The Cosmic Creator Games

 Hi everyone! I’m back with THREE new journaling tools called Cosmic Creator, Cosmic Creator Part Two, and Cosmic Creator Part Three! These journaling tools, which I hesitate to call games, are useful for anyone looking to create their own worlds from scratch! Inside are prompts full of questions that give meaning to your choices in worldbuilding. They are also FULL of name tables for inspiration!

Cosmic Creator, the original, has twenty different prompts that will help you flesh out your general world. Cosmic Creator Part Two has event prompts to help you create the history of your world. And Cosmic Creator Three has thirty different prompts in five different genres: Horror, Futuristic, Post-Apocalyptic, Mythology, and Space. Each genre has six prompts each, designed to make you think about different aspects of your world.

An example of a prompt would be like this from the original Cosmic Creator:

Prompt 12: Religion

What is your world’s religion like? Do the people worship you, the Cosmic Creator God, or have they made their own gods? Do they worship the spirits of nature? How important is religion in your world? Are daily prayers common, or do people only pray when they require something? Are there churches and temples? Shrines? Statues to your greatness? Are there prophets in your world who foretell of a Chosen One? Are the prophets correct? If so, who is the Chosen One?

You answer the prompt in 2 to 4 or more sentences, trying to answer each of the questions in the prompt in your sentences. In practice it just works. It’s become a major part of what I do, which involves a lot of worldbuilding. I use the Cosmic Creator series to make my own games. It’s also perfect for fiction writers! Or anyone who is making a world for any reason, really.

Here’s another example, this one from Cosmic Creator Part Two:

Prompt 10: Civil War

A realm has fallen into civil war. What started this conflict? What are the traits of both sides? Is it a rebellion? Two princely brothers fighting over the title of king? Will you interfere somehow, or just let whichever side prevails rule this realm?

In this prompt you can see that the questions can be leading. They simply offer up suggestions or inspiration for you to come up with your own answers. There are endless ways to answer these prompts and questions, and all answers will be unique to the writer using these books. I really hope these books make worldbuilding not just easier for others, but also fun! I find them fun to use and they give me things to think about when worldbuilding that I normally wouldn’t.

If you enjoy these books like I do, please consider leaving a small donation on my itch.io or drivethrurpg store page. Every dollar helps me to fund the next big project I’m working on!

You can find Cosmic Creator, the original, here. You can find Cosmic Creator Part Two here. And you can find Cosmic Creator Part Three here.

Cosmic Creator

I just released a new journaling tool called Cosmic Creator. I hesitate to call it a journaling game because there isn’t much gameplay inside. It’s more of an exercise or a method to get the juices flowing for worldbuilding your very own world. You play as a Cosmic Creator God developing a new planet full of people to worship you. It takes you through twenty prompts that will inspire you to create your own world. Each prompt has a different subject it focuses on, such as Prompt 20 being Apocalypse, the end of your world. It also features over thirty tables to help you name locations, holy books, religious organizations, armies, and more.

The inspiration for this came from wanting to create a journaling exercise for creating my own worlds. It follows a lot of my same worldbuilding process. It asks you to answer questions in the prompts that will get your mind flowing and in a way that will give you inspiration to answer. Each prompt asks that you write two to four (or more) sentences each, answering all of the questions in the prompt in your sentences.

There are prompts for medicine in your world, plants in your world, animals in your world, your world’s calendar, and more. It’s a really simple process to follow, but by the end of it you should have a fully-developed world that you can use in your tabletop games or fiction books.

It’s Pay What You Want on itchio. I didn’t think pricing a journaling exercise was a good idea, especially since it only clocks in at seventeen pages. But those seventeen pages are filled with ideas and inspiration for you to make multiple realms for your world.

If you like it, do consider returning to the store page and leaving a donation. It’s not required, but every donation helps me to develop my next game.

Anyway, I hope you give it a chance if you’re a worldbuilder like me and I hope you enjoy the process!

Here is the link to the store page on itchio.

My Creative Process

 

Here is an overview of my creative process when I make tabletop games. I hope this can help you in your own process if you have the urge, like I do, to create fun games for people to play at their table.

 

Read and/or play video games for inspiration: When I’m looking for inspiration, I go to my two favorite outlets, books and video games. I was inspired for Idlewater and Cozy Monster Heroes by playing cozy farming games like Rune Factory and Stardew Valley especially. I also tend to get inspired by games like Final Fantasy (story-wise). My other inspiration are books, both fiction for the vibe and other TTRPG books for mechanical systems and table ideas. I LOVE tables, and I love making them. I have a ton of table books that I flip through for inspiration sometimes. I also have books that I don’t intend to play ever because they aren’t a good fit for solo roleplaying, but the vibe of the book is interesting or it has a mechanic or two I can use as inspiration for my own ideas. I try to keep as many different genres of fiction books and tabletop game rulebooks as possible. Just reading them, even if I don’t intend to use anything from its system, is fun and reminds me of things that I tend to forget, like what good formatting looks like or appropriate sentence structure when describing your lore or mechanics.

Have an idea: This is the most uncertain of these steps, because there’s no guarantee that any inspiration or research will result in an idea. Or, conversely, if the idea you have will be worthwhile. You may need more than one idea to spark that next tabletop project. For me, though, it usually just takes that one idea that will grab hold of me and not let go until I write it down somewhere and analyze it.

Let the idea settle: Speaking of analyzing, that’s the next step. Letting the idea settle is an important part of my process. Even if I’m flooded with passion about an idea the moment in pops into my noggin, I still need to let the idea settle for a day or two to make sure it’s as great as I really think it is. It feels like the slowest part of my process, because at this point I have the idea but I’m not doing anything with it, except maybe writing it down for a little clarity. Then I just leave it and continue about my day, letting my brain develop the complete picture of the idea on its own.

