Solitaire: Colostle – Dungeons

Beyond the walls of your hometown or village lie the Roomlands. A vast castle that covers the whole of the known world and beyond, whose individual rooms, corridors, stairs, and rafters contain whole environments of their own. Mountains, lakes, deserts, forests, caves, and ancient ruins. Oceans stretch across rooms as far as the eye can see and beyond. Desert sands whip and whirl down long corridors. Forests climb the stairs that seem to rise to nowhere. Rooks—walking castles—lurk, a constant danger. Stone giants that seem to have no purpose, other than to wander aimlessly until something captures their attention and then they erupt in incredible aggression. This is world of a near limitless castle known as Colostle, into which brave adventurers set forth, perhaps to undertake tasks and quests for the Hunter’s Guild, perhaps to explore on their own, to hunt Rooks for the precious, often magical resources they contain, or simply to protect a village or settlement from rampaging Rooks or bandits. Explorers have explored far and wide and even through doors to other realms where the earth is broken and chunks of it float in the sky, where sky ships, their hulls carved from Rook husks cross overhead, and the Rooks stalk Rooms on thin, finely balanced legs and wield weapons with deadly finesse than the brute force of at home. Yet what if instead of going out into the Roomlands or up to the Rafters, or even into other realms, you went down?

Colostle – Dungeons expands Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, definitely the prettiest solo journalling game on the market, by taking it down into the ground. It is the third expansion for Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, following on from Colostle – The Roomlands and Colostle – Kyodaina, and one that makes absolute sense. After all, if the scale of the castle in Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure is literally colossal, that does not mean that it cannot have dungeons, even if they are of a similar scale. In taking the player and his character deep underground, it opens up a whole new environment, dark and dank, of cathedral-sized chambers, populated by strange new types of Rooks, riven with an infection that is both a blessing and curse, protected by Guardians who stand watch over fabulous treasures, and home to a whole new society. All of this, plus treasures to be found and advanced rules for the explorer, as well as pre-written Major Labyrinths for them to delve into, which all together form a campaign.

Essentially, once the player has drawn a card indicating the entrance to a Labyrinth, he can decide to enter it and explore. This opens up its own set of ‘Labyrinth Tables’ with which the player can create chambers, determine their look, and populate them with a guardian and rewards. The rewards often take the form of treasures such as valuable rings, cups that can heal when drank from, keys some of which are marked with glyphs that open doors to other locations, and shards. The latter appear to have been broken off a larger tablet, and are typically seen as worthless. However, there are some interested in collecting them if the explorer knows where to find them. What the significance of the tablet is, if it can be reconstructed, nobody knows. Some of the treasures are worth a few coins, others a bit more, but there are rare treasures which will grant the explorer advantages when exploring future Labyrinths. The treasures are also important culturally to the peoples who live in the Dungeonlands.

As with exploring the Roomlands up above, there are dangers to be found in the Dungeonlands. The most notable of these are two odd types of Rook. Lichen Rooks are like the Rooks from above, but infested by lichen move in zombie-like fashion, being infested with a strange lichen that they can send out like tendrils and missiles, and worse, this lichen can infect the explorer as ‘Rookrot’. Once infected by Rookrot, an explorer is immune to reinfection, and the bioluminescence it generates is enough light by which the explorer can see in the Dungeons. In some ways, the other type of Rook found in the Colostle – Dungeons, the Spectral Rook, is more a challenge. They are incorporeal and silent, making themselves corporeal to strike at a wayward explorer, before turning incorporeal. The explorer has to learn to strike back at the very moment he is attacked!

Colostle – Dungeons does not add any new Callings, motivations for why an explorer goes out on adventures, or Classes, which determines how he explores the world, how he fights, and what weapon he wields. Instead, it provides something wholly new—a ‘Character Upgrade Class’. This is ‘The Infused’, able to craft powerful potions and concoctions that can be infused into an explorer’s equipment. For example, the Poison Elixir will make the explorer’s weapon paralyse people, whilst the Erosion Elixir will make the weapon erode the very stone that Rooks are made off. However, to become an Infused, the Explorer must find the city of Oubliette in the Dungeonlands and enrol in the Apothecary Militia and undertake months of training which involves delving into numerous Labyrinths. These can played out one by one, or the book allows for the player to simply write about the experiences of that training.

