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So in the recent AMA Brandon confirmed that meta powers exist, things like cancelling other Epics powers or being immune to them. This caused me to think, what if that was Deathpoints secondary power that he tried to use on Steelheart, what if he can either cancel out or heck even absorb other Epics powers through touch? David said he doubted it would have worked whatever it was but cancelling out Steelhearts abilities certainly would. Thoughts?

Mine would be Abraham, because of his philosophy, and his idealism.

Hello Sharders! I made a map of the distribution of Epics across the United States, working on average. This uses the Brandon-supplied ratio of 1:10'000 Epics at the beginning, and my own surmised ratio of 1:100 High Epic/Epic ratio Its spoilered because it is a bit big Some interesting results, now that one can see the map and the numbers laid out like this. In regards to Newcago (with 1000 Epics and 10-15 High Epics) it seems like it simply has all the Epics in Illinois, minus a few that were killed in turf wars and the Collapse before Steelheart solidified his control over Newcago. Alaska seems to have statistically between 1 and no High Epics at all, so Khione must be the only one California is swimming in Epics though! 3880! and 38 Highs!

Jumping on the bandwagon here and though I'm sure everyone wants to ask me about my secret cookie recipe I thought an AMA for the RPers of the What happened in Oregon roleplay might be of more interest. So, ask us anything. What's with the ponies, why are there so many pugs, how did you all seemingly lose your minds at the same exact time? Or you could ask us what our favorite Epic is or something boring like that.

We all know how the United States fared after Calamity and the rise of the Epics (so very badly), but what about elsewhere? Mostly, I'd say pretty much the same, although even worse in many cases (as most nations don't have the military and technology of the US, meaning that their people would have less success fighting the Epics and be worse off afterwards), but there would be exceptions. Asia: would be oh so destroyed. I think population density is directly proportional to how much damage the Epics inflict on a nation's people, environment and cities. And Asia has the highest population density in general. Assuming one in a thousand people became Epics (which is the ratio I like, it feels right to me) and one in a thousand Epics are High Epics, that would mean that there are (at the beginning) one million Epics and ten thousand High Epics in China alone. And the high population density means that thousands upon thousands of them appear in every city, ready to tear them apart in their Rendings and subsequent battles for dominance. Every issue the US and then the FSA has, the Epic's Republic of China has it over twice as bad. Europe: Europe would fare as well as the US, I think. Africa: Much, much worse than the US in some areas, and better in others. Its huge size and relatively small population would mean that some tribes in the Sahara might not have much idea of what has even happened, beyond seeing Calamity. Butwith low level of development and high poverty already, a million Epics across the continent would only make things worse. Australia: Australia would probably fare the best of any country or continent, I think. Low population density, relatively high level of wealth and development, an elite military force. The only problem is high urbanisation, with a huge proportion of the populace concentrated in the capital cities of each state and around the east coast. But seriously, there would be a tiny amount of Epics in Australia. 22 million people means 22 thousand Epics, mainly in cities along the east coast, as I said. People living on the other side of the country, and in the north, would have relatively few Epics to deal with. South America: The rain forests would make good hiding spots for people, that Epics would never find people in. Chances are certain Amazonian tribes may never encounter any epics, or hear more than rumours about the collapse of society. I predict a 110% chance that communist Epics are running around, creating "utopias" for whatever humans they can corral. Middle East: given a higher population density than the US, and a lower level of organisation, wealth and military power, it would fare much worse than the US. What do you guys think?

I thought this quote a good place to end the last thread.

Uh, so, I'm kind of curious about the Reckoners RP, but... I have no idea where it is. So... does anyone know? Sorry about making a topic just for this question, but I wasn't sure what else to do.

