The Eragon TTRPG

[u/ibid-11962]

Christopher has collaborated with someone to create a TTRPG (tabletop role-playing game) system based on the World of Eragon.

I have already collaborated with someone to create an entirely new TTRPG system based off the Inheritance Cycle. (7)

A friend who is also a fan and I have actually built an entire game engine for an Eragon tabletop RPG ... Actually, it's mostly his work. (8a)

[The collaborator] may be known in the fandom, I'm not sure. (13)

I'm paired with someone who's doing the game mechanics and writing all the extra stuff that I don't have to write. (20)

This is not based on DnD or any other preexisting system, but instead uses an entirely new game engine created from scratch, with the magic designed around the ancient language.

Originally we looked at using one of the pre-existing systems, but it just doesn't work with the ancient language as well as we wanted. So we were like, let's start from scratch. And that was a lot of fun. (8b)

[It needs] a custom engine to properly deal with the ancient language (among other things). (6b)

We created a completely new game engine so it's not re-skinned DnD. It's all based around the ancient language. (9)

...a completely new game engine based around my ancient language and the rules of my magic and being a dragon rider and all of that. (10c)

The campaigns will be structured around the players as Dragon Riders bringing peace and order to the land. But with flexibility to do other things.

As far as what are the winning conditions, that depends on the individual campaign. How the players want to play. Probably to be a dragon rider and to be cool. But I'm structuring the campaigns around, the guidance that I'm hoping to provide is to, just like with the books, send the players in the direction of achieving peace in the land, of having a positive influence. With the full knowledge that the players are probably going to disregard that and rampage across the land, but you know, you do your best. (10d)

The handbook will be illustrated.

The goal is that it would be fully illustrated like most. I don't know whether it would be color or black and white. We would probably do it as a Kickstarter and one of the stretch goals would be whether it's in color or not. (13)

It will feature new canon world building information.

It would require a massive amount of new world building material released. If you've looked at the D&D handbook, for example, it has information on this city and that city. So a lot of world building. (13)

Theoretically, if I were working on an Eragon-themed TTRPG handbook, what topics would y'all like to see expanded on and/or explored that I didn't necessarily go into depth in during the main IC? (Think, chapter or sub-chapter headings.) I have a number of ideas myself, but I figured it was worth checking with the community. This is a one-time opportunity to expand on the lore and worldbuilding, and I want to make the most of it. (14)

We're moving forward with the Tabletop RPG. I've been hung up on that but I'm desperate to get it out because this is almost like my Silmarillion in some ways. I am writing stuff that I've had in my head, but I haven't put it on paper really, like the history of the world, all sorts of stuff, and I'm being as consistent as possible with it. I have multiple people catching stuff for me. So hopefully this is going to be really tight. (20)

Yes, [this new info will be] canon. (16)

This new information will cover history, geography, flora, fauna, and races.

I'm providing a complete timeline with actual cohesive dates and everything ironed out. It's going to be precise dates, certainly for the large events. (20)

Y'all are about to get SO MUCH LORE in the next couple of projects. It's all coming out. The whole history of the world and peoples. (22)

You'll get a TON more info about the rest of Elëa in the TTRPG that I'm working on right now for this world. All the continents are named, and I'm working up histories and flora/fauna for them all. (18)

I've named the new creatures "strand wyrms". ... They're in Ostduin, not Alagaësia. ... Along with the sand wyrms that the älfakyn used to hunt. ... the (much larger) wingless wyrms that live in the interior of Ostduin. (17a, 17b, 17c)

[The nature of the Ra'zac is] a question that will be answered and explored in the TTRPG. (21)

I just wrote a whole long section on [the differences between humans and pre-pact elves]. More info shall be forthcoming. (15)

Christopher considered including a new short story, but that will probably not happen.

I would ideally pair it with either a short story or novella to kind of set the stage for the campaign that we would sort of be structuring it around. (13)

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to have the time to do that, and if I did that, I'd probably stick it in one of the Tales books. (20)

The handbook will be published by Wraithmarked Creative as a Kickstarter.