Oubliette, also known as the hanging city, is rumoured to hang directly underneath the city of Parapette in the Roomlands up above. Its spires point down rather than up and its many buildings are connected by bridges, and it is rife with crime, but the inhabitants accept this as the norm. It is dominated by four clans—the Clan of Cups, the Clan of Rings, the Clan of Keys, and the Clan of Shards. The Clan of Cups helps the needy and offers healing, the Clan of Rings are merchants and valuators, the Clan of Keys is made up of explorers and sages of the Dungeonlands, and the Clan of Shards is a highly secretive collector of shards. Each of the leaders of the four clans are detailed, but the explorer’s interaction with them is designed to be done in steps, so that each description gives entries for his first, second, and third visits, and then recorded in an unfolding narrative. Oubliette itself, has its own set of tables for generating encounters whilst the explorer visits and interacts with the merchants and other inhabitants.

Although Colostle – Dungeons provides the ready means for the player to create and explore his own Labyrinths, these will only be the minor Labyrinths to be found in the Dungeonlands. There are Major Labyrinths and over half of Colostle – Dungeons is devoted to these and the campaign they are tied to. There are five such Major Labyrinths, each very different in nature, each having their own discovery and entry requirements, and each mapped out as a series of nodes that the explorer can navigate between. The campaign has a final chapter in which major secrets about the Dungeonlands will be revealed as a well as a dangerous enemy that hopefully, the Explorer will be able to stop. There are notes on continuing the exploration of the Dungeonlands beyond the campaign as well as a hint at the nature of the next book—and potentially the book after that. The campaign will take the Explorer back and forth from Oubliette through the Dungeonlands, making discoveries, finding treasures, trading them, interreacting with the clan leaders, and so on. Of course, it takes some trust upon the part of the reader, since none of the campaign is hidden and the only thing stopping himself from reading further is himself. That said, the campaign is really good, drawing the reader in and making him want to play more to find out and that is combined with the elements that Colostle – Dungeons gives the reader to not only interact with, but also write about. So the weird new Rooks, the infectious Lichen, the strange city of Oubliette and the mysteries of the treasures, as well as the bigger undertakings of exploring the Major Labyrinths.

Physically, Colostle – Dungeons is as stunning as both Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure and Colostle – The Roomlands were before it. The artwork is superb, beautifully depicting the wondrous world below the Roomlands, dark and dank, awaiting the arrival of the explorer to shine a light on its depths and secrets. It does need a slight edit in places.

Colostle – Dungeons is a beautiful book. Its artwork alone—just as with the previous two books—is enough to draw the viewer into wanting to explore this world. The play of Colostle – Dungeons does not differ all that much from the standard play of Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, except of course that it really focuses it in the closed world of the Dungeonlands and then just a little further in the campaign that comes in its pages. That campaign gives the player the opportunity to tell a great story as his explorer delves deeper and exposes one secret after another. Fans of Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure will welcome this return to the world of Colostle with Colostle – Dungeons, which literally lets them go deeper—and deeper in an obvious direction.

