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 watched this video with some of the game designers. I thought it was really interesting because Mark is a game designer (and a great one) and so he asks some different questions than some of the other hosts. Take a look if you have the time.

 

[Parmandur]

So, currently the campaign is the 24th most funded Kickstarter of all time...and late tonight or early tomorrow will likely overtake the 23rd most funded Kickstarter of all time, which was from some guy called "Brandon Sanderson" for the 10th anniversary leather-bound copy of the first book in something called...the Stormlight Archives, that 29,778 backers pledged $6,788,517 for a few years back.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonsteel/the-way-of-kings-10th-anniversary-leatherbound-edition

 

[Morrus]

So, currently the campaign is the 24th most funded Kickstarter of all time...and late tonight or early tomorrow will likely overtake the 23rd most funded Kickstarter of all time, which was from some guy called "Brandon Sanderson" for the 10th anniversary leather-bound copy of the first book in something called...the Stormlight Archives, that 29,778 backers pledged $6,788,517 for a few years back.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonsteel/the-way-of-kings-10th-anniversary-leatherbound-edition

Well he also has the #1 Kickstarter of all time! I think he's basically king of Kickstarer at this point.

 

[Parmandur]

Well he also has the #1 Kickstarter of all time! I think he's basically king of Kickstarer at this point.

Pretty much! He also gas the biggest non-Kickstarter standard crowdfunding campaign, with the Words of Radiance Backerkit from earlier thus year, which is notable for being the same thing as that Way of Kings Kickstarter with more than 3 times as many backers and funds: combined, he has like $30 million in crowdfunding in 2024 alone.

 

[Parmandur]

Jonny O'Neil does an interview with the 17th Shard:

 

[VenerableBede]

Well he also has the #1 Kickstarter of all time! I think he's basically king of Kickstarer at this point.

Really goes to show the power of an existing audience when Kickstarting anything. Sure, some people are able to build an audience in Kickstarter, but my understanding is that's the exception rather than the rule...

 

[Parmandur]

Really goes to show the power of an existing audience when Kickstarting anything. Sure, some people are able to build an audience in Kickstarter, but my understanding is that's the exception rather than the rule...

Thst is one of the clear conclusions of the million dollar TTRPG Kickstarter club: having an IP helps a lot.

 

[Morrus]

Thst is one of the clear conclusions of the million dollar TTRPG Kickstarter club: having an IP helps a lot.

It also has if not the highest one of the highest average pledge levels—merchandise helps a lot! If you want to be in the million dollar club, each person has to be spending over a hundred dollars. In this case I think the average is over $200.

 

[Parmandur]

It also has if not the highest one of the highest average pledge levels—merchandise helps a lot! If you want to be in the million dollar club, each person has to be spending over a hundred dollars. In this case I think the average is over $200.

Yeah, a shade over $200 last I checked: the most popular pledge level is the $385 Collector's Bundle, followed by the $295 GM Bundle.

I do expect as the campaign continues more and more people will sign up for the lower $95 bundle, which gives the two campaign setting/coffee table artbooks, so that average per backer may go down as pure reader fans not looking to play the game tune in.

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, a shade over $200 last I checked: the most popular pledge level is the $385 Collector's Bundle, followed by the $295 GM Bundle.

I do expect as the campaign continues more and more people will sign up for the lower $95 bundle, which gives the two campaign setting/coffee table artbooks, so that average per backer may go down as pure reader fans not looking to play the game tune in.

One thing about statistics… after the first 10% or so, they don’t change (relatively) unless there’s a major seismic external shift causing that. In all the Kickstarters I’ve run, and seen, the first 3 days sets the template for the month. Same with playtest feedback surveys, marketing surveys, everything… once you have a representative sample that’s the pattern. We’re a quarter of the way through the campaign now, and Kickstarters are heavily frontloaded so probably over half the eventual backers. The average pledge level now won’t change more than a few dollars by the end.