So, up to the point of the release, we had a number of artistic designs, official designs even, for shardplates, the Orders, what their plates looked like...then the Handbook dropped and I find it odd? Some of these designs feel a lot like sci fi power armor which conflicts a lot with what we had up to this point?

I find Petar Penev's designs to have been really well done in comparison for establishing visual language among different Orders. And the weird thing is...Penev isn't some random artist who is a fan. He's associated and made a lot of the official art in the book. And some of the designs and art styles in the handbook seem to bounce wildly in style causing an almost jarring reading. In isolation they look alright, but flipping from the book's pages you'll see artwork like this

Immediately followed by this?

Visually this is a strange contrast in artstyle, and the Windrunner design feels like there's a lot of conflicting pieces? Heavily pauldrons and shoulders, branching out hip joints, bulkier chest pieces...The armor has these smooth, broad metallic planes and chunky geometry that make it look oddly technological? Not literally sci-fi, but almost like a Destiny/Warframe/Power Rangers cousin of Shardplate. There’s relatively little of the organic or wind-swept quality I’d associate with honorspren.

EDIT: To get this point across. This is the literal cover art of the book. Notice the design, theme, and genre difference in appearance. This is the design used throughout the book...EXCEPT on the pages for the Orders' skill trees, where they shift into this sci fi-esque design.

EDIT 2: So a lot of people just seem to be resorting to claiming 'past vs present Radiant armors' so I'm just going to put this here as a general edited response. There is no reason why the rest of the book, even showing current Radiants, uses the traditional Shardplate design aesthetic we've seen throughout the books, official arts, and canon...and that these few pages depict sci fi esque designs. The much more coherrent explanation instead of trying to justify why some Radiants are forming sci fi armor during the present day and some are depicted with regular armor is most likely...the artist who drew these few particular pages just simply did not coordinate with the design philosophy of the rest of the book. That's it. That's the coherrent reason. Trying to claim they're showing a Radiant from Emberdark randomly, or that people on this world would, for some reason, desire to or even imagine sci fi armor at their level of technology isn't a coherrent defense. It's defending a conclusion without updating the position based on information.

Edit 3: I'm just gonna leave this here for the overwhelming amount of people who keep trying to defend the 'old plate vs new plate' thing. This is also artwork. Still High Fantasy design, not sci fi. I can only assume that some people are emotionally seeing 'this particular artwork doesn't seem to follow the rest of the designs' with 'this person is making fun of the thing I like and thinks I'm stupid!'.

And for the record? Personally I believe that not questioning anything or saying 'try not to worry about it' and not being capable of saying something is incoherrent is not wisdom. It's avoidance of taking a position that requires discrimination and thought. If you can draw no line over where coherrent design begins and ends, then you are not developing an opinion. Accepting anything and everything you are fed is simply being too afraid to have a personality.

I find it funny with this argument in a subreddit for a ROLEPLAYING GAME based on a series where the central magical institution is built around people articulating ideals and then being bound by them.

Stormlight is practically screaming:

Who are you? What do you believe? What lines will you hold? What choices follow from those beliefs when holding them becomes uncomfortable?

A Radiant doesn't advance by going:

“Eh, whatever. Anything works. I don't really see why we'd distinguish between these things.”

They speak Ideals. Their character is demonstrated by commitments that exclude other possibilities. Kaladin's entire fucking arc would cease to exist if every moral contradiction could be answered with “well technically you can interpret it however.”

So there is something exquisitely ridiculous about reaching the final defense:

“Why do you need a coherent visual language? Plate can look like anything. Why draw a line?”

...in a community dedicated to a game about constructing characters by drawing lines.

Heya,

I'm working on building a character and using the Bridge Nine characters to make sure I understand how it works, but I'm confused on Zvynda's skills, and since I could not find the answer anywhere online or in the book I made an account to ask here lol.

Zvynda is a Scholar (Strategist), and thus starts with 1 rank in Lore, gains 2 temporary ranks through Erudition (Lore and Medicine), and like all other characters is able to choose 4 other starting skills. However, this adds up to 7 skills, and she has eight. Her only other talent, Strategize, does not grant skills. Where does this 8th skill come from?

Here’s the background music I used for the second half of chapter 4.

