Getting Started With Colostle

I picked up Colostle having met Nich at tabletop Scotland earlier this month. I've always been iffy about RPGs in general as I had a bad experience with DnD quite a few years back. I'm back again with a solo RPG giving it another shot. Here goes!

What is Colostle?

From the website: https://www.colostle.com/

"Colostle is a solo RPG rulebook that allows you to play a single player adventure campaign through the impossible and incredible world of the Colostle. The Colostle is a castle so big that there are oceans, mountains and cities within its rooms! There is no 'outside' to the Colostle, everything is within. And stalking these Roomlands, are the Rooks, huge walking stone castle towers that attack anything they see, but hold the Rookstones, the only source of magic in this world.

Unlike multiplayer tabletop RPGs like DnD or Pathfinder, a solo RPG is one you play on your own. The game book and system, along with a deck of standard playing cards, throws prompts and moments at you, and you must decide how your character reacts while recording your adventures in a journal.

Build your story of who your legendary adventurer is, and what they discover out in the Roomlands of the Colostle."

Building My Character

Name: Ardin Rookstalk

Class: The Followed

Calling

I spent years working on a clockwork marvel—a mechanical Rook that could one day protect my village. It was my life’s work, a symbol of hope. But when the Black Army came, they didn’t just burn our homes—they destroyed my workshop, reducing my invention to ash. They knew about it, somehow, and targeted it like it was a threat. It wasn’t even finished.

I survived, but the future I’d been building was gone. Among the wreckage, I found a Rook heart, still faintly pulsing. I used it to create a new companion: my rookling. It saved me more than once, but I know its magic is tied to the same power the Black Army uses to control their Rooks with purple flame.

Now, I need answers. Why did they destroy my project? What is this connection between my rookling and their power? I’m not after revenge—just the truth. I’ll rebuild, piece by piece, until I understand why they took everything from me.

Nature

Introspective, quiet, and reserved. I have always preferred to let my actions speak where words fall short. My hands are calloused, not from war, but from creating—building small, intricate things in moments of quiet. Now, those same hands will build my path forward, brick by brick, question by question.

Exploration Score: 5/5

Combat Score: 3/5

Weapon: Slingshot

Rookling

Ever since the raid, my village has feared and hated Rooks. But while scavenging through the wreckage, I found the heart of a fallen Rook and used it to create my rookling. I keep this a secret from everyone. They wouldn’t understand.

My rookling’s ability to generate ice has saved me more than once while scavenging the wastes. I didn’t fully understand what I was building at first, but I know its power is connected to something far larger—something tied to the Black Army and their control over Rooks with purple flames. I have to figure out what that connection is.

Queen of Diamonds

Magic affinity: Ice Attack/Defense: Defense My rookling’s icy hands create shields to protect us. I built it from the shattered remains of my clockwork Rook, using a heart I scavenged. Its magic is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and I suspect it holds the key to the mystery of the Black Army’s power.

With the character creation mostly done, I'm ready to leave the village and explore Colostle!