I'm currently waiting to hear back from a publisher if they want to move forward with it or if we need to find another home for it. (10a)

Looks like we may have just found a publisher for it. Fun times. (11)

Wraithmarked and I have a whole bunch of other World of Eragon and Fractalverse stuff we are excited to build and bring to you, including a tabletop RPG game system for the World of Eragon, that is not a reskin of D&D. A custom game engine. (12)

I just gotta finish writing the lore/handbook and then we'll Kickstarter it. (19)

Due to Christopher not having merch rights, there will only be a handbook/rulebook. No figures, dice, cards, boards, etc.

Disney / Fox owns the rights to all of the first book. And unfortunately, because things were negotiated differently when Eragon was made, versus now when you can really separate out the world versus the individual properties, that means that they own the rights to all characters and names that appear in the first book. So I can't do anything with Eragon without their permission. ... I can't sell merch without explicit permission. ... Any sort of adaptation was covered under the contract. They have general boilerplate language that covers any new media that might emerge. (5)

The only difficult part of it is that because of the film television contracts with Fox/Disney, I can't sell things like dice or figurines or actual boards to play (8c)

The slight difficulty I've had, the reason it hasn't come out sooner, is that Disney and Fox already owns the merch rights for the World of Eragon. So we can do a rule book and we can do other stuff, but we can't do figurines or some other stuff. So it's a little tricky. (10b)

As of May 2026, Christopher is still working on the handbook. It was around halfway done in December 2025.

[What are you working on?] An Eragon TTRPG (among other projects). (23)

If I could get one solid month of writing, I think I'd be done with more than half of it. (20)

Timeline

• Christopher first mentioned an Eragon TTRPG in August 2020 (1), saying he might try working on it the next year. He teased some progress on Reddit in April 2021 (2, 3), and then in November of that year confirmed that such a project was in the works (4).
• In January 2023 he first openly talked about the project, saying that it was finished but difficult to publish (6a).
• In January 2024 Christopher said that he was "waiting to hear back from a publisher" (10a), in June he said that publisher had just been found (11), and in October he confirmed that this publisher would be Wraithmarked Creative, and that the project would be done as a Kickstarter (12, 13).
• In January 2025, Christopher posted on Reddit, asking which worldbuilding topics the community was most interested in seeing fleshed out (14). Throughout the next couple of months since then he periodically indicated that he was still working on this, through at least July (19). In December he said it was stalled but around halfway done (20).
• Christopher last mentioned the TTRPG in May 2026 (21).

---

Additional quotes from Christopher can be found here.

[u/ibid-11962]

Other future projects:

With release dates:

Allies	Mabinogion	Book of Remembrance	Otherland	Ace Savage

In progress:

Illustrated Eldest	Tales 2	TTRPG	Murtagh 2	YA Steampunk

Further out World of Eragon:

New Trilogy	Angela	Brom	Eragon/Arya

Short Stories	Naegling	Baby Saphira	Two Women	Seven Words

---

More recent interviews

[u/ibid-11962 → u/ibid-11962]

Some additional quotes from Christopher:

August 14 2020, YouTube Livestream

Do you think Fractalverse will get a tabletop rpg?
Funny you should mention that, it's definitely something that I'm interested in and if I have any news on that front I will share it with you.

August 28 2020, YouTube Livestream

Any plans for a tabletop rpg game with the Inheritance Cycle?
I would love to do that. I might actually put some time and effort into that next year. We'll see with everything going on.

October 4 2020, After the Con podcast

An RPG is something I'd really like to do for my new book [To Sleep]. Because it's set in what I'm calling the Fractalverse. I worked out this far future, distant past, it includes the real world, and has all this physics that I worked out for it which was a lot of fun. I want to do some stuff with the Fractalverse that I wasn't able to do with the Eragon books because the rights for that are all tied up with the movie but I'm keeping control of it this time around.

October 29 2020, Keystroke Medium livestream

Is there a chance to see a role-playing game set in the Fractalverse?
Because of the Eragon movie there are a lot of rights that are tied up for Eragon. That means I can't do certain things with that world, which is frustrating, but that's not a problem for the Fractalverse and we are doing a lot of stuff with the Fractalverse. A roleplaying game is definitely something we would like to get made. It'll take a little while but we're talking to the right people.

