Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive TTRPG Makes $1M In Under An Hour

The highly anticipated Stormlight Archives TTRPG Kickstarter--now renamed the Cosmere RPG--broke the million dollar barrier in under an hour, joining the million dollar Kickstarter club.

Published by Brotherwise Games, the game encompasses Brandon Sanderson's entire universe of novels. It includes a world guide, a rulebook, and an adventure called Stormlight Stonewalkers. It's a new game system, based on a d20 mechanic with talent trees and skill-based magic.

The question now is whether it can beat the Avatar Legends TTRPG's almost $10M record? Avatar hit the million dollar mark after the first few hours, so--at least at this point--the Cosmere RPG is tracking ahead of it. Brandon Sanderson already holds the Kickstarter record for the most funded project ever--his novel series made over $40M on Kickstarter in 2023!

 

[SteveC]

I mean, it sounds like a really cool campaign setting, but that's not my criterion when picking out novels. Maybe that's the disconnect -- maybe Sanderson's fans are folks who are in it for the campaign-level stuff.

For what it's worth, I have read the first book, The Way of Kings, and enjoyed it. What is it about? The primary protagonist is the character brought low and then has to rebuild themselves. Who rejects responsibility at first but comes to take it due to need and hardship. And finds they have special powers. There is an over-arching story about a returning evil and the "protectors of the land" from the past who were not all that the people of the current day believe they are. And throw in the "returning evil that is cyclical and seemingly indestructible."

That doesn't make it sound that great, but I found the primary protagonist interesting and to have an interesting voice. I doubt that sells it all that well, but I will pick up the second book because of this thread, so I enjoyed it.

 

[agrayday]

and we are at 3.5million 12K backers

now its #5 in the million KS RPG club list.

Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarter Club

Avatar Legends leads the pack in an exclusive club -- Kickstarters for tabletop roleplaying game products which have broken the $1M barrier! It is currently the most successful TTRPG Kickstarter in history with a funding total of nearly $10M, and over 80,000 backers. [UPDATE--Backerkit started...

www.enworld.org

 

[Skywalker]

Its selling more than 3 times as much product as Avatar Legends, so comparisons are going to be tough. To be honest, I am leery of these massive KS these days with ridiculous number of books from a relatively new publishers for a new system and with fulfilment dates over 2-3 years away.

 

[Reynard]

I feel like they should have separated the Stormlight stuff and the Mistborn stuff.

 

[Divine2021]

Every time I try to research it, I get the same kind of answers you're giving.

There's no real way in for newbies at this point, since the fans and the brand are just talking to themselves at this point.

I say this respectfully, because I generally enjoy your comments here in the forums, but I have to ask, have you looked at Sanderson’s website? Or YouTube? His website has a whole section on “where to start” for folks new to his works. Where do I start? | Brandon Sanderson

His YouTube also has annual videos he has put out to help people start out in his works:
These are just two examples of the many ways he attempts to onboard folks into his fantasy works—and both have the one sentence summaries you might be looking for. Perhaps getting caught up in what the fans say is not a helpful approach if you’re genuinely interested?

 

[Parmandur]

Best worst description of Way of Kings I could find (thisnis 100% accurate):

"In a world where everything is a crab, if you're mentally ill and seriously stressed, you get magic powers by becoming bff's with your very own baby emotional support fairy. You get magic and therapy, and they get to figure out how to human. The main characters are: A clinically depressed grunge boy with PTSD who also happens to be a slave, an abused girl with some kind of dissociative panic disorder who just wants senpai to notice her, a middle-aged recovered alcoholic who is seeing apocalyptic visions of the past but only when it rains, and the vision man's son, the world's bestest himbo and only mentally stable one in the whole dang book. Also there's a war on, and an impending mystery apocalypse. Also racism, heavy moral questions about the nature of violence, leadership, justice, and slavery, as well as a professional serial killer with religious issues. But then again there's also a pacifist polynesian Russian giant who just wants to cook stew and give his friends haircuts, so it balances out."

 

[agrayday]

I saw that High Rollers is running a game of it today live right now (500 people watching). *just ended. about 3.5 hours long.

 

[Parmandur]

Cosmere mechanics deep dive from d4:

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I can describe the Lord of the Rings, A Wizard of Earthsea, the Princess Bride, the Black Company and many other fantasy books and series in a single sentence.

I'll note that these examples are either books or book series, not authors. While Tolkien is pretty much synonymous with middle earth, Wizard of Earthsea is quite different from Left Hand of Darkness, even though they have the same author. I don't think I could sum up all Ursula K. Le Guin books in a single sentence.

Same with Sanderson. There's just too much and it's too diverse to sum up all of his works. If you want one sentence summaries of of individual books, that's doable and several people have done so in this threat.

I'll give it a shot with Mistoborn:

Adventure fantasy where an orphan teen joins a crew of robbers, learns she has magic, and ends up saving the world.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I say this respectfully, because I generally enjoy your comments here in the forums, but I have to ask, have you looked at Sanderson’s website? Or YouTube? His website has a whole section on “where to start” for folks new to his works. Where do I start? | Brandon Sanderson

I have, but not recently. At the time, I didn't find it to be particularly helpful. Even Sanderson's own "where to start" page only describes two books and only one of them describes the tone.

In contrast, both official and fan sites for the Discworld books -- another potentially daunting wall of books -- are aggressively about entry ramps, describing each potential series, POV characters, what kinds of stories are told there, etc.

In any case, this thread shouldn't be about me or my issues. It's about Sanderson's fans being on track to fund possibly the most successful RPG crowdfunding campaign of all time, which is amazing. I cede the floor to them, whom it should have been about all along.