# Clay Golem vs Tarrasque: FIGHT! tags: #thoughts Apparently we are back to me finding a thread on social media that inspires a longer thought… this time on, of all things, the way tarrasque are handled.    So here's the thing, I *know* up front that this is going to turn into a much longer thing later—an actual article with sections and citations which runs through how to handle a [tarrasque](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/17034-tarrasque?srsltid=AfmBOopnuVubUO7CUUd5n9GglWWRUiL05zoZbGJaqj0QTj7XtEqGL-RC) in various systems. I can see it already in my mind. That will link to this thought, and thus be findable should you stumble back in here at a later time. It's one of the great things about having your own personal wiki. Everything is interlinked. ![[Terrasque vs Clay Golem.jpg]] But for the moment, let me just say I am pleased with the way that more modern RPG designs deal with damage and impediment as compared to classic **[[Dungeons and Dragons]]**. This is a much bigger deal than people often talk about because almost *nobody* talks about comparative damage systems. Everybody knows that hit points, as an abstract representation of ongoing damage, whether you imagine it as strictly physical or see it as the slow erosion of plot armor, do a shitty job. We all know that half of every fantasy heartbreaker is trying to work around that particular failing and just coming up with solutions which are equally bad. In my mind, the secret is the transition from the idea that the mechanics represent some sort of *abstracted physical model* to an underlying understanding that the mechanics represent an *underlying fictional narrative model* so that the mechanics themselves are intended to facilitate the experiential fiction, not to delineate the markers of a physical simulation. There *is* simulation occurring, but it's simulation of story, not simulation of physics. This is a huge, huge change. I feel like I'm scribbling in the marginalia, *["There is a proof for this, but I will show it later,"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_Last_Theorem)* and that people 100 years in the future will be wondering what my solution was if I *don't* write it down in an article between now and then. It is a measure of my perversity that such is exactly my inclination, to leave it unsaid and merely make people wonder and set artificial intelligence on trying to come up with what I actually meant. Anyway, in the theoretical upcoming article I will break down how to deal with the terrasque in three different systems: **D&D**, **[[Fantasy World]]** (representing *[[Blades in the Dark|Forged in the Dark]]* systems), and **[[Ironsworn - Starforged|Starforged: Sundered Isles]]** (representing a further evolution down that line). The first one will be the shortest, I can guarantee you. However, I will talk about how original **[[Chainmail]]** approaches would solve the problem more effectively than modern **D&D**, which should come as a surprise to everyone. There will be a clay golem involved in each one, I promise.