Hello fellow Cosmere fans! Welcome to another edition of our Con Stories blog post series, where we share memorable stories from each day a convention of our choice. For this post, I will be sharing my con experience direct from Dragonsteel 2022.
Dragonsteel, the Cosmere and everything Brandon Sanderson
If you’re unfamiliar, Dragonsteel is a 2 day convention dedicated to the “world and works of Brandon Sanderson”, quoting directly from Dragonsteel 2022’s website. Held in Salt Lake City Utah, Dragonsteel is a convention where fans of Brandon Sanderson’s works can gather together and celebrate Brandon’s creations: The Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, among many others, and even the greater collected universe called the Cosmere. If you want to know more about Brandon Sanderson the author himself , I suggest you visit his website here.
So with all that said, how was my experience of Dragonsteel 2022? It was EPIC. But don’t let me get ahead of myself. In this post I’ll share my experience from the first day of the convention. I’ll make a follow-up post for the second, and final day, after. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Welcome to Dragonsteel 2022
I got to the convention a bit late, but I chose a hotel that was right beside the convention itself, so when I stepped out of my hotel I was surprised to find the line that that lead into Dragonsteel snaked around almost a block.
One thing to keep in mind is that weather in Salt Lake City can get ‘a bit’ chilly, when I say a bit I meant it was actually 31F (below 0 degrees C) – nothing a good coat and winter wear couldn’t address! But still, burr.
I eventually found my way to the front of the line when one of the event organizers came by and ushered anyone with a VIP badge, (thankfully me!) to a separate much shorter line, which was warm and inside the convention center for Dragonsteel itself. So folks, Skkaw’s Dragonsteel Con Tip 1: If you can afford it, get the VIP badge. It’s worth it!
Once inside, I went straight to the third floor, and where I was given my VIP Swag bag. It came with a lot of good stuff! Check it out below:
My favorite from the lot above is the Dragonsteel 2022 shirt, which I wore immediately. I’m also a huge pins fan, so I also proceeded to pin to my new Cosmere themed pins to my convention backpack. Oh and did I tell you about the Dragonsteel water bottle?
Ok, after I reveled in all the that was Dragonsteel 2022 VIP swag, I headed over to the convention floor to see what I could find. The first booth that caught my eye was the Brotherwise Games booth.
Brotherwise Games is a boardgame company which actually made version of their Call to Adventure boardgame themed around the Stormlight Archive. If you want to hear more about that, you can check out my gameplay experience here.
Stormlight Premium Miniatures
What attracted me to the Brotherwise booth was their Stormlight Premium Miniatures on display. Brotherwise teamed up with Brandon Sanderson to make official miniatures of characters from The Stormlight Archive series via a Kickstarter campaign (now successfully funded). So, I wanted to see the miniatures themselves in person. I was informed by the team at the booth that the miniatures on display were still prototypes, and the actual ones may vary. To me, the miniatures looked amazing!
The team at Brotherwise is also developing a Stormlight Archive RPG with Brandon Sanderson. They were understandably quiet about that once, since the game is under development, but they did say they are getting inspiration from other RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons and also trying to do something different from RPGs we’re used to. . . Sounds exciting to me! Can’t wait for what they have in store for us.
Meet and greet with the Artists and Authors of Dragonsteel 2022
Another thing I was lucky enough to do was meet many of the authors and artists that were featured at Dragonsteel this year. I was happy to meet with Brian McClellan, author of the The Powder Mage Universe. I got introduced to this book series recently, and “consumed” it all via audiobook. I have to say, the audiobooks are amazing, the narrator spot on and very entertaining. So I was very happy to meet Brian at Dragonsteel.
He also has a new book out called Shadow of Lightning. I also read that book via audiobook, and very much enjoyed that one as well. If you’re into epic fantasy, and looking for something new to read, do consider giving Brian McClellan’s books a try!
After that, I was able to meet Janci Patterson, author of the Skyward Novellas. The Skyward Novellas are part of the Skyward books series of Brandon Sanderson. Janci’s novellas are set between the second and third book of the Skyward series. I also listened to her novellas via audiobook, and really enjoyed her books as well. She even signed some Skyward stickers of mine, which I was very grateful for, as you can see below:
The Skyward series is actually young adult (YA) fiction, so it may not be for everyone, but I highly recommend it for the young sci-fi crowd. I am a sucker for anything sci-fi, and of course, Brandon Sanderson, so I totally enjoyed this. It had all the themes of spaceships, heroism, epic character development and closely knit stories that I had come to enjoy from a Sanderson universe novel. Couldn’t recommend her books enough!
And a con highlight for myself was meeting Isaac Stewart, Art Director for Dragonsteel and also artist behind many of the interior art of Brandon Sanderon’s books. For example, he does the maps for Sanderson’s books and I am totally a fan of the immense detail, work and dedication he and his team put into their work. Here’s a picture of me and Isaac:
Here’s a sample of Isaac’s work:
Just equisite and impressive! Isaac was also super kind and personable, and very supportive for my work as a creator and Maker. It’s encounters like these that really make attending to a convention like Dragonsteel worth while.
Hoid’s Secret Museum
Another highlight from Day 1 was a little museum situated roughly at the center of the main convention area. It was called Hoid’s Secret Museum, and basically included a ton of fan inspired art that had the direct approval of Dragonsteel and Brandon Sanderson himself. To start, they actually had real life METAL replica weapons based on the Stormlight Archive books. Check it out below:
These replica weapons were EPIC. Kaladin’s spear was my favorite, but all of them were awesome. For one, Oathbinger, the large sword I’m carrying in the photo directly above is actually 40 lbs heavy. Not sure you can tell, but it was a struggle to carry! Also, I’m around 5’10 so, this sword is huge. Just huge.
Inside Hoid’s Secret Museum, there were many more interesting props inspired from Brandon Sanderson’s books. Here’s a visual peek into the museum itself:
If you’re a fan of the Cosmere, you’ll recognize some of the art / prop replicas. I’ll let the Sanderson fans in you do the searching, but suffice it say I totally enjoyed this display.
For background, Hoid’s Secret Museumn made by the Inventors Guide team. I was informed by the team that they crafted all the replicas and props with close cooperation with Brandon Sanderson and the Dragonsteel team, which shows in the detail in each of the items on display. They are also working closely with Dragonsteel for future Dragonsteel events, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you see more of their work in Dragonsteel 2023. I for one am looking forward to seeing more from them, totally awesome craftsmanship!
Intentionally [Blank] Podcast, Live at Dragonsteel 2022
The highlight of Day 1 was attending a live recording of Dan Wells and Brandon Sanderson’s Podcast Intentionally [Blank]. Here are some photo highlights from the recording:
If you want to know more about the Podcast, or even the specific podcast recorded at Dragonsteel you can check it out here.
Ok, that’s it for Day 1 at Dragonsteel 2022! But don’t worry, SKKAW.BLOG still has more in store for you all. This includes our coverage of Dragonsteel Day 2, and of course all the COSPLAY I encountered from the con. So stay tuned folks!
UPDATE (11.20.2022): If the above peaked your interest, do check out our other Dragonsteel 2022 posts below:
- Con Stories Dragonsteel 2022 Part 2
- Dragonsteel 2022 Cosplay
- Interview with Brotherwise Games: Stormlight Premium Miniatures and RPG
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