Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
My interview of James Introcaso. James is prolific designer in the tabletop RPG space. He’s contributed to too many projects to neatly sum up, but to list a sample of titles he either led or contributed to, in D&D 5e: The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Descent into Avernus, and my personal favorite D&D 5e products I’ve purchased, My Dad’s Monster Manual. Outside of D&D, he was a lead designer on Roll 20’s Burn Bryte system. Since 2021 he’s been at MCDM Productions. Most important for the purposes of this video, he is currently the lead on their forthcoming flagship table top RPG, Draw Steel.
MCDM Patreon: patreon.com/mcdm
MCDM Discord: discord.gg/kQuPXq3k
James Introcaso's Twitch: twitch.tv/jamesintrocaso
Matt Colville's Twitch: twitch.tv/matthew_colville
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:33 - My Dad's Monster Manual
00:04:58 - What is Draw Steel?
00:08:16 - Designing a D&D game that is not D&D
00:14:43 - What does "tactical" mean for MCDM?
00:20:29 - Aestus's definition of tactical
00:25:21 - Why the tactician's Mark needed to change
00:31:33 - "Damage with more steps" and damage over time abilities
00:36:29 - How long should an combat encounter take?
00:39:06 - How does Draw Steel encourage working as a team?
00:48:43 - Heroic Resources and non-attrition design
00:58:01 - The Power Roll
01:05:55 - How do critical hits work in Draw Steel?
01:09:34 - How to follow the development of Draw Steel
01:12:40 - Outro
My interview of James Introcaso. James is prolific designer in the tabletop RPG space. He’s contributed to too many projects to neatly sum up, but to list a sample of titles he either led or contributed to, in D&D 5e: The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Descent into Avernus, and my personal favorite D&D 5e products I’ve purchased, My Dad’s Monster Manual. Outside of D&D, he was a lead designer on Roll 20’s Burn Bryte system. Since 2021 he’s been at MCDM Productions. Most important for the purposes of this video, he is currently the lead on their forthcoming flagship table top RPG, Draw Steel.
MCDM Patreon: patreon.com/mcdm
MCDM Discord: discord.gg/kQuPXq3k
James Introcaso's Twitch: twitch.tv/jamesintrocaso
Matt Colville's Twitch: twitch.tv/matthew_colville
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:33 - My Dad's Monster Manual
00:04:58 - What is Draw Steel?
00:08:16 - Designing a D&D game that is not D&D
00:14:43 - What does "tactical" mean for MCDM?
00:20:29 - Aestus's definition of tactical
00:25:21 - Why the tactician's Mark needed to change
00:31:33 - "Damage with more steps" and damage over time abilities
00:36:29 - How long should an combat encounter take?
00:39:06 - How does Draw Steel encourage working as a team?
00:48:43 - Heroic Resources and non-attrition design
00:58:01 - The Power Roll
01:05:55 - How do critical hits work in Draw Steel?
01:09:34 - How to follow the development of Draw Steel
01:12:40 - Outro