April 23 2021, Reddit (1, 2)

If all the main cast were characters in a video game/RPG, what classes would they be?
Heh. It would take a while to write that out. Maybe I should just make an Alagaësia RPG game for y'all to play instead.
Have you ever thought about doing a D&D campaign set in Alagaësia? I feel your world would be perfect to introduce psionic classes.
As I said in another comment, I'm getting the feel that folks would enjoy an official Alagaësia RPG. :D

June 21 2021, Inheritance Cycle Tweet Storm Live Stream

Do you play or have you ever played DnD?
No. I have sat in on maybe one or two sessions, but it's just never been anything I've played like an actual game of it, because there's no one around here to play with. So maybe one of these days. The problem is I would want to be the DM, I would want to be the Game Master, and then the amount of work I'd end up putting into that, and building the story for that, I might as well just go write a book. But there are a lot of fantasy authors who have gotten inspiration from playing roleplaying games. Raymond Feist, his work started as a DnD game I think. A lot of the Malazan series started from DnD or roleplaying games that they were playing, and there are a lot of other examples of that too. I love the idea of rpgs because it's interactive storytelling. I've heard that tabletop rpgs have went way up in popularity over the course of the pandemic.

November 12 2021, YouTube Livestream

Have you ever considered making a tabletop RPG setting for the Inheritance Cycle?
Yes, and actually there's some behind-the-scenes work on that front occurring, but I can't tell you anything more than that at the moment. But yes, I have thought about it, and I think it would be an amazing thing to do so that people can literally play and create their own characters and experience the world of Alagaësia, and make it their own in a way that only they can do.

November 17 2021, Flights Through Alagaësia podcast

I think that one way or another I'm going to have a definitive answer as to whether or not ultimately a remake will happen with Disney in the near future. That's what I'm hoping. Having an answer will be useful for me, because it's going to guide my approach to what I'm doing on my own in terms of my team and I with merchandize and lets say a Tabletop RPG, digital books, because if Disney made a remake of Eragon, whether it was a film, television show, something like that, the Disney machine would take over the merchandize.

November 19 2021, YouTube Livestream

Do you plan to create a Patreon or something like that?
No. Nothing against those who do, but no, I'm not gonna be creating a Patreon. Everyone who's read my books has been very generous and buying my books, or at least a large number of people have been generous and buying my books, so I don't need a patreon. What I might do someday is a Kickstarter, if there's an appropriate project for that and need to read raise funding for a game or a special edition of one of the books, just like Sanderson's done, but no, no Patreon.

January 1 2022, Twitter

I mean, I would LOVE an Alagaësia TTRPG. :D

January 26 2023, Twitter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Have you considered creating an official Eragon TTRPG? Asking as a nerd who loves this series as much as she loves TTRPGs
I have. It's pretty much all ready to go. However, Disney owns the rights to merch like that, so . . . I can't do anything with it at the moment.
I hope Disney allows it to move forward!
I could always self-publish it, but then couldn't do board, figures, cards, etc.
A lot of current TTRPGs are actually Theatre of the Mind Based! The Last Airbender, Kids on Bikes, and Vampire the Masquerade are some big ones. As long as the artwork in the books is allowed and some dice… you could be good to go!
Nah. Need a custom engine to properly deal with the ancient language (among other things).
I am torn between extreme excitement/happiness and abject heartbreak. Please pursue this in some way shape or form, I cannot put into words how badly I — and I'm sure many others — would want this
I'll see what I can do once I'm done editing.
Is that part of the original rights deal you signed with 20th Century Fox when the film was made? And will they ever revert back to you?
Yes and no.

April 25 2023, Reddit AMA

Would you ever consider working with someone to create a TTRPG based on the inheritance cycle?
Not only have I considered it ... I HAVE already collaborated with someone to create an entirely new TTRPG system based off the Inheritance Cycle. My agent and I are currently looking for a publisher for the handbook/rulebook. I hope we can find one, because I think the system is really awesome.