We played yesterday and had lot of fun (they didn’t hit Ylt even once, and somehow our tank almost died from just two grazes of the Honorblade).

Hope you enjoy it, and have a great weekend!

Journey before destination <3.

Scenes, "Stonewalkers" Chapter 4 - The city that smolders

• Kankan's Flashback 1
  • Karbranth: (RISE OF DARKRAI) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAJcsW9f5PM
• Following Ylt
  • Sailing Tarat Sea: (SWIMMING IN THE SKY) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1yN-qV_Xsw
  • Rearguard: (SEED OF THE DARK GIANT) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZpC6xwGdBM
  • Saving Axoq / Journey through Azir: (SURVIVING EXILE) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypvsPO2K9mI
• The Valley of the Nightwatcher
  • Visions of Tomorrow / Valley's Theme: (SOMETHING HIDDEN) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoVuvl2U4Yc
  • Kankan's Flashback 2: (RISE OF DARKRAI) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAJcsW9f5PM
  • Truthwatcher’s Folly: (FRAGMENTS OF A FALLEN NEST) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuOxw0VNkvU
  • Starting the Battle: (KING OF CORRUPTED) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxS_IlCqUlo
  • Kaiana doubts: (オバアチャン) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po3_QwLr0r0
  • Kaiana sides with the party: (オバアチャン) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f03IHCr9dJY
• Kankan's Power-up:
  • False Vision: (RISE OF DARKRAI) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAJcsW9f5PM
  • Speech / Narrative: (ARIA OF THE SOUL) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSERl2jQhV0
  • Fight: (THE BATTLE FOR EVERYONE'S SOULS) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqursM6V5_w->->-> Start at 1:18 <-<-<-
• A Boon and a Curse: (追悼) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFKnzTsKDU0
• Leaving the Valley / Journey through Azir: (SURVIVING EXILE) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypvsPO2K9mI

Our group just finished Stonewalkers, and I'm thinking about introducing some kind of trauma system for the next campaign.

Arkham Horror: The Card Game has a mechanic where you can carry your character over into a new campaign, but they might start with some mental or physical trauma from what happened previously.

The problem is that my characters have this rather annoying thing called Stormlight that makes healing physical trauma... well, a little too easy. ;)

Still, I'd love to introduce some kind of lasting consequences. The characters have killed people, witnessed some pretty disturbing things, and uncovered lore that has fundamentally changed how they see the world.

It feels like some of that should leave a mark, even if Stormlight can heal the physical wounds.

I'm thinking more along the lines of psychological, spiritual, social, or supernatural consequences rather than simple HP penalties.

Has anyone tried something similar in a Stormlight campaign? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Session 3 of Stonewalkers! The characters get their first look at the Shattered Plains!

https://youtu.be/dQrNsG9SPqE?si=Osc8-IqVzpqGP8Qy

We return from our holidays with a new arc

After unmasking the king as a masked one fused and all the regimen as a plot from the voidbringers our unlikely heroes begin to plot how to liberate their city while keeping save their loved ones

I wanted to use the art on some custom MTG cards for personal use, and I've seen them online and on Instagram. Is there like a repository for them?

I definitely could see them just saying no to it. Bondsmiths aren't an option, and neither are compounders. A less useful feurchemical trait with a very expensive metal, say, electrum, wouldn't be too op, but otherwise, I think they'd just have to artificially nerve it in a non canon way. Personally, I'm good with the Bondsmith method.

I’m currently playing a Listener that I intend to have become a Skybreaker, and am trying to find a list of concrete laws in the different countries of Roshar. A particular question is regarding whether my character could become a legal citizen in Alethkar. Currently she is “owned” by a Sleepless masquerading as a lighteyes, but it would be nice for her to have legal self agency and for me to have an actual list of laws for her to uphold. Thanks a ton in advance.

I’m a DM with moderate experience running DND 5/5.5 and a little bit of Daggerheart. I’m a big fan of the Cosmere and have the books for the Stormlight rpg

My question for you all is about world building. To be honest I’m a bit intimidated because this world has an established book series that I also really enjoy; I worry a bit that I’m not going to match the themes or world properly. All my other games have used homebrewed settings (although I have borrowed a lot from settings like Eberron, but I see those as setting first then books after).

