The Cosmere is the shared fantasy universe created by author Brandon Sanderson — a vast collection of worlds, magic systems, and stories that are all secretly connected. Each world orbits the same spiritual realm, known as the Cognitive Realm or Shadesmar, and a mysterious force called Investiture underlies all magic across every planet.
The Cosmere RPG is a living tabletop roleplaying game developed by Brotherwise Games in close collaboration with Sanderson and his team at Dragonsteel Entertainment. It launched on Kickstarter in August 2024, raising over $14.7 million — the most-funded tabletop RPG campaign in history. The first setting is Roshar (the Stormlight Archive), with Mistborn following in 2026 and further worlds planned beyond that.
Roshar is a storm-wracked planet unlike any other in fantasy. Its single supercontinent is swept by massive magical hurricanes called highstorms that travel from east to west, carrying a glowing energy called Stormlight. The entire ecology of the planet evolved around these storms — plants have shells they retract into, animals grow stone-like carapaces, and human cities build thick eastern walls with few eastern windows.
The planet is shared between humans and the Singers (also called Parshendi or parshmen), a shapeshifting species that can take on different forms by bonding with spren. At the start of the Stormlight Archive story, humans dominate most of the continent while Singers are either enslaved or isolated in the Shattered Plains. The world is also populated by spren — spirits of thought, emotion, and natural forces — that influence everything from the weather to the hearts of warriors.
Highstorms are the defining force of life on Roshar. These continent-spanning tempests sweep east to west every few days, bringing torrential rain, hurricane-force winds, and dangerous lightning. The stormwall — a wall of water and wind miles high — announces a highstorm's arrival. Everything living on Roshar takes shelter or dies.
But highstorms are also a gift. They carry Stormlight, the magical energy that powers fabrials (magical devices), lights cities through gemstones left to charge in the storm, and fuels the abilities of the Knights Radiant. The Stormfather — an ancient and immense spren — is believed to be the consciousness behind the highstorms themselves.
A second storm, the Everstorm, arrived more recently traveling west to east — opposite to the highstorms. It carries red Voidlight and when it first appeared, it awakened enslaved Singers across the entire continent, restoring their minds and beginning a new chapter of the war between humanity and the singers.
Spren are the spirits of Roshar — fragments of thought, emotion, and natural phenomena that have taken on a kind of life. Flamespren dance in fires. Rotspren cluster around wounds. Fearspren pour out of terrified people like purple droplets. They are drawn to the things they represent and most are simple, non-sapient beings.
But some spren — those associated with higher concepts like Honor, Cultivation, and Odium — are fully sapient and can think, speak, and form relationships with humans. These honorspren, cryptics, cultivationspren, and others can bond with humans who meet their criteria, transforming those humans into Knights Radiant.
When a Radiant breaks their oaths, their bonded spren becomes a Deadeye — a lobotomized, wandering corpse of a spren, locked in Shadesmar forever. This is one of the great tragedies of Rosharan history, as thousands of spren were killed this way when the Knights Radiant abandoned their oaths at the Recreance.
Stormlight is the magical energy of Roshar — the Investiture of Honor and Cultivation infused into storms. It glows with a soft blue-white light when held in gemstones. Spheres (coins with gemstones set inside) are both currency and light source — a dun (uncharged) sphere is worth less than a charged one glowing with Stormlight.
Knights Radiant breathe in Stormlight directly from spheres. It heals their wounds almost instantly, enhances their physical capabilities, and fuels their Surgebinding abilities. The more Stormlight a Radiant holds, the more powerful they become — but it slowly leaks away through their skin as a fine glowing mist.
Fabrials are mechanical devices powered by trapped spren and Stormlight. They can produce heat, cold, pain-relief, communication across distances, and more. The Alethi war camp runs on fabrial technology — from spanreeds (two-way writing devices) to half-shards (small personal shields). Fabrial science is considered the province of Alethi women and the Ardentia.
The Knights Radiant were the ancient warriors who protected humanity during the Desolations — catastrophic wars against the Voidbringers (Fused) that nearly ended human civilization. They were organized into ten Orders, each bonded to a specific type of spren and wielding two of the ten Surges (the fundamental forces of Rosharan physics).
Nearly two thousand years ago, the Knights Radiant abandoned their oaths in an event called the Recreance. They returned their Shardblades and Shardplate — leaving their dead spren behind as weapons for future generations — and walked away. The reason was long kept secret. Their abandonment left humanity defenseless, and the knowledge of Surgebinding was lost for generations.