It's no secret that a lot of Sanderfans are still extremely hopeful to see some of our beloved author's books onscreen at some point. Much talk is made of Mistborn video games or a Steelheart movie, and I've seen much talk from people advocating a Stormlight television series. What I'm here to discuss is something very different: the Reckonerverse shown in a television universe, as I've seen suggested here and there around the forums. While I love the Reckonerverse with all my heart, I'm puzzled at how a television series centered around the Reckoners would work. Until David Charleston joined their ranks, it seems like their adventures weren't exactly television material... Episode 1: Pilot episode. The setting and characters are introduced, including the High Epic Redleaf. He is such a slontze that the Reckoners unanimously agree to make him their next target. Episode 2: A long and lengthy meeting ensues, in which Prof lays out his plan for carrying out the hit. Abraham argues that after this they need to try hitting a more important Epic like Steelheart, but is brushed off. Episode 3: The Reckoners rent an apartment but are annoyed to find that they have no internal heat. Cody attempts to make offerings to the Great Phouka that makes furnaces work. Episode 4: Villain episode! The episode is told entirely from Redleaf's point of view. He is such a slontze that series ratings plummet dramatically, prompting the writers to swear never to do anything innovative again. Episode 5: Tia's cola shipment arrives, but Prof is rude to the deliveryman. The other Reckoners teach him a valuable lesson about being kind to others. Episode 6: The Reckoners buy a helicopter. They accidentally sell Abraham's gun, in what the writers hope will become a running gag for the series. Episode 7: Knighthawk sends the team their phone bill. Tia desperately tries to keep Prof from seeing how much she's spent on mobile game apps, knowing that the knowledge would drive him instantly evil. Episode 8: Flashback time! Prof goes to a secret Reckoners summit in Babilar, leaving Tia to ponder the sequence of events that led her to drink her first cola. Prof later returns with a box of cookies that he refuses to share. Episode 9: First of two parts. The Reckoners finally put their plans into motion in a bold move to assassinate Redleaf. Episode 10: Second of two parts. The Reckoners' plan works perfectly with absolutely no complications. Prof leaps out of a helicopter and kills Redleaf. Afterwards they all go out for shawarma. Roll credits. ... Am I the only one who thinks they'd need some sort of extra hook? I'd prefer to put focus on a slightly more adventurous Reckoners team, or better yet, focus on both Epics and other vanilla factions like the Oregon RPG does. But I'd be interested in hearing other members' ideas on how to spice up a Reckonerverse TV series.

Just a random thought that occurred to me. Readers of the Reckoners books may have noticed that the series is written as a first-person narrative, like most of Brandon's non-Cosmere works. It's told as if David Charleston were telling us the full story of how he joined the Reckoners and battled Epics with nothing but his guns, wits, and bad metaphors. What I wonder about is whether Steelheart, Firefight, and the forthcoming Calamity will one day exist in-universe as accounts written by the legendary Steelslayer. It seems likely that with the massive events and revelations the books cover, somebody will need to enlighten the Fractured States' citizens on the true nature of Epics and the circumstances that led their world's salvation. Could it be that the novels we're now enjoying will be the firsthand historical accounts of David Charleston?

Being involved with the Reckoner’s RP I did a lot of thinking about weaknesses, both for my own Epics and to a lesser extend for those of others. I always wondered if a weakness fits with what we’ve seen from the books. In those musings I noticed some trends, some of which can be spread across all weakness and with some it’s just that none of them go against it, even if they are closely related to the topic at hand. Naturally, the small sample size means a lot of this in conjecture but given that we now know there’s some order to weakness there might be even more. On to the list! The root trauma: This one is a given, the books downright tell us that these roots exist. I just want to take the chance to point out that in my opinion the term “fear” as used in the books isn’t ideal and if anything oversimplifies the matter. Looking at the known origin of weaknesses we know they always come from something in the Epics past that left a scar on them and not just something they just happen to be afraid of like spiders. Even more looking at Mitosis, the Epic who’s reason for being written was mostly to hint towards the fact that weaknesses are connected to their past, his weakness didn’t really come from fear. He hated his situation in life and it ate him up from the inside but I wouldn’t exactly call that fear. Just wanted to get it out of my system that I like the term (psychological) trauma more in this context. Generalization: Pretty much what it say on the tin. Weaknesses are connected to an event but can be triggered without all the details matching up. E.g. Megan reacts to fire not burning houses, Newton doesn’t need to be complimented by her parents, Steelheart didn’t have to be confronted by that one specific guy etc. A part of this is also that weaknesses can’t really disappear, the brand that Sourcefield was poinsioned with as a child may be out of business but that doesn’t mean similar drinks can’t be created. Lack of intent: From what we have seen it doesn’t matter what someone is thinking while doing something or why they do it. Only what they do seems important to triggering weaknesses. E.g. Steelheart had no clue what he actually did, when he pulled the trigger but the explosion still counted as his attack and could harm him. The compliment David gave Newton was obviously insincere, yet it still allowed him to kill her. External/lack of control: This is admittedly one point I’m less sure about and it might simply come from the lack of data points, but no weakness we have seen requires the Epic to think something or do anything specific, it’s always just something around them, be it an object, people with certain qualities etc. Always something they have no control over, which also plays into the lack of intent. Repeat: This one is impossible to prove and more something that seems logical. I simply think that if an Epic is in the situation that his weakness originates from, then his weakness should trigger, which puts a limit on how abstract a weakness can be in relation to the event in question. These are the patterns I noticed and I while again there is little hard proof but no Epic breaks these rules and they make sense with the theme of trauma/fear that weaknesses are connected with.

This was just a random thought I had in response to something elsewhere on the forums but what if Dawnslight is Calamity's sick younger brother and Regalia has been holding him hostage? It would make sense of why Calamity is willing to help her so much, giving new powers to people, upgrading existing powers, etc.

