Flying Ostriches & Floating Castles
A downloadable solo rpg
Flying Ostriches & Floating Castles is a Solo or Player vs Player tabletop roleplaying game.
Steady your lance and take off on the back of your trusty ostrich to explore a world suspended among the clouds. Joust renegade knights and battle fearsome aerial monsters. Collect treasures of questionable value and discover the strange remnants of a vanished civilization that may yet return one day. Make small talk with a flying turtle. Trust me, it all comes together nicely.
Features
- Complete Solo or Player vs Player system
- Streamlined, self-contained rules — no need to consult any other rulebooks
- Explore a procedurally-generated hexagon map
- Face off against 25 different fearsome foes — some in melee, some in jousts
- Build strange new weapons and devices from the ancient technology buried in the clouds
- Find fabulous enchanted weapons to assist you on your travels
- 6 different character backgrounds, each with their own unique abilities and attributes
- 6 Advanced Skills with ways to get better
- Roll up a character within minutes, buy some gear, then set off into the wild blue yonder
The rules are based on Troika!, but are simplified and streamlined for ease of play. As soon as you create a character you can start playing. Random tables build your world as you explore, populating it with mysterious castles, treasure-laden but treacherous mountain peaks, and omen-cursed cloud islands where ancient technologies whir and thrum just beneath the surface. It is designed to be low-impact in terms of both prep and propelling the adventure forward, but still rich with possibilities. There is always something to do.
This game incorporates exploration, resource management, and combat, all combined into a fast-paced, challenging but light rpg that you can dip into for a quick excursion or clear your schedule for an extended adventure. There is an overarching story for you to unravel involving the ancient race of giants that built castles on solid clouds, but you can totally ignore it if you’d rather just fly around and fight and find stuff.
This game comes with:
- Complete and extensively hyperlinked Ruleset (rules and descriptions) and Appendices (random tables, treasure and stats for enemies) in one PDF, including the rules for Exploring Castles — that's 68 pages packed with content
- Hex map to print out and draw all over
- Character Sheet
- Encounter Sheet for keeping track of combat
- Printable files for zine and 3-ring binder versions in both 8.5" x 11" and A4 formats
What’s This About Exploring Castles?
That’s right, as part of the Appendices there is an entire additional supplement for exploring the strange and ominous floating castles perched precariously among the clouds. It’s basically a game within a game, a procedural dungeon crawl in an ancient labyrinthine, dreamlike castle that offers more areas to explore, more treasures to discover, and another 20 enemies and traps to overcome.
Flying Ostriches & Floating Castles is inspired by and dedicated to: wondering if you made the right decision to turn to one page versus another in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook; trying to explore Telengard without getting killed immediately (or running into a teleporter. Or a pit. Or a Hobbit that steals the one good magic item you managed to find); mapping out an Infocom text adventure on graph paper with little boxes and lines; and (last but not least) aiming right for the eye of the pterodactyl in Joust.
Disclaimer
Flying Ostriches & Floating Castles is an independent production by Low Spirits Press and is not affiliated with the Melsonian Arts Council
Purchase
In order to download this solo rpg you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $10 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- New Discord server25 days ago
- Typos fixed!Sep 28, 2024
- Fixed 8.5"x11" print zine page order!Aug 25, 2024
- Some small fixes and a GMless screenFeb 21, 2024
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Hi, loving the game so far, but had a question regarding the turbulence sky feature. Is the intent that upon discovering turbulence, that hex will always contain turbulence? Or should I roll to relocate, and then make a Hex Map roll again next time I return to that hex?
Hi! Sorry for the late reply, I just got the notification of your comment today. Anyway, the intention was that the hex will always contain turbulence and be a permanent hazard. However, if it makes more sense to you or makes a better game to roll again on the Hex Map (like, narratively the turbulence subsided by the next time you return to that hex), then I would say do that instead. I may decide to revisit the rules for Turbulence and Thunderstorms some time in the future (I do have plans to release expansion rules at some point), so if you have an opinion please do let me know! Thanks for commenting, and I'm glad you're enjoying the game!
Hi! I just wanted to ask if you would ever consider (or have any interest in) making a small expansion to add 2 player co-op rules?! I would LOVE the ability to play this with a friend in a non-competitive setting.
As a matter of fact, I am working on an expansion that would allow for co-operative play (or a single player with multiple characters). Unfortunately, progress is SLOW (my plans include factions, mass combat, infiltrating enemy castles, new ancestries, new monsters, a magic system, just all kinds of stuff and while a lot of it is either written or at least sketched out, it's still far from finished).
However, you can play co-op with the game as-is. If you and the other player want to act autonomously, you can each take turns moving around the map wherever you like. If your friend is fighting for his life in one hex, you might come to his rescue and swoop into the same hex. Of course, maybe you'll decide that you have to roll for an encounter too, or maybe not. It really is up to you.
