8.0 Combat

Cases:

8.1 Joining Combat

8.11 Once combat has been joined, it must be continued until all the adventurers or all the monsters are dead. The party may not back out in the middle of a fight that's going badly.

8.12 If it has been determined that the party is going to fight a group of monsters, arrange counters for the monsters in front of the party's marching order as described below.

8.13 If there are three or more monsters, place the three monsters with the highest number of Wound Points in front of the party's first row. A Player may choose which of these monsters are placed in front of which party members. Place any remaining monsters in a row behind the first row of monsters.

8.14 If there are two or fewer monsters, place all of them in front of the party's first row.

8.2 Combat Sequence

8.21 Combat between the party and a group of monsters consists of a number of Combat Rounds, each of which is divided into several Phases. At the end of each Combat Round, a new Combat Round is begun, until either the party or the monsters are dead. The Combat Round Sequence is as follows:

8.22 Party Combat Phase: Each member of the party who is in the front row may attack a monster in the monsters' front row. Any party members in the second row who have bows or throwing daggers may shoot their bows or throw their daggers at monsters in the monsters' front row. (In the Advanced Game, any spell-casting by Wizards also take place now). Combat results are applied immediately.

8.23 Monster Combat Phase: Each monster in the front row may attack a party member in the party's front row. Any monster in the second row who have bows may attack party members in the party's front row.

8.24 Party Reorganization Phase: A Player may move one adventurer from one row in the party's marching order to another adjacent row in the marching order. However, at the end of this movement, no row may contain more than three adventurers. If the party's front row contains one or zero adventurers, one (only) adventurer from the second row (if any) must be moved into the front row.

8.25 Monster Reorganization Phase: If the monsters' front row contains fewer than three monsters, one monster from the second row (if there is a second row) must be moved into the front row. No other monster movement may take place.

8.3 Opponents

8.31 If during a Party Combat Phase there are as many monsters in the monster front line as adventurers in the party's front line, each adventurer in the front line must attack his opposite number — i.e., the monster immediately in front of him. During the Monster Combat Phase, the monsters will also attack their opposite numbers.

8.32 If during a Party Combat Phase there are more or fewer adventurers in the party's front line than monsters in the monsters' front line, each adventurer in the front line must attack the monster that is closest to him. If there are two or more monsters that are equally close to an adventurer, a Player may have the adventurer attack either monster.

8.33 If during a Monster Combat Phase there are more or fewer monsters in the monsters' front line than adventurers in the party's front line, each monster must attack the adventurer that is closest to him. If there are two adventurers that are equally close to the monster, a Player must roll 1D6. On a roll of 1-3, the monster attacks the rightmost adventurer, and on 4-6, the monster attacks the leftmost adventurer.

8.34 During a Party Combat Phase, any adventurers in the second row who have bow or throwing daggers may attack monsters in the front line. An adventurer firing a bow or throwing a dagger may fire at any monster in the monsters' front line, at the option of the controlling Player.

8.35 During a Monster Combat Phase, any monsters in the monsters' second row who have bows must attack adventurers in the party's front line. If there is only one adventurer in the front line, monsters with bows automatically attack him; if there are two adventurers in the front line, roll 1D6 and use the procedure outlined in 8.33 to determine which is attacked; if there are three adventurers, roll 1D6 — on a roll of 1-2, the monster attacks the rightmost adventurer; on 3-4, he attacks the center adventurer; on 5-6, he attacks the leftmost adventurer. Roll separately for each firing monster.

Examples (three diagrams, each with the monsters' row on top, numbered 1 to 3 left to right, and the party's row below):

• A. Three Cronks (1, 2, 3) face three Heroes (1, 2, 3) in the party's front row, directly opposite one another.
• B. Three Cronks (1, 2, 3) face two Heroes (1, 2), the Heroes standing between the Cronks' positions.
• C. Three Cronks (1, 2, 3) face a single Hero in the party's front row, opposite Cronk 2.

In example A, Hero 1 would attack Cronk 1; Hero 2, Cronk 2; Hero 3, Cronk 3; and vice versa.

In example B, Hero 1 would have the choice of attacking either Cronk 1 or Cronk 2; and Hero 2 could attack either Cronk 2 or Cronk 3. Cronk 1 would attack Hero 1; a die would be rolled for Cronk 2, who would attack Hero 1 on a roll of 1-3 and Hero 2 on a roll of 4-6; and Cronk 3 would attack Hero 2.

In example C, the Hero could attack any one of the three Cronks. All three Cronks would be forced to attack the Hero.

If, in example C, the top row consisted of Heroes and the bottom row of a Cronk, the Heroes could only attack the Cronk. During the Cronk's Monster Combat Phase, the Cronk would attack Hero 2.

8.4 Attacking

8.41 Before the party enters combat, a Player must determine which of his two weapons each adventurer is using. An adventurer may change his weapons during any Party Combat Phase, but may not make an attack in that Phase.

