Ratcatcher Magazine is a community content zine for MCDM's Draw Steel. It's designed to give up-and-coming third party DS developers a place to show off new creations, give advice, or even worldbuild or write fiction.
While some heroes are chasing glory, fighting tyrants and accomplishing epic deeds, others prefer to stay down to earth, in the muck, helping those in need. The common people have a name for one of these heroes: Ratcatcher.
Artwork by Inge!
Ratcatcher Magazine is a community content zine for MCDM's Draw Steel. It's designed to give up-and-coming third party DS developers a place to show off new creations, give advice, or even worldbuild or write fiction. But that's not all: Ratcatcher is designed to help you as the Director and creator.
All text in Ratcatcher Magazine is licensed under a license similar to the Draw Steel Creator License, meaning you can re-use it and republish it in your own creations. It's a community zine, with the emphasis on community. We want this to be a gift to you, to help support the community, while also drawing on its wealth of creative talent and skill to also uplift new creators and give them a voice.
The zine is currently in final writing and editing mode, with layout templates already set up and most content already partially implemented. We are hoping to have PDFs in your hand by February 2026 with physical fulfillment starting soon after.
Ratcatcher Magazine is an 8.5x5.5" (US digest size) 28 to 32-page zine, printed in black and white by Mixam in the USA or Canada and shipped from the United States. All copies will be shipped from the United States. Unless there is enormous demand, physical copies of this first print run will be limited to 200 copies. (Future crowdfunders will include reprints of previous issues. We plan to keep Ratcatcher Magazine in print as long as is feasible.)
Aside from our printing costs and recouping some initial costs, all proceeds from this and future Ratcatcher Magazine crowdfunders go toward the collaborators. We at Tidal Wave Games believe in paying creators fairly, so when the crowdfunder is successful, the creators are successful. It's because of them (and you!) that we get to make this, so it's only fair that they be paid well for their efforts. We want to be a place where people can get eyes on their work and be compensated fairly for it, without having to strike out on their own first. To do that, we need to build the network, and we can only do it with your help.
We've got some simple pledge tiers set up for you:
PDF Tier: You'll get the PDF delivered to you via DriveThruRPG.
Print Tier: You'll receive the printed zine in the mail (28 to 32 pages, 8.5x5.5" b&w staplebound) plus the PDF.
Patron of the Arts Tier: You'll receive the printed zine and PDF, and know that you're helping make Ratcatcher happen.
There are no stretch goals, incentives, day-one buy in special trinkets or other complicated crowdfunding tricks. We want to make a book and send it to you. If we make more money, we all get to have pizza and buy Nintendo Switch 2s.
We'll be charging for shipping separately after the campaign is finished. All packages come shipped via USPS through PirateShip. These are the estimated shipping rates we'll be using:
Tidal Wave Games is headed by Onslaught Six, a 30-something TTRPG developer and failed industrial musician. Tidal Wave Games has successfully ran and fulfilled six TTRPG zine Kickstarters since 2021 (with two more currently in production) including Ratcatcher Issue 01. We've got plenty of experience handling printing and shipping for small-press TTRPG zines, so we expect this to go as quickly and smoothly as any of our previous ventures.
Contributors for Issue 02 include:
Thomas "TDAWS" Dawson is a longtime enthusiast of all things gaming, historical, and folkloric. When they aren't reading, listening, or playing, they are working on designing their own content for Draw Steel, their favorite TTRPG. A longtime Matt Colville, MCDM, and Draw Steel community member, TDAWS is excited to begin publishing their work in a more official capacity, as well as to give back to such an amazing community!
+1 to Fun aka Joshua Browne does a bunch of things in theatre, film, and TTRPG spaces, as well as tending bar a couple nights a week in one specific space(time). He was a ballet dancer in a former life and now lives in Toronto with his pet Tarrasque. He is open to commissions and contracts, can do most things involving the written and spoken word, but will not sign in blood or eat the beetles.
Doug Robinson is an aspiring TTRPG writer who has played or GM’d a plethora of TTRPGs for over 10 years. When he isn’t tormenting his friends via their tragic backstories, he is consulting with his two feline co-authors or occasionally touching grass at the local golf course. Doug is a proud MCDM patron and enjoys other TTRPGs such as Mothership, Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Cthulu, Dungeon Crawl Classics and many more. He is excited to write and publish his own adventure zines and trifolds in the near future to inspire and guide others in our wonderful shared hobby.
Anna/Nathan Lee (he/they/she) is a TTRPG designer, life-long gamer, and is just OK at cooking. A data analyst/engineer by day and a contract designer by night, she lives in NYC like any good superhero. You can reach out for inquiries at [email protected] and release me from talking in the third person oh thank goodness.
Mateusz "Ananam" Malarski is many things: husband, father, software engineer, dog lover, pizza eater, kobold alchemist, PC gamer, and finally an avid worldbuilder and game designer. Oh, and also founder and head of Triglav Games, a team of (mostly) Polish TTRPG enthusiasts united by the purpose of creating high quality supplementary content for MCDM Productions' Draw Steel TTRPG.
Jordan (a.k.a. Dyelute) is A Pennsylvania based Concept Artist & Illustrator working in the realm of fantasy and stylized art. His slew of memorable characters and big bad monsters has excelled a Freelance career since 2021. When he is not working on Artwork he is diving into playing video games or designing them.
Cecilia Serafina is an artist, improviser and producer. She went to university for art, later dipping her toes into improv to get over her social anxiety. It helped. By day she's doing nerdy things like drawing, painting, designing posters, and producing and promoting improv comedy in her hometown of Toronto Ontario. By night she's doing the same nerdy things, but it's nighttime.
With your help, we were able to make Ratcatcher Issue 01 a reality. And with your help now, we can make Issue 02 a reality. We want this project, and future issues, to be everything they can be, and by supporting financially and spreading the word, we'll be able to do that. Thanks for checking it out.