The other option is to act more like a party, and move simultaneously instead of each player taking turns, rolling just once for the party whenever you land in a new hex. In that case you may want to double-up on the enemies, or maybe some of those monsters are tough enough all by themselves! Or if you are challenged to a joust, you can depute one player to act for the party (being the most chivalrous solution).
Hopefully this gives you some ideas! If you decide to try co-op, please feel free to comment to tell me how it went or to ask questions. I'm happy to help!
Omg, the expansion you're working on sounds AWESOME!!! Can't wait. Until then, the two solutions you've described sound like a great starting point for some house rules. Thank you so much! I'll for sure report back when we get around to playing.
Somehow I missed the kickstarter for this and would live to purchase a physical zine. Any plans to make a physical version available again?
I still have a few copies left over from the Kickstarter campaign, so you can certainly get a physical zine. I don't currently have an online shop, but you can email me at lowspiritspress@gmail.com for the details. Anyone else interested is also welcome to write, but I really do only have a handful of copies left!
Thanks. I emailed you.
I'd love a physical copy of this as well if you still have any left over. This sounds fun!
My first character just died, pushed his luck too far in an abandoned castle on a cloud island - while inside, he got locked in, and while figuring out the passcode to the door (by clicking the numbers randomly) he failed on the last number and attracted the attention of… himself!
He barely survived the fight with his doppelganger, was able to get the door open and flee to the exit, but then died one room from safety by an enemy that surprised him and thumped him on the back of his head.
This is amazing! It’s been a long time since I’ve been so impressed by a solo RPG. Can’t wait to do another run.
This is exceedingly cool! Thanks for posting this. I thoroughly enjoy hearing about people's experiences playing FO&FC. Exploring the castles may be my favorite aspect of the game -- I always get sucked into checking out just one more room. Anyway, I'm glad you're having fun with the game, and please feel free to post more of your adventures!
I bought this after watching The Dungeon Dive's video, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a wave of nostalgia hit me like a Joust lance to the face! My obsession with pixelated knights riding ostriches is still going strong apparently! Some things never change! <3
What's the best way to reach out for typos and clarifications?
Typos -- my eternal bane. I read that manuscript a million times, fixed all the typos, then made a million changes and put those typos right back in. Anyway, you can reach me here in the comments section for clarifications, or email me at lowspiritspress@gmail.com. Thanks for the typo list -- please do send any more you find. I will fix them on the printable versions in short order, but I may hold off on revising the hyperlinked PDF just because it is currently beyond my means to do so. However, if you find anything absolutely inexcusable I will certainly make the effort. Thanks again for spotting those!
That's great! I was unaware of the video, I shall have to watch it (and thank you for including the link). It's good to know the game is connecting with people, and to meet a fellow Joust obsessive!
Game looks great! Just to let you know, the pages in the spreads are wrong - the ruleset zine pdf. When printed booklet, page 19 and 10 are mixed up. Can we get non-spread single page PDF for printing booklets? Or can you fix the spreads? When printed and folded booklet style, page 9 is followed by 19, and then page 18 is followed by 10. This is in the main book. Everything else is right. Thanks!
Thanks for spotting this! I'm sorry you went through the bother of printing to find my mistake. I just fixed the spreads for ruleset zine print.pdf, and uploaded it now. Please do let me know if you spot anything else -- I'm happy to fix anything that needs fixing. And I'm glad you like the game!
no worries at all. Thank you.
When exploring a castle, my character ended up with "4" on the encounter track. He then needed to backtrack, so the encounter track kept ticking up, but the rules say only roll for an encounter at a "3" on the track. It seemed wrong to never get an encounter again because he backtracked, so I interpreted the rule as you roll for an encounter at any multiple of 3 (so on a "6" or "9" or "12", etc). If you could let me know if I did that right I would appreciate it.
Thanks for your question! You're basically correct; any time you reach "3" you would reset the track (there's multiple bubbles only so you don't have to erase so much). So at "3" you would have an encounter, and the extra "1" would roll over to the next set of three. Then, like you said, you would have an encounter on multiples of "3", and each room you backtrack adds "1" to the track. Hopefully I've explained that well enough! Feel free to alter any rule to suit your preferences, but it sounds like you're doing what I intended. I'm glad you're enjoying the game!
Thank you for clarifying. It's a very interesting game.
Just finished reading my Kickstarter copy. I’m excited to play. The only thing missing is the lava troll, reaching up to grab and ostrich knight!
Oh, I thought about including a lava troll, but couldn't quite fit it in. I'm thinking about including it in the expansion rules I'm working on now. Anyway, have fun on your first foray into the skies!