Terraria Not-Quite-Hardcore Challenge

The general rules, how the wheels work, restrictions, and stream notes for Hylax and The Reliquary.

What is it?

Classic Terraria is a little too forgiving. Mediumcore is tedious and involves too many corpse-runs. True Hardcore, while fun, is too punishing for livestreaming, since one mistake can set you back dozens of hours.

That's why I've come up with a modified set of rules.

Hylax begins as a Classic character, but death carries consequences. Every death triggers the Wheel of Fate, which decides what The Reliquary takes: items, armor, accessories, gold, supplies, equipment, or sometimes even the character's life.

If Hylax dies, his work may continue through his descendants.

The goal is to keep the danger and tension of Hardcore without making every death a full reset.

The Story

Hylax is an explorer entering a dangerous, once-prosperous, now abandoned land in Terraria known as The Reliquary.

His goal is not just survival. He traveled to these lands to explore, document, build, and slowly reclaim the land, making it safer and more livable. Roads, shelters, bridges, arenas, farms, storage rooms, and other infrastructure are not just conveniences. They are part of the challenge.

It is Hylax's long-sought dream to make these lands into a home. This land is dangerous, though. He risks much by exploring where others dare not, and if he should perish, it will be up to his descendants to continue the work.

His family will sacrifice much to gain whatever footholds, shelter, safety, and niceties they can. If they intend for this to become their home, they may as well put in the effort and build infrastructure.

Lost items and fallen characters will be memorialized. Every sacrifice becomes part of the history of The Reliquary.

Last updated: June 2026

Core Rules

  1. You play as a Classic character, preferably on Legendary difficulty.
  2. This run is on a "For the Worthy" + "The Constant" on Master, resulting in Legendary difficulty.
  3. On death, the Wheel of Fate is spun.
  4. Most results will lead to a second wheel to determine the exact penalty.
  5. If the wheel targets an empty slot, it counts as player luck.
  6. If an item stack is targeted, the entire stack is lost.
  7. Lost items and retired characters are memorialized in a crypt or memorial storage area.
  8. Memorialized items may not be used again.
  9. A death caused by obvious greed or poor preparation may trigger two Wheel of Fate spins.

Wheel Rules

The Wheel of Fate can land on:

The exact percentages will be adjusted as the challenge develops.

Death Notes

When Hylax dies, the Wheel of Fate is spun before the run continues. If the result points to another wheel, that second wheel decides the exact item, slot, category, or penalty affected.

Some deaths may be judged as greed or lack of preparation. That often means Hylax ignored an obvious retreat, entered a dangerous area underprepared, or chased glory when survival should have come first. Those deaths may trigger two Wheel of Fate spins.

Boss deaths usually count as normal deaths unless the attempt was clearly reckless.

Current Notes

This ruleset is experimental and will be tweaked as the challenge develops.

The goal is to make death meaningful without turning the stream into repeated early-game resets.