Discworld - Best system?

[Jürgen Hubert]

True20 might also work well, especially the PDF version, since it doesn't have unrealistic things like escalating Toughness saves.

Invoking "realism" in the above sentence was deliberate, by the way. Especially in the later books you get the feeling that despite the comedy and the slapstick, Discