The Reliques of Tolti-Aph — 14 of 57
Graham Nelson
Chapter 3 - Combat
Section 3(a) - Monsters are People Too
A person has a spell called defensive charm.
A person has a text called hand-to-hand combat method. The hand-to-hand combat method of a person is usually "with bare hands". A person has a die roll called unarmed combat hit dice. The unarmed combat hit dice of a person is usually 1d2.
A monster is a kind of person. A monster can be hostile or indifferent. A monster is usually hostile. Definition: A monster is scary if its strength is 50 or more. Definition: A monster is feeble if its strength is 10 or less. Some kinds of monster are defined by the Table of Monstrous Beasts.
Instead of asking a monster about something: say "[The noun] is unreachable on most levels."
After printing the name of a monster while looking: say " (STR [strength])".
Table of Monstrous Beasts
| name | strength | hand-to-hand combat method | unarmed combat hit dice | defensive charm |
| goblin | 5 | "pummeling its green fists" | 1d4 | -- |
| gnome | 2 | "slapping its feeble arms" | 1d2 | -- |
| centaur | 9 | "kicking its hooves" | 1d6 | -- |
| werespider | 7 | "clicking its mandibles" | 1d8+1 | -- |
| wyvern | 75 | "beating its clawed wings" | 2d8+5 | -- |
| half-orc | 9 | "burrowing with its claws" | 1d6 | -- |
| harpy | 15 | "swooping with its talons" | 2d6 | aerial shield |
| giant bat | 8 | "diving to bite" | 2d4 | aerial shield |
| basilisk | 4 | "staring with cursed eyes" | 4d6 | -- |
| purple worm | 7 | "biting with acidic teeth" | 2d6+1 | -- |
| gargoyle | 10 | "punching stone fists" | 1d8+1 | -- |
| cave troll | 14 | "swinging enormous fists" | 3d4 | -- |
| cave spectre | 12 | "throwing curses" | 2d4+3 | exorcise undead |
| marsh spectre | 18 | "throwing curses" | 4d4+3 | exorcise undead |
| skeletal warrior | 25 | "slicing with ghostly blades" | 2d6+3 | exorcise undead |
| green hydra | 32 | "ducking its heads in turn" | 3d8+3 | aerial shield |
| frost giant | 28 | "throwing deadly icicles" | 2d8+4 | inner warmth |
| elemental demon | 35 | "whirling with venom" | 4d4+2 | -- |
An elemental demon called Zoorl the Elemental Demon is indifferent.[1]
Every turn:
if Zoorl is in a room (called the haunt):
unless the haunt is the location:
now Zoorl is nowhere;
otherwise:
if Zoorl is indifferent and a hostile monster (called the victim) is in the location,
make Zoorl strike a blow against the victim.
Effect of casting web at a wyvern:[2]
record outcome "but the web is pathetically small compared to the great scale of the wyvern, and your efforts seem laughable";
rule succeeds.
Notes
[1]. Oh, the ennui of the underworld. The practical effect of this line is to create Zoorl and leave him out of play at the start of the game: he is the demon brought into being by the "summon elemental" spell.
[2]. It turns out to be convenient to have at least one monster which is basically proof against anything the player can throw at it, and that's the wyvern. In testing, it turned out that "web" gave a lucky player a chance to defeat a wyvern, which was inconvenient for the plot. So...