A Mistborn RPG is coming in 2026 and ComicBook can exclusively reveal some early details about the game. Earlier today, Brotherwise Games announced that the Stormlight RPG is the first installment of a new Cosmere RPG system focused on the worlds of writer Brandon Sanderson. The second set of books announced for those games are the Mistborn RPG, which will focus on both the first and second era of that book series, with plans to cover the third era of the books (set in the far future and having a science-fiction theme) once Sanderson expands to that series.ย
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At GenCon, ComicBook sat down with Cosmere RPG creative director Johnny O’Neal and Cosmere RPG writer Meric Moir about some early details of the new game. The Mistborn RPG will expand on the Cosmere RPG classes and utilize the Investiture system to feature the magic system of the book series, both as depicted in the first era of books and second era. “You can play a full Mistborn, a full Feruchemist, a Misting, or a purely heroic path character in Era 2,” O’Neal said. “The Twinborn, which is somebody with one Allomantic power and one Feruchemical power, they’re a perfect balance of powers to have in an RPG alongside your heroic path talents like being an investigator or something like that, and that’s really fun and cool.”
O’Neal confirmed that all sixteen metals and their respective powers will be represented in the Mistborn RPG, although some will feel more specialized ability trees or have less options. “There’s 16 metals and you could go through them Allomantically or Feruchemically,” O’Neil said. “The Mistborn and Twinborn paths give you access to the same paths, everybody’s going down the same paths, but somebody who’s a Misting in something is going to be very specialized. And some of the metals might only have a talent tree that’s three or four talents deep, but we try to pack a meaningful amount of stuff into that talent tree.”
One interesting part about the Mistborn RPG and one of the design challenges is how the Mistborn magic system interacts with other magic systems. During our conversation, Moir and O’Neal spoke about how the systems could interact, Bronze, a metal in the Mistborn system, can detect Allomantic abilities on Scadrial (the world of Mistborn). “In this game, you can actually detect and use pretty much any active Investiture,” O’Neal said. “So if you’re on Roshar, you’re going to be able to detect even certain rhythms on Roshar. Bronze, maybe not that cool of a power on Scadrial, not the one that I’d be as likely to take right off the bat, but then you get a little bit deeper into things, you spread into the Cosmere, some of them are really good.”ย
Moir pointed out that aluminum, “a worthless gnat” on Scadrial according to the lore of the Mistborn books, could be much more useful on other planets due to its power to clear out Investiture, thus functionally negating magic that affects them.ย
Additionally, the Mistborn RPG will feature new specialties and characters archetypes, based on some of the characters in the series. O’Neal mentioned that Mastermind, based on characters like Kelsier and Steris, will be a new specialty as will the Grifter, a “shady” type. The Cosmere RPG designers have been playtesting Mistborn content since January, meaning that they’ve been building out the various rules for several months. Early content will eventually go up on Demiplane and DriveThruRPG, giving players and backers of the Kickstarter, early access to some of the new rules.ย
Moir, who worked on the Mistbornย World Guide, pointed out that the books also flesh out parts of the world not touched on very much in the books. “We get to talk to Brandon a lot about Terris and Kandra and get a little bit more information for them outside of what we see in the books,” Moir said. That sort of information is going to be the stuff that people really want in the World Guide. And Koloss, Koloss-Blooded particularly there too. Those sorts of things are all details that are coming, and they’re all officially canon, like Dragonsteel sees it, approves it, does it all.”ย
When asked for a tease of what’s to come, Moir pointed out the worldbuilding he worked on. “I’m writing a bunch of the nations and cultures and the point of interests,” Moir said. “We did a very deep dive into Terris in Era 1, because we get the information through Sazed and Tindwyl, but it’s very sketched out. And so we have to ask [Dragonsteel] what does that culture look like, which is very fun. And then in Era 2, in the outlining phases right now, but we’re going to feature at least three of the major cities, so Elendel, Bilming and New Seran. Those are the three that of course we see in Books 1 and 2 for Elendel, and then New Seran in Book 3, and then Bilming in Book 4. And making them a little bit different, a little bit interesting. It’s very cool.”
