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]

Well, OK then.

Wait, then spiritually isn't this like if Taylor Swift put her face on some brand of perfume formulated by some chemist in New Jersey? Like OK sure, they have a track record so it'll probably be competently built, nothing wrong with that NJ chemist either, but like how Swift's fans just want her swag, my understanding is that folks here are throwing their money at Brandon Sanderson.

The track record is solid, so yes. The end results are likely to be solid, particularly the world books.

 

[Meech17]

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 am not finding that. I already have a list of dozens of books in by to be read pile.

"LOL, you haven't read Sanderson" and "you should spend several hours deciphering what his books are about" aren't really a great pitch for me putting his books atop that pile.

I mean, I am genuinely happy that his clearly very engaged fans are getting an RPG them seem to be excited about, but the "lol" posts on this thread are really indicative of every time I consider trying to figure out where I should start reading him or even if I want to.

Maybe it's confirmation bias.

Have you ever noticed that when you buy a car.. New, or even just new to you.. You start to notice all of the cars around you that are the same make/model? They've always been there, but you never noticed them. They were just one, of many cars. Now that it's the same as your car however, they stick out.

Sanderson was already popular prior to be discovering him. I jumped right in because it was mid-pandemic and I was hungry for something to occupy my time.. But after I read the first book I found myself seeing references to it ALL OVER THE PLACE. It felt like every corner of the internet was talking about this guy, or these books.

So I hope you can understand why I found it surprising that so many people who run in the same circles as me, and consume the same media as me were unaware of Sanderson/Cosmere.

I hope I didn't come across as condescending or gatekeepery in my surprise.. And I hope perhaps my elevator pitch in the previous comment will encourage you to at leave take a crack at Way of Kings.

 

[Meech17]

Well, OK then.

Wait, then spiritually isn't this like if Taylor Swift put her face on some brand of perfume formulated by some chemist in New Jersey? Like OK sure, they have a track record so it'll probably be competently built, nothing wrong with that NJ chemist either, but like how Swift's fans just want her swag, my understanding is these folks are throwing their money at Brandon Sanderson.

I feel like while similar.. Your example doesn't really match up.

We're talking about an RPG. A genre of game that revolves around world building, and collaborative story telling. People have been looking to licensed games to try and self-insert themselves or their own original characters into the stories that they love since.. Well probably since the beginning of RPGs.

Sanderson provided the world, and his fans want to play in it.

 

[Parmandur]

How to Play the game from Becca Scott:

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Maybe it's confirmation bias.

Have you ever noticed that when you buy a car.. New, or even just new to you.. You start to notice all of the cars around you that are the same make/model? They've always been there, but you never noticed them. They were just one, of many cars. Now that it's the same as your car however, they stick out.

Sanderson was already popular prior to be discovering him. I jumped right in because it was mid-pandemic and I was hungry for something to occupy my time.. But after I read the first book I found myself seeing references to it ALL OVER THE PLACE. It felt like every corner of the internet was talking about this guy, or these books.

So I hope you can understand why I found it surprising that so many people who run in the same circles as me, and consume the same media as me were unaware of Sanderson/Cosmere.

I hope I didn't come across as condescending or gatekeepery in my surprise.. And I hope perhaps my elevator pitch in the previous comment will encourage you to at leave take a crack at Way of Kings.

No, you're being very helpful.

But the greater internet is mostly "he has 45,000 novels and they're all deeply connected, so cool!" which isn't exactly a "welcome, newbies" sign.

I absolutely get why that's appealing to many folks who are already in the tent, though.

 

[Meech17]

You do not even know they are really connected until farther into Stormlight but the magic systems etc are different and you do not need to have read any other Cosmere stuff to enjoy it.

It is similar to how Anne McCaffrey's books are set in a shared universe as well as Isaac Asimov's. You need not have read the other books in universe to understand anything.

I know.. That's the point I was trying to make. We know that in hindsight.. But someone looking in from the outside may not understand that.

 

[agrayday]

Thank you all for the information on Brandon Sanderson.
I know little about him other than my own "Wheel of Time" expierence (never finished the series, the RPG and the TV Series).

I have no opinion on him as a writer, i just never gravitated to his books. I am older than probably his main audience,

I grew up in the 80s and have read most of the popular fantasy series at that time (Stephenson, Rice, Pratchatt, Adams, Brooks, king, Hickman, Weiss, Vance, Gene Wolfe, Glenn Cook, Stasheef, AD Foster, David Eddings, Zimmer Bradley, etc...)

Its Inspiring to see that people are still reading, and that a literary IP RPG can generate that kind of cash.

Why hasn't there been additional media released is his worlds, like Comics, TV series, or Movies, or is it I just don't know about them?

Here is what i have read, that what i would call "recent fantasy over the last 10-15 years"

The Aldoran Chronicles series by Michael Wisehart.
The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima.
The Malazon series by Steven Erikson.
The Broken Earth Series by N.K. Jemisin.

Currently i am working through:
The Burning Kingdom & Books of Ambha Series by Tasha Suri.
The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee.
and The Dandelion Dynasty, by Ken Liu.

on top of reading many other non-fantasy books.

When you get older, there is for sure, an acknowledgement of "Time is short" so i have to be selective of what i can read in the time that i have.

 

[Meech17]

Why hasn't there been additional media released is his worlds, like Comics, TV series, or Movies, or is it I just don't know about them?

I think Sanderson is very protective of his works. He's mentioned before in interviews and live-streams that he's had many, many talks about adaptations, but none of them were right.

He's not going to let HBO do to the Cosmere what they did to Game of Thrones, essentially.*

*This is my interpretation, not a quote.

 

[bedir than]

I think Sanderson is very protective of his works. He's mentioned before in interviews and live-streams that he's had many, many talks about adaptations, but none of them were right.

He's not going to let HBO do to the Cosmere what they did to Game of Thrones, essentially.*

*This is my interpretation, not a quote.

I get the impression he despises the Wheel of Time series, sometimes on minor things.

 

[Parmandur]

Why hasn't there been additional media released is his worlds, like Comics, TV series, or Movies, or is it I just don't know about them?

There was a comic series from Dynamite, White Sand, that is a standalone (though in the Cosmere).

He has been trying to get a TV show or movie made, but he also wants some creative control, and the budget requirements would be very high (to do the Stormlight Archives justice in terms of the flora and fauna of Roshar would require Avatar level budgets), but he has had interest from Hollywood in the right resource range. There was a Miatborn project that almost started shooting last year, but everything fell apart due to the strikes as executive shuffling.

When a Sanderson movie does happen, it will be a big budget affair.