Beginner's Luck: Adam’s First Tabletop Roleplaying Game Experience (feat. The Cosmere RPG)

Our fearless leader, Adam Horne, VP of Marketing and Publicity at Dragonsteel, embarked on his first TTRPG journey with the Stormlight RPG—now known as the Cosmere RPG—at GenCon. 

We had one of our Video Production team members play through the level one adventure, but he’s an RPG pro. Adam has never played a tabletop roleplaying game before. If you need a reason to keep reading, Adam rolls like five nat 20s. It's beginner's luck on steroids! 

Here's a detailed account of Adam's hilarious and action-packed adventure, from his comical start to his dramatic end.

The Adventures of Bridge 9 (Adam’s Version)

We sit down at the table and mic up the heroic Adam. He asks the most Adam question possible: “Which character can I make the most mischief with?” They give him the path of an agent. His character is Jomari, a thief from the Reshi Isles. I can already tell this is going to be fun.

Ross Leiser from Brotherwise explains how a D20 dice works, the function of the plot die, and the game's inner mechanics. Adam has no idea what he’s talking about. At the end of the explanation, Ross asks if anyone else has any questions. Adam says, “Can you start over?” The table laughs.

Days ago, a highstorm swept through the Shattered Plains, revealing ancient ruins.

Adam introduces his character, Jomari, a thief. “I’m Jomari, I was a thief that stole from the wrong brightlady. Pretty expensive for me to escape that, so I’m looking for other ways out.”

Ross instructs the party to turn their sheets around and check out their abilities. As a former math major, Ross is an expert in the deliciously crunchy part of the game. And with his experience in theater, he’s a game master to be reckoned with.

As they dive into the sensory abilities, Adam jokes, “I feel like the thief should have more. Maybe I have bad eyesight.” A player across the table points out that Adam is wearing glasses. It’s hard to argue with that.

The Return of the Chasmfiend

“You have been traveling for days…” Ross begins. “It’s midday when you finally reach the plateau.”

Your muscles are aching underneath the relentless sun. The caravan, pulled by a chull, comes to a sudden halt.

“Ah, I know what this is,” Adam says.

What’s the one thing that could scare a chull? An apex predator. Ross asks what they want to do.

“I’m ready for it,” Adam says. “I just lay down and play dead,” he jokes. Ross tells him to roll to see if that works.

It’s a nat 20. The table erupts in surprised cheers.

“Oh, I didn’t know when I said things like that it actually did something. Do I have to be careful of what I say?”

Ross tells Adam that his character is familiar with bar fights and the like and tells him he successfully lays down and plays dead.

The other players handle the situation, performing various actions and rolls to let the other members know the chasmfiend is coming.

When the chasmfiend emerges, Adam says, “This is a bad time to pretend to be asleep.”

You can feel the ground tremble as the chasmfiend approaches, its massive form emerging from the shadows. Panic sets in, but you muster the courage to face the beast.

The bridge collapses but doesn’t break clean in half this time. Instead, it’s dragging, scraping against the walls. This lessens their fall so no one takes any damage, though many of their items and rations are destroyed in the process.

The players find themselves in the chasm, an alien world. There are bioluminescent vines, glowing green motes of lifespren, and curious streaks of light in the corners of their eyes. 

“Go ahead and place yourselves on the map.”

“Oh! Well, pretending to be dead led to a very nice nap, so I am still asleep on the middle of the bridge.” Adam places his token proudly.

Role-Playing Moment

The team begins to describe the physical attributes of their characters. “I don’t think anyone notices anything about me, because I’m a bridgeman. Their eyes just…” Adam waves a hand. “Pass over me. I blend into the background.” Smart choice for a thief.

Now, we begin a familiar scene. Adam successfully gathers some weapons and constructs a makeshift litter to carry an injured bridgeman more easily, but the captain of the crew isn’t having any of it. He believes any injured party member will be a burden.

The captain wants to leave the bridgeman as bait for the chasmfiend. With a flash of red in his eyes, he unsheathes his sword.

Combat with the Captain

The team launches into a combat round! This is different from the first playthrough—they managed to evade the fight with the captain. Adam gets some hits in and is learning the game rapidly. He’s picking this up so incredibly quickly that I’m impressed.

Donald, our team’s RPG expert, is getting some footage of the game, and I ask him if he’s impressed by how fast Adam dove into the combat round with literally zero experience in any kind of tabletop roleplaying game. Donald says, “I’m not surprised honestly, this game is a unicorn. It’s incredibly fun for someone who’s played every single TTRPG, plenty crunchy, so much engagement. And, if you’ve never even looked at a D20 die, you can jump in fast.”

The group is forced to make some tough decisions. No one wants to kill the captain… except for Adam. “He’s everything that’s wrong with the system. This is it, I’m going for the jugular. I’m taking my knives.” 

It’s a risky roll for Adam. Everyone is on the edge of their seats. And… another nat 20. 

“Looks like I’m not going for a Radiant path,” Adam jokes.

The team collectively decides not to tell anyone back home how the captain’s death occured, to spare any bridgemen from being punished. Even the brightlady agrees. Another player says, “I think he died on that sharp piece of wood right there.” Adam says, “He fell on my knife.”

