GM resource
Safety tools for Draw Steel
A quick, practical safety toolkit for intense scenes. Draw Steel is a tactical heroic-fantasy combat, so a light safety toolkit keeps intense scenes fun instead of overwhelming.
Checklist
- Introduce lines and veils (hard no's vs. fade-to-black) during session zero, not mid-scene.
- Use a simple pause signal everyone at the table knows before the first intense scene.
- Check in privately after a session that leaned hard into its themes.
- Revisit the agreement periodically. Comfort levels change as a campaign goes on.
Common pitfalls
- Introducing safety tools only after a scene goes wrong
- Treating the check-in as optional
- Assuming session-zero agreements still hold ten sessions later