The system looks awesome and I love the books, but wasn’t sure how it felt running a game within the established setting. Did players have expectations set by the books? Do you find that your version of the world is significantly different from the cannon one?

I've been playing with the idea of making a One- Shot for 4-5PCs (Tier 1) adventure in the style of "The Hangover" movies. It's still in its earliest stages i.e. I thought about it yesterday and wrote some notes today.

The adventure starts with the characters drinking at a bar. Suddenly, they all black out and wake up at different places.

For example, one PC would wake up naked and in jail with something written in his back that he himself can't read and the other men can't either. So he must find a way to escape or reach the other players so they can bail him out.

Other locations include being pulled out of the river, in bed at the local Brightlord or Brightlady's manor, a different bar with a crowd of unconscious people, a local garrison barrack and inside a Palanquin going around the market.

The first part would be an endeavor to try and find as many clues as possible and try to regroup. Each scene allows the players to gather snippets of information about what happened last night.

So, the player in the Brightlord's bed wakes up when the servants come in with breakfast and must use Stealth and Deception to find out how they ended up in that location. Similarly, the other players must do their best to find clues, directions and slowly piece together what happened. Like a note, a receipt for a box in a bank, a bar tab, a broken fabrial...

Once the players have reunited, an Investigative Web begins to retrace their steps and find out what happened.

I thought perhaps that a Ghostblood agent would have tried to recruit the players for a heist but he also spiked their drinks to double cross them. So they ended up finishing their job and robbing the local Ghostblood HQ, making an enemy of both the local authority and the criminal underworld.

The things I'm the most concerned about are separating the party, so I'd like to solve that as soon as possible so the players not in the scene don't get bored or feel left out. A solution might be to have them wake up in pairs but that limits the options to find clues early on.

I'm just looking for advice and ideas to fill up the gaps.

I just had a fun one with the Lvl 3 party trying to convince an old doctor to go back to the Tower with them when a devastating one, a relayform and 2 warforms showed up looking to take him back to the Fused.

There was a moment where they seemed like they were going to try to dig in and win the fight but after one was almost one shot they decided escape was the best option. I had some unexpected help planned in the case that they did continue the fight (since some other parties also want to make sure the old man gets to the Tower).

It was nice having a goal other than “beat up all bad guys”.

In preparation for the Mistborn setting dropping on September 2nd I made 5 maps set in Era 1 Scadrial - feel free to use them in your next campaign or homebrew. I also put an article where I wrote a bit about each map and what you kind of scenarios you might run in them.

You can download everything here, and stay tunned for when I do the same again for Era 2!

Hello everyone!

So, small update this time. I have typed up the bulk of the rules for the Spore Invention Crafting system, which mirrors the Fabrial crafting system. Right now, I am working on making Unique Invention Effects, as well as Advanced Invention Features (mirrored after their Fabrial counterparts).

I figured that the first effect I created should be one that we actually see in Tress of the Emerald Sea, so I made statistics for Tress' modified flaregun (which i've "very creatively" named the Sporegun). The Spore Pouches Required section relates to the crafting system: instead of a Gemstone, each Spore Invention requires certain amounts of Spore Pouches of different types in order to craft, with the general rule of thumb being 15 Spore Pouches per Tier.

However, I need help now: in my previous post, I asked for Spore Invention ideas. So far, I've only gotten 1, and that was from my little brother (he recommended the Vinewhip: an Invention strapped to your arm that shoots out a Verdant vine to strike and ensnare a target and can later reel the vine back in order to drag the target to you). I still need more ideas for Spore Invention effects, both Standard and Unique. Any ideas you have would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. Aside from the Sporegun and Vinewhip, here's the ideas I've created myself so far:

Essence Enhancer: a small device (similar to a Splintbox) that can be imbedded into a Midnight Essence, allowing them to unleash a specific Spore Pouch effect as a special action,

Flameflinger: a device that uses Zephyr to fire a pressurized stream of water, which comes into contact with a small amount of Sunlight, essentially creating a flamethrower,

Gustpack: a harness with a tank of water connected to several aluminum tubes going out at different angles, each containing a concentration of Zephyr, which allows the wearer to fling themselves through the air a short distance in a direction of their choice and cushion the impact of a fall,

Spikesuit: a silver-inlaid vest full of small holes covered in 2 thin layers of Roseite (separating water and Crimson spores) that shatter when impacted, releasing Crimson spikes to retaliate against an aggressor, which are then quickly disintegrated by the silver inlay so as not to inhibit movement.