I'm not sure if anyone else has been wondering this, but I have been curious since reading Steelheart. If David was made into an epic, what powers and or weakness would he have? I suspect that both your powers and weakness are tied to your past in some way, so the closest I've been able to guess is that he would be able to fly, (from using the spyrail,) enhanced physical abilites, (His marksmanship and in general strong physique,) and possibly enhanced brain ability? His weakness would either be being called a nerd or killing an epic. (from the beginning scene in Firefight.) This isn't supposed to be a serious topic, just something kinda fun for people to post what they think his powers would be. And please try to keep from spoiling anything for those that haven't read Firefight yet.

I'm curious which system people would use if they decided to set a tabletop RPG campaign in the world of The Reckoners. Would you keep it rules-light and go with something like BASH!, Icons, or Supers? Would you use something more complicated like Mutants & Masterminds or Champions? Or would you go with a system that is more open and doesn't specifically cater towards superheroes/villains, like Savage Worlds or FATE?

"All epics can become Gifters under the right circumstances " -Regalia What do you think those are? I wold like to know from the simple fact that Megan gifting David her powers could have made things about 100 times easier in so many situations. My guess....Humility: Mostly based on the concept that Conflux didnt become a true gifter until he killed his wife...and well....Gifters are so rare because so few Epics exhibit any humility.

The wait drags on but the reading goes by so fast. Though I'll have the rest of the WoT to read after I finish Knife of Dreams (I put it aside to read Firefight.) So honestly, I loved this even more than I did Steelheart. There were some large surprises in Steelheart, but I felt like it was pretty straightforward as far as narratives go. The story line for the entire book can extrapolated from the first sentence in the prologue. It was really discovering the world that was more interesting. Super hero as a genre has become one of the norms, and this nuance on it had not been overdone yet. It was a fun story with action driving it. But much like revenge itself, it felt hollow with only bloodthirst being the driving force behind moving the plot forward. I feel like Firefight has more soul where Steelheart was lacking. Don't get me wrong. I cared about the characters in Steelheart (I missed Cody and Abraham, but that's about as close to a criticism as I'll give to Firefight,) but I didn't really feel like I knew David until Firefight. Besides his pluck attitude and gift with colorful comparisons, he was a very vanilla character to me. He really grew into his own during Firefight, and I think that's partially because he didn't know himself. His journey of self-discovery seemed very genuine to me, reminiscent of some of the feelings I had myself at that age, especially when discovering my own shortcomings. This kind of beliveability to the character allowed me to better immerse myself into his perspective, and experience the story through his eyes. Last summer, I took my very first paid vacation ever, and went to New York City. I live pretty near Chicago, and have been there many times in my life. I think what really stood out to me in this book was how the culture and ambiance Brandon depicted in Babilar, and its stark difference between Newcago very much mirrored my own feelings for both places. Chicago is a great place to visit, and I don't mean to bad mouth it in any way, but it doesn't have that same feeling of life that's in NYC. The unique culture and vibrant lifestyle in Babilar just felt right to me, comparing my own experiences to what David feels in the book. While much of Steelheart was action driven, I feel as though most of the more important pieces of Firefight are completely driven by emotion, and by character development. I felt the same confusion and despair as David did interacting with Megan. I've been playing a board game called The Resistance lately, which is a little like Mafia. I have a large amount of empirical proof that those you love can lie to you easily and believably. I got the same sinking feeling I got when losing one of those games several times throughout the book. Betrayal, grief, and just a smattering of guilt for trusting them. I was stuck most of the book trusting in Megan, while getting ready for the rug to be pulled out from underneath me. I had guessed Regalia's overarching plan somewhere around page 200, but that was also when I was speculating over whether or not Val was Megan in disguise. (She seemed to get really grouchy every time Megan had been around.) The scenes between her and David always seemed real to me. When David mentioned the safety being on as proof of true love, I was in tears from laughter. Megan pointing a gun at David is the closest thing they'll ever have to "their song." When Megan showed up in the base, and Val was there, I knew everything was just about to explode. If Megan wasn't Val, then Megan was being stupid, and David being stupid is pretty much the driving force behind every plot point since he first decided that interfering with an assassination attempt was a good idea. I assumed that Prof was keeping an eye on David, and the "come to Jesus" talk Prof had with him just sent red flags parading around inside my head. I was still hoping for a resolution to the Megan plotline that wouldn't give me anxiety, but that wouldn't have been any fun would it have? The subtle theological discussions thrown in are fascinating, and I'm looking forward to going back and giving them a closer look. One such moment was when Megan was talking with David about Steelheart and used the phrase: "you don't get a pass for murder just because you're not as bad as you could be." The hypocrisy of that statement had to slap Megan across the face, and the fact that David still hasn't recognized that in regards to Megan just shows his own character flaws. I'm hoping that the next book will see him addressing his hypocrisies, as he already has started to. For instance, I only felt wretched when the showdown with Knoxx ended. It felt too much like David was on a slippery slope headed for torture, which would push his character past redemption in my eyes. Val already seemed to be to me. I don't know much about the Knoxx guy, but that sort of street justice just makes me ill, especially in light of recent events in the United States (not to open up any cans of worms here on the forums, I'm not trying to make any sort of statement other than my own personal discomfort.) David's ambush also was too far for me. I just feel like David just decided that since he was an Epic it was ok, but I wish he knew more about Knoxx's personal crimes before acting like that. The Reckoner's had always hit Epics before based on how bad they were. For many of these reasons, I feel like Firefight was a battle for the Reckoner's soul, and I'm still not sure if it was won or not. I don't accept that Prof was the entire soul of the operation, though it was mostly his corruption that caused it. What's left of the Reckoner's can still act with soul. Cody and Abraham both seemed to have personalities that would balance Prof, while everyone in the Babilar sect were freshly wounded with the loss of Sam. While one sect may be lost, there still an entire network out there not emotionally unbalanced and working without oversight. Unless his first act as High Epic is to completely destroy the Reckoner but that's talk for later. Again, Brandon wrote a very well constructed book in my opinion. He had sufficient foreshadowing for Megan's reappearance, as well as her increased control of reality for it to not feel like a forced ending. Her wish to be free of the powers seems like a legitimate piece of character development after going through her "rehab" stint in Steelheart. She acts very much in conflict with herself through most of the book. The Calamity reveal was very shocking to me. Seems like something that would be common knowledge if all you needed was a telescope to find that out. (I do recall maybe a rumor or something from Steelheart? Not sure, might look into it later.) But the interaction between Calamity and David left me with huge expectations about the next scene, which were immediately flattened. There was a small period where I felt as though the book would end in a disappointment, but when conflict began again immediately, I was willing to look past it. Conquering a fear really is a huge turning point for you. I won't tell a long story, but I remember the day I was the most scared when I tried to start a strike in sixth grade. After that, I never had any problems performing or public speaking, and it became one of my biggest strengths. Now it's just spiders I need to watch out for! I'm not sure what else to say about the book. I don't want to focus on the action scenes, much as I loved them, because I really feel like the merit here was in the emotionally provocative scenes. Steelheart was fun, and it was quirky, and I loved it for that. It had some emotional ups and downs, but really it was just an action story. Firefight seemed like a war of emotions and philosophies. But in the end, every book just leaves one unquenchable emotion: the thirst for more. IMPORTANT EDIT: The best part of the book was when Megan corrected David on using similes. I literally said "thank you" out loud at least five times to no one in particular. I lost count. At least five.

