Stormlight Archive RPG Will Use New Plot Die Mechanic

Brotherwise Games' Stormlight RPG will utilize a plot die to add an additional range of results to checks.

By Christian Hoffer

The Stormlight Roleplaying Game will utilize a plot die mechanic similar to those found in Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars RPGs. This week, Brotherwise Games released a preview of its Stormlight RPG, a new tabletop RPG based on Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives novel series. The new game will utilize a "Fate Die," a custom 6-sided die that adds the potential for either an "opportunity" or "complication" when the player takes a particularly big risk. While not meant to be used with every check, the fate die adds a range of outcomes at particularly big moments, allowing for a more nuanced outcome than simple success or failure. 

In a recent Reddit post, Brotherwise Games' president Johnny O'Neal explained how the fate die works. When players are making a test that is "dramatic, risky, or critical to the plot," the GM can choose to raise the stakes and have the player roll the plot die in addition to their standard D20 roll. The plot die adds three potential outcomes to the test – an "opportunity" that adds a positive development to the result of the roll, a "complication" that adds a negative development, or a blank roll that keeps the roll's result as a simple success or failure. The "complication" symbols on the die include a +2 or +4 to the roll, which means that if the player rolls a "complication" on the die, they're more likely to succeed on the test. 

"I love the plot die because it makes more stuff happen every turn," O'Neal said. "When you fail with Opportunity, maybe you create distraction that gives an ally advantage, or your bravery wins over a nearby NPC. Succeeding with Complication can introduce a challenging (but fun!) plot twist."

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Given that the Stormlight RPG's designers also worked on Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars RPGs and the related Genisys system, which featured a similar mechanic, it's probably not a surprise that the plot die made it into the Stormlight RPG. However, it's not the only major new TTRPG system to move away from the binary success/failure outcome to a range of successes or failure. The upcoming Daggerheart system also uses a range of results, with successes and failures made with either "Hope" or "Fear" depending on which of the player's two "duality dice" has the higher result. 

The Stormlight Roleplaying Game will launch on Kickstarter on August 6th. 

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