Let's Talk About Colossus

     Hi and welcome back to my blog! Today I'm going to talk about Colossus. Colossus is a new solo TTRPG I'm working on. Its systems, especially combat, are based on Perils & Princesses, but the setting of Colossus is a dystopian future set in the wastelands of a world that "won" its war with an alien species known as the Yaun. The Yaun were weak against a liquid known as miasma, and the earthlings of this world used it to destroy the Yaun, basically destroying the Earth in the process. But the Earth has been reborn as a dystopian landscape where raiders and bandits rule the plains and wastes, where mutated creatures crawl out of the shadows to haunt what little civilization remains, and where people known as Scouts use Miracles to keep the wasteland safe from the forces of cruelty.

    To start off with, I LOVED Perils & Princesses. I'll do an in-depth review of it soon on this blog, but suffice to say, the overall aesthetic and combat system really shines. I wrote over a hundred pages in a notebook chronicling the adventures of four princesses who just wanted to keep their world safe from harm from witches, giant spiders, bandits, dragons, and even a lich. I wanted to create something that had as strong of a vibe, but a different vibe, if that makes sense. I also loved the combat system. It's a d20 system where you're aiming for at or below a target number. So if you have a Resolve of 15, and you go to attack, you're trying to hit a 15 or below in order to attack a creature. Like I said, I'll have to do an in-depth review of it soon. It's a great game.

    Colossus uses a lot of the same systems from Perils & Princesses. In P&P you use Resolve, Grace, and Wits as stats. In Colossus, I renamed the stats to Strength, Dexterity, and I kept the term Wits because it felt appropriate. Basically, I wanted the stats to match more of the harshness of my world and less of the posh vibe from P&P.

    I also kept the magic system, known as Miracles in Colossus. Yep, they're not spells, they're Miracles. You see, Scouts of the Spire are dipped in the miasma when they are young. They either die or mutate and gain special abilities and powers called Miracles. Now the way magic works in P&P and Miracles work in Colossus is you start out with 1 Gift Dice (that's what they're called in P&P) or 1 Ability Dice (I changed the name to Ability Dice for Colossus, I think it fits the aesthetic better) for each level. So at level one you have 1 Ability Dice, at level two you have 2 Ability Dice, etc.

    When you want to cast a Miracle, you use as many Ability Dice as you want, up to four. Then the creature you're using the dice against will SAVE or be affected by the spell to the SUM of however much the dice rolled. Let's assume I'm level two and if I'm casting a Fireball spell against a Giant Spider with a SAVE of 10, I'm trying to hit a 10 or higher (for SAVES you try to hit higher rather than lower) with a d20. I'll roll a d20 to see if I hit. If I do, I then choose to roll 2 Ability Dice. Then I take the SUM of the Ability Dice and apply it to the damage on the Giant Spider. With the Ability Dice, if I roll two of the same number, something wonky happens. The spell, or Miracle, goes out of control, and I roll on a table to see what happens. If I roll two different numbers, and one is 2 and the other is 6, I take out the 6 and can't use that Ability Dice again until I rest. Basically if you roll a 1-3 on an Ability Dice you get to reuse that dice again whenever you want, but if you roll a 4-6 you have to retire that Ability Dice until you rest. That's how you use up magic, or Miracles.

    One thing I added for my game that was not in Perils & Princesses' combat system was a Morale system. I added morale to monsters to roll when their numbers dwindle down to half or their HP hits below the halfway point.

    I changed the classes from P&P to fit in more with my theme for Colossus. There are thirteen custom classes in Colossus. You go up to level four in one class and take the four skills from that class along the way. Then, when you hit level five, you can start taking skills from whatever other classes you want. I'll go more in-depth about it in the future.

    I added a ton of monsters to Colossus that were not in P&P to fit in with my futuristic, dystopian type of world. Things like Cyborg Zombies, Giant Roaches, and Bloodthirsty Raiders. I also added new spells that were not in P&P, although a few were but I tweaked them to fit better in my world.

    I also added the usual stuff: Items (Potions, Scrolls, Ingredients, Basic Treasure, Common Items, Uncommon Items, Rare Items, Special Weapons and Armors); Events for Wilderness, Dungeon, and Urban; a map of the Spire; and my own character sheets. Actually, that last one I'm still working on. For now, when playtesting, I'm using Google Docs on my phone.

    I also have Camp Activities, which I'll detail in a later post, and things you can do once in a settlement. I also have a friendship/rival system that's pretty simple but effective.

    I'll write more about the lore of Colossus in another post, but here's a map of what I have so far of the Spire, the setting for Colossus!