This Isn’t Orden

This campaign is not set in Orden, and it follows the rules as written where the setting allows. Where Orden lore does not fit the setting, the setting wins: the tyrant Ajax does not exist here, so War Dogs and Hawk Riders are not available.

Aging & Lifespan

Members of all ancestries age at about the same pace, the pace of Humans.

Ancestries

The following ancestries are available to players: Human, City (High) Elf, Devil, Dwarf, Forest (Wode) Elf, Hakaan, Leonid, Memonek, Orc, Polder, Shadow Elf.

• Humans live in every habitable place, from cities to frontier wilderness. They work in every trade and are good at most of them, though not the best at any. They do best at work that brings groups together, such as politics and trade. Humans are the most populous ancestry in the world.

• City Elves live in settlements. They are artists, merchants, artisans, performers, and, rarely, politicians.

• Devils usually come from a small enclave of mostly their own kind on the outskirts of the wilderness (in a precise location TBD if a player chooses to play one), though some few are found in larger cities. Outside of their enclave, they are mostly performers and laborers. There are very few Devils in the world.

• Dwarves typically live under mountain ranges where ores and gems are plentiful. Their crafted items are famous and sought after.

• Forest Elves live in the woods. They look much like City Elves (no huge eyes or ears). Their woodcraft is famous.

• Hakaan usually live in settlements in the foothills of mountains, especially mountains with a high granite content. They are respected warriors in the armies fighting monsters. There are very few Hakaan in the world.

• Leonid are lion-people. Almost all of them live in the twin cities of Talhedu and Talmeru at the far southern tip of the Logathriad Sea, and they are rare anywhere else. Like Hakaan, they are respected for their fighting.

• Memonek primarily live in a small enclave in one of the major cities (TBD if a player chooses to play one). They have a reputation as predictable and trustworthy, and their alien nature still unsettles some people. They are usually artists, scouts, performers, and laborers.

• Orcs usually live in open country, from plains to forests. They are well-regarded as warriors and laborers. After Humans, they are the most populous ancestry in the world. For culture, think indigenous American.

• Polder typically dwell in human settlements of any size. They are known as the most hospitable innkeepers and the finest cooks. After Orcs, they are the third most populous ancestry in the world.

• Shadow Elves are exceedingly rare in the world, living in a small enclave that might be impossible to find for anyone but another Shadow Elf. They rarely interact with any other settlements, and often only at the highest level of politics.

Careers

The following Careers are not available: Mage’s Apprentice.

Classes

The available classes are the MCDM published classes implemented in the Codex, excluding Summoner: it is stronger than the others and has a long combat turn with little opportunity for other players to act. Beastheart is allowed, and as a master class it has to be understood well before play.

I will not consider third-party classes.

Combat

Unconscious

If you wake up from being Unconscious and you are still in combat, you cannot stand up from prone as a free maneuver.

Complications

The following Complications are not available: Advanced Studies, Amnesia, Artifact Bonded, Crash Landed, Curse of Immortality, Cursed Weapon, Dragon Dreams, Fallen Immortal, Famous Relative, Getting Too Old for This, Hawk Rider, Host Body, Infernal Contract (both), Lifebonded, Lost in Time, Lost Your Head, Medusa Blood, Preacher, Prisoner of the Synlirii, Shared Spirit, Strange Inheritance, Vampire Scion, Waking Dreams, War Dog Collar.

I will consider third-party and homebrew Complications that match the power of those in the Heroes guide and fit the setting.

Downtime & Project Rolls

Heroes earn one project roll per full day of non-adventuring activity in a place where they could take a Respite. Taking a Respite, the game mechanic, is not required to earn or make a project roll. Recipes and materials are required to start a crafting or downtime project.

Gods & Religion

Ignore the lore in RAW. Society long ago found that prayer and sacrifice produced the same results as their absence, and concluded that the gods are myths. The abilities of religious classes such as Censor and Conduit still work; the reason is unexplained.

If you want to worship a deity, invent one, or a pantheon, with me.

Hex Crawls

The heroes will explore places that are unmapped because they kill anyone who is not a hero. Those places run as hex crawls. Draw Steel has no hex crawl rules; it uses Montages, covered later in this document. Hex crawls give this kind of exploration more structure. The rules below are a first draft, kept simple; feedback is welcome in Discord or at session zero.

1. You’ll start from a known safe hex, where you can Respite for one day safely.

2. Taking a hex costs a day, no matter what’s in it.

3. You can move through about 2 or 3 taken hexes per day.

4. When you enter a new hex, I describe what is there.

5. Taking that hex may require a Montage, combat, or exploration.

6. You decide: stay and deal with what is in the hex, or withdraw.

7. If you withdraw from a hostile hex (one that requires Combat or a Montage to take), it costs everyone in the party 1 Respite. If you do not have the Respites to pay, you cannot withdraw.

8. If you withdraw into a hex you have already taken, you may then go into any other adjacent hex, taken or not.

9. If you withdraw into a hex you have not taken yet, you are stuck there and must deal with what is there.

10. If enough days have passed since you last entered a hex, or you stay in one hex too long, the hex may repopulate with a similar or a different challenge, and you take it again.

Languages

This campaign uses the Orden languages as handles for its own, because custom languages are hard to manage against downtime project requirements.

Monsters rarely communicate. Szetch or Anjali will help your crafting projects, and will not get you a conversation with a goblin or a hobgoblin. A dead language in a slot granted at character creation needs a very good reason.

Leveling

I intend 16 to 20 victories per level. All heroes keep the same number of victories and level up together, so a hero whose player misses a session does not fall behind.

Montage Tests

We will sometimes use the Montage Threats & Opportunities alternative to RAW Montage rules.

Player vs Player

• There will be no non-consensual PvP in this game.

• This extends beyond combat into any action a Hero might take that is intended to have a meaningful adverse impact upon at least one other Hero.

• Consensual PvP must be approved by the Director in advance.

Skills

The following skills are permanently unavailable: Timescape.

Crafting Skills

For each crafting skill you take at character creation, you may also take one Echelon 1 Recipe that falls within that crafting skill for items that are not primarily designed for attacking / defending. Recipes taken this way are subject to Director approval.

You start with no crafting materials, and you may use Project Points awarded at character creation during your first Respite.

Titles

Titles allow precise character customization. If you want a custom title that takes effort to earn, propose it; custom titles are balanced against the Titles in the core rules.