Jot down rough notes: After a day or two of letting the idea percolate, I write down some pretty rough notes about it in a Google Doc dedicated to that single idea. At this point I start reading again, looking for more inspiration, but mostly I’m writing down things I think sound cool or that I want to try with this project. I’m also developing what I call the Point of the project, or its purpose. Why would you play this game? That’s the big question I have to answer at this step in the process.

Develop the notes: After I have all of my notes written down, I then develop them and write out what I would like them to sound like in an actual document or PDF. This is a tricky part of my project: Making all of those rough notes sound like a masterpiece and giving clear and concise instructions for my various ideas and systems. But I want it to be so clear that when I transfer it to another document, the Outline Document, that I hardly have to edit at all.

Transfer to an outline document: I then take all of my polished notes and transfer the information to another Google Doc that I name (Name of the Project) PDF. I write a short table of contents at the top of the document first of what will be in the final work and in what order, then I start transferring the notes and information into the document.

Proofread and edit the document: After that I proofread and edit like crazy. It doesn’t usually take more than a few read-throughs, though, because I already polished my notes before. I just want everything to look and sound nice and flow well. I also take this time to underline what needs to be underlined and bold words that need to be bolded.

Playtest the game extensively: After proofreading and editing is the fun part: The playtest! I get to play the project I’ve been putting my blood, sweat, tears, and passion into. I get to make my characters and roleplay as them in a world I created with systems I developed for this game. I may playtest for a week, for a month, or for several months. It all depends on the game.

Make appropriate changes/edits: After I playtest an appropriate amount of time I make changes based on my playthrough that either didn’t work when actually playing or needed tweaking. Things like enemy stats are the most common things I need to tweak at this point, but sometimes major issues pop up that I only would have caught in play.

Playtest the game some more: After that, I playtest some more! Now that I’ve made changes and tweaks, it’s time to test them out! I play for a few more weeks and refine the rules as I go along.

Make more appropriate changes/edits: After my final playtest, which could take a while, I make more edits, tweaks, and read-throughs of my project for proofreading purposes. When I’m satisfied I’ve made a complete game, and more importantly a fun game, I move on to the next step.

Create a Cover: At this point I create a cover for my project. I don’t really know how I come up with the cover ideas. I just sort of play around with pictures and fonts and frames until I find a combination I really like that evokes the overall aesthetic of the project. Then I save it to my computer.

Transfer edited outline to Microsoft Publisher: Now almost all of the creative work is done and the hard work begins, at least for me: Transferring all of my outline into a Microsoft Publisher document. I basically copy and paste everything into the document, organizing it and formatting it as I go along. This is the hardest part because while I consider myself a creative person, I am not a designer by any means. I try to make the document look nice and formatted appropriately, but it’s tricky sometimes. Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, it just doesn’t look the way I want it to. Eventually I may need to hire an editor for this part. Until then, though, it’s a learning process.

Make A Character Sheet if needed: At this point, I make an official character sheet for the game. Before, when I’m playtesting, I just use Google Docs to keep track of all relevant character information. Now I use what I’ve learned while tracking my character’s progress in the playtest to make a character sheet that covers everything you need detailed about your character to play my game.

Hit export: When I’m done with my character sheet, my project, and any maps I need to make for the project, I export all of these things as PDFs. I like to keep them separate. It’s just easier to print out exactly what you want that way, I think. At this point, I read over the PDFs just to make sure they look okay and I didn’t miss anything in the editing and proofreading stage. If I haven’t, I move on to the publishing phase. If I did, I go back to the Publisher document, fix it, and re-upload it as a PDF.

Write up a sizzling description for the store page: At this point is another tricky part of my process: Making the game sound good to prospective players. Just like I’m not a designer, I’m not a businesswoman or an advertiser either. But I do my best to make the game sound captivating by listing the features and giving a brief overview of what my game is about and what you’ll be doing in the game.

Publish to the store page: After I write an adequate description of the game, I can finally publish it on itchio or drivethrurpg. With itchio, it’s published immediately, but drivethru has a waiting time before your game is officially published on their site. So far, I’ve published seven core games and nine supplements using this method. When I create games, I create several at a time. I’m always working on something new! Some of my ideas for my games have been in my head for years. Others were inspiration that have popped up within the past few months. All of my games are works of passion, though, and I’m proud of each and every one of them. That’s why I want people to play them and enjoy them! And THAT’S why I have them as Pay What You Want, that way more people can afford to play my games.

 

Anyway, that’s my creative process. Hopefully this has given you a few ideas of your own. If you have an idea, jump on it, write it down, let it percolate, and then develop it! You might just have the next best tabletop roleplaying game!

Excerpt 2 Of My Colossus Playthrough

This is my second excerpt of my actual play of Colossus. I hope you enjoy and it gives you some ideas for your own game!

 

Iris goes to the market and sells two befuddled tonics and her Alenka Doll. She also uses a Scroll of Fireball to learn the Miracle Fireball. Iris convinces Tulip and Hummingbird to join her party. She also buys 5 Rations. They need to go to Crystal Heights and report in to HQ. Iris hires an airship to take them there for 200 credits. They board the airship and it takes them to Crystal Heights in South Spire. They leave the airship and head to HQ. When they get there, a Lotus scientist speaking on behalf of the three leaders says an important artifact being transferred to HQ was waylaid by bandits. The Scouts are ordered to retrieve the artifact. Iris heads to the tavern to recruit one more member into the party. They recruit Dove.