I have noticed some parallels between Mistborn and the current Reckoners books (the prologue and first three chapters of Fireflight are included). Especially the first two Mistborn books. Spoilers for Mistborn and (up to) Fireflight

Why did Steelheart let Fortuity die? Fifefight had already infiltrated the Reckoners, and knew Fortuity's Weakness. She would have reported this to Steelheart, but presumably was given the go-ahead. So why exactly did Steelheart let a powerful High Epic Die?

So I reread "Steelheart" today, and I noticed 2 things. 1. In the prologue, David notes that Epics only started showing up a year after Calamity. 2. In the climax, Prof says that he's been an Epic since Calamity arrived. That makes Prof the "oldest" current Epic by a long shot, and a definite outlier. This, I feel, is significant. He's also got Wolverine levels of healing power and he's effectively impossible to contain; given the sheer speed of his regeneration, I believe that it constitutes a Prime Invincibility, and that even Steelheart could not kill Prof (Prof gets his head crushed by Steelheart and is projecting forcefields MAYBE a minute later; at this rate Steelheart could blow him up all he liked, Prof'd just regenerate when Steelheart got tired). Plus, the tensor powers make him impossible to contain, and if he's feeling like it the protective field makes him basically invincible. Prof clearly hates Steelheart intensely, and possibly other extremely powerful Epics. His hatred of Steelheart is even present, and possibly strengthened, when he is using his powers. I don't know why, but this also seems significant. I have no idea what Prof's weakness is, but it appears that Epic weaknesses are linked to something that their former selves cared about or spent a long time around (c.f. Mitosis). Does anyone else have thoughts or ideas about Prof/Jonathan Phaedrus and/or his powers and weakness?

A question that's been lurking around in my mind for quite some time now is that are you born an epic or is there a certain age at which you become a epic. I have my doubts about David being an epic.. i mean he's definitely not one yet but if there is a certain age or a specific time in your life that triggers you becoming a epic then theres a chance David will become an epic in future sequels.