I don't know if I'm convinced by the crazy effects some of these kits are packing, but conceptually I love them and I think they're very cool. I'll echo all of the notes left by others here on those fronts. That said, I do like seeing new design breach boundaries, and as a big fan of Norse mythology who's written a lot about it, I gotta give you massive props for the Valkyrie title making your mount fly instead of giving you wings. That's worth a lot of points from me specifically! 😂
Play game supplement
Legacy Kits's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #36 | 3.623 | 3.722 |
| Enjoyment | #45 | 2.812 | 2.889 |
| Usability | #46 | 2.596 | 2.667 |
| Theme | #48 | 1.352 | 1.389 |
| Overall | #49 | 2.596 | 2.667 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
Thank you for the kind words!
I know a number of my designs here pushed the boundary of kit design a bit more than was comfortable, and definitely plan on dialing it back within revisions; hopefully we'll hit a point of reasonable equilibrium (crossing fingers!)
Making sure that a Valkyrie's mount could fly was one of the things I wanted to ensure was in there somewhere, and I'm so glad that that resonated with you! :)
The ideas here are exceptionally well formatted and presented, and its clear that a great amount of creative love went into this submission. That said, I believe making these ideas into kits was too ambitious. A neat concept to explore for sure! However, a kit action needs to be a basic no-cost ability you can rely on. These ideas are exceptionally cool, but don't suit that role.
I think reworking these into titles (titles that even upgrade kits, maybe?) would preserve the magic of what you've written and give these ideas their necessary room to breathe. Would love to see whatcha come up with if you work with these more.
Thanks so much for the reply!
I definitely plan on doing a revision (if nothing else to re-open the versions with (IMHO) better layout that spanned multiple pages.
A lot of the goal was looking at classes from other RPGs that I/we were playing before Draw Steel, and making them accessible here; and I remember Matt talking about how maybe Kits could stand in in place of multiclassing, and crossing character flavors and fantasies… that’s kinda how I ended up with the idea of making them kits.
I actually really like the idea to incorporate titles more (my thoughts immediately went to the Witchblade, and having different effects and flavors for the attack based on Monster tags slain; thus having more freedom to clean up and better balance the (per comments) overbloated Power Roll table and Effects list there.
I think I know exactly what you’re talking about with the not-having-an-always-active-attack option… yeah. That one (the Intercessor) particularly I knew I was pushing the ‘Kits’ framework for a lot; and adjusting it is going to be one of the things I consider most when going back for a revising pass.
Thank you so much again! I can’t wait to see what you think when I publish that revised version!
Hells yea, I'm also a huge enjoyer of the 'diet multiclassing' you can do with kits, especially with the supernatural ones. While I found the current mechanical execution of these too ambitious for standard kits, I greatly enjoy the narrative fantasy of each one and feel they'd make for interesting character angles to work with.
If you'd like, I'd be happy to toss ideas back and forth or proofread when you start revising. There's some real cool stuff here.
I really love these kits. they're cool and have a unique feel to them. they seem ot have nothing to do with the theme, but I'm always happy to see new kits.
Submitted
Villains of The Stolen YearThanks for the kind words!
The goal was that they reflected some ideas of classes and characters available in games we’d play before Draw Steel, and making those options available now. I’ll admit it’s a bit of a stretch, but of the options I came up with, it was the one I thought would be most interesting & diverse.
I have some issues with this submission. Firstly, I have no idea how it relates to the theme of the Jam. I've read the project page, and I still don't understand what the word Legacy in the title is referring to exactly. The submission itself is fun and creative, but, in my opinion, it definitely needs more refinement. It tries to push kit mechanics further but, in doing so, hurts its own usability. I wouldn't allow any of these (except maybe for the Wilder), unless there were a specific situation in the campaign where it felt appropriate to bend the balance. Most of these kits' benefits don't feel like Signature abilities. A signature move that defines your fighting style.
Ascetic: Mostly alright, but 1) I don't see how Reason can affect whether the target is bleeding (and the flavor of the kit makes it seem like it's actual physical bleeding), and 2) "If you're bleeding or after you take damage from this effect" sounds confusing. So, if I'm not bleeding and I take damage for it, I can add additional damage to that attack? Because if so, it means I can add additional damage either way.