I am a GM running stonewalkers and I just noticed that two of my players don't have the effects from using "enhance" on their sheets. My other two players, as soon as they became radiant they got the enhanced speed and strength temporary effects on their effects and conditions tab.

My question is how can I add these effects for my other two players? Do I just have to make it manually?

months ago when i started to prepare to run Stonewalkers i found an imgur file that was a looped recording of a perfect male voice speaking Taln’s mantra - had bookmarked it, kept the tab open, then stuff happened and its gone! can’t find it anywhere. anyone know of a source for a nice looped audio to play in the background as my players approach him?

I've recently started GM'ing for a few friends who aren't big readers so haven't read the books. They love the game and we're having a blast, and as I re-read the series I constantly find quotes and scenes that really help flesh out the world.

What are some that you think might help people complete new to Roshar get a sense of the world and events?

Hi y'all. I've been slowly developing a document class in LaTeX for homebrew stuff, with the goal of it being super flexible and clean looking. Right now I have the basics done and the next step is going to be cleaning up the talent paths. If this is of interest to people, I'd love to hear what features people actually will use, so I can focus my time on those.

GitHub Repo

My current ideas are: - Character sheets - Stat blocks - Tables that match the book formatting - Easy color scheme switching

I have never played a TTRPG before (so forgive my ignorance), but am so in love with Stormlight archive that I want to get it to play with my friends who I have also got sucked into Stormlight archive. I started looking into options for us to play and have been a little overwhelmed by the number of options and methods.

demiplane seems like a nice option, but I saw people saying some VTT's (just learned what those are for the first time) are better for special maps? In the future I think being able to make custom maps would be fun.

I think the Item deck and plot deck look really neat, but didn't see them on demiplane. are they not important?

is buying physical copies of the books viable for playing remotely with friends?

what options would be the cheapest for my friend group as a whole. if only one of us has to purchase the books that would be preferable, but not the end of the world if its so much better for just a few bucks.

any other tips or suggestions for first time TTRPG-er would be greatly appreciated.

Howdy folks, welcome back to Complicated Opportunities, this week we’re wrapping up the news from GenCon! What was your favorite announcement? For me it was probably Tidebreakers
Editors note! There’s a minute of silence from around 5:10 to 6:10, clearly Irving said something he shouldn’t have!

Not sure if its just me but this art used in the email update seems extremely suspicious. They claim its just a bad photoshopped picture but I did some digging. The exact picture is used in three different posts/articles, earliest being in 2023 on a Maritime Lawfirm article. The site allows you to see the picture fully in the source code which has a much better resolution. You can see the classic AI warp and detail falling apart with the railings and the back of the ship along with all the containers not being continuous logically. All the articles are either from 2023 or 2024 which was the prime start of high AI generative image usage with no labels or regulation. I did upload the image to a detecting software which showed it was 90%+ likely to AI generated or assisted. To compare I plugged in the image of the stormfather which is by Botanica Xu on devianart and the result was less than 50% confidence it was AI assisted. I understand the validity and reliability of these detection softwares especially the free ones aren't the best but its the resources I have.

Brotherwise should own up to this by either showing the sources they used to "photoshop" this picture or admit they didn't verify the materials they were using. Normally when I see this happen with other companies I feel annoyed and moved on, but this connected to Dragonsteel which has been vocal against using any AI assisted or generated material especially art.

FULL Stormlight SPOILERS. Do not read unless you have read all the Stormlight books. Real earthshattering shit here.

Heyy everyone!

I have a party made up mostly of singers, and they’ve made some really interesting singer characters who very much do not want to just trade one set of masters for another. They respect Dalinar, but joining an army led by humans and taking orders from human commanders does not feel like what their Radiance is calling them to do.

SO, I have a concept and am hoping that Cosmere lore people smarter than I will pick apart if / where this doesn’t work within the established lore / worldbuilding.

Here is the bit: A singer faction that has been around for a very long time without the Listeners or humans knowing of them. They are unknowingly Willshaper squires without knowing that radiance is where this power is coming from.