Solitaire: Colostle – Kyodaina

Beyond the walls of your hometown or village lie the Roomlands. A vast castle that covers the whole of the known world and beyond, whose individual rooms, corridors, stairs, and rafters contain whole environments of their own. Mountains, lakes, deserts, forests, caves, and ancient ruins. Oceans stretch across rooms as far as the eye can see and beyond. Desert sands whip and whirl down long corridors. Forests climb the stairs that seem to rise to nowhere. Rooks—walking castles—lurk, a constant danger. Stone giants that seem to have no purpose, other than to wander aimlessly until something captures their attention and then they erupt in incredible aggression. This is world of a near limitless castle known as Colostle, into which brave adventurers set forth, perhaps to undertake tasks and quests for the Hunter’s Guild, perhaps to explore on their own, to hunt Rooks for the precious, often magical resources they contain, or simply to protect a village or settlement from rampaging Rooks or bandits. What though if a door from one room to another, led not to another, but another realm? One where the earth is broken and chunks of it float in the sky and the great pillars that hold up the ceilings of the Rooms are painted in once bright, but now fading lacquer. One where the Rooks with multiple, red-tiled roofs, stalk Rooms on thin, finely balanced legs and wield weapons with deadly finesse than the brute force of at home. One where sky ships, their hulls carved from Rook husks cross overhead. Where Imperial soldiers stop and search everyone for Rookstones. One where fallen Rooks have been turned into temples where you can rest, recuperate, and even research to gain new skills and spirituality. One where the Red Emperor rules with an iron fist. This is the land of Kyodaina and it is nothing like you have seen before.

Colostle – Kyodaina expands Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, definitely the prettiest solo journalling game on the market, by taking it to the furthest east of its lands where the artwork is at its most Ghibli-esque. Kyodaina is also a sequel to Colostle – The Roomlands, the first supplement for Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure. However, a player need not have adventured through Colostle – The Roomlands to play, but narratively, it helps if he has. Much like Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, what Colostle – Kyodaina does is introduce a new realm for the player and his character to explore and within that several lands or ‘Zones’, a new character type, and a directed campaign. The latter shifts the play of v away from the open world exploration of Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure towards a journalling game with a ‘choose your own adventure’ book feel, consisting of story sections rather than numbered paragraphs which work like cut scenes for video games, and map areas which can be more freely explored and have keyed descriptions elsewhere. The result is that Colostle – Kyodaina is designed to tell a particular story, though of course, how that story plays out is of course, up to the draw of the cards and the player.

The new character Class is The Spirited, which also introduces a new stat—Spirit. The Spirited Class represents someone who has grown up in or studied at one of the temples or monasteries to be found across Kyodaina. Radically, the Spirited begins play without any connection to a Rook, no augmentation provided by a Rook-part, but instead must rely upon his training and the secret arts learned at the temple or monastery. Each aligned with an element and a suit from an ordinary deck of playing cards—such as those used in the play of Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure—these powers include ‘Rook’s Power’, which lets the character flood his feet with his spirit and in stomping hard on the ground, causing a ripple that surges through the ground and knocks opponents to the ground and temporarily reduces their Combat score by one, and ‘Rook’s Senses’, which enables the character to fill his vision with spirit and see more than any ordinary person could, effectively doubling the number of cards the player can draw during the game’s exploration phases. The Spirited Class is intended to be played as a character native to Kyodaina, rather than as someone who has come from the regions and Roomlands explored in Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure and Colostle – The Roomlands. However, if the character does come from either the Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure or Colostle – The Roomlands, during the play of Colostle – Kyodaina, the character has the opportunity to rest, heal, and learn at the same temples and monasteries, and so learning these Spirit powers. Each temple or monastery offers a different range of Spirit powers. This gives the visiting character the Spirit stat too, which is used to activate the Spirit powers. Unlike other stats in Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, Spirit can be depleted and restored without the character dying.

Mechanically, the differences between Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure and Colostle – Kyodaina are relatively minor. Kyodainan Rooks are different, faster and more precise, and unlike Rooks elsewhere, can make critical strikes against the Player Character. Imperial Soldiers will constantly hunt for Rookstones, the magical stones that power Rooks, operating in squads of three that will want to search the Player Character, whilst the Player Character might face wave after wave of Imperial Soldiers if he tries to infiltrate Imperial Fortresses. If successful, the Player Character will find all manner of information.

