Brotherwise Bets Big on Plotweaver as Earthborne Rangers, Keith Baker and a New Setting Search Join the RPG System

When Brotherwise Games unveiled Plotweaver alongside the record-breaking Cosmere RPG, many assumed it would remain closely tied to Brandon Sanderson's universe. Gen Con 2026 has changed that perception.

Brotherwise announced its first major third-party partnerships, revealed a brand-new setting from Eberron creator Keith Baker and Jenn Ellis, and a new setting competition that deliberately echoes one of the most famous events in RPG publishing history!

Earthborne Rangers is Becoming a Plotweaver RPG

First up is news of a partnership with Earthborne Games to produce an official Earthborne Rangers Roleplaying Game using the Plotweaver system.

Until now Earthborne Rangers has solely existed as a cooperative card game, earning an enthusiastic following thanks to its hopeful, solarpunk-inspired vision of humanity rebuilding its relationship with nature. The new RPG will allow players to explore that world from an entirely new perspective.

Andrew Navaro, Founder and Creative Director of Earthborne Games, said that fans had been requesting an RPG "since day one" and described the collaboration with Brotherwise as a tremendous opportunity. The game is expected to debut in 2027.

Keith Baker and Jenn Ellis Introduce Infinite

Keith Baker, who is probably best known as the creator of Eberron and and Jenn Ellis, working through Twogether Studios, are developing an entirely original setting called Infinite.

Infinite is being created specifically to showcase what Plotweaver can do. Brotherwise describes it as a genre-hopping setting capable of supporting everything from fantasy adventures to science fiction, taking advantage of Plotweaver's flexible approach to heroic storytelling.

Baker described Infinite as "a truly unique setting" where the experience at the table will change from session to session, adding that Plotweaver was the ideal system for delivering that vision.

The Return of the Fantasy Setting Search

Keith Baker is also heavily involved with Brotherwise third announcement of the show, and perhaps the most intriguing announcement for existing and potential game designers…

The Plotweaver Setting Search, scheduled to open for submissions in early 2027.

The concept deliberately mirrors Wizards of the Coast's famous Fantasy Setting Search from 2002, which was, not coincidentally, the competition that launched Keith Baker's career by introducing the world to Eberron. This time, Baker is sitting on the judging panel rather than competing - which is probably good news for the rest of us!

Brotherwise says the winning setting will become an official Plotweaver release, giving independent creators an opportunity that is becoming increasingly rare in today's RPG industry: the chance to see an original setting professionally developed and published by an established publisher. More details are expected later this year, with submissions opening in early 2027.

Brotherwise also confirmed additional details about Plotweaver, continuing to position the game as an open RPG system designed for commercial and community creators alike. An open alpha begins on 5 August, launching with the fantasy setting Erstwild, while additional settings Splinterlight and Hexbeat are planned for September and October respectively. A System Reference Document (SRD) is expected ahead of a crowdfunding campaign planned for the second quarter of 2027. For more information on Plotweaver, to sign up to the Plotweaver Academy, or a mutiude of other opportunities, you should head over to the Plotweaver RPG website.

The announcements certainly suggest that Brotherwise's ambitions extend well beyond supporting the Cosmere RPG with the system, and are joining a growing number of companies making their systems available through a range of licenses to attract partners, encourage third-party publishing, and grow a catalogue of diverse settings all built on shared mechanics. Free League’s Year Zero Engine, Chaosium’s Basic Roleplay, The Arcane Library’s Shadowdark, and of course Wizards of the Coast5th Edition ruleset are a few examples of this movement.

Personally, whilst news of new TTRPGs is always good, I think the announcements surrounding the Plotweaver SRD and setting search are the most significant. The fact that another company is opening up their system to other designers and publishers reinforcers a growing trend in regards to how companies view their system mechanics as a tool to grow their player base. By inviting others to produce adventures, settings, and supplements for the system they not only build community investment, but help increase their own name recognition and retail presence, as well as giving more reasons for new customers to adopt the rules set.

In regards to the setting search, this is exciting news in its own right. The tabletop industry sees very few opportunities for unknown creators to break throguh into professional publishing through open competition. The usual routes these days are putting together your own PDFs and hoping to get some traction on platforms such as DriveThruRPG or The RPG Trader, among hundreds of other releases every week, or take your ideas to a crowdfunding platform - where brand new creators can sometimes struggle unless they have developed a media/influencer presence elsewhere and have a ready made community waiting to back them in their new endeavour. So with Brotherwise offering an original Fantasy Setting Search - and especially in bringing Kieth Baker on board as a Judge - they are offering an incredibly valuable opportunity for want-to-be designers as well as tapping into one of the hobby’s most celebrated success stories.

Whilst we don’t really know anything, as of yet, about Brotherwise’s setting search, Wizards of the Coasts 2002 competition, which Keith Baker ultimately won, offered $100,000 prize (consultancy fee/work-for-hire payment) and the oppotunity to work directly with Wizards of the Coast’s design team to develop the setting into an official D&D product. The Eberron campaign setting was eventually published as the Eberron Campaign Setting hardcover in 2004 and launched a very popular setting, as well giving Keith Baker’s career as a game designer a significant boost.