Author Brandon Sanderson, creator of The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn series, has shattered the record for crowdfunded tabletop games on Kickstarter. In partnership with developer Brotherwise Games, Sanderson’s Cosmere RPG campaign raised a total of $14,558,854 on Thursday from a total of 52,658 backers, representing an average pledge of $276.48 from each participant. The campaign is still accepting late pledges, and currently sits at more than $14.7 million earned.
The haul catapults the Cosmere campaign past the previous most-funded board game, Frosthaven, the sequel to Gloomhaven published by Cephalofair Games. That campaign raised nearly $13 million in 2020. It’s also a good sign for Brooklyn-based Kickstarter, which in 2023 marked the second consecutive year of declining revenues in the tabletop category — a category that traditionally accounts for a third of the company’s overall revenue from crowdfunding.
The game’s popularity with Sanderson fans should come as no surprise considering the universe in question. The Cosmere refers to the broader universal umbrella in which many of Sanderson’s fictional series take place, including Mistborn, The Stormlight Archives, Elantris, Warbreaker, and more. The Cosmere RPG will start off by tackling the world of The Stormlight Archives first, then branch out into Mistborn down the road, according to the Kickstarter description.
The Cosmere RPG’s success is Sanderson’s second record-breaking campaign on Kickstarter, and his third overall on that platform. His project for four secret novels remains the most-funded campaign of any type on that platform, with nearly $42 million raised. A campaign for Stormlight Archive-themed miniatures raised more than $4 million as well. Additionally, Sanderson ran a wildly successful $24 million Backerkit campaign for leather-bound books earlier this year. All told, that’s roughly $85 million raised via crowdfunding since 2022.