The play of Colostle – Kyodaina begins at one of its temples, the Temple of the Stone Fist. From here, the player will set out and explore the new realm. This consists of four zones—the Spirit Forest, the Fangs of the Mountain Range, the Hori Archipelago, and the Skylands. Each has its own temple, its own set of encounter and NPC tables in addition to the general ones given for whole of the realm, and above all, its own character. The Spirit Forest is serene and quiet, its donjon trees towering so high that the majority of Kyodaina’s inhabitants can live here in safety from the Rooks below; the Fangs of the Mountain Range consists of ancient Rook husks fused with the rock, laced with tunnels and rooms, and sometimes transformed into a volcano; the Hori Archipelago are tropical islands in a shallow sea where Rooks have adapted to the environment and the lands are pierced by towering swords, hammers, and axes; and the Skylands where chunks of earth—both uninhabited and inhabited—float like islands in the sky and can be reached by climbing or travelling via a skyboat. Each also has specific locations where events take place, for example, the village of Eda is in the Spirit Forest and faces an attack by Imperial Soldiers. The Player Character has the opportunity to defend the village.

Once the Player Character has explored three or more of the zones in Colostle – Kyodaina, an encounter with an NPC—previously encountered in Colostle – The Roomlands—will open up the end game for Colostle – Kyodaina. This involves the Player Character in the Resistance against the Emperor and his Imperial Soldiers and exploring the Imperial City of Shiro. It will lead to the infiltration of the city itself and a confrontation with the Emperor and his Rook servitors, both infiltration and confrontation playing out as sub-games in their own right. In the process of playing through Colostle – Kyodaina there are secrets to be discovered—or at least hinted at—and lastly, a suggested sequel to come which takes Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure below.

Physically, Colostle – Kyodaina is as stunning as both Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure and Colostle – The Roomlands. The artwork is superb, beautifully depicting the wonder of this new realm and its zones. However, the writing is not quite as good as it could have been and Colostle – Kyodaina does need an edit here and there.

Colostle – Kyodaina is a beautiful book. Its artwork alone—just as with the previous two books—is enough to draw the viewer into wanting to explore this world. The play of Colostle – Kyodaina differs greatly to the simple open-world exploration of Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, though there is scope for that, instead offering a specific story to play out, one which feels much more like a video game. As a video game experience, Colostle – Kyodaina gives the player a more immersive and reflective experience as he plays out and records in his journal his character’s exploration of the new realm. Fans of Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure will welcome this return to the Roomlands as it takes them beyond and into Colostle – Kyodaina.

—oOo—

Colostle will be at UK Games Expo which takes place on Friday, May 31st to Sunday June 2nd, 2024.

Solitaire: Colostle – The Roomlands

Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure introduced the Roomlands. A vast castle which covered the whole of the known world and more and whose individual rooms, corridors, stairs, and rafters contained whole environments of their own. Mountains, lakes, deserts, forests, caves, and ancient ruins. Oceans stretch across rooms as far as the eye can see and beyond. Desert sands whip and whirl down long corridors. Forests climb the stairs that seem to rise to nowhere. Whatever the environment, there is always a constant danger to be faced—Rooks. These are walking castles, stone giants that seem to have no purpose, other than to wander aimlessly until something captures their attention and then they erupt in incredible aggression. From Parapette, the greatest city in the Known Roomlands which is built into the body of a Colossal Rook, brave adventurers set out alone to explore the near limitless castle of Colostle. Perhaps fulfilling tasks and quests for the Hunter’s Guild, perhaps to explore on his own, hunt Rooks for the precious , often magical resources they contain, or simply to protect a village or settlement from a rampaging Rooks. Rooks are not the only dangers, there are often bandits and other threats as well, but Rooks remain the most feared.

Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure is a Journalling game in which a player will write and keep a journal telling of the exploits of an adventurer across the ecumenopolis-sized castle of Colostle. As is usual with this type of game, the player will need no more than an ordinary deck of playing cards, pen and pencil, and a notebook of some kind. The scope and size of Colostle’s setting meant it was ripe for expansion and the supplement, Colostle – The Roomlands is that expansion. In particular, it provides and explores new character options, locations, living in Colostle, rules, options, and more. And of course, it does so in a book that is beautifully illustrated, echoing the style and feel of the Zelda computer game series, and both the Ico and The Shadow of the Colossus, with just a touch of Studio Ghibli. Like any good roleplaying game, the artwork sells the setting, making you wonder and want to wander the vast setting of Colostle, let alone the fact that together Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure and its companion, Colostle – The Roomlands, provide a unique approach to the fairy tale idea of getting lost in a giant’s castle.

