State of Scroll & Steel (Jan 2026)

Devin White

Devin White

— 3 min read
Scroll & Steel

Hey there! If this is in your inbox, it’s because you signed up to get updates about Scroll & Steel, my tactical PBTA fantasy RPG.

And because it’s a new year, I figured I’d start actually sending out updates instead of just building list of people who want them.

So that’s what this newsletter is. Devin Developing will be your best source for new updates on Scroll & Steel. This newsletter will be split between giving news updates on the game as well as dev logs about the choices made within it for people interested in that sort of thing. Along the way, I may sprinkle in a post or two about something related to RPG design that’s been on my mind.

Scroll & Steel in 2025

To kick it off, I want to start with what 2025 looked like for Scroll & Steel:

  • The Scroll & Steel playtest launched on July 30th, 2025.
  • 2 more updates to the playtest were released in August, tweaking moves, character options, and procedues
  • A digital character creator was released on Google Sheets
  • It’s been downloaded 152 times and received 399 views.
  • It’s currently Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW), and has made $22 in gross revenue

I’ll be honest: those download and revenue numbers are pretty paltry. I don’t care too much about the lack of revenue at this point, but I don’t think those numbers accurately reflect how much value and potential the game has right now.

So let’s go into what I’m doing to fix that.

Metatopia and 1.3

Last November, I took Scroll & Steel to Metatopia to bring it in front of designers and get some feedback. If this update is in your inbox, chances are that you were someone who checked it out.

Metatopia was a fantastic experience, and I learned a ton about my game and where I want to take it from the panels I attended and playtests I ran. I thought about doing a full write up of my experiences, but I’m instead pouring that energy into the next release of Scroll & Steel. 1.3 is going to include a ton of changes, including:

  • Nearly all moves, from basic moves to archetype moves, have been reviewed and tweaked to some extent.
  • The GM section now includes principles and agendas, and the moves have been more fleshed out and revised.
  • This release will include printable reference sheets and playbooks for the first time. Check out a preview here.
  • A brand new major archetype, The Brute, has been added.

Along the way, I’ve also realized that there are a lot of things that no longer fit my vision for what the game is, or at least don’t fit it well enough right now. So 1.3 will also see the first major cut of features and content, including:

  • The Commander archetype is cut. I hope to revisit this one a bit later, but it doesn’t currently achieve my core design goals.
  • Weapon proficiencies are removed. I didn’t bring these to Metatopia and I didn’t miss them. I’ve rebalanced all weapon types without them to accommodate this.
  • Several minor archetypes have been cut, and I plan to revisit this concept as a whole before 1.3’s release. I like minor archetypes as a concept, but I think a lot of them need more time to cook.

Goals for 2026

Here’s where I hope to take Scroll & Steel in 2026:

  • Release 1.3 by the end of Q1.
  • Create a regular playtest group by the end of Q1. The playtests I’ve run so far have been pretty ad-hoc and short term. They’ve still been helpful, but I need a long-term group to really put the systems to test.
  • By the end of 2026, move away from a PWYW model. I don’t really care about revenue, but I don’t love how indie games are expected to be free or extremely cheap despite the mountains of work put into them. I plan to figure out some compromise between free and paid options that keeps the game accessible while still reflecting its value.
  • Keep posting regular updates throughout 2026. I don’t want to spam and I don’t want to focus too much on analytics and clout. Still, though, I think this game is special, and I want to regularly talk about it so other people can see that too.

That’s all for now. If you’d like to download Scroll & Steel, visit the Scroll & Steel itch.io page. If you‘re interested in playtesting the game, sign up on this form.

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