The Bale Crossing

The Bale Crossing is a short adventure for Draw Steel. It takes about four hours to complete and is designed for 3 to 6 2nd-level heroes. 

It places the heroes at the center of a cat-and-mouse game between House Vorona and the agents of Ajax on a voyage across the Bale Sea. Directors can use this adventure either as a follow-up to The Fall of Blackbottom or as a drop-in scenario in a larger story featuring the power struggle between factions in Capital, Ajax's war of conquest, or war dogs. 

The adventure features advice for skipping straight to the action in a hot start, an optional negotiation, three possible montage tests, and a dynamic final combat with guidance for running the encounter as a stealth mission or a boarding action across the decks of two ships. If they succeed, heroes will earn 2 to 7 Victories.

Ajax—the Iron Saint—is master of Vasloria. It’s only a matter of time before he sets his sights westward to Capital... 

What's Inside?

• A nautical adventure structured in three parts
• An optional negotiation
• A montage test with three templates based on branching player choices 
• Tactical maps and VTT layers for running encounters on multiple decks of two ships
• A dynamic combat scenario with tactical guidance and advice for directors to run the fight at varying degrees of complexity based on the table's preferences and familiarity with the Draw Steel core rules
• Stat blocks for two new dynamic terrain objects: the Cannon and Black Powder Magazine
• A new consumable item: the Black Powder Grenade
• Retainer rules to support an allied ship's captain joining the heroes in combat

Pricing

In Orden, heroes work to stop Ajax's war dogs from 'donating' captured foes to the body banks. Here in the real world, heroes sign up to be an organ donor!

The money raised through your purchase of the PDF and maps needed to play this adventure will be donated directly to the Gift of Life Donor Program, a non-profit organ procurement organization that helps match donors to patients in need of life-saving organ transplantation. If you download and enjoy this adventure, consider donating to support their work directly here.

Credits

Editor: S. Torres

Art: Cover Art: Henrik Karppinen; Map Assets: Crosshead Studios; Additional Art: Jules Dupre. Ships at Sea During Storm, 1830-1849. The Art Institute of Chicago, Jules Dupre. Barks Fleeing Before the Storm, 1811-1889. The Art Institute of Chicago. Master W with the Key, Ship with Sails Furled and Arrow Pointing to the Right, 1475-1485. The Art Institute of Chicago; Draw Steel Open Fonts: MrMattDollar

Playtesting: A. Buchanico, D. Tuveson, E. King, K. Carpenter, S. Kirby, S. Torres, T. Dougherty

Designed with feedback and support from members of the Manifold Creator Collective, with special thanks to Caio “The Dice Society” Lente and KolonelKernel.

License

The Bale Crossing is an independent product published under the DRAW STEEL Creator License and is not affiliated with MCDM Productions, LLC. DRAW STEEL © 2024 MCDM Productions, LLC.