First Impressions of the Cosmere RPG

Reviewing the Cosmere RPG based on an initial read through.

Lore accuracy

I’m going to start with how well the Cosmere RPG captures the lore of the setting and the feeling of playing within the Cosmere.

Canonical lore from inception

In fact, with Brandon Sanderson involved in the project from the very beginning, this was something he insisted upon. Abilities and lore needed to be canonical to the Cosmere universe.

Yes, there are slight adaptations to fit the mechanics of an RPG, but he insisted that what players can do in the game, and what the setting is like, match what you get from the books.

I think this is hugely important as the big draw of playing the Cosmere RPG over something like D&D, Pathfinder or Daggerheart is that you can play in the universe you’ve read and love.

Thankfully, I can report that this is absolutely the case. From history to cultures and regions to powers and abilities, they’ve absolutely nailed the feel of the Cosmere in the game.

Filling in lore gaps

In fact, I’d argue that they go one step further and actually fill in a lot of gaps in the lore (with Brandon’s approval, there’s no rogue lore here).

For example, there’s basic details like the different ideals of each radiant group which are not all outlined in the books. You’ve also got radiant orders that don’t get a lot of attention in the books where there’s gaps in knowledge about their powers and values. But the Cosmere RPG fills these gaps. We now know more about orders like dustbringers and elsecallers in a way that isn’t as fully fleshed out in the books.

I also like that cultural information on the different regions and people’s of Roshar are addressed in detail too. I now have a much clearer understanding of the Horneaters and the Iriali than I had from a read through of the Stormlight Archive.

Accessible reminders of the lore

On top of this is the way the lore is presented. You’ve got lore in and amongst character options, giving you the important details there. You’ve also got the world guide for a much more detailed deep dive (like the kind a GM might need) but you’ve also got a welcome to Roshar booklet that gives those new to the Cosmere (or those that need a refresher) a brief explanation of the basics.

This enables both GMs and players of any experience level to dive in and get to grips with the lore at a level that suits them.

Handling canonicity

I think the decision to keep the Cosmere RPG true to the lore, while giving GMs and players the licence to make this version of the Cosmere their own is the best decision they could have made and means you can feel a part of the Cosmere you love, while having the ability to affect events how you like.

When it comes to the lore, I think the Cosmere RPG does an outstanding job at remaining canonical, revealing new details and integrating this into mechanics while remaining accessible and detailed at the same time.

Lore score: 5/5

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Gameplay mechanics

So the lore is good and even just from an initial read through, that much is very obvious to me without needing to play the game. But all of that becomes pointless if the mechanics don’t hold up to scrutiny.

Somewhat familiar to RPG veterans

One of the challenges with a franchise RPG like the Cosmere is that you likely have to pull people away from their current system to some extent and have them learn a new ruleset. That’s a significant time investment.

This process can be made easier by weaving in familiar mechanics. The Cosmere RPG doesn’t use the 5e system. It has its own system known as the Plotweaver system (something Brotherwise Games have confirmed will be used in other RPGs they create). However, it is a d20 system and because of this, there are a lot of instances where I can basically glance at the approach and think yep, I understand that, I’m familiar with these concepts and it basically works the same or it’s similar. Some examples include:

• The use of polyhedral dice
• D20s for tests
• Attributes and skills to represent capabilities
• Defences for your AC
• The use of grids and feet for movement and range
• Hit points for combat durability
• Conditions for special combat effects
• Weapons for different combat styles
• Different actions that can be used on your turn
• Talents as special character abilities

And I could go on. These don’t all function exactly the same as they do in D&D for example. But I can quickly recognise and understand them and roughly know what I’m doing to make an attack, move around the board or make a d20 test.

But D&D is not a perfect system, and it also doesn’t entirely fit the Cosmere itself which has necessitated some changes. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there is also a decent bit that’s new to learn, even for RPG veterans. These include things like:

• Branching class system (known as paths)
• Plot die for opportunities and consequences
• More mechanically driven social encounters
• Endeavours for multi-skill test activities
• Focus and investiture as expendable resources
• More detailed crafting mechanics for fabrials
• Different action and initiative structure in combat

And again, I could go on.

