I want to preface this by saying I'm not trying to get into any real criticism of the Cosmere/Sanderson or come off too negative, just looking for thoughts on the new release with my perspective as context.

Context: I am a huge fan of the Cosmere in general, I'm completely up to date aside from FoD. However, WaT and beyond I haven't enjoyed nearly as much. I strongly dislike the 'cheesy' or 'plucky' (for lack of better words) tone, characters, and dialogue that are becoming more and more prevalent in the later books.

Having read a synopsis for FoD, I get the impression that I'm in for more of very much the same. Given I haven't really enjoyed the other more recent stuff beyond a 5/10, I'm not willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and just pick it up. So I'm here, ultimately I guess I'm seeking some confirmation that I just no longer fall within the target audience, or perhaps some alternate perspectives/reasons to keep at it.

That Harry (MB) spike himself with the (DF) nails from the Swords of the Cross for the climax of the series and I'm sure everyone who clicked on those spoilers just had the same thought I did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fYLIeZ6ddY

Recently I've been playing on this minecraft server thats based on the cosmere and its pretty fun, tight knit community with a lot of thought gone into the mods and balancing. If you guys are interested give it a try; having more players is always more fun and makes the experience all the better. Its got radiants, allomancy, feruchemy, stuff like aviar, and well as minecraft specific stuff like tinkers and create, so its got somethin for everyone. Hope y'all enjoy

So I wanted to hear your opinion on the design of the board itself of the new announced board game War for Roshar. First of all, I am a huge Cosmere fan (just finished Sunlit Man!) and I also love strategy board games since my childhood. You can imagine that I was quite excited to hear Brando and Brotherwise announce this new game. Today I watched the long YT video linked on KS by Before you play and I think they did a really good job with the game mechanics. Its more an engine builder/ strategy game like scythe and less a "real" wargame like War of the Ring but its seems fun and simultaniously complex enough. Yeah, they didnt manage to include everything from the books, especially something like real development of your characters but you can only get so much mechanics in a game and still keep it accessible.

To my main point: I like the design. For my taste its a bit too much commited on the red/ blue thing (every artwork, character clothing, background, back of the card, marker, even the sails of the ships), but I totally get why they did this. But why, WHY, is the map looking like its from a 2005 game? I mean, I really am sorry, I know somebody designed this and probably tried really hard, but come on. Its just a map with completly random colored countries on it. If you look at the boards of compareble games like the aforementioned Scythe, War of the Ring or the GoT board game, the War for Roshar board just seems ... idk cheap? Especially compared to the rest of the great artworks etc. that are on the cards (not to mention the great art in the books) Seriously, look at these other games, this can be done so much better! Especially with base material like the Stormlight books! You could put so many cool easter eggs, small monsters, chasmfiends, towns/ cities, fields, lakes or just basic terrain on this map, and they put like nearly nothing there? Not even some ships or spren or whatever on the empty oceans? It feels like so much wasted potential, especially because the rest seems so thought through and well designed

Anyway thats everything, would love to hear your opinions on it, I am really interested if its just my personal opinion or if somebody agrees. I will still probably back it haha

watch the mentioned video by Before you play if you want to see the full map, its also great for understanding the game mechanics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meUu10H3ABs&t=3863s

We see at the end of WoR that Kaladin can use his shardblade to transform into many different weapons. What's stopping someone from forming their weapon into all kinds of crazy shapes to win a battle?

Imagine just having your blade loop in two directions and then connect to completely immobilize your opponents weapon. Or even turn it into a 20 meter pole, but REALLY thin.

Moash of the first 3 books starts off fairly simple and easy to understand. Hes very much Kaladin's foil. Hes a guy who like Kaladin has been screwed over by the society and people around him. Like he truly does have heartfelt reasons to hate Elhokar who ruined his life and who props a society that discriminates based on eye colour and enslaves people. His actions are so understandable that Kaladin even almost Deadeyes Syl in his sympathy for Moash.

