The Reliques of Tolti-Aph

Adventure Fantasy City RPG

Learn spells and fight monsters in this game inspired by Dungeons & Dragons.

The Reliques of Tolti-Aph
Author(s)	Graham Nelson
Publisher(s)	n/a
Release date(s)	01-Mar-2006
Authoring system	Inform 7
Platform(s)	Z-code
Language(s)	English
License(s)	Freeware
Multimedia
Color effects	none
Graphics	none
Sound/Music	none
Ratings
Cruelty scale	Cruel

How It Begins

You are a level 1 magic user. You have travelled long and hard and have finally arrived at Longwall Street on the southern edge of the fallen city of Tolti-Aph, deep within the forested island of Tholtaff. You are wearing a leather jerkin, and carry a dagger, a blank parchment, and a journal. You also have five spells committed to memory. You have come to Tolti-Aph to prove yourself, vowing to become a level 5 mage or never return.

Notable Features

• The commands undo and save are mostly suppressed. You may only save the game when the PC is in special safe locations. You're not supposed to use "undo" at all. Some Z-code interpreters implement a 'soft undo' that can be used, but this is considered cheating.
• The PC has level, experience, and strength statistics. The PC's level begins at 1; the goal of the game is to get to level 5. The level is increased by gaining experience, and experience is gained by defeating monsters, casting unfamiliar spells, and performing heroic or clever actions. The player's strength represents both his vitality for physical health and for casting spells; in most role-playing games, this would be understood as both his hit points and his mana points.
• The game implements a combat system that includes dice rolls assigned to weapons and monsters, a bonus-to-hit factor (based on the PC's level and sometimes his weapon), a damage reduction factor (based on the PC's clothing and magic items), the ability to make critical hits (double damage) or critical misses (PC drops his weapon), and saving rolls on certain difficult actions.
• The game implements a magic system that uses scrolls, magic items, material components, and the player's strength. Spells are learned from scrolls but not cast directly from them; once a spell is learned, it is learned forever. All spells have a strength cost. Many spells require a material component in the PC's inventory, and sometimes the spell will destroy the component.
• The game has a randomly-generated maze.

Trivia and Comments

• Sometimes refered to by the initialism ROTA.
• Inspired the following:
  • A Little Like Rogue (ifnyou; 2007; Z-code). A dungeon-crawl using the same "Woodpulp and Wyverns" combat system as ROTA.

Versions

Release 1/060228

• The Reliques of Tolti-Aph (Graham Nelson; 01-Mar-2006; Z-code).
  • Version info: Release 1 / Serial number 060228 / Inform 7 build 3F39 (I6/v6.30 lib 6/10N)
  • Feelie: Collegio.pdf is a 4-page issue of "Collegio", the Alumnus Magazine for the Magic-User Today.

Release 1/060430

• The Reliques of Tolti-Aph (Graham Nelson; 04-May-2006; Z-code).
  • Version info: Release 1 / Serial number 060430 / Inform 7 build 3K27 (I6/v6.30 lib 6/10N)
  • IFID: AC736F19-3C4D-461E-9C84-49A759C72F42
    IFID links: IFDB.
  • Download RoTA.zblorb from the IF Archive.

Spanish translation

Web page (archive) - WikiCAAD (archive).

• Las Reliquias de Tolti Aph (translated by Urbatain; 01-Dec-2008; Glulx; Spanish).
  • Version info: Release 1 / Serial number 081130 / Inform 7 build 5U92 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/12N)

• Las Reliquias de Tolti Aph (18-Mar-2009; Glulx; Spanish).
  • Version info: Release 1 / Serial number 090318 / Inform 7 build 5U92 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/12N)
  • "Versión con Aceleración del Veneer Activada (Release 1.1)". (This acceleration was later incorporated into Inform 7 5Z71.)
  • Download rota.zip from the IF Archive.

• Las Relíquias de Tolti Aph (11-Aug-2009; Glulx; Spanish).
  • Version info: Release 1 / Serial number 090811 / Inform 7 build 5Z71 (I6/v6.31 lib 6/12N)
  • Corrections: Mel Hython - Tech Support: Sarganar and Eliuk Blau.
  • Download Las Reliquias de Tolti Aph.gblorb from an Internet Archive backup of caad.es.
  • Feelie: Collegio_es.pdf, translated by Grendel Khan, from the same source.
  • And the source code.

Links

General Info

• The Reliques of Tolti-Aph Homepage, at the Inform 7 Examples project.
  • Previous homepages: inform7.com (archive); inform-fiction.org (archive); plover.net (archive).
• The Reliques of Tolti-Aph - at IFDB.
• Traducción: Las Reliquias de Tolti Aph - article (in Spanish) by Urbatain about his translation of this game.

Reviews

• Mini-review by Dan Shiovitz.
• Review by David Whyld for Reviews Exchange Issue 9.

Spoilers

• A Detailed Game-Design Analysis by Dan Shiovitz.
  • (Analysis) The Reliques of Tolti-Aph (long) - the related thread on raif.
• Detailed Walkthrough by David Welbourn.