature ability” and not “signature attack”, so there might be design room for kits outside of *exclusively* pairing them with attacks… and also “signature” doesn’t *have to* mean always-active, just what the character archetype is *known for doing* - my thought process there is that ascribing a signature in that way can come from frequency (having an always active ability that you use often) or from a larger/dramatic demonstration (happens less frequently, but changes the nature of the encounter immediately, and the adventure going forward).

Honestly, just talking the design through here helps me to see some of the weaknesses I introduced with it.

(re: the Valkyrie) This was actually how an earlier draft of this ability worked!  The reason I pivoted to what it is now was so that players and GMs could have the roleplay moment, even if the kill was made by another party member.  Looking back, maybe a middle ground would be a K.O. with the ability, and/or just having it be an automatic against Solo and Leader-types?  Tag restrictions would absolutely simplify the trigger mechanic.

I suppose I also didn’t think of the option where the player chose not to engage with that narrative “consequence” to the kit…  I’ll definitely take that into account when I make the necessary adjustments!

(re: Witchblade) The Weakened condition auto-apply being too strong - I hear you loud and clear!  That’ll be one of the first fixes I make jumping back into the design of the document; and plus, being unshackled from the page count post-Jam will help a great bit with formatting and presentation.

(re: Wilder) Really glad you like that one!  It was one of my favorites to design!

Thank you again for the detailed comment and critique; and opening a spot here to ramble about my thoughts during the design process.