The bandits’ hideout is three days away. On day one the weather is a little cloudy. They find a corpse with one arrow sticking out of it. That night at camp they are accosted by a Mad Android. Iris attacks its shield. She misses. Tulip attacks its shield. Her attack bounces off the shield. Hummingbird attacks the shield. His attack bounces off the shield. The android attacks Iris. He misses. Grelon attacks the shield. His attack bounces off the shield. Iris attacks. She misses. Tulip attacks. She hits the android for 2 HP. Hummingbird attacks with Mental Blast. He hits the android for 2 HP. The android attacks Hummingbird. It hits him for 6 HP. Grelon attacks. He misses. Dove attacks. He hits the android for 1 HP. Iris attacks. She misses. Tulip attacks. She hits the android for 5 HP. Hummingbird attacks. He misses. The android flees. They find a golden locket. They sleep and heal that night.

On day two the weather is a little cloudy. They find a pouch in the road with 100 credits inside. That night at camp they are accosted by a Giant Roach. Dove throws his club at the roach. He misses. Hummingbird attacks with Mental Blast. He hits the roach for 2 HP. The roach lands. It attacks Dove. It misses. Iris attacks. She kills the roach. They find bomb powder.

On day three they reach the bandit hideout. It is in a dilapidated old mansion. A bandit is guarding the door. He hasn’t noticed the Scouts yet. Iris attacks. She kills the bandit. They find a medikit. They enter the mansion.

The first room has three hallways going north. They encounter a bandit. Dove attacks. He hits the bandit for 4 HP. Tulip attacks. She hits the bandit for 1 HP. The bandit attacks Dove with his machete. His attack bounces off Dove’s armor. Iris and Grelon attack and miss. Hummingbird misses. Dove attacks. He kills the bandit. They find a Scroll of Pacify. They take the hall on the right and enter the first room on the right, which is a dining room. In the dining room, they find 3 Rations. They also encounter a Psychic Slime locked in a cage. Iris unlocks it successfully. The slime divulges 4 credits to Iris before it slithers away.

They leave this room and head further down the hall into the kitchen.

They encounter two bandits eating. Iris attacks and misses. Grelon attacks. He misses. Dove attacks. He hits Bandit One for 4 HP. Tulip attacks. She misses. Hummingbird uses Mental Blast. He hits both Bandits for 7 HP, killing both of them. They find a Scroll of Poison. They also find 2 Rations in the kitchen.

They go back to the entrance and down the left hall, which leads to stairs going down. They are ambushed by two Bandits. Bandit One attacks Tulip. He hits her for 2 HP. Iris attacks. She hits Bandit One for 5 HP. Grelon attacks. He kills Bandit One. Tulip uses her Healing Tonic to heal for 6 HP. Hummingbird attacks. His attack bounces off the Bandit’s armor. The Bandit attacks Dove. The Bandit fumbles and hits himself for 1 HP. Iris attacks. She misses. Grelon attacks. His attack bounces off the Bandit’s armor. Dove attacks. He misses. Tulip attacks. Her attack bounces off the Bandit’s armor. Hummingbird attacks. He misses. The Bandit attacks Hummingbird. He hits Hummingbird for 4 HP. Iris attacks. She hits the Bandit for 3 HP. Grelon attacks. He misses. Dove attacks. He misses. Tulip attacks. She hits the Bandit for 1 HP. Hummingbird attacks. He misses. The Bandit attacks Dove. He misses. Iris attacks. She kills the Bandit. They find a Lucky Charm.

They enter the basement. Inside is an alchemy station. They encounter a Bandit. Iris attacks. She fumbles and hits herself for 1 HP. Grelon attacks. He misses. Dove attacks. He misses. The Bandit attacks Iris. His attack bounces off of her armor. Tulip attacks. She misses. Hummingbird attacks. He hits the Bandit for 3 HP. Iris attacks. She hits the Bandit for 1 HP. Grelon attacks. He misses. Dove attacks. He misses. The Bandit attacks Iris. He hits her for 2 HP. Tulip attacks. She hits the Bandit for 1 HP. Hummingbird uses Restoration on himself. He heals himself for 2 HP. Iris attacks. She misses. Grelon attacks. He kills the Bandit. They find Coffee Beans.

They search the room and find: Crushed bones, Sparkling water, Crushed bones, Essence of ice, Essence of fire, and Salty water. They go back to the entrance and head down the middle hallway and reach stairs going up. They ascend the stairs.

There are three rooms connected to this hallway. They go in the room to the right. They encounter a Bandit. Grelon attacks. He kills the Bandit. They find a torch. They go across the hall to the opposite room. They encounter a Bandit. Iris attacks. She misses. Grelon attacks. He hits the Bandit for 4 HP. Tulip attacks. She misses. Hummingbird attacks. He hits the Bandit for 2 HP. The Bandit attacks Tulip. He misses. Dove attacks. He misses. Iris attacks. She misses. Grelon attacks. He kills the Bandit. They find a Cybernetic Eye.

There is one room left to search. They go to the room at the end of the hall and find the Bandit Leader. Iris attacks. She hits the Leader for 4 HP. She binds him for this round. Grelon attacks. He misses. Dove attacks. He hits the Leader for 5 HP. Tulip attacks with Mental Blast. She kills the Leader. They find a recording disc and the artifact.

They leave the mansion. It will take three days to return to Crystal Heights. On day one the weather is a little cloudy. On their journey they find a treasure map detailing the location of a great treasure. That night at camp they heal and rest peacefully.

On day two the weather is a little cloudy. They get a letter from Lotus by bird urging them to hurry back. Something has happened. That night at camp they sleep peacefully. On day three they reach Crystal Heights.

When they arrive at HQ, the building is in chaos. Iris is ordered to talk to the leaders immediately after returning the artifact. The leaders hide behind three mechanical dragon heads. They inform Iris that Noah, the former Phoenix, just stole The Chariot, Lotus’s premier airship, as well as some sensitive technology. He headed north. Iris is to assemble a team and head after him. He is to be either captured or killed, as the situation demands, and the airship is to be returned to Lotus. Iris agrees to the mission. Violet, Hawk, and Phoenix are to travel with her.