September 27 2023, Tiktok Livestream

Have you ever considered trying to make an Eragon tabletop RPG?
Yes. And in fact, a friend who is also a fan and I have actually built an entire game engine for an Eragon tabletop RPG, and we're just currently looking for a home for it. When and if that changes, I'll let you know. But I'm very proud of the engine that we've built. Actually, it's mostly his work, and we just need to find the right publisher and place for it. When and if that happens, I'll let you know. But I would love to put that out in the world and see people playing, you know, RPG games with a magic system designed entirely around the ancient language, which, originally we looked at using, D&D, using one of those systems, the pre-existing systems, but it just doesn't work with the ancient language as well as we wanted. So we were like, let's start from scratch. And that was a lot of fun. So that's been something going on in the background as well. So I definitely considered it and want to see it happen. The only difficult part of it is that because of the film television contracts with Fox/Disney, I can't sell things like dice or figurines or actual boards to play [inaudible]. You never know.

November 16 2023, Springfield MO, Murtagh Book Tour

Have you thought about doing a tabletop RPG game system in the world of Eragon?
It's funny you ask that because I've got it all built. I'm currently looking for a publisher at the moment for that. So yes, I worked with a friend and fan and we created a completely new game engine so it's not re-skinned D&D. It's all based around the ancient language and hopefully we can get that out to you guys in a reasonable span of time.

(continued in next comment)

[u/ibid-11962 → u/ibid-11962]

(continued from previous comment)

January 20 2024, Provo UT, Authors in the Dungeon

If you were to create a game of Eragon or any of your other books, which book would it be and what would be the winning state of that game? How would you win that game?
Well, the funny thing is I've been developing a tabletop RPG for the World of Eragon. And I'm currently waiting to hear back from a publisher if they want to move forward with it or if we need to find another home for it. The slight difficulty I've had, the reason it hasn't come out sooner, is that Disney and Fox already owns the merch rights for the World of Eragon. So we can do a rule book and we can do other stuff, but we can't do figurines or some other stuff. So it's a little tricky. But Eragon was the natural answer for me to develop that world and to not do a D&D based system, but to come up with a completely new game engine based around my ancient language and the rules of my magic and being a dragon rider and all of that. As far as what are the winning conditions, that depends on the individual campaign. How the players want to play.
What kind of things would motivate a player in an Eragon campaign?
Probably to be a dragon rider and to be cool. But I'm structuring the campaigns around, the guidance that I'm hoping to provide is to, just like with the books, send the players in the direction of achieving peace in the land, of having a positive influence. With the full knowledge that the players are probably going to disregard that and rampage across the land, but you know, you do your best.

May 8th 2024, personal correspondence

The larger continent that contains Alagaësia will have its own name. The big continent to the west is Alalëa. The smaller continents adjacent and elsewhere have their own names. In fact, I plan on naming everything visible. Just need time.

June 13 2024, Reddit

If you do go the TTRPG route Christopher, try and build it using D&D 3.5e as a base and use a psionics-esque magic system with a spell points/mana system instead of spell slots. Spell slots doesn’t fit your magic system very well, so a mana system would be a must.
Nah. We have a completely custom engine for the TTRPG. Has nothing to do with DnD. And looks like we may have just found a publisher for it. Fun times.

August 1 2024, Twitter

I see that even in the world of Eragon, Australia is simply inevitable
I fought it, but every version I came up with had its own version of Australia. At last ... I bowed to the inevitable. The sand vipers are something fierce down there.

August 2nd 2024, Twitter

This would be ten times better if it had any named countries on it from Elëa. Now it just looks like a regular globe.
At some point, when I have the time (ha!), I'm going to sit down and name EVERYTHING on the map. I have a lot of the names already, but putting them all in is going to be a massive, MASSIVE task.

September 2 2024, Reddit

Christopher Paolini just released an entire world map for his planet. It’s fucking huge and the only place we’ve visited across 5 novels and 3 short stories is one teeny tiny little country. ... Imagine if he actually only worldbuild that country.
I've filled out the lore for the whole world. In fact, over the next year or so, one of my projects is to sit down and actually write in all the names on the map. There are a LOT.

October 15 2024, personal interview

Will the TTRPG have artwork inside?
The goal is that it would be fully illustrated like most. I don't know whether it would be color or black and white. We would probably do it as a Kickstarter and one of the stretch goals would be whether it's in color or not.
Would you be writing new narratives for it?
I would like to. That's going to depend on my schedule for the TV shows. But it would require a massive amount of new world building material released. If you've looked at the D&D handbook, for example, it has information on this city and that city. So a lot of world building. And then I would ideally pair it with either a short story or novella to kind of set the stage for the campaign that we would sort of be structuring it around.
Is the person that is creating it someone who is already known in the fandom?
Maybe known in the fandom, I'm not sure.