In getting to grips with the system as a primarily D&D player, I found it more familiar than Daggerheart, but there’s still a learning curve there and a decent amount to get to grips with.

Flexibility in modularity

One of the really interesting things about the way the system is set up is it’s incredibly modular. You pick and choose from different path talent trees giving you more choice in how much you upgrade skills.

Even ancestries are a lot more customisable with things like singer forms while expertise is fully customisable to the player and GM’s desires for a character. You even have more fluidity in how you use actions. You don’t have 3 types of actions (movement, action and bonus action), you just take 3 of any kind of action.

All of this makes for an incredibly modular system with even more customisability than players might be used to from something like D&D. How much you like this is going to depend on how you like to play. There could be an element of decision paralysis for certain players, while others may relish digging into new ways to optimise characters by mixing and matching talents and other abilities into new and unique character choices.

I think the way it seems to me though, is that at an entry level, it’s about as challenging as D&D, you can get by just fine without a well-optimised character, but the ceiling for mastery feels like it could be higher (especially more than the carefully balanced refresh of D&D 2024).

It’s certainly a more complex system to build, and hats off to the designers for creating a system like this. I didn’t spot anything that screamed at me as if it were unbalanced or problematic, but the jury’s still out on this until I’ve gotten my hands dirty actually playing the system.

One specialty didn’t quite resonate though

In my initial read, I found that most of the paths and their specialties made sense to me. I could easily grasp the benefits and how they function in gameplay. However, there was 1 specialty that I struggled with, at least at first. This was the investigator.

Their talents are primarily focused around social situations and deduction. This is no bad thing. The system does have a greater emphasis on social situations. However, it felt like the talents were kind of clunky and a lot to remember when you’re also trying to roleplay conversation.

To use the full talent tree, you’ve kind of got to learn the target’s motivation, you also get extra actions during a round of conversation by spending focus, but in the spur of the moment, it may be hard to definitively know what you can and can’t do with those actions while trying to roleplay the situation. Perhaps seeing this in gameplay will change my mind, or perhaps it relates to my persuasions as a player and GM, but this specialty felt a little challenging to make work well.

Some extra work for the GM

One other thing I noticed is that there are talents and other things that some characters can use that are reliant on the GM integrating those things into the game. This includes things like patrons, animal companions, gemstones, spren and making and accomplishing goals and oaths. All of these things are great ways to give the PCs story moments for their character with what I think will be some exciting character development.

However, the nagging feeling is that all of these need to be managed by the GM to provide opportunities for characters to be and do what they want. No gemstones, then no fabrials. No accomplishing of oaths, then no radiant path progression and so on.

I do think there’s a partial solution to this, and that’s to have players working with the GM to accomplish these things. They can talk to the GM about the progression they want to take so the GM can start to weave in these elements. They can even ask the GM whether certain actions might go some way to accomplishing their oaths for example, but there is a little more work on the GM’s side here.

But better narrative moments for characters

The flip side of this is that accomplishing some of these elements introduces interesting and exciting narrative moments for your characters. Speaking the words for your next ideal and becoming empowered could be an incredible narrative moments. The same with crafting a powerful fabrial for example.

This is only enhanced by the inclusion of the plot die.

Plot die feels like a better narrative mechanic

I recently got to grips with Daggerheart as a player and Chris (the GM) mentioned in his review that constantly rolling hope and fear to keep the narrative moving felt a little exhausting for a full session. It was too much. D&D on the other hand, leaves these narrative opportunities entirely in the GM’s hands with no mechanics relating to it at all

The Cosmere RPG takes a route down the middle which I quite like. It’s the plot die mechanic which is rolled sometimes at crucial points or when abilities call for it. It’s known as raising the stakes and depending on the roll, you might incur opportunities or consequences. I like this much better. I think it lends gravitas to certain moments that can alter the momentum of an encounter while taking the pressure off the GM to constantly be adding in narrative weight to these rolls.

On top of that, the consequences don’t need to be narrative. A character could just lose or gain some focus or advantage for example. In short, I think it sounds like a solid mechanic that I’m eager to use.