The First Endeavor

Now, the crew needs to find a way out. They know that the ruins are close by, so it’s just a matter of finding a path through the chasm in the right direction. 

Ross suggests that the way Adam could help is to find a shortcut. Adam rolls successfully (another nat 20!) and finds a narrow passageway.

You scramble through the narrow passageway, heart pounding as you hear the chasmfiend's distant roars. The air is thick with the scent of decay, and every step feels like a race against time.

Thankfully, through a series of successful rolls, the team gets everyone through the narrow slit unharmed when the chasmfiend returns.

Later That Night… 

After such a hair-raising opening, the team finally finds a cave where they can rest for the night.

Adam wants to get the brightlady in good graces. He collected some of the little flammable debris. He goes near her and starts building the beginnings of a fire. While he’s doing it, he talks to her, saying, “It’s been a bit of an ordeal,” in an attempt to try and get her to sponsor their freedom when they get back.

The table oohs and aahs. This is a good idea!

Adam makes a successful skill test. Believe it or not, folks—it’s another nat 20. As a result, he’s able to persuade the brightlady to free all the bridgemen if they get out of this alive. He checks off one of his character's goals. It’s heartwarming, honestly. 

The stew is made. A splint is built for the injured bridgeman. It’s a successful night.

Around the campfire, the group is allowed to engage in a conversation sequence. One of the prompts is “Who is your enemy?” and Adam says, “I had an enemy,” referring to his murder of the captain. The table laughs.

The Excursion to the Ruins

After a long rest, the crew recovered all of their health and focus.

The chasm narrows as you proceed, the scent of decay becoming stronger. You notice the scattered remains of corpses and wreckage.

Around the bend, you find the ruins. They are ancient. It’s a fully made structure that seems to be embedded into the natural chasm walls. 

Everyone at the table makes an athletic test to try and climb up to the entrance of the ruins.

You strain your muscles as you climb, the rough stone biting into your hands. Finally, you pull yourself up and take in the sight of grand columns and ancient architecture.

You realize that this has something to do with the Knights Radiant. The history and significance of the place fill you with awe.

As the crew explores the ruins further, they eventually reach a room that’s crawling with venomous cremlings. Adam wants to find an alternate path, and with yet another nat 20 rolll, he identifies a staircases, leads his crew out, and navigates through the hallway without interrupting any cremling nests. 

Another highlight moment had to do with one of the NPCs, a soldier named Varda. Varda has been pretty reluctant to make himself useful to the campaign, so the whole time the team has been saying they don’t really care if Varda dies… and then Varda died by cremlings. Adam says, “That was my favorite part.”

Reaching the Climactic Battle

If you read Donald’s Bridge 9 adventure, you know what happens next. As the team peers out over a large opening in the ceiling, they see three menacing Parshendi warriors.

Adam tries to persuade the Parshendi not to fight. He makes a successful roll, so their leader must spend focus to resist the attempt at persuasion. Her resolve is slipping, but she's not backing down yet.

Luckily, the ardent in our group knows Listener and tries to convince the Parshendi that they’re here peacefully. They don’t buy it.

The team tries to avoid the combat, and Adam almost gets them there in a conversation with the brightlady, but sadly, the dice failed him in the one moment he tried to be non-violent. 

Because of this particularly bad roll, the Parshendi leader fires her bow at him, taking nearly all of his health points.

“Well, goodbye.” Adam salutes the table.

Believing he’s about to perish, Adam starts gathering up his gear. The table interrupts him, explaining that he still has one health point left! Excited, he sits down and resumes the battle. Ross gives Adam the option to either sit this battle out and rest, or perform an action. 

Adam says he’ll attempt to throw one of his knives at one of the warriors. Why not, right? 

Then, the fight commences. Players are making their moves, choosing fast or slow turns (a unique game mechanic to the RPG that makes determining the order of actions more narratively driven), and wearing down the Parshendi. 

At long last, when everyone is heaving and worn from battle, one of the players attempts to reason with the Parshendi again. He asks them to lay down their weapons, and to tell them the way back to their camp. In return, they’ll not keep the Parshendi warriors as prisoners.

The entire table is holding its breath. After a series of successful rolls, the team convinces them to leave the fight. The Parshendi even allow our crew to assist them with their wounds. Adam suggests, “We even give them first aid so the spren that have been following us will be impressed.” And, what do you know? He sees a ball of light out of the corner of his eye. 

As we’re nearing the end, Ross holds up a piece of paper to the group. He’s tallied up how many times the players prioritized protection and freedom. One of the bridgeman always tried to protect his fellow team members—meaning that he will go on to bond a spren and become a Radiant. 

To Adam’s surprise, Ross tells him that his work to free the bridgemen by persuading the brightlady, and his willingness to help the Parshendi, meant that he was the player who prioritized freedom the most. It looks like Adam is on the path to becoming a Radiant after all. 

(We all knew he had it in him, but don’t tell him that. 😉)

A Thrilling Conclusion

Adam's adventure through the Cosmere RPG was nothing short of epic, filled with laughter, tension, and incredible beginner’s luck. From his humorous role-playing moments to his dramatic final battle, Adam's journey showcased the fun and unpredictability of the game.