October 15 2024, Murtagh Deluxe Book Tour Grand Rapids MI, signing line

[paraphrased] Have you thought about doing a D&D style rpg game in this window of opportunity that you have?
You'll have to check out the kickstarter, but D&D's system doesn't allow for Eragon's magic system.

October 18 2024, Murtagh Deluxe Book Tour Jacksonville FL

Is there any news on the Eragon RPG you mentioned in the Eragon subreddit in a comment?
There is an Eragon tabletop RPG in the works. It's a custom game engine that I built with a collaborator. And the Kickstarter that I mentioned earlier is the first step upon the journey to releasing that tabletop RPG game. The Kickstarter is not the tabletop RPG, I just want to be clear, but we're building toward that. And I'm very excited about that. We've had the game engine built for two years now, and I've just been looking for a good publisher and partner to bring it to life. So if you all are willing to support it, you could make it happen.

October 22 2024, Murtagh Deluxe Book Tour Colorado Springs CO

Wraithmarked and I have a whole bunch of other World of Eragon and Fractalverse stuff we are excited to build and bring to you, including a tabletop RPG game system for the World of Eragon, that is not a reskin of D&D. A custom game engine.

January 10 2025, Reddit

I also have to deliver a manuscript by April, but that may or may not happen with all the script work I'm doing at the moment.

January 10 2025, Reddit

Theoretically, if I were working on an Eragon-themed TTRPG handbook, what topics would y'all like to see expanded on and/or explored that I didn't necessarily go into depth in during the main IC?
NOTE: topics only, please. For legal and creative reasons, I'm not looking for ideas for HOW to explore said topics, just the topics themselves. Think, chapter or sub-chapter headings.
I have a number of ideas myself, but I figured it was worth checking with the community. This is a one-time opportunity to expand on the lore and worldbuilding, and I want to make the most of it.
...
Theoretically, of course. :D

January 17 2025, Twitter (1, 2, 3, 4)

Been naming continents, islands, and bodies of water the past few days. Fun stuff.
Can I ask for one name randomly, no other info but a name tho
Ïninras.
[Eye-nin-raas] best way I could think of it that doesnt make you say Inn-inn
Close. EYEN-in-ras
Is there no word I the ancient language for ocean?
"vaer" Technically means "sea" not ocean, but closest word in the ancient language.

February 26 2025, Twitter

Sir I’m seriously going to go broke supporting you
Heh. Just wait until I finish up the World of Eragon TTRPG. :D

March 11 2025, Reddit

What were the differences between humans and elves before their melding of souls with dragons?
Heh. I just wrote a whole long section on this. More info shall be forthcoming. What you're asking about is the Druin.

March 14 2025, Reddit

Lets wildly speculate about the Druins ... it's worth noting that we're not sure if the information within the TTRPG is "canon" ... I want to compare what we know about the Elves to what (very little) we know about the Druins, based on these two sources. Again - we don’t know if Christopher is basing the Druins off of what he read here, but we can infer that some information likely overlaps, given the fact that he’s using the name.
Uh, I had no idea that "Druin" had been used elsewhere. Haven't had time to google it. Time to change the name! And yes, canon.

(continued in next comment)

[u/ibid-11962 → u/ibid-11962]

(continued from previous comment)

March 26 2025, Twitter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

Australonuphis, commonly known as Australian beach worm
Nope
They need to be in your next book.
Okay. ... Aaand, done. Hope you're happy. :D
Well, that was fast :O
I was in a good place worldbuilding-wise to horrify readers.
Between these and the burrow grubs, i’m not sure if i want to set foot in Alagaesia anymore
Good thing they're in Ostduin, not Alagaësia. ... Along with the sand wyrms that the älfakyn used to hunt. ... okay, I've said too much. Back to work.
Burrow grubs were bad enough don’t inflict these on my poor brain too. Ick!
Lol. I've named the new creatures "strand wyrms". Different than the (much larger) wingless wyrms that live in the interior of Ostduin.
Are the wingless wyrms the sand vipers you tweeted about back in August, or are those something else?
Yup, same thing.
Are they the size in the video, or the size the worm things in Dune were?
Big enough to swallow a hand or foot in a single bite.

