The Issaquah Accords

In February 2025 a diplomatic conference took place in the city of Issaquah, WA between members of MCDM and the DMHub teams. On a plateau on the Pacific Northwest a plan was formulated for the future of The Codex, the Virtual Table Top (VTT) for Draw Steel. My name is Djordi and I hosted the Accords at my secret location on said plateau.

What is the Codex?

The Codex is a custom VTT built in collaboration with the team at DMHub. It’s built on their existing software for d20 fantasy, but is being built out in a bespoke fashion to be a solution specifically for Draw Steel. You can check out their existing d20 fantasy software right now via direct download, but the Codex itself is distributed via Steam.

While there are several great VTT options available out there, it’s important to us to make the best possible experience for Draw Steel. And that requires more control and a dedicated partner. DMHub provides a fantastic base technology for us and, more importantly, a talented team who is invested in making a great experience for Draw Steel users. We’ll still work with other VTT companies when it makes sense, but our focus is on the Codex.

The current version of the Codex has a lot of cool features. Parallax technology that gives the illusion of height for maps with different elevations, tracking of forced movement, and falling. The Draw Steel rules are partially implemented, letting you track heroic resources, flanking, and a subset of abilities.

UI vs UX

There are two similar disciplines in software development: User Interface and User Experience. There is overlap between them, but they aren’t exactly the same. User Interface tends to focus more on the assets and elements of the interface, while User Experience tends to think about exactly how you use software or a product. That has a lot of impact on the UI elements built but, when done properly, has a massive impact on how usable your product is.

I did a lot of UI and UX work back in the 20th Century when the field was more primitive. Willy has done a ton more recently. So we have a lot of experience in house, but we also have a lot of general work that we need to get done.

Kelsey Pickinpaugh, a talented UX designer I’ve worked with in the past, has been helping us out with some stuff. Many of you have seen the character sheet she’s created and now she’s helping us with an update to the UI and the UX of the Codex. But the question then becomes exactly what do we focus on next? And for that we needed a meeting to understand the next steps for the Codex.

The Meeting

Now that the core books are content complete and going into editing, several members of the MCDM team are shifting into helping build out the Codex. For example, until The Codex is complete I’ll be devoting 80% of my time to get it done.

At the meeting we reviewed the current state of the Codex, had a bit of a hackathon / intro on how to modify and work on the Codex, and worked through next steps. The exact dates and contents of the plan might change depending on the realities of life, but we’re planning around a series of releases:

• Release 1 - Initial evaluation and implementing Echelon 1 of the game, focusing on core combat and character creation

• Release 2 - Implementing Echelon 2 of the game, adding non-combat mechanics, and building out the final character creation flow

• Release 3 - Implementing Echelon 3 of the game, adding more non-combat mechanics and rewards, and doing a full UX pass

• Release 4 - Implementing Echelon 4 of the game and building out the rest of the mechanics

Echelons are how we categorize the various levels of the game (1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+). As of this writing you, the Patrons, have a draft of the rules with all echelons. The Backers have access to just echelon 1, levels 1-3.

The question I presume you all are asking right now is when do we get access to these releases?

Sausage Being Made Factor

Part of when you get access depends on your comfort level with seeing the sausage being made!

At the moment there is a small group of people testing the Codex, in its current form, through the DMHub Discord. Anyone can join the Discord to see posts and videos of progress on the project. You can also add your name to a waiting list to get access and an accompanying Steam key that lets you download the latest software. This is the haggis level of seeing the sausage being made.This pool of testers is relatively small, will be testing on very in-progress software, and will be asked to have a high level of tolerance and feedback for bugs and in progress features.

We are targeting the completion of Release 1 in a few months. That release will go to the testers first, be evaluated, and then iterated on until we think it’s ready. Ideally a month or so after initial evaluation. Then Release 1 will go to the patrons. This is the home bbq level of seeing the sausage being made.

This process will repeat every few months as we go through releases. First to the testers and then to the patrons. After you, the Patrons, have helped us refine the Codex it will become available more broadly to Backers and new players and Directors, giving you an even larger pool of people to play with. This becomes the costco version of the sausage.

How Do You and Your Players Get Access to the Codex?

Once Release 1 is available, anyone who is a Patron has full access to that version of the Codex, both as a Director and as a player. From that point forward all Patrons will have access to the current beta version of the Codex. We look forward to seeing the exciting things you folks do with it for your campaigns as we build out the full set of features!

Once the Codex is available to Backers and the general public, Patrons will still get early access to new content from MCDM via the Patreon before it is available for purchase. Our intent is to have Codex access tied directly to having the corresponding MCDM product. No need to double dip on anything.

Your players will need to either be members of the MCDM Patreon or have purchased a copy of the Draw Steel rules in some format to get access to the Codex. Once the game is available we will be offering “party packs” that allow you to purchase discounted copies of the rules for your players.

Players will eventually get access to all player options, even if they aren’t a Patron, or even if they haven’t purchased a product with the corresponding player options. A few times a year we will update the Codex with the new player options we have released. E.g. When we release the Summoner you can get access immediately as a Patron, purchase the product to immediately get access on release, or wait until the next player option update to get it for free.

Many of us come from the video game industry and have seen how free-to-play games create perverse incentives. For studios to be profitable they have to push dark patterns to get you to buy more things. While we want a marketplace with fun cosmetic options, we feel strongly that those options should be a sometimes food. The best way for us to make a great experience for you is to make sure that if you buy a copy of the rules you get access and not have to build incentives into the game.

The Marketplace

These discussions are still in early days, but we want to make sure the community can support itself on the Codex. We at MCDM still want to produce dope adventures, classes, ancestries, and other coolness for the community. But we also want to make sure that other people, including the community itself, can make stuff.

For example, there are a ton of talented map and asset makers out there providing a robust library of content for y’all to use. Our philosophy is to come up with a system so that your favorite map maker can get their stuff on the Codex using their current methods, such as their own Patreons, with as little friction  as possible.

We do however want to support assets that are CODIFIED, customized specifically for best use on the Codex. This includes maps that leverage the parallax technology and other map features we have available. Some of the test maps we’ve made are really dope, but could be spectacular when we work directly with partners who can customize for those capabilities.

The scripting and modability of the Codex is already pretty amazing and we are looking forward to what the community can do with it. Our marketplace won’t be available immediately, and will begin with a smaller group of trusted partners, but we want to create a process that balances the need for oversight and moderation with the ability of the community to freely share their creations.

Soon…

TL;DR - we are working really hard to get Release 1 of the Codex available to all Patrons in the next few months. Stay tuned!