 

That’s the end of Excerpt Two of my actual play of Colossus. I’ll be back with more on Iris’s mission to capture or kill Noah.

If you would like to play Colossus, it can be downloaded free here.

Steelbane And Rift Town

I’ve published two new tabletop roleplaying games! One is called Steelbane which I created for the Epic Dragon Jam on itchio. It uses XP as currency to buy skills rather than leveling up. You can design your character exactly the way you want to using skills, spells, and psychic powers. It is completely classless, and you can choose your weapon at the beginning of the game. Each weapon has its positives and negatives, which you’ll discover as you play.

In Steelbane, you are a member of a new guild called Steelbane. You go on quests for the guild. One of the important roles of the guild is to hunt down and kill Dragons. There is a unique combat system to killing Dragons. You basically defeat them part by part: Wings first, then head or body, whichever order you choose.

You can download Steelbane for free here.

The second game I released is called Rift Town. It is my first solo journaling game I’ve created. It also features a bit of combat in it, too. You play as a citizen of a rift town, a town that has a scar in reality called a rift somewhere on its land. Every Saturday, creatures crawl out of the rift and stalk the town. It's up to you as a Beast Slayer to eliminate these creatures of chaos.

You journal as you develop your town, as you play, and as you fight monsters. It’s a really simple game with some intuitive prompts that makes each playthrough unique. You only need a notebook, a pencil, a set of dice, and your imagination in order to play.

You can download Rift Town for free here.

Aside from those, I’m also working on a few new projects. First and foremost are two more supplements for Goliath. I was also really inspired by making Rift Town. It has given me some ideas for some more journaling games in the future!

I’m also thinking about releasing an adventure supplement for all of my core games. It would feature one or two mini adventures each for each game. What do you think?

Excerpt 1 of my Colossus Playthrough

Here is an excerpt of my playthrough of Colossus. Disclaimer: I don’t include every action that my character, Iris, takes. I also made a few mistakes along the way. But the important thing is I had a lot of fun playing and if you’re interested in playing Colossus, too, you can download it for free here!

 

Long ago, the world as we know it was destroyed in a battle between the humans of earth and the Yaun, reptilian aliens bent on dominating every planet they discovered. The humans used a toxic liquid known as miasma to kill all of the Yaun, but at a cost. The world ended. But then it was reborn. Now, in this dystopian land known as the Spir, Scouts protect the weak. They are the few who survived being dipped in the mysterious waters of miasma and gained supernatural powers. They use these powers as they patrol the wastes of the new world.

Iris and her cougar Grolon enter the ruins to find a rare item. She is joined by Swan, Jasmine, and Ivy. They enter a room with three tunnels going north. They encounter three wild hounds. Grelon attacks. He attacks Hound One for 1 HP. Ivy attacks. She hits Hound One for 1 HP. Jasmine attacks. She kills Hound Two. Hound One attacks Iris. It bites her for 2 HP. Hound Three attacks Iris. It bites her for 2 HP. Iris attacks. She hits Hound One and kills it. Swan attacks. He kills Hound Three. They find a medikit. Iris uses it. They take the middle tunnel to the next room. They enter a small room. Every door in the dungeon locks. They take the north door. Iris tries to unlock it. She succeeds. They go through the door.

They enter a small room. They encounter two Apex Wolves. Wolf One attacks Swan. It misses. Wolf Two attacks Ivy. It bites her for 1 HP. Iris attacks. She misses. Grelon attacks. He misses. Ivy attacks. She hits Wolf One for 4 HP. Jasmine attacks. She misses. Swan attacks. He kills Wolf Two. Wolf One attacks Swan. It bites him for 3 HP. Iris attacks. She kills Wolf One. They find a spare magazine. They exit the room to the north and enter a small corridor. They encounter a dart trap. Iris is hit for 4 HP. Grelon dodges. Ivy is hit for 3 HP. Jasmine dodges. Swan dodges. They take the passage to the left.

Iris tries to unlock the door. She jams it. She tries the north door. She is unsuccessful. Ivy tries. She is successful. They go through the door. They enter a medium-sized room. The rooms in this dungeon start to get hot. They try the door to the north. Iris unlocks it. They go through.

They enter a room. They encounter a flying Roach. Iris attacks. She misses. Swan guards. The Roach attacks Swan. It hits him for 1 HP. Grelon guards. Ivy throws her spear. It misses. Jasmine attacks. She kills the Roach. They find a glass bomb. They try to unlock the door to the left. Swan is successful. They exit the room.

They enter a small room. They encounter a Giant Spider. Iris attacks. She hits the Spider for 4 HP. Grelon attacks. He misses. Jasmine attacks. She hits the Spider for 2 HP. Swan attacks. He misses. The Spider attacks Jasmine with its web. It hits her for 2 HP and Binds her for one round. Ivy attacks. She hits the Spider for 3 HP. Iris attacks. She kills the Spider. They find an Alenka Doll. They start to head back to the entrance. They encounter a Troglodyte. Swan attacks. He fumbles and hits Jasmine for 1 HP. The Trog attacks Ivy with Lick. It misses. Iris attacks. She misses. Grelon attacks. He misses. Ivy attacks. She hits the Trog for 1 HP. Jasmine attacks. She hits the Trog for 5 HP. Swan attacks. He hits the Trog for 4 HP. The Trog flees. They find a Scroll of Fireball.

They continue on and encounter an Apex Wolf. Jasmine attacks. She hits the Wolf for 3 HP. The wolf attacks Ivy. It misses. Iris attacks. She misses. Grelon attacks. He misses. Ivy attacks. She misses. The Wolf attacks Iris with claws. It misses. Ivy attacks. She hits the Wolf for 1 HP. Swan attacks. He kills the Wolf. They find 10 credits.

