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!

 

[Parmandur]

It might be mine as well. I really enjoy Stormlight, but Warbreaker so just so good. I liked ALL of the characters. Stormlight is kind of like Game of Thrones in that it follows so many points of view that you can sometimes get lost.. and occasionally get stuck on a character or a story thread you don't enjoy as much. Warbreaker kept me hooked all the way and I loved every minute of it.

I think you're right though.. I know a few people who really like Sanderson, and I think all of them enjoyed Warbreaker, but none of them rank it super highly.

Warbreaker and Elantris are super underrated, IMO, but I do think Stormlight might be not just his best, but simply...the best?

 

[VenerableBede]

The Way of King's is intentionally modeled on The Mighty Ducks, so the dude twists his models pretty hard into new shapes.

Really? I didn't hear that bit. I heard that he describes it as an underdog sports story, except, of course, the "underdog sports team" is a group of slaves forced into death marches.

And that's not even considering all the other stuff going on with the other characters.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

For people who love variety, it's a feast. Fore people with more specific interests, you may want to do some research before settling down with any one book.

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.

 

[borringman]

Could explain why so people are jumping on this (>2Million today) and why its popular?

Maybe I'm the only one, but I kind of took this to mean why everyone's putting so much faith in an author that he can crank out a good game.

FWIW, having tried my hand at both, I came up with some conclusions:

• Writing and game design are both hard. Damn hard.
• I am very bad at both.
• They are very different, and require completely different skillsets.

The last one is key. Sanderson is a well-known author. He's achieved success at something I simply cannot do. BUT. . . I don't know him to be a game designer. Someone said he's a gamer, if so that's the least surprising thing ever, but then he has the same public qualifications as. . . all of us.

This is going to be a scorching hot take that maybe gets the mob so furious at me that they build a giant onager that launches me into the Sun, but. . . all of Sanderson's books, his talent, his popularity. . . having tried myself, I don't consider a shred of that as solid evidence he can make a game. Setting? Sure, it's what we know. Mechanics? That's the hard part, and I'm skeptical he built up his knowledge of probability calculations while working on The Stormlight Archive.

I mean, he might turn out to be fantastic at it. Best one ever, even. Just, we don't know. Not anymore than anyone else, anyway.

 

[Parmandur]

Really? I didn't hear that bit. I heard that he describes it as an underdog sports story, except, of course, the "underdog sports team" is a group of slaves forced into death marches.

And that's not even considering all the other stuff going on with the other characters.

Yup, he specifically says the direct model he used was The Mighty Ducks, which to be fair is hardly unique.

 

[jerryrice4949]

Are the world books system neutral?

 

[DarkCrisis]

Could explain why so people are jumping on this (>2Million today) and why its popular? I don't have any relation to the IP (I haven't read any of his books).

I know about most things in the sphere of fantasy & sci-fi media (I am more targeted/picky in relation to books) but for whatever reason this has never hit my radar.

FYI: I know about the Wheel of Time.

Alot of FOMO plus he's popular. Be a fun product to own if you have a group to play it with. Probably just more a niche product to expand the reading of his world.

Case in point, The Avatar TLA RPG. Made a ton of cash, I have yet to see anyone play it or speak about since then. I own it and hope to play it one day but hey at least they are fun to read as well.

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe I'm the only one, but I kind of took this to mean why everyone's putting so much faith in an author that he can crank out a good game.

FWIW, having tried my hand at both, I came up with some conclusions:

• Writing and game design are both hard. Damn hard.
• I am very bad at both.
• They are very different, and require completely different skillsets.

The last one is key. Sanderson is a well-known author. He's achieved success at something I simply cannot do. BUT. . . I don't know him to be a game designer. Someone said he's a gamer, if so that's the least surprising thing ever, but then he has the same public qualifications as. . . all of us.

This is going to be a scorching hot take that maybe gets the mob so furious at me that they build a giant onager that launches me into the Sun, but. . . all of Sanderson's books, his talent, his popularity. . . having tried myself, I don't consider a shred of that as solid evidence he can make a game. Setting? Sure, it's what we know. Mechanics? That's the hard part, and I'm skeptical he built up his knowledge of probability calculations while working on The Stormlight Archive.

I mean, he might turn out to be fantastic at it. Best one ever, even. Just, we don't know. Not anymore than anyone else, anyway.

Sanderson didn't make a game, he licensed the game to a company to make a game. They have a good track record delivering on crowdfunding, and the designers theybhired come from FFG, from before they got mass laid off. So these are the same designers as FFG Warhammrr FRpG and Star Warss: Edge of the Empire.

 

[VenerableBede]

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.

And that is an extremely fair criticism. I don't even try to deny it.

I know there are BookTubers. and BookTokkers who make videos on entry points and reading orders, but that doesn't appeal to everyone. It doesn't appeal to me at all.

Here's my pitch. If you want something that kinda feels more traditional, go Warbreaker or Elantris. Stand-alone books, older works, should be in any library. In the first, a princess was supposed to go marry a god-king, but she gets swapped with her sister at the last minute. Lots of intrigue, lots of humor, very distinctive characters. In the second, a princess is sent off to marry a prince of a foreign land (despite "princess going off to marry" thing showing up in his first two published works, it isn't a theme across books), but finds her husband... erm... undead when she arrives, so now she's an ancillary member of the court but feels a strong need to protect her new home from an encroaching threat (a foreign nation); meanwhile, the undead prince tries to figure out how to un-undead himself. Essentially.

A lot of people recommend Mistborn Era 1 as a starting point—the first book is the "orphan gets adopted by a street gang and has an epic heist" pitch—and if you like YA, I would agree that those are good.

 

[Parmandur]

Are the world books system neutral?

They seem to be lore and art books, so mostly at least? They haven't really even begun previewing and marketing.