Taking A Peek At The Stormlight RPG!

With over 20,000 followers already, the Stormlight Archive RPG looks set to be one of the biggest TTRPG Kickstarters of all time. Based on the novels of Brandon Sanderson (whose own Kickstarter raised over $40M in 2023), the Kickstarter launches on August 6th.

Johnny O'Neal of Brotherwise Games shared a look at Actions in the game. "Game design is all about giving players meaningful choices, and I think the team did a great job bringing that philosophy to combat.Your choices, like "fast or slow" and "use Aid or Dodge," are really impactful!"

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O'Neal went on to say "Some people who see list compare it to Pathfinder 2e, which is understandable because we're trying to solve the same problem ("how do you upgrade d20-based mechanics?") but I'd say where Pathfinder tends to dial up crunchier elements, we're emphasizing more narrative elements."

 

[Zaukrie]

Lol, nice problem to have.

Truth. Most of my problems are not actually so. I'm pretty lucky

 

[Stone Dog]

The book isn't going to be landscape, is it? As much as I prefer landscape GM screens, landscape reference books are a much harder sell. That image though... either a cheatsheet page or...

 

[Parmandur]

The book isn't going to be landscape, is it? As much as I prefer landscape GM screens, landscape reference books are a much harder sell. That image though... either a cheatsheet page or...

Probably a cheatsheet, maybe even juat for the Kickstarter page.

 

[Bolongo]

Is it a typo that they use the same symbol for opportunity and complication (in the third column)?

Edit: I checked the X thread, and yeah it is.

 

[Von Ether]

I'm fairly leary about getting ew High Fantasy RPGs, because I already have several...

I'd say more like anime/Amber fantasy. The movers and shakers have some literal superpowers and the peeling back layers of how the world works and how the heroes bend that to their advantage reminds me of Amber.

It's a bit sci-fi as well.

Dice pools are not a deal breaker for me.

I assume so, I just have SO MANY UNREAD books, and two partially read ones I want to finish.....not to mention two campaigns to plan, golf, spending time with my wife, hiking, wine tasting, etc. The books are SO THICK!

I did the audiobooks during my long commutes pre-COVID. They became a highlight in my day when I would usually feel like I am wasting my time in traffic doing nothing.

 

[GMMichael]

Is it a typo that they use the same symbol for opportunity and complication (in the third column)?

Given the speed that Kickstarters make it to print, I realized that they still have (lots of) time to hash these out! Hopefully included in the hashing process: changing the turn names to Long and Short. Because my first thought was, "if I'm acting Fast, why do I only get two triangles, and the Slowpokes get three?" Still, it is a promotional image . . .

O'Neal: "how do you upgrade d20-based mechanics?" . . .

So many answers to this one!

• Someone direct them to EN Publishing's A5E page.
• You don't. D20 is so perfect, the new edition is completely backwards compatible. No upgrade needed, or happening.
• You add in 4e's healing, you start treating Attack Bonuses like the skill bonuses they are, you roll two d20s but ignore one, and you add an inspirational mechanism that no one uses anyway.
• You wait for WotC to attempt to rescind its perpetual, open license, then you race to print your upgrade because everyone else is doing it too.
• (Create your own!)

P.S. One or more of my many Ignorers has posted about 37 posts before mine, so I'm sorry if I've echoed old points.

 

[Parmandur]

I'd say more like anime/Amber fantasy. The movers and shakers have some literal superpowers and the peeling back layers of how the world works and how the heroes bend that to their advantage reminds me of Amber.

It's a bit sci-fi as well.

I think D&D us more of an influence than anime, honestly, particularly knowing Sanderson was part of a long-running Eberron campaign in College . Definitely some sci-fi elements, as well, but overall I think it comfortably fits under the rubric of High Fantasy (secondary world, magic, mythological tenor, characterization, etc) as originally laid out by Lloyd Alexander.

I hadn't made an Amber connection, but you ate tight that Soul-casting and the Cognitive Realm has a bit of Amber flavor...albeit more strongly rule bound.

I did the audiobooks during my long commutes pre-COVID. They became a highlight in my day when I would usually feel like I am wasting my time in traffic doing nothing.

The audiobooks are stupendous, just finished a re-read of the series through Audible.

 

[Bolongo]

Because my first thought was, "if I'm acting Fast, why do I only get two triangles, and the Slowpokes get three?"

That part makes total sense to me. Because if you're acting fast, you're rushing to get first and therefore you accomplish less than the one who takes a slower, more deliberate approach.

 

[Pedantic]

Remove me a little of Spirit Island's fast and slow powers, though in that game you might deploy a mix of both, and there's only one event turn sandwiched between the fast and slow phase. If the enemy is largely acting fast, going slowly may have an additional advantage on that you're able to react to the final board state for most enemies in a given round.

I wonder how much information PCs will have about enemy intent.

 

[Zaukrie]

I'd say more like anime/Amber fantasy. The movers and shakers have some literal superpowers and the peeling back layers of how the world works and how the heroes bend that to their advantage reminds me of Amber.

It's a bit sci-fi as well.

Dice pools are not a deal breaker for me.


I did the audiobooks during my long commutes pre-COVID. They became a highlight in my day when I would usually feel like I am wasting my time in traffic doing nothing.

Absolutely if I still drove to work I'd do audibooks.....