They encounter a Psychic Slime. Iris attacks. She misses. Jasmine attacks. She hits the Slime for 1 HP. The Slime attacks Iris and misses. Grelon attacks. He misses. Iris attacks. She kills the Slime. They find a Befuddled Tonic. They exit the ruins.

They are in the Smokeys. It will take three days to reach Quiet City. On day one the weather is nasty. They take shelter and lose a day of travel. On day two the weather is comfortable and sunny. They receive a letter by bird from Lotus urging them to head back to Crystal Heights when they have the chance. That night at camp, Iris cleans her weapon. They sleep peacefully that night and heal. On day three the weather is hot. Ivy falls in a pit and becomes stuck. She can’t climb out. They lose a day of travel trying to get her out.

That night at camp, Iris goes to sleep early. They sleep peacefully that night. On day four the weather is comfortable and sunny. The Scouts encounter an old pharmacy. They scavenge through the remains and find two potions: a calming tea and a befuddled tonic. That night at camp they sleep peacefully. On day five they reach Quiet City. The Scouts go their separate ways.

 

So that’s my first excerpt of Colossus. It was just long enough to cover the introductory dungeon that I always play in whenever I make a new game. I’ll be back soon with Excerpt 2 of Colossus so stick around!

New Supplement For Goliath Released

Hi everyone! I've just released a new supplement for Goliath! It's Goliath's first supplement and I've been working on it for some time. It takes place in a different setting than Azalene: The Isle of Bluut. 

Piracy and sea travel are huge themes in this supplement. You can commandeer your own ship and travel around to the many uncharted islands around Bluut. But watch out for pirates, sea monsters, and the Ghost Ship!

There's also a new system for you to sell your treasure that you collect, as well as Artifacts, powerful items that give you awesome boons. 

There's an uncharted island generator to keep things interesting, and plenty of new locations to explore.

There are 2 new playable Tribes: The Strongtooths, a heavy melee class, and the Volcanosas, a psychic class. They play totally differently and have their own strengths and weaknesses.

I also included some new Patrons and Villains. There's a bit of lore but not nearly as much as in Goliath. The Isle of Bluut is pretty small. Most of the appeal of it will be from sea travel.

I hope if you liked Goliath you'll give The Isle Of Bluut a chance! And thank you to everyone who has downloaded Goliath! You guys are awesome!

Monster Heroes: An In-Depth Look

 

Hi everyone! I just released three new games, or rather one game and two supplements for it. They’re called Monster Heroes, Cozy Monster Heroes, and Monster Heroes City Life.

 

In Monster Heroes, you play as a heroic monster fighting against the villainous humans. It’s a skill-based system. There is no leveling up. Instead, you use XP that you collect from defeating enemies and completing quests to purchase skills that upgrade and enhance your character. You can choose from six monstrous ancestries: The Witch, The Cyclops, The Demon, The Alien, The Vampire, and The Banshee. Each ancestry comes with their own weapon that they use.

 

The magic system uses MP, or Magic Points, kind of like in a video game rpg. You start out using a d4 for magic, but there is a skill that you can purchase with your XP to make your magic stronger.

 

There is of course dungeon delving and overworld exploration. This game uses a hex map, with the city of Monstropolis at the center of it. But you generate your own hex map, so yours would look totally different than mine.

 

There’s a simple Alchemy system where you collect ingredients and turn them into potions. You can forage for ingredients or find them when you kill monsters.

Best of all, it’s FREE on itchio!

Let’s talk about the supplements.

Cozy Monster Heroes is the first supplement. It features six new ancestries: The Orc, The Goblin, The Zombie, The Skeleton, The Harpy, and The Robot. Each new ancestry comes with their own kind of weapon.

It also features 8 new skills for you to spend XP on.

The goal of Cozy Monster Heroes is to make the game cozy, like a farming video game. It’s heavily inspired by Stardew Valley. You can spend your days in Cozy Town farming, fishing, hunting, or taking care of livestock. It adds a Stamina system so you can’t do everything you want in a single day. You must be a little strategic about it.

There are also holidays and a simple relationship system.

You can build your own house on your plot of land room by room. Each room gives you a benefit.

It’s really a lot of fun if you like cozy stuff.

It’s only $2 on itchio.

Let’s talk about the last supplement.

Monster Heroes City Life is a little bit cozy and little bit tactical. It includes the Stamina system from the last supplement for exploring the city, but also includes things like skirmishes on the hex map, mass combat battles that can be up to 40 vs 40 characters.

First, the cozy: You can run a business in City Life! It teaches you how to hire employees and train them to sell the treasures you receive from adventuring. You could sell them for up to quadruple the original selling price! You can also explore the city, and there’s 20 city events you could possibly run into.

Next, you could compete in a gladiator match. That’s not really cozy, but it’s a lot of fun doing one on one battles and seeing what opponents you can generate.

You could explore the sewers of Monstropolis and defeat the Rat King for a whopping 3 XP! It’s a challenging battle.

You could run into invading human soldiers on the hex map. This initiates a skirmish. Skirmishes are where you and the enemy use up to four units of soldiers (a unit is 10 soldiers) in a battle against each other. The rules are kind of complicated, at least compared to the rules I make normally, so you’ll just have to purchase the supplement if you want to know how mass combat works in my game.

It's only $2 on itchio.

I had so much fun creating this game and its supplements. It, like all my projects, is a work of passion. I really enjoy monsters, and I wanted to make them a little more cozy and accessible to Players. I wanted a reversal where humans are the villains and monsters are the good guys.

I hope you enjoy it!

Monster Heroes

I've had a productive few days. I've published the core rulebook for Monster Heroes, as well as its supplement, Cozy Monster Heroes.

