Discworld - Best system?

[NewLifeForm]

I'm going to be running a campaign set in the universe of Terry Pratchett's Discworld. What system would you recommend for doing so? Oddly, I started to think a rules lite, very simple system would work best, but now I'm not so sure. When one thinks comedy, one thinks simple rules and yet Discworld is full of action, details and people do get killed (but rarely the main characters).

I'm considering Ars Magica (Ars Discus?) for it's easy yet detailed rules and it's comprehensive magic system. Any other ideas?

NewLifeForm

 

[Caliban]

I'm going to be running a campaign set in the universe of Terry Pratchett's Discworld. What system would you recommend for doing so? Oddly, I started to think a rules lite, very simple system would work best, but now I'm not so sure. When one thinks comedy, one thinks simple rules and yet Discworld is full of action, details and people do get killed (but rarely the main characters).

I'm considering Ars Magica (Ars Discus?) for it's easy yet detailed rules and it's comprehensive magic system. Any other ideas?

NewLifeForm

There is a Gurps Discworld book already in print, if you like that system.

 

[Stone Dog]

There is a Gurps Discworld book already in print, if you like that system.

It also comes prepackaged with Gurps Lite so it is a stand alone game. Regardless of the system, Gurps Discworld is an excelent resource for any GM intending on running a Discworld game. Maybe I'll never actually run a game of it, but I love reading that thing. Plus my copy is signed by Terry Himself.

 

[NewLifeForm]

Yes, but No



While I appreciate the heads up, I happen to own the hardcover version of that game and will be the first to say it's an excellent sourcebook, as most GURPS books are. I will also be the first to say that while I love the material, I don't like the rules. I'm looking for suggestions on an alternative.

Let me also be the first to say Slefgamenkel, for no good or discernable reason.

NewLifeForm

 

[NewLifeForm]

Plus my copy is signed by Terry Himself.

Please allow me to worship the bookshelf you keep that book on!

NewLifeForm

 

[Stone Dog]

Fudge then. Or quite possibly FATE. I am sure some people will suggest Heroquest, but good god I can't.

 

[Stone Dog]

Please allow me to worship the bookshelf you keep that book on!

NewLifeForm

Tithing baby. As any advanced Discworld priest will tell you, it is all about the tithing.

I also have Monsterous Regiment signed with some sort of message that I didn't ask for and I can't decipher. If he ever comes back to San Diego I'll have to ask him "Excuse me, but what exactly does this mean?"

 

[Wombat]

While GURPS Discworld has lots of great information, I don't think it is necessarily the best system for such a campaign. Equally, as much as I love Ars Magica, I think it is a bit rules-intensive (and too magically oriented) for such a campaign.

Personally I would go with either Fudge or Over the Edge. Both are very simple systems that allow a character to have a number of broad, appropriate skills that may then be interpreted to fit the given situation.

Discworld strikes me as the ultimate Rules Lite setting!

 

[Stone Dog]

Discworld strikes me as the ultimate Rules Lite setting!

Not to me. The level of detail in GURPS Discworld is just what I need out of the setting. It runs very well on Gurps Lite and most of the crunchy bits are in character creation (substantially cut down by the excelent templates). Once you get past that then the rest of the game is 3d6 under your effective skill. Easy. Oh all the charts and stuff in the main books? You don't need them. You don't really even need everything in Gurps Lite. I couldn't imagine playing Discworld with any other system and enjoying it. Really, I've tried.

God I've never wanted to play a dwarf so much as when I saw the little gritsuckers in Gurps DW. I love it so.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

I don't know. I think rules flexible would be as important as rules lite. A system that allowed a lote of handwaving for special cases seems to me to be the best. A lot of things on the Disc might not fit perfectly into a really concrete, defined system.

But then again, a mindset might be just as good as a ruleset. I ran a successful game of Discworld using 2nd Edition D&D rules a while ago. I think the GURPS book is useful no matter what rules sytem you use.

It might be a different purpose from what it was intended for, but I suspect the BESM engine might work for Discworld.