Intercessor: That's definitely not a signature ability. I like the sidebar that explains what a "mission" is, but an ability that you can only use once per quest (not even a respite) is no way a signature move.
Valkyrie: "You are charged with guiding [the soul] to the afterlife". What happens if I don't do it? Can I not do it? There will be multiple creatures per encounter that could be subjected to this effect. I could give it a pass if it were a "you reduce a creature to 0 stamina with this ability" instead of an attack. And what exactly "guiding to the afterlife" looks like is very vague. I understand this is on purpose, but this vagueness only hurts the ability, in my opinion.
Witchblade: Pretty fun. My only issue is with the Shadow of Corruption curse. Automatic Slowed" effect with no potency check is too much for a signature ability.
Wilder: No notes. Nice implementation of a Beastheart-light type of character.
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.
Feedback:
I understand the two page limit is tough, but a little intro at the top about the kits would have been helpful to tie the kits together, or to the jam.
Ascetic – very cool flavor, interesting mechanic. I think the effect part about if you are bleeding could be worded a little clearer. I was surprised there was no speed bonus to the kit.
Intercessor – very flavorful, very interesting mechanic. Is it required that your allies participate if the they are in the area? I like the once you use text, very neat.
Valkryrie - If the title is a prerequisite, I'd put it before the kit, that might just be personal preference but the kit is useless to me if I don't know what I need to do to get it. Flavor for the effect is really cool.
Witchblade - very cool! For curse of bloodcunning, how long do you not take damage from bleeding? Is it only for the use of the signature ability, or until the end of combat? For shadow of corruption, I'd expect a potency here, this is very powerful.
Wilder – neat use of familiars! Very flavorful.
Overall, creative and flavorful, with some language tweaks needed, and maybe some power level adjustments. As a director I could see some liking and some dreading making intercessor missions. Personally, I think it's neat.
Submitted
Herald of the Time EnderThanks so much for the detailed feedback!
You’re absolutely right - a small blurb at the top would help to tie it all together; unfortunately the fight with Page Count von Glauer put me in a rough spot (and due to scheduling, I already had to halve my layout time), and that nicety slipped my mind.
The design for the Ascetic was all about trying to balance the push-pull mechanics with the performance shock and the inflicting of the bleeding condition, since that’s a condition the core kits don’t engage with. What I ended up with in the doc was the simplest/most streamlined version of my pitches (I tried a self-inflict EoT bleeding; I tried to modulate the bleeding condition damage-wise, scaling to a d3, or experimenting with a ‘save ends’ option)… for each one, they didn’t quite mesh well linguistically for the mechanic, and I wanted the player to have the shock be consistent between uses for speed of play at the table; hence where it ended up.
I kinda like the fact that because it’s flat, it incentivizes using the shock at lower levels, and taking advantage of the bleeding condition at higher levels; since that fits the theming I had in my mind.
The Intercessor is (honestly) the kit I figure will get the most scrutiny, since it re-introduces an attrition mechanic into Draw Steel when the developers went out of their way to pull back from them. Mechanics-wise, the other members of the party do not need to take part in the action (or mission) — you spend you Victories, toll your dice, and can recover 1-4 expended recoveries that can be divided up among party members in the burst; the goal is that the signature ability is a ‘hail mary’ play that thematically disadvantages the Intercessor in the short term (you lose two Victories, and therefore go into encounters at a Heroic Resource deficit compared to your party members) so your party can keep fighting or survive a deadly encounter; until they can complete the mission to gain those Victories back.
Good call on moving the Title first. That will be one of my tweaks I implement for the eventual post-jam update.
The “cures of bloodcunning” (curse my typo in the doc lol - that’s another thing I’m itching to fix once the grading is over) effect is meant to be a single-apply ability. Rules as intended, using the Signature Ability with that curse doesn’t proc bleeding damage for that Main Action instance.
Thanks again so much for the detailed feedback!
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.