Monster Heroes is a TTRPG where you play as monsters fighting the villainous humans who have invaded your land. You delve into dungeons, spend XP to learn new skills, and explore a hex map that you create.

You have 6 monstrous ancestries to choose from and 28 skills in the core game. 

It's a game for 1-5 players and can be played solo without a Game Master.

Cozy Monster Heroes turns Monster Heroes into a cozy game. It's inspired by Stardew Valley by Eric Barone and Iron Valley by M. Kirin.

You can farm, raise livestock, make friends, hunt, fish, and run a stall selling your treasures you hoarded in the base game. You also build your own home to your specifications, room by room. 

You can also celebrate birthdays and holidays, as well as train a pet who will accompany you on your adventures.

I hope you will enjoy playing Monster Heroes. I put a lot of passion and love into both projects. The core game is free and can be downloaded here. Cozy Monster Heroes is $4 and can be downloaded here.

Madcaps

In the land of Melinoe, the Dark Bishops have no idea that they are in a prison of their own design. The Other Gods laugh at their futile attempts at more power, and the commonfolk suffer. Clerics travel the land, spreading the word of the Thirteen, while the Thirteen weave their petty plots in the heavens. The Madcaps are the only ones who truly persevere in this purgatorial world, defeating beasts, exorcising ghosts, and capturing criminals. Yet with each Job completed, the Madcaps slide a little deeper into their traumas and madness...

This is a game of bounty hunters called Madcaps. In this game, you will complete Jobs each month and try to survive the horrors of the Spirit World. Loosely based on Ravenloft, The Madcaps Of Melinoe is a horror-fantasy adventure TTRPG for 1-5 players. It can be played solo without a Game Master, one on one with a Game Master, or in a group of 2-5 players.

In this game, you will:

Use a d20 to resolve all checks in a simple system even beginners to TTRPGs can understand

Combat terrifying monsters and beasts with spells, psychic abilities, and skills unique to each class 

Adventure alongside a Familiar

Level up to Level 20, creating a distinctive character all along the way

Choose from 8 Classes (Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Ranger, Monk, Psychic, Priest, and Druid), then Multiclass

Explore a dark world full of danger and excitement

Create a Madcap strong enough or clever enough to survive the creatures of the Fog

You can find The Madcaps Of Melinoe on itchio here.

That's the gist of my new game The Madcaps of Melinoe. It's a project I've worked on for years, off and on. The lore is inspired by Ravenloft but it has a much different vibe. It is my first full game to not be free and have a price: $5, although right now on itchio it's on sale for $2.50 to celebrate its publishing.

Again, I've used Inkarnate to create the map of Melinoe, which is available when you purchase in a separate PDF. I've also included character sheets for your Madcap and one for your Familiar. 

I got the idea for Melinoe because I was a little obsessed with 2e Ravenloft for a while. There were just so many books available for it! My favorite was the Carnival book. It has very few mechanics but a ton of fluff and I enjoyed it immensely. As a writer, I'm all about the fluff in TTRPGs. But as a creator, I've grown to appreciate the mechanics in systems as well. 

While I am a rules-light creator, I enjoy the process of coming up with new rules and seeing how they fit into the lore of the world I've created. I had a lot of fun adapting Colossus's d20 system for The Madcaps Of Melinoe. 

In The Madcaps, however, you have six Ability Scores instead of just three like in Colossus. I really wanted to have more options for how enemies could attack you or how you could affect the world around you with Ability Checks.

I also wanted to increase the difficulty of enemies to really highlight how dangerous Melinoe is. I think I've succeeded in that. I've added a simple Madness system that is affected only by certain types of enemies. 

There is no relationship system in this game, unlike in Goliath and Colossus. Instead, if you're playing solo, you create and manage four different characters rather than just one Main Character. I've also added the option for Group Play right off the bat in the book.

I hope you'll give The Madcaps Of Melinoe a chance, especially while it's on sale for the next 30 days!

Goliath Released!

 

Hi everyone! On Wednesday, I did something spectacular: I published my second solo TTRPG! After years of hard work for the lore of this world, I finally published Goliath in some form! And it’s in my favorite form, as a solo TTRPG!

In Goliath, you start off as a student at the illustrious fighting school, Darkday Academy, where you will attend class, go on clandestine missions for the headmaster, and make friends. At Level 5 you graduate the academy and become a Warven, a kind of mercenary, and the game opens up into a sandbox where you can explore anywhere, join guilds, find patrons, and even fall in love!

The level cap is 20 so you have 15 levels of explorations and sidequest goodness to play through.

The combat system is based on Four Against Darkness. I received permission from the creator to use his combat system in my game. It’s one of the things about Goliath I’m most excited about!

Let’s go through some of the different systems of the game.

In the academy, you attend class five days a week. Each class teaches a different Skill. The Skill may be halving fire damage or robbing bandits or more. If you don’t attend the classes enough to learn the skills you want in time for graduation, never fear! You can buy Skill Books as an adult to learn the same skills.

In the academy, you go on clandestine missions for the headmaster on the weekends. This is how you will gain XP and level up. There are a list of missions available in the rule book, or you can make your own. As an adult, you will go on missions for random people from random events, patrons, and guilds. The reward for completing these missions will be XP and whatever you deem narratively appropriate.

You can also raise a pet in this game. There are sixteen pets to choose from, from glowing geckos to big bears. Some of these, like horses, camels, and giant spiders, are mounts that help you get to locations a day faster. Others serve smaller uses, like rats can unlock tumblers or cats can catch Rations for you to eat. There is a training system that goes up to three bond levels.

Speaking of bonds, there are over 25 characters for you to befriend and possibly even fall in love with. You grow up with your friends at the academy and when you graduate, so do they. There are also mercenary allies you can recruit once you’re an adult.