Colostle – The Roomlands begins with new Classes. In Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, an adventurer can set out with either with a piece of a Rook grafted on to him, accompanied by a Rookling companion, wearing a scrap helm taken a Rook that grants its wearer magic, or riding a mount devised from Rook scrap. The first of the new Classes is the Allied, in which a pair of adventurers team up and rely upon each other to survive the Roomlands. Together they have higher Exploration and Combat scores, rather than a special ability, and there is guidance too, if one of them is unfortunately killed. The second new Class is the Bastion, recently discovered person-sized stone or Rook constructs who have achieved independence from their former roles as the immune system for Colossal Rooks, the city-sized Rooks which are near legend in the Roomlands (although the City of Parapette built into a former Colossal Rook). Although able to speak and fight, Bastions are feared and distrusted because of their connection to Rooks. The Bastion gives the option for a player to explore the Roomlands through the embrasures of an outsider, whilst the Allied opens up interplay between two characters that the player can record and develop in her journal.

Colostle – The Roomlands adds and expands the rooms available to the player to explore. The Tundroom is an icy wasteland that Ice Rooks are at home in, but where the often-nomadic tribes have learned to defeat Rooks and command the resulting Rook husk as a Rooknaught! These require a crew to operate the various parts, commanded by a Helmed—one of the Class who wears a scrap helm taken from a Rook that grants its wearer magic, and Rooknaught often battle each other, besiege camps and villages, fight Ice Rooks, and so on. This adds an element of mecha combat to Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, and the Tundroom is supported with rules for its exploration and fighting Rooknaughts—both as an individual Adventurer (very challenging) or another Rooknaught, as well as tables for encounters, village events, and Tundroom characters. If an Adventurer can defeat a Rooknaught, there is the possibility of finding fantastic treasure, including the Carapace, a set of legendary ice armour! Accompanied by their own encounter tables, the Rafters are another environment, or rather environments, each different, high above in the skies over the Roomlands, the biggest threat being the Gargoyles which abduct lone travellers for reasons unknown…

More interesting are the Crackways. These are the cracks in the walls of Colostle, often carved out and expanded, some leading all the way through a wall to the room next door, others not. Some are safe, others not, and these are often marked as such. These add an element of dungeoneering and perhaps a more scaled-down exploration of the Roomlands.

Colostle – The Roomlands expands upon the information given in Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure on the city of Parapette. Although it provides an overview of the city—and notes that Parapette is the one constant between one player’s experience of journalling across Colostle and that of another, almost like Michael Moorcock’s Tanelorn—this focuses on the Rook’s Rest tavern and the Hunter’s Guild, the former sprawling, the latter palatial. Together the information builds on the idea of Parapette being a ‘Fixed Location’ between campaigns, suggesting ways in which a player can interact with other players and collaborate in shared storytelling, either face-to-face, on-line, or even via the post. There is even the option for doing via the publisher’s Discord channel, and is further supported with rules for two-player co-operative adventuring, including exploration, combat, and more, using a mix of prompts from complication and oracle tables. This brings a degree of interaction to the play of Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure as well as roleplaying because it is no longer a case of a player simply developing a story for himself from cards drawn and prompts generated, but instead having think about ways to present his character’s actions and decisions to the other player. In this way, Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure takes on the performance elements of roleplaying.

In addition there are rules for fighting in Rook. This is an option because it is possible for a character to internally defeat a Rook and turn it into a Rookhome. To do this a player needs to use an ‘Onboarding’ action in combat with a Rook and if successful, then fight from the inside. A character only has the one chance to do it per combat. Although a defeated Rook can be stripped of its treasures, turning it into a Rookhome gives the character an ambulatory home that will make travel that much more easy. He will be able to travel further and do so unmolested by other Rooks. However, Rookhomes are not combat machines, unlike the aforementioned Rooknaughts, and a character must leave a Rookhome to explore or fight on foot. They also require maintenance, so once a character has one, he will need to adventure further to pay for that.

