Soccorro Posted January 3, 2025 Posted January 3, 2025 So. In 2022 BS has said that he had planned the ending of Stormlight 5 for more than 2 decades and it’s based on D&D campaign he run in college “Don't tell this one because I'm actually going to use this in a book. I've been waiting for years to use this in a book so don't say anything. After I use it in a book you can tell the story. You guys are going to love this. It is involved in the ending of Stormlight 5. Let's just say I came up with one of the best endings for a story that I have ever come up with and because it's roleplaying the PCs did not play along. Ruined it completely. And I'm like, "I'm going to use that someday." And I actually put it right in the outline of Stormlight a week or two later, and it's been waiting all this time to be used.” Full discussion: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/484-miscellaneous-2022/#e15963 Spoilers for length Spoiler Brandon: If you want to know what it’s like to roleplay with Brandon, it’s detailed worldbuilding and enormous numbers of random tables that he has designed himself to encourage fun roleplaying scenarios. You’re gonna find so many decks of many things, or wands that you don’t know what they do, or, would you like to take this bargain from death, you don’t know what boon you’ll get, and, you know, you master a boon and you get a random side effect, that sort of thing happens all the time. Dan: The first little minor villain, like the miniboss that you fight in the first episode… was some minor noble named Pardohl(?), who I still use in many of my campaigns, and maybe even in one of my novels… anyway, so we killed him, and because I was this feral orc raised in the wilderness, I kept his head in a sack. Brandon: Yeah, as one does. Dan: Yeah, why not? And eventually, formed that head into a helmet. But I decided that would be like one of the things that Little Grunt did is he just saved the heads of anything important that we killed. And so I eventually had a big sack full of heads. The second key moment in Little Grunt’s life came when you had a monster that cast some kind of insanity spell, and I was the one who failed a save. Everyone else got through it fine. Brandon: Yup. Dan: I failed my save on this very powerful insanity spell. Brandon You didn’t fail it, you rolled a 1. Dan: Yeah, an absolutely critical fail. Brandon: Critical fail. Dan: It was the worst possible thing. Brandon: Uh, yeah. … They go on to describe how Dan’s character goes insane based on a random table Brandon looked up, and rolled Power Association, giving Little Grunt an incredible power that he thinks comes from Pardohl’s head. Dan: …Little Grunt’s Power Association was Pardohl’s head that he carried with him, so that he then thought that this was his God and that it would grant him the power to cast these spells Brandon: Grant him the power to cast these spells. And that’s when you started picking up this wild magic thing, and it all kinda came together… Dan: And then, a major fight, this was like the end of the second act campaign thing. We were fighting some horrible villain, and I can't remember the nature of it, but had to pull out every stop we possibly had. Brandon: Yup Dan: And so I used all of the features of this random magic class and said, “What’s the absolutely most powerful thing I can do?” Without knowinganything of what it was. And we rolled - and Brandon’s tables were like nested, and we had to roll like seven times to finally get down, this table will send you to this table… and at the end… we had like a level 9 boosted revive dead or resurrection or something like that. Brandon: Yup Dan: And so we all thought, well what is that gonna do? And then we realized that I had a bag of heads, and was wearing a helmet, made out of the guy’sskull that I thought was the God granting me all of my powers. And that changed everything for the rest of the campaign. Brandon: So instead of defeating the bad guy with your super powerful spell, it brought to life your heads. Dan: All the heads came back to life. And they started talking. It was wonderful. Brandon: All your heads came back to life. Yes. And, they were the Power Association, particularly Pardohl’s head, and so you had this villain, on your head, that did not want to be there, that I would run as an NPC, who had no volition because, you know, he was attached to your head. Dan: Yeah. He wasn’t actually a god. Brandon: We didn’t give him back his body, he just remained as a skull. And, uh, that campaign was hilarious, because Dan is really good at running this sort of character. … They describe Little Grunt as a funny yet disturbing character, who would line up his skulls at the dinner table to show off, not understanding why people wouldn’t want that. Dan: Because they (the skulls) were there with us, they helped defeat the enemy, they deserved to be part of the party. And, you know, as pleasant as he was, uh, that was *laughs* the big final showdown, Brandon had built this thing that was supposed to be Brandon: Yea, don’t don’t don’t tell this one, because I’m actually gonna use this one. I’ve been waiting for years to do this in a book, so don’t say anything… You guys are gonna love this, it’s involved in the ending of Stormlight 5. Yea. Dan: Oh, I’m excited. Very excited. Brandon: I’ll tell you off camera. Let’s just say I came up with one of the best endings for a story that I have ever come up with. And because it’s roleplaying, the PCs did not play along. Dan: Ruined it completely. Brandon: Ruined it completely. And I’m like, I’m gonna use that someday! And I actually put it right in the outline for Stormlight like a week or two later, and it’s been waiting all of this time to be used. Dan: Oh, wow. Week or two later. And that would have been like, 99, so it’s been waiting a long time in the wings. Brandon: Yes, it’s been waiting a loooong time to come. So that’s why I’m hoping that it doesn’t get spoiled! If anyone is interested, watch this video TIME CODE 3:01:41 too long don’t watch version (but you should watch!!!): The best ending Brandon has ever written and that we all gonna love is Gavinor champion. In college Brandon run RPG campaign and there was a contest between 2 Gods and Gods chose 2 champions that will fight for them and evil God chose a little child. Brandon thought it would be great moral dilemma but the player killed a child without hesitation and, as Brandon said, ruined everything. Apparently Brandon was so upset that he decided to use this plot line in his future book and that’s how we got ending of Stormlight 5 7
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