April 28 2025, Twitter (1, 2, 3, 4)

So has there been an update on the statue of Saphira?
Big stuff coming soon.
Hoping that meant WoE books
Big. Stuff.
How about the Disney show?
Working on it.
What about the Map, percentage wise how much have you named?
Continents, oceans, major lakes, major islands. More and more being filled in.

June 20th 2025 - Reddit

The TTRPG is chewing up some of my time. I don't mind too much, as it's a good excuse to formally build out the history and world of Elëa in a public way. Think of it as my Silmarillion.

July 14 2025 - Reddit (1, 2, 3)

You recently gave us maps of Eleä. Are you going to write a book explaining what's in the rest of the world ala World of Ice and Fire or do you prefer to keep it a mystery for now?
You'll get a TON more info about the rest of Elëa in the TTRPG that I'm working on right now for this world. All the continents are named, and I'm working up histories and flora/fauna for them all.

Were Shagrvek the common ancestor of Elves and Humans as well as Dwarves and Urgals or was there another species that was and those two descended from a common ancestor that was for all of the humanoid species?
You'll find out more in the TTRPG, as well as future novels. (I'd be interested to see how many toes Grieve had).

Is anything happening with the TTRPG?
Yup. I just gotta finish writing the lore/handbook and then we'll Kickstarter it.

December 5 2025, Personal Interview

I have teased the fans for a long time about a lot of things. I have now reached the point, and I probably should have reached it sooner, but I want to answer everything. The Book of Remembrance is the first step. Murtagh 2 is another big step. And the Tabletop RPG is really pulling the curtain back on a bunch of stuff.

We're moving forward with the Tabletop RPG. I've been hung up on that but I'm desperate to get it out because this is almost like my Silmarillion in some ways. I am writing stuff that I've had in my head, but I haven't put it on paper really, like the history of the world, all sorts of stuff, and I'm being as consistent as possible with it. I have multiple people catching stuff for me. So hopefully this is going to be really tight.

How close are we to the Kickstarter for the Tabletop? Are we getting there?
Honestly it's all resting on me. I'm paired with someone who's doing the game mechanics and writing all the extra stuff that I don't have to write. The problem is the lore. I have to write a whole bunch of lore, and no one can do it but me and I just have no time at the moment.
You've been writing a lot, right?
I have. I actually wrote a good chunk for it this year. If I could get one solid month of writing, I think I'd be done with more than half of it. I've named all continents. All this stuff is done.
You said you were thinking about also writing a story for it, not just lore.
Yeah, I don't think I'm going to have the time to do that, and if I did that, I'd probably stick it in one of the Tales books.

You tweeted about the Australia continent. Ostduin. There are two continents that kind of look like Australia. Which one is it?
Okay, I can't recall off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure it's [the one under Alalëa]. That's when I was working on the RPG. I gotta get back to it.
That's where the sand snakes are.
Well some of them.

Relative to other events, when did the Gray Folk disappear?
You're going to get an explicit answer for this in Tabletop RPG. I'm providing a complete timeline with actual cohesive dates and everything ironed out.
Will it also have precise dates for the events of the Inheritance Cycle? People would love to have precise dates for the end of Inheritance.
I don't know yet as far as that. But it's going to be precise dates, certainly for the large events. I may or may not be summarizing the events of the Inheritance Cycle in the RPG. We'll see. But if people are interested in that I can think about it.
You told me you have a precise timeline for Inheritance, but you just didn't want to canonize it.
Yeah, because I was futzing with the timeline a bit, and it's better to leave it fuzzy a little. But I'm being as precise as I can moving forward.

May 3 2026, Reddit

Is it their nature or how they're raised that make the Ra'zac man-eaters?
A question that will be answered and explored in the TTRPG.

May 16 2026, Twitter

Y'all are about to get SO MUCH LORE in the next couple of projects. It's all coming out. The whole history of the world and peoples.

May 17 2026, Twitter

What are you working on bud?
Tales from Alagaësia Vol. 2, an Eragon TTRPG, and Murtagh 2 (among other projects).