In the modern era of the Stormlight Archive, new Radiants are beginning to emerge — people who unknowingly meet the criteria their spren are searching for and begin speaking the ancient Ideals. Each Order has its own Ideals, specific oaths that reflect the values of that Order. Speaking them deepens the Nahel bond and unlocks greater power.
The Surges are the fundamental forces of physics and nature on Roshar. Each Order of Knights Radiant wields two. In the game, Surgebinding skills work like any other skill — roll d20 + skill, beat the difficulty — but the rules encourage creative, narrative use of powers beyond just their listed effects.
Hundreds of plateaus separated by deep chasms in eastern Roshar. Site of the Alethi–Parshendi war. Chasmfiends are hunted here for their massive gemhearts. Every military movement requires bridge crews to carry heavy bridges across the gaps.
The ancient tower-city of the Knights Radiant, high in the mountains above the storms. A marvel of pre-Recreance engineering that can house an entire nation. The Sibling — an enormous god-spren — maintains the tower's systems and generates Towerlight.
Capital city of Alethkar, the dominant human kingdom. A massive walled city on the western side of the continent, home to the Kholin royal family and the political heart of the war effort.
The Cognitive Realm — the spiritual mirror of the physical world. Here, bodies of water become fields of beads and land becomes ocean. Spren have their true forms here. Elsecallers and Willshapers can transport their party into and through Shadesmar.
A vast mountain range at the western edge of the Shattered Plains, home to the Unkalaki (Horneaters) — a culture with unique access to the Perpendicularity, a place where the three Realms align and travel between worlds is possible.
A powerful southern nation governed by law and scholarship rather than military might. Azish culture prizes writing, bureaucracy, and precedent. The Prime Aqasix rules through elected ministers rather than hereditary monarchy.
The royal house of Highprince Dalinar Kholin, the Blackthorn. Dalinar seeks to unite the Alethi highprinces under a single banner to fight the true war — against the returning Voidbringers.
A secretive organization operating from Kharbranth, following a prophetic document written by King Taravangian during a moment of perfect clarity. Their methods are ruthless and their goals morally ambiguous.
A mysterious organization of Worldhoppers — people who travel between Cosmere worlds. They deal in secrets and rare materials, with agents embedded across the continent. Their ultimate goals are unclear.
Ancient Singers who gave up their souls to Odium to return from death in new Singer bodies. Each Fused has a specific Surge-like power. They are the true enemy of the Desolations — returned.
The Cosmere RPG uses an original system designed by lead designer Andrew Fischer, built on a foundation familiar to D&D and Pathfinder players but upgraded throughout. The core loop is simple: roll a d20, add a skill bonus, beat a Difficulty number. What makes it distinctive is the layers added on top of that foundation.
The Plot Die is the Cosmere RPG's signature innovation. When you attempt something dramatic or risky, the GM can ask you to "raise the stakes" by adding a d6 to your roll. The d6 result then triggers an Opportunity (something good happens beyond your success) or a Complication (something unexpected goes wrong, even on a success). This turns every dramatic roll into a potential story moment.
Combat uses a unique initiative system where each round you choose your moment. Fast Turns let you act before enemies — but you only get 2 actions. Slow Turns let you wait, observe the battlefield, and react — but reward you with 3 actions. This creates genuine tactical decisions every single round rather than just rolling initiative once and forgetting about it.
Missing an attack doesn't have to mean nothing happens — spend Focus to "graze" your target, dealing reduced damage even on a miss. Combat is designed to resolve in a few exciting rounds rather than grinding through many turns of near-misses.
At character creation (level 1), every character chooses a Heroic Path. This is your character's fundamental approach to the world — not a rigid class, but a starting point for a branching talent tree. You can mix and match talents from multiple paths as you level up, with no multiclassing penalties.
At level 2 or higher, any character can begin the journey to becoming a Knight Radiant by speaking the First Ideal and bonding a spren. All Radiant Paths share three starting abilities from the First Ideal: Breathe Stormlight (absorb Stormlight from spheres), Enhance (temporarily boost Strength or Speed), and Regenerate (heal wounds using Investiture). Further Ideals unlock more powerful Surgebinding abilities.
The Cosmere RPG books are available now digitally and in hardcover. Everything your group needs to run a full campaign on Roshar:
The perfect starting point. A free visual guide to Roshar's world. Share this with your players before your first session.
cosmererpg.com →392-page complete rules — character creation, all paths and talents, combat, skills, and GMing advice.
DriveThruRPG →280-page GM reference with canonical lore, 125+ illustrations, and a full bestiary of Rosharan creatures and adversaries.
DriveThruRPG →Interactive digital platform with character builder, searchable rules compendium, and adversary sheets for GMs.
demiplane.com →