Balanced despite superpowers

One of the hardest part of bringing the Cosmere to an RPG was always going to be making sure ordinary folk didn’t feel underpowered next to their radiant buddies, while also making becoming a radiant an empowering event.

Thankfully, I can report that this all seems to work. Bonding a spren remains a powerful advancement, but fortunately, everyone can take this step almost whenever they want.

Gameplay mechanics score: 4.5/5

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Design

While the mechanics are probably the most important part of the system, how it’s designed will not only help you find the information you need, but it will also inspire with vivid artwork that brings the setting and abilities to life.

Incredible artwork

Thankfully, on the artwork, not only is it distinct and an incredible showcase of Roshar, the Cosmere and its characters, it also looks phenomenal. From vistas of landscapes and highstorms to seeing surges in action as well as seeing some characters for the first time, this is the best look we’ve ever had of Roshar itself.

Most of the characters felt instantly recognisable. Even less prominent characters like Renarin or The Lopen were easily spotted amidst more common appearances from Shallan, Kaladin, Dalinar and others. In some cases, I even realised places where characters looked different from how I’d previously imagined them, such as Raboniel, who wasn’t the hulking figure I’d imagined, but more lithe in build.

Page design is easy to follow

If you’ve ever looked at the difference between the 2014 and 2024 D&D 5e Player’s Handbooks, you’ll know what a difference strong page design makes. And the Cosmere RPG utilises these kinds of philosophies to make information easy to find and parse. From the use of headings, subheadings, boxes and diagrams, information is easy to browse through. The contents page is appropriately detailed and the glossary provides useful, brief explanations and page numbers are easy enough to find.

Occasionally information was a bit disparate though

My one nitpick here is that there were times when information felt a bit disparate and I had to go between multiple sections of the book to get all the aspects of rules I wanted.

For instance, a radiant wanting to know what actions they can take will need to know about invested actions which aren’t in the same section as standard actions available to everyone. If I want to see what expertise I can take, I have to go to the armor, weapons and ancestors sections as well as the expertise section.

This wasn’t a huge issue, but occasionally made rule learning a little harder.

Design score: 4.5/5

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Fun

Ultimately, if a system isn’t fun, it’s not worth playing. While I can only work on initial impressions, my initial take is that this is going to be a really fun system!

Sanderfans will enjoy playing a strong RPG system in their favourite universe. Cosmere initiates have a chance to experience one of the most beloved and interesting fantasy universes ever created. On top of that, embodying the powers and abilities of the knights radiant with fluid mechanics and character creation just looks like it’s going to be loads of fun.

Fun score: 4.5/5

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Conclusion

The Cosmere RPG is not just a reskin of other d20 systems with a Cosmere facelift. It’s a fully realised system built from the ground up to work within the confines of the Cosmere. That’s not to say it’s completely different or unfamiliar in its mechanics. There’s a lot that will feel familiar to RPG veterans. But in important and meaningful ways, they’ve managed to make this a system that works really well with the source material.

Somehow, it actually manages to be all things to all people. It obviously caters for Cosmere enthusiasts, but it remains an accessible entry point to the Cosmere as well. It’s as easy an entry point to RPGs as something like D&D (which is fairly approachable as RPG systems go) but I also suspect it will have a higher ceiling for mastery as well in terms of optimisation and getting the most out of character abilities.

It’s a beautifully flexible system with only minor nitpicks to quibble at. It’s also stunningly presented too. The artwork is excellent and follows a clear style that wonderfully captures the essence of the Cosmere. Even if you weren’t interested in playing the Cosmere RPG, I’d be tempted as a fan just to pick up the world guide to bask in its gorgeous artwork and delve further into the lore.

This is not just fan service, this is a strong contender within the realms of RPG systems. And dare I say it, the Cosmere (and specifically Roshar) is a stronger setting than any we get from classic fantasy RPGs like D&D, Pathfinder or Daggerheart.

Do I recommend the Cosmere RPG? I’ll hold full judgement until I’ve played the game, but based on a first read through, I think that this will be a satisfying system for fans of the Cosmere, RPGs and fantasy in general.

Overall Score: 4.5/5

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Have you gotten your safehand on the Cosmere RPG yet? What do you think of it? Let me know in the comments below.

Spotlight on the Cosmere RPG