8.42 During the Party Combat Phase, determine which monster each adventurer is attacking, and then resolve each attack.

8.43 To resolve an adventurer's attack, determine what weapon he is using. Refer to his Character Record, and roll 1D6. If the character has Weapon Skill with the weapon he is using (e.g., is wielding a sword and has "+1 Sword" under Weapon Skill on his Record), add the Skill to the die-roll. If the adventurer is wielding a magical weapon, add the weapon's Combat Bonus to the die-roll. Refer to the Combat Results Table (see 8.7) and find the weapon along the top of the table and the modified die-roll along the left side. Cross-reference the two to yield a result. This result will be in the form of a number between 0 and 4. (Results are explained in Case 8.45).

8.44 When a monster attacks during the Monster Combat Phase, determine the Combat Bonus on the monster's counter. If the Bonus is "W," the monster is wielding a weapon. Refer to the Monster Weapons Table (see 8.8) to find out what the weapon is. (If a monster has two weapons, one of these will be a bow. The monster will use the bow if it is in the second row of the monsters' marching order, but his other weapon if in the first row. Monsters with two weapons may change from one weapon to the other, and may attack in the Combat Phase in which they change weapons, unlike adventurers.) For weapon-wielding monsters, follow the procedure outlined in 8.43. For other monsters, roll 1D6 and add the monster's Combat Bonus to the die-roll. Refer to the Combat Results Table (see 8.7) and find the word "monster" at the top of the table and the modified die-roll along the side. Cross-reference the two to yield a result, again in the form of a number between 0 and 4.

8.45 The attacked monster or adventurer immediately suffers as many Wounds as the number obtained on the Combat Results Table. A Player must keep a running tally of the number of Wounds each adventurer and monster has suffered.

8.46 Each adventurer and monster has a Wound Point Total. For adventurers, this total is listed under "Wound Points" on the Character Record. For monsters, this total is determined by the procedure outlined in 7.14. If the total number of Wounds an adventurer or monster suffers in combat is equal to or greater than his Wound Point Total, the adventurer or monster is dead. Remove the appropriate counter from play. This will leave an empty place in the front row which may be filled by an adventurer or monster from the second row during the appropriate Reorganization Phase.

8.47 When an adventurer makes an attack from the second row with a throwing dagger, he is considered to have physically thrown his dagger. A throwing dagger may only be thrown once in a single combat sequence; daggers may be retrieved after all combat is ended. An unarmed adventurer (one who has thrown a dagger) may switch to his other weapon without spending a Combat Phase switching weapons. Bows may be used any number of times. If an adventurer has no weapons (because both of his weapons were throwing daggers and have been thrown), he may not make any further attacks during that combat sequence.

8.5 Reorganization

8.51 During the Monster Reorganization Phase, one monster is moved from the monsters' second row to the front row, if and only if there are two or fewer monsters in the front row and at least one in the second row. In this case, a monster in the second row which is closest to the gap in the monsters' front row is moved forward. If two second-row monsters are equidistant, or if there are two gaps, a die is rolled to determine which one of the monsters moves (1-3, the rightmost monster; 4-6, the leftmost monster).

8.52 Imagine that each row in the party's marching order consists of three boxes, each box capable of holding one party member. During the Party Reorganization Phase, adventurers from the same row may be shifted from one box to another in the same row, as long as no adventurer's counter is moved over or through another counter. (Obviously, this means that no shifting can take place if there are three adventurers in a single row). In addition to this movement, one adventurer may be moved from his row to a row ahead of or behind the one he occupies. This adventurer may first be shifted as described above; after this first move, he may then either move to the imaginary box immediately in front of or behind that box, or to a box diagonally adjacent to it.

Only one such movement may take place in a single Reorganization Phase. If there is only one adventurer in the front row, this movement must be made by the adventurer closest to the front row in the direction of the front row (preferably, a movement by an adventurer in the second row into the front row). If there are two or three adventurers in the front row, this movement may be made by any adventurer in any direciton. Exception: If there are two adventurers in the front row, neither may move back to the second row.

8.53 These imaginary boxes are used only for movement purposes. After movement, rearrange both front lines so that as many monsters and adventurers' counters touch on each other as possible. See Diagram B.

8.6 Experience

After all monsters in a group have been killed, total the number of Wound Points the monsters had before combat began, and multiply this number by six. Divide the resulting number by the number of adventurers who remain alive, rounding any fractions down; each living adventurer receives this number of Experience Points. Example: Three skeletons, with 2, 3, and 4 Wound Points respectively, are defeated. This is a total of 9 Wound Points which multiplied by six yields 54. If there are three living adventurers, each adventurer will receive 18 Experience Points. Also, see 10.12. Exception: Charmed monsters do not count as party members when calculating Experience Points (see 9.45).

8.7 Combat Results Table

(see charts and tables)

8.8 Monster Weapons Chart

(see charts and tables)

8.9 Evil Heroes

Evil Heroes, unlike all other monsters but like some adventurers, have Weapon Skills with swords. When an Evil Hero is encountered, roll 1D6. The resulting number is the Evil Hero's Weapon Skill with his sword, and will be added to the Evil Hero's combat die-roll each time he attacks. Note: The "+1D6 Sword" under Evil Hero on the Monster Weapon's Chart refers to this ability, not to a Magical Weapon.