A Castle, A Journal – Review: Colostle

Colostle is a solo TTRPG where you explore a vast castle, with oceans, lands, and cities within its walls. You draw cards each turn in two phases, Exploration and (optionally) Combat to see what your character encounters and resolve the challenges. You’ve got a quest you’re working towards which has inspired your journey, but you’ll also get distracted by the other inhabitants of the castle – both humans and Rooks, huge stone guardians you may need to fight.

I’ve started playing and reviewing solo games, with a particular eye to using them as sources of inspiration for group play; or at least to focus on the act of play itself. Patrons can also see my (rough and ready) play notes of the game. I played Colostle for a couple of hours, and took only brief notes as I played – but did a lot of thinking about it as I did.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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The Cult of the New – playing new games in 2025

As we creep towards the festive season and the end of the year, I’m looking over my 2025 gaming spreadsheet. It’s looking in fine fettle at the moment – with 96 sessions logged, I’m on track to meet my 100-session target for the year; which I’m pleased with, especially as I had most of January off. I’ve tracked my games since 2020, and it’s a great way to look at patterns of play – and also to remember the times at the table! So, as I fiddle with COUNTIFs and Filters, I’m digging into the stats a bit – including the 37 new games that I played or ran in 2025.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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The Form Factor – alternatives to the 4 hour Session

Regular readers of this blog will know that one of the things I always say is that sessions, and campaigns, should be shorter. On bluesky a few weeks ago, I went further – somebody asked what the biggest issue stopping TTRPGs becoming more popular was (as you’d expect, many answers ironically identified D&D5e as the problem) – and I said the session paradigm. I think shorter one-shots would help – to be able to demo a game in an hour and a half, like a movie. Also, the endless epic campaign (that, realistically, never finishes). 

Campaigns should be 4-12 sessions – if you like it, take a rest and come back for another season – but that’s another blog post. Here’s some really good forms of play that you can actually do, and give slightly different gaming experiences. 

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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