Dungeon generation is as simple as rolling on a few tables. Alternatively, you can use your favorite geomorphs, like the ones that can be found in Ker Nethalas or Four Against Darkness. Either way, you draw the dungeon room by room. There is a search table and an event table for dungeons.

There are about 60 items you can collect, not counting all of the Special Weapons and Armors. These are divided in the categories common, uncommon, and rare and are placed on the treasure table when you defeat enemies. Everything from Teleport Stones to Elemental Gems that summon elementals to Magic Candy can be found after defeating enemies.

There’s a lot of lore in this game. 59 pages worth of characters and information before you get around to creating your character. But the lore is important! Knowing about the tribes will help you when you create and roleplay as your character.

Those are just a quick overview of some of the systems in the game. If you would like to play it, you can find it for free on itch.io and possibly soon on Drivethrurpg. I’ll keep you updated about the latter.

Here’s the link to Goliath on itch.io

Colossus: Enhanced

 Hi everyone and welcome back to my blog! Today I published a second set of supplemental rules for Colossus called Colossus: Enhanced. It is only $2 at itch.io. 

It features new airship rules for owning your own airship. It also features three new classes: the Hunter, the Punk, and the Explorer. I also introduce six new Scouts who you can befriend and who can join you on missions.

The supplemental rules also explain how to do group play for Colossus with one GM and 1-5 Players.

My favorite part of the new supplemental rules, though, is the Adopt A Squire system. With this, you can design your own Squire to learn from you and follow you on adventures from the time they are thirteen until the time they are eighteen. It's a way for you to design a second character to your liking. The Squire will grow up to be a Jack and just like the Main Character can have any skills or weapons.

With this release, I'm also finishing up things on Goliath. I also started an adventure supplement for Colossus that will feature a number of adventures that can be played solo or in a group.

Here is an example of one of the adventures that will be in the supplement:

Wagon Trail

A group of 48 farmers need escorts for their wagons. There are twelve wagons in all. They will pay 100 credits for each wagon that makes it to Acrid Acropolis. They need to pass from the Smokeys into the Sable Lands. The route is very dangerous, full of bandits and feral mutants. Recommended level: 4, recommended party number: 4

 

Be sure to prepare for the trip with the appropriate amount of Rations!

 

It will take eight days of almost constant travel to reach Acrid Acropolis from Quet City. At the beginning of each day roll for the weather. If it is storming, you cannot travel that day and must seek shelter. If it is storming, you still need Rations for that day. 

 

On Day One, the wagons are stopped by 5 bandits. They announce they are working for the bandit king, King Ilso and they demand a toll from each of the forty-eight farmers. You may fight them or pay them 480 credits. If you defeat them in combat, at least one will escape and tell his comrades about what happened. 

 

If you just pay the toll, they will still inform the bandit king of the wagon train.

 

On Day One at night you may choose a single camp action.

 

On Day Two the wagons are stopped again by 7 bandits demanding once more a toll from each of the farmers. You may pay the toll and avoid a fight, or simply initiate combat. If you win combat, this time you kill all of the bandits. Little do you realize, there is a mysterious figure watching from a distance…

 

On Day Two at night you may choose a single camp action.

 

On Day Three you encounter a wagon that has been turned over in the middle of the road. It will take too much time to maneuver the wagon trail around the accident. Use a Strength check to move the cart out of the way, or add another day of travel.

 

On Day Three at night you may choose a single camp action.

 

On Day Four the first wagon in the wagon train is attacked by 4 Feral Mutants. Check Dexterity to see if you make it in time to fight them off, or if they destroy the wagon, leaving eleven wagons left to finish the trail. The less wagons that make it to Acrid Acropolis, the less credits you make!

 

On Day Four at night you may choose a single camp action.

 

On Day Five you encounter 6 bandits that swoop in and attack the wagons. For every round of combat starting with round 2, another wagon is destroyed until you defeat the bandits. If all the wagons are destroyed, you have failed the mission.

 

On Day Five at night you may choose a single camp action.

 

On Day Six you encounter a spring which will fully heal all of your wounds. You are so busy drinking from it and bathing in it you don't notice the figure in the distance…

 

On Day Seven the bandit king, Ilso, stops the wagon train. He has two of his bandit flunkies by his side. 

 

He demands you fight him one-on-one. For the first two rounds of combat, it IS one-on-one. On round three however his bandit sidekicks join the fight. It isn’t until round four that your companions can join in on the fight, too.

 

Name: Ilso

Type: Human

HP: 20

Morale: 20

SAVE: 10

Armor: 1

Attack: Sword (d8)

Description: Ilso is the bandit leader on the route between the Smokeys and the Sable Lands. He is a vicious fighter who enjoys taunting his enemies, but at heart he is a coward who will call upon his lackeys when it seems he’s losing.

 

If you win, you continue on your journey. If you lose, you die, and all of the wagons are stripped of their goods and the farmers are killed.

 

On Day Seven at night you may choose a single camp action.

 

On Day Eight you reach Acrid Acropolis. The happy farmers will pay you 100 credits per wagon that survived the trail.

 

Current Projects

Hi everyone! I just wanted to update you all on what I’m currently working on projects-wise.

First off, I’m formatting and developing the layout for my new solo TTRPG Goliath. Like Colossus, it will be free once it’s published. Goliath is heavily inspired by Four Against Darkness and is set in a fantasy world with over 10 character tribes to choose from. It has some of the same features as Colossus, such as a relationship system, but it feels and plays like a brand new game. If you’re a fan of Four Against Darkness, hopefully you’ll give this game a shot. I’ll post more about it soon.

The next project I’m working on is a second supplemental PDF for Colossus. I plan for this PDF to have brand new rules and to feature some new classes and weapon types. If all goes to plan, it should also feature group play for Colossus.