Even his killing of Elhokar is somewhat understandable even if the narrative frames it as clearly wrong. And his joining the Singers and Odium is also somewhat understandable as Moash is a guy whom Alethi society and even humanity in general largely failed. Why should he not join the side whos actually shown him a modicum of respect? Like his actions may be wrong, but they are understandable and heartfelt in a way. Moash is kind of who Kaladin could have been.

But then we get Vyre. Vyre is functionally a different character. Hes kind of more like a robot as hes Moash minus the emotions. And basically just a straight up villain with a lingering connection to Kaladin. He kills Teft and tries to goad Kaladin into suicide at the behest of Odium whilst feeling nothing essentially. He couldnt handle the guilt (which he wasnt shown to be feeling in the prior books) so he emotionally lobotomized himself. In a way it makes sense, but hes still quite a different character.

Then the climax happens. Moash loses his connection to Odium and cant handle the grief and feelings hes shut off. He goes semi-insane and is blinded. We are left with the possibility that maybe he will even be forced to confront how some of his actions were wrong.

But then WAT happens. And after basically one conversation with Taravangian and getting some Inquisitor style eyes, hes basically back to being a full villain again. Except this time he 'feels'. At this point it feels like hes truly so far removed from being Kaladin's foil that its hard to see what his future purpose in the narrative even is now. Kaladin has grown so much and Moash has shifted so radically its hard to see him as anything more than Odium's version of Marsh.

tl;dr I just....dont really get it. Like what is happening with Moash?

Okay, so I went down a rabbit hole of looking at the Alethi glyphs and how they could relate to the tones. First, my thoughts came from looking at the Shattered Planes and the conversation between Jasnah and Kabsal in WoK. The way that cities took the shape of vibrations on a metal plate. This is further elaborated in RoW when Navani and Raboniel again talk about the tones and specifically the tones of Roshar, referring to the tones of Odium, Honor, and Cultivation. I believe that the Shattered Plains is a giant plate that the tone of Roshar itself is embedded in the stone. In RoW, we see the glyphs of Honor, Cultivation, and Odium in their ancient glyph forms. When they are overlapped, they create the glyph of Roshar. Is it a stretch to say that the radially symmetric shape of the Shattered Plains is the glyph of Roshar, but as its pure tone?

Is it just me, or does Roshar—especially after WaT—have a serious environmental problem?

It’s something I’ve been thinking about lately while reflecting on the series: very little emphasis is placed on the environmental devastation caused by events like the Everstorm.

I mean, even back then, it’s easy to imagine that many species—those that relied on structures like *laits*—would have suddenly found themselves without shelter from the Everstorm.

But now, factor in the events of WaT, where something as climatically vital as the Highstorm has been replaced by "calm clouds"—this must have been catastrophic, not just for species that depended on the wind for reproduction, but also for those tied to the remnants of the planet’s seasonal cycles.

It strikes me as a major issue, yet it’s barely addressed (I get it—they’re in the middle of what is essentially an apocalyptic world war—but it still feels strange that it’s hardly ever mentioned).

Am I the only one who finds this odd, given how much effort Sanderson put into fleshing out the planet’s ecology?

I've read everything cosmere pre wind and Truth . I'm rereading Stormlight 1 through 4 before I read Wind and Truth for the first time. Just got to one of the chapter opener Diagram quotes that says "One is almost certainly a traitor to the others"

I'm trying to remember what this could be in book 3 or 4 and would like a reminder. But if its in Wind and Truth, then I'll RAFO

Like, are the magic systems that each Shard bestows to their worlds inherent, or does each Shard “sit down” and tinker to invent their custom magic systems?

Could Honor give someone on Roshar the powers of a Mistborn? Or would he have to give his hands on some Lerasium?

Did Leras think metal was cool and decided to make a magic system that was burning metal based or is Mistborn abilities the only Magic System that the Shard of Preservation could give to human?