{"id":2542,"date":"2024-07-24T16:43:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T16:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/?p=2542"},"modified":"2024-07-24T23:10:33","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T23:10:33","slug":"brandon-sandersons-stormlight-rpg-adds-clever-new-dice-to-its-more-traditional-d20-based-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/2024\/07\/24\/brandon-sandersons-stormlight-rpg-adds-clever-new-dice-to-its-more-traditional-d20-based-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Sanderson\u2019s Stormlight RPG adds clever new dice to its more traditional d20-based system"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image: Brotherwise Games\/Dragonsteel Entertainment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The system\u2019s use of a \u2018Plot Die\u2019 could mix things up at the table<\/p>\n

Brandon Sanderson<\/a>, author of The Stormlight Archive series, has been on a roll these last few years with multiple multi-million dollar crowdfunding campaigns. The promise of four secret novels netted his Dragonsteel Entertainment more than $41 million in 2022<\/a>, and later it earned an additional $23 million<\/a> for a series of leather-bound reprints. Now he\u2019s partnered with tabletop publisher Brotherwise Games for The Stormlight Roleplaying Game<\/em><\/a>, coming Aug. 6 to Kickstarter<\/a>. Polygon had an early look at a beta version of the rules, and what we found is a d20-based game that hews fairly closely to traditional Dungeons & Dragons. There\u2019s a major difference, however: A curious little die that sounds very, very interesting.<\/p>\n

The die in question is called a Plot Die, a six-sided die that only gets used \u201con especially important rolls,\u201d according to the beta document. These are points in time when someone wants to \u201craise the stakes\u201d \u2014 specifically when a roll might \u201cdirectly contribute to the current mission,\u201d \u201cplay directly to a character\u2019s purpose, obstacle, or goals,\u201d or involve \u201cother tests with high tension or dramatic importance.\u201d <\/p>\n

On a roll of a five or a six, players earn an Opportunity. Opportunities can be spent to do things like aid an ally, recover a mental resource called \u201cfocus,\u201d land a critical hit, or positively \u201cinfluence the narrative.\u201d A roll of a one or a two, on the other hand, yields a Complication. Complications are roughly the opposite of Opportunities, and will either hinder an ally, cost players focus, or negatively influence the narrative.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s interesting is that either the GM or the players can decide at any time to raise the stakes on a roll, pending GM approval. That gives players a lot of agency at the table, granting them the ability to imbue potentially any action with some extra spice that could alter the game\u2019s plot. Additional guidance says that GMs should be aiming for roughly a third of all rolls to include the Plot Die, all but guaranteeing that a few interesting narrative twists will pop off during the average two-to-four hour play session.<\/p>\n

The only question on my mind is if the beta document, and by extension the final version of the game, gives players and GMs enough instruction on what it means to influence the narrative. Is the mechanic something that will enrich the player experience, or is it an example of the developers pawning off design work on the players to improvise story beats at the table? Thankfully, that\u2019s just the sort of thing that a beta test is intended to sort out. Fans of The Stormlight Archive and TTRPGs generally can have a crack at it when the free 94-page document lands alongside an introductory 30-page adventure as the Kickstarter campaign<\/a> goes live on Aug. 6. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image: Brotherwise Games\/Dragonsteel Entertainment The system\u2019s use of a \u2018Plot Die\u2019 could mix things up at the table Brandon Sanderson, author of The Stormlight Archive series, has been on a roll these last few years with multiple multi-million dollar crowdfunding campaigns. The promise of four secret novels netted his Dragonsteel Entertainment more than $41 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2542"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2545,"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542\/revisions\/2545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlesturgisrally.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}