Lastly, Colostle – The Roomlands includes something quite different in a Journalling game—a directed campaign. ‘Search for the Seastone – A Solo Colostle Campaign’ combines the standard exploratory play of Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure with sections where the decisions will be limited like a ‘choose your own adventure’ book, story sections which work like cut scenes for video games, and map areas which can be more freely explored and have keyed descriptions elsewhere. The campaign sees the character explore the legendary island known as Crown Isle and perhaps delve into the labyrinth below. The campaign is more linear than a ‘choose your own adventure’ book would be, primarily because of the limited space, but also because it is more of a scenario than a campaign. However, it does allow the exploration of a small part the Roomlands without the need to generate procedurally in every scene or location. Meaning that the player will recording details in response to given details rather than random ones. It would be interesting to see if this format could be repeated again, not just for single scenarios, but an actual campaign. Of course, one use of ‘Search for the Seastone – A Solo Colostle Campaign’ would be to run it as a traditional roleplaying scenario if the Game Master has adapted the setting to the mechanics of her choice.

Of course, Colostle – The Roomlands builds on Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, opening its scope with visits to new locations—the Tundrooms, Rafters, and Crackways, as well as new options in terms of storytelling, like the co-operative play. They are all great options, the new locations worthy of supplements of their own, as is the format of the directed journalling of ‘Search for the Seastone – A Solo Colostle Campaign’. Colostle – The Roomlands is an absolute must for Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, enabling a player to explore further and have more interesting adventures, and if a Game Master wants to take the information presented here and develop more of a setting for traditional roleplaying, then that would be fine too.

—oOo—

Colostle will be at UK Games Expo

from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th, 2023.

Solitaire: Colostle

Imagine that there is a world with one castle. Imagine that castle is the world. Imagine that castle covers the world. Were it possible to ascend to the battlements or climb up one of the castle’s many towers, but all that would be seen more of the castle’s roof, battlements, and towers. The rooms of the castle extend in all directions. Beyond the villages, towns, and cities where people live lie the Roomlands. Out in the wilds of the Roomlands can be found mountains, lakes, deserts, forests, caves, and ancient ruins. Oceans stretch across rooms as far as the eye can see and beyond. Desert sands whip and whirl down long corridors. Forests climb the stairs that seem to rise to nowhere. Wherever a traveller goes and whatever the environment, there is a constant danger to be faced—Rooks. These are walking castles, stone giants that seem to have no purpose, other than to wander aimlessly until something captures their attention and then they erupt in incredible aggression. On the oceans, there are Sea Rooks, and on and above the battlements, there are Astrolithic Rooks, great flying beasts, and out the Tundroom wastes, Rooknaughts, Rook husks crewed to raid villagers or hold off other Rooknaughts. Even Parapette, the greatest city in the Known Roomlands is built into the body of a Colossal Rook.

This is the setting for Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure in which a brave adventurer, either with a piece of a Rook grafted on to him, accompanied by a Rookling companion, wearing a scrap helm taken a Rook that grants its wearer magic, or riding a mount devised from Rook scrap, sets out to explore the Roomlands. Perhaps to discover new rooms of the Roomlands. Perhaps to protect a town or village from the aroused ire of a Rook. Perhaps to hunt Rooks themselves, to gather the precious resources it contains—devices and magical gems which provide the Helmed with their magic and provide many of the technologies used by the inhabitants of Colostle.

Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure is a Journaling game in which a player will write and keep a journal telling of the exploits of an adventurer across the ecumenopolis-sized castle of Colostle. As is usual with this type of game, the player will need no more than an ordinary deck of playing cards, pen and pencil, and a notebook of some kind. Over the course of his play, the player will draw cards from the deck. Initially, this will be to determine the nature and the call of the player’s character, but as the character steps out to explore, the player draws cards to find out what the character has discovered and then in combat, he draws cards to determine his character’s effectiveness and thus the outcome. When the character reaches the city, the player draws cards to determine the city’s features and what is available there. If the city features a Hunter’s Guild, then the character can take up quests on the organisation’s behalf, and again, these are determined by drawing more cards. Similarly, cards are drawn to determine the nature of opponents—Rook and non-Rook—and what either of them wants. At each stage, the player uses the cards to refer to various tables throughout the book and then connects the prompts from the table indicated by the cards in a narrative which he records in his character’s journal.

A Player Character in Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure is defined by a Calling, a Nature, a Class, and a Weapon. A Calling is why a Player Character adventures and explores out in the Roomlands, his Nature how he reacts to the world around him, his Class how he explores the world and how he fights, and his Weapon what he fights with. Both Calling and Nature are determined randomly. The four Classes—‘The Armed’, ‘The Followed’, ‘The Helmed’, and ‘The Mounted’—each determine two values out of five for the Player Character, Exploration Score and Combat Score, and suggest various traits and motivations. Apart from the Exploration Score and the Combat Score, these traits along with Magic, either Electric, Rumble, or Ice, are used to help describe and flavour the narrative that player writes rather than providing any mechanical benefit.

 
Audrina
Classed: The Helmed
Exploration Score: 2
Combat Score: 5
Calling: Your mother told you fabulous tales of the Fabled Rookstones which gave Rooks and those who scavenge them amazing powers. Now grown up, you know that there are three types of Rookstone— Electric, Rumble, and Ice—but perhaps there really are more and there was truth in your mother’s tales?
Nature: Impatient, quick-to-anger, grumpy
Motivation: To understand Rook technology and mechanisms
Weapon: Rook Fists that shake with Rumble Magic

To play Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure, a player draws cards in two different phases—the Exploration Phase and the Combat Phase. The Player Character’s Exploration Score determines how many cards his player draws and his Combat Score how many cards he draws in combat. In the Exploration Phase, Red cards drawn indicate encountering organic things, people, and creatures, whilst black are scenic things, structures, and objects, the entries divided between the four suits. Some point to the Events table in which case a further card is drawn. Together, they provide prompts to events and encounters that the player pieces together in a whole journal entry. If a combat encounter is indicated, the player can insert a Combat Phase anywhere in the Exploration as fits the narrative.

For example, in Audrina’s Exploration Phase, her player draws two cards for her Exploration Score. First the four of Spades followed by the four of Diamonds. The four of Spades indicates the ruins of people that Audrina has never heard of who likely lived long ago and tells the player to draw an Event card. The latter is the five of Diamonds, telling the player that Audrina hears a loud noise. The four of Diamonds suggests that she meet someone who asks for her help in finding something and that she will be rewarded for help. The latter requires another card to be drawn, this time for the Item that will be the reward. This is the King of Clubs, so is two Treasures which can be used for trade purposes if Audrina returns to the city. However, the four of Diamonds indicates that the person for help is untrustworthy. If combat ensues, the player will generate the opponent and a Combat Phase will take place.

An opponent is defined by his Intention and Weapon Type if another person. A Rook has instead a Magic Type, Body Type, Weapon Type, and Reward if defeated. Combat is a matter of drawing cards, the number determined by the Combat Score for the Player Character and the opponent type for whomever the Player Character is fighting. One card is drawn if another person, but three or five for a Rook, depending on its size. The player allocates his character’s cards against those of his opponent in an attempt to beat him. The suit on the card used indicates the type of attack used and all one side has to do is defeat the majority of the other’s attacks. When a Player Character cannot stop an attack because he does not have a card high enough, he suffers a wound, which reduces either his Exploration Score or his Combat Score. If either score is reduced to zero, the Player Character dies. This does not look good for Audrina. The player draws a two of Clubs, a five of Hearts, an eight of Spades, and a nine of both Hearts and Spades, the five cards for Audrina’s Combat Score. None of this enough for Audrina to defeat or block the attack and so she suffers a Wound, reducing her Exploration Score from two to one. The opponent presses the attack. This time, the player draws a ten of Hearts, a magic attack. In response, the player draws a four, eight, Queen, and King of Hearts as well as a four of Clubs, for Audrina. He selects the King of hearts. This not only beats the opponent’s nine of Clubs, it beats it with the same suit and so is a critical attack which reduces the number of cards the opponent draw by one. Since this is only one anyway, it has no real effect except to mean that the opponent is defeated. She receives one Treasure for defeating the opponent and leaves nursing his wound.