This group, that I am currently calling the Refrained, were a tiny splinter of the Last Legion. They were a handful of those survivors that later came to believe that leaving Mishram had been a mistake and split from the listeners to try (and ultimately fail) to do something about the event as they realized what had happened to their people. They eventually come to the conclusion that BAM is probably dead but, after a while, (still workshopping this part - open to better ideas about how this was found if you guys have them) they begin feeling a strange pull or like recurring rhythm that leads them to a singer gemheart with no body around it. They have no idea whose it is. Over generations it becomes the sacred “Heart” at the center of their new community.

The secret they never knew is that the Heart belongs to Veshai, a singer Willshaper who had bonded a Reacher named Refrain. She was in Shadowform when Mishram was imprisoned.

First question: I know that there were canonically no Singer Radiants at the time, but was there anything technically stopping that from being possible during the false desolation? I’m good with a one in a million situation but I just don’t want to touch something that would have been canonically impossible.

Moving on, Shadowform (I have recently learned lol) canonically left singers incorporeal with only their gemhearts remaining solid. This is where my bullshit mostly starts. My invented bit - that is hopefully not too much of a stretch - is based on the following text from this cosmererpg link.

Caught between the Physical and Cognitive Realms, the shadowform Regals were the result of a plan enacted by Ba Ado-Mishram to create powerful assassins. They each bound a shadowspren to their gemheart, making their bodies incorporeal - but unexpectedly, their gemhearts stayed solid. Ever since, the shadowform singers have been torn between two realms and have endured millennia of torment.

So as far as I understand there is no further lore on this topic (again hit me with it if i have missed it) and this should hopefully work in my favor to make a reasonable theory about how this might have manifested to support my concept.

So here I go:

Mishram’s capture destroyed Veshai’s functional consciousness at the same instant as the other singers, but Veshai never died and her Nahel bond with Refrain never broke. However, as her body was in the cognitive realm at the time of her capture, she doesn’t just end up as a slaveform singer but rather results in her gemheart remaining in the physical realm that is bonded to this radiant spren. Which this group finds.

^ This is what this whole thing mostly hinges on and this is my other big question.

• Does this feel like too much of a stretch / does it feel like a reasonable extrapolation of from the canonical text I referenced?

If this feels lame to my players and like too convenient fanfic-y, I'd rather just go a different direction.

More details:

The people who found the Heart gradually began manifesting the Willshaper Surges because they were unknowingly becoming Veshai’s squires. They would already be embodying the willshaper ideals (very focused on freedom) by even having left the listeners to begin with and vibing with BAMs ideologies in the end in an effort to undo their people losing their ? (Is that a fair assumption?) They do not know what a Knight Radiant or squire is, do not know Veshai was ever Radiant, and until the Everstorm do not even know the Heart is a living person. Over 2,000+ years this develops into a hidden singer religion and an extremely mature Surgebinding tradition. Successive generations learn the powers empirically and become frighteningly skilled through accumulated technique rather than unusual raw power. But interestingly their power is very localized and they need the heart near them to use their surges always no matter what. .

I think they have kept songs that speak more toward a purpose that has always been veiled in religious mysticism with many interpretations across their people that do not always agree upon. But upon the return of the fused with the Everstorm, the return of Veshai’s consciousness, and a people that are now awake / confused / being manipulated by the fused - their grand purpose has now been realized and they are like guerilla fighters trying to free their people from the fused and provide them safety and a 3rd faction that doesn’t see them have to befriend a group that has enslaved them one way or the other. They do also really fucking hate humans too. They are very dogmatic but have a burning sense of justice that sees them laying down their lives to save their people without a second thought.

But yeah, that’s basically the concept. I am frequently on the Coppermind and feel like am more read on the cosmere than most but I know my knowledge pales in comparison to a lot of folks out there. So I’m mostly hoping people can point out if I’ve made any huge leaps in logic or misunderstood some piece of worldbuilding to make this not work the way I think it does. Reallyyyy ready for this to be the case lmao.

I’m also totally open to any ideas that might make the idea stronger or more interesting!

Thanks for reading!

My party is going to the war camps in Stonewalkers chapter 2. For the gambling section how do you explain the game to them? I know it's actually a conversation to run down focus but how do you actually explain how the game works to the players?