The third project I’m working on is converting Beyond The Wall & Other Adventures into a solo game. I love playing solo, even games like Fabula Ultima and Perils & Princesses that weren’t meant to be played solo. Beyond The Wall is my latest experiment. Hopefully it will be a great experience. I’m loving the rules and vibe of it so far!

I’m also working on adding excerpts of my solo playthroughs of different games to my blog. Keep checking back; I’ll have some posted soon!

Those are my current projects I’m working on. I’ll keep you updated as more ideas form into my head. Don’t forget to check out Colossus on itchio! I’ll leave a link at the bottom of the page. As always, it’s a free game and it might just be what you’re looking for!

Colossus by Sarah Solo

Colossus Upgraded

Hi everyone and welcome back to my blog! Today I wanted to talk about the upcoming supplement PDF for Colossus- Colossus: Upgraded.

It will have a bevy of new and expanded rules that are completely optional for Colossus. The rules I'm most excited for are the Road Rage Battles, or vehicle battles. There will also be ten more Miracles to learn, seven new special weapons, three new classes, a homebuilding system, and more!

Why am I releasing this so soon after releasing Colossus? The rules for Colossus are made to be malleable and easy to add to or take away from. I want to give players optional rules to enhance their game, or maybe just to inspire them to come up with more diverse stories and experiences with the game.

Unlike Colossus, this won't be free. This supplement will total at $2. That's it. Because the rules are optional, I thought having a small price tag for it wouldn't be asking too much. Plus I want as many people as possible to feel they can afford to play the new and expanded rules!

The core game will remain free or pay what you want.

So far the game has over 130 downloads and it's only day two! I'm very excited where all this is going and hopefully soon I'll start to hear feedback from players about how they felt about my game.

The supplemental rules have kept me busy. I also have a second supplement in mind tentatively called Colossus: Atlus. It will have more details of the locations of the Spire and will have rules for group play. But that one is still just an idea bumping around in my noggin for now as I work on these first supplemental rules.

I really want people to be able to play Colossus the way I do if they want. That's another reason I'm releasing these supplemental rules so soon. Hopefully they'll feel these new rules are necessary enough to players that they won't mind the $2 price tag.

I hope you have a wonderful day and check back soon because I'm planning on posting more reviews, gameplay excerpts, and more!

Bizarre

Hi everyone! I want to thank everyone again who downloaded my new game, Colossus! This is really making my dreams come true to see so many people interested in this passion project of mine!

Today I want to talk about how I came up with the concept for Colossus. It was in the magical land of 2013 in a place called Ohio. I had just moved there the year before and was separated from my friends and family in Louisiana. All I had was time to myself, and I used that time to write fiction. I wrote tons of stories and first drafts I never published, but one such story I DID publish: A novella named Bizarre. 

Bizarre is the tale of a Scout who ventures into the Tower of Eden for a mysterious purpose, led there by a talking serpent. The Scout's goal is to reach the top of the Tower, and he goes floor by floor encountering both new allies and danger all while remembering his tragic past that connects to the present events.

Bizarre acts as a prequel to the events of Colossus. It's set about fifty years before. After I wrote Bizarre, I attempted to write a book called Colossus, which is how I came up with the lore and characters of the Spire. 

Alas, I never finished the novel Colossus, but I kept all my notes. Years later when I found TTRPGs, I decided to make my own and wanted a unique setting. I remembered Colossus and found my old notes, and the results are here on itch.io for you for free.

If you want to read Bizarre, you can find it under my dead pen name Sarah Osborn on Draft2Digitial online for $2.99. It's a relatively short story and even though it reeks of my 19 year old sense of self it's still very close and dear to my heart.

It's not necessary reading in order to play Colossus, however. Feel free to skip it if novellas and heavy-handed allegories aren't your thing. But go ahead and give Colossus a chance if you're a solo gamer who loves Post-Apocalyptic action.

Colossus: Just Published!

 Hi everyone and welcome back to my blog! Exciting news: I just published my very first TTRPG on itch.io! It's Colossus and I've already had 12 downloads since I posted it last night!

I'm so happy with the way Colossus turned out. The pdf is nothing fancy, just the rules and lore, but it took me quite a bit of work to organize them and lay them out the way I wanted. Overall, it was a great process and I can't wait to do it again for my next TTRPG, whatever that may be.

I'm currently working on organizing the rules for Goliath. I also have some plans for some supplements for Colossus banging around in my head a little bit. But mostly, I just want to PLAY. I plan on trying out Beyond The Wall And Other Adventures solo next. I made a hexmap for it and encounters and characters and a little bit of world lore.

My fiance bought me Beyond The Wall because he wanted me to play a game that was a little simpler than the world's most popular TTRPG (you know which one I'm talking about). So far it DOES seem simple, and I like that for playing solo. It also has its own vibe, which if you've read my stuff for Perils & Princesses, you know I'm all about the vibes in a game. I'm really excited to play it, and I'll post updates on my progress and thoughts about the game here on the blog.

Back to Colossus: It's here! It's finally here! I'll include a link to my itch.io account where you can download it for free! That's right: It's free! You can leave a donation if you wish but that's just up to you. I didn't make it for the money; I made it because I love it and want others to experience it too. It really was a labor of love making it and writing the rules and organizing everything.

So what's included in Colossus?

13 Character Classes!

Over 20 characters to interact with and fight alongside of!

The Alchemy skill, that lets you make grenades, tonics, and potions!

A friendship system!

A magic system: Miracles! 20 spells to learn!

A simple d20 combat system!

Over 40 enemies!

About 300 Wilderness, Dungeon, and Urban events!

And so much more!

So please, give it a shot. It's free and you can't beat that kind of pricing, right? It might just change the way you play solo TTRPGs. It certainly did for me.

https://sarahrblount1.itch.io/colossus