Cloak-and-Sword: the Terasque
Cloak-and-Sword is the name of a TTRPG system from 50 years ago, now lost media. I recovered this monster from GM session notes scribbled on a half-burnt stack of loose paper in my dead father’s attic.
Note: The Terasque, as my father ran it, is of inconsistent size, being whatever scale is the most mythically appropriate at any given moment. It seems to be simultaneously large enough to require siege weapons to deal with it, but also small enough to wrestle with a Herculean hero. As far as I can tell, it’s a different creature from Letarrasque, who is described as a mountain-sized dragon.
The Terasque is a huge, lumbering beast, a cross between an ox and a giant tortoise. It growls, spews smoke, tramples things over. Describe it to your players the way a 16th-century peasant would describe a monster truck. It does not give a shit about nearly anything. Killing the Terasque is worth 300 XP de Corps.
Every week, the Terasque has a 5-in-6 chance to move from its current region to a random connected region. No establishment in a region can be productive while the Terasque is present, no food or goods may be produced, no crops can be harvested, supply lines are disrupted, poets can’t write, singers can’t sing, all governments are in a deadlock, paralyzed by its presence. Each day there’s a 1-in-6 chance it besieges a random city, dealing 1d8 damage to each city resource.
The Terasque has 99 Elan (HP) and deals 1d20 damage to characters with its attacks. When it brings a character to 0 Elan, there’s a 50% chance it swallows them whole instead of outright killing them.
After the Terasque is killed, 1d6 friends and loved ones may be cut out of its belly.
The Terasque takes no damage when attacked normally.
Siege weapons deal 1d8 damage to the Terasque, and have a (100-Terasque’s current Elan)% chance of driving it away from its current location. It will hide in the forest and lick its wounds, roll 1d100 and if the result is higher than its current Elan, set its Elan to the result.
A character who holds Esprit for the Terasque deals 8 damage only when their attack rolls a perfect 8.
Anyone who knows someone who was killed or eaten by the Terasque may choose to hold Esprit for it.
Esprit for the Terasque is an obsessive fascination, a one-sided rivalry. All rules regarding a PC holding Esprit for an NPC are still in effect.
In addition, holding Esprit for the Terasque allows a PC to act as though they do not hold Esprit for any other characters so long as they are going out of their way to hunt for the Terasque or a way to kill the Terasque.
The Terasque is a poison-breathing monster. It has Fertility Type D. Its noxious breath renders crops and men infertile. To attack the Terasque, one must Save or inhale its breath, taking 1d4 Constitution damage.
The Terasque cannot hold Esprit except for priests and saints who have looked directly into its flaming eyes and seen that despite everything it’s just an animal. They may use the Esprit it has for them once, ever in their lives, to direct it away from an innocent person or a group of innocent people. The Terasque does not make reaction rolls.