So when the player comes to record this in Audrina’s journal he might write the following.

“I had not ranged far from the city, barely into the next Room, a great space where I strode through a rich forest until I came upon a city that I had not seen before, even heard of. None of the sages in the city had mentioned this place and its stones seemed old and marked in a language I did not recognise. As I skirted the outer ruins, I heard a cry. I followed it and came across an old man, leaning over an opening into the ground. I asked what he was about and he said he was looking for his dog who had chased a rabbit down the hole. I was about to leave the grimy and gnarled figure to it when he asked if I could help him. He said he could give me treasure in return for me rescuing his dog. I looked at him and wondered if that was a cold gleam in his eye or a tear for his lost, but I took pity and promised to help. More fool I. Barely was I in the hall, when there came a big booming sound from below and a rush of air, such that I did not the crotchety old bastard behind, only felt the weight of his club upon my leg as a he attempted to brain me! He stood over me cackling against the light of the cave mouth and I did not know if he intended to kill me, but he raised his staff which crackled with energy, and in response I thrust out my Rumble Gloves, unleashing a blast of force that caused him to lose his footing. Getting to my knees, my leg still smarting, I threatened with a follow up attack, but he surrendered. When asked, he told me he had been stealing from others and intended to steal from me. I left him what little food he had when I rifled through his belongings, but I took his staff with its Electric Rookstone. Mere recompense for the injury he had caused me. If I cannot sell it, I can study it.”

Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure includes table for encounters on the ocean and on the battlements—the latter only becoming available when the Player Character first climbs to their heights, for no one else has yet, and the means to generate a city, where the Player Character can rest, spend a Treasure or two—perhaps for improvement in his two Scores, perhaps to purchase a weapon or device to improve his ability to explore and survive in the Rooklands. The list of items to purchase is few in number though. There is also a map of the Known Roomlands and a cross section of a Rook. One definite table which is missing is one for what might be found within the confines of a Rook.

Physically, Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure is stunning. The illustrations are cartoonish, but beautiful. The writing is clear, but as a whole the roleplaying game is underwritten. This shows in the few differences between the Classes in the roleplaying game, in the mechanics which will often push a player to make one ruling or another—and push the Player Character into a fight because there is no other means of resolving situations, and in the number of entries in the various tables. There simply is not enough tables and content in the tables of Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure to warrant more than a few plays without encounters and solutions being repeated. As a series of prompts for a solo journaling that may be enough, but if as the book suggests, it is used a source for roleplaying game, it is going to leave the Game Master and ultimately her players wanting more.

As a play experience, Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure is perhaps harder work than it should, prompts only pushing the player so far and leaving him with a lot of answers and rulings to make up. It reveals parts of the world and leaves the player wanting more. As a roleplaying sourcebook, it is very much far from enough, but would work with any number of roleplaying mechanics. The setting lends itself to lighter rulesets, Into the Odd, for example, would be a good choice to build an actual Colostle Roleplaying Game around, but equally, a retroclone like Old School Essentials could be built around it with some effort.

Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure is breath-taking in its scope and scale, with beautifully illustrated vistas done in a style that echoes that of the Zelda computer game series, and both the Ico and The Shadow of the Colossus, if not a little of Horizon Zero Dawn. Open up Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure and you want to explore the vast halls and corridors of the Roomlands. Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure possesses literally huge promise, grandeur and whimsy at the same time, a magical and mystical place to visit—as far as the book will allow. Yet really, Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure feels as if it wants to be opened up, its furthest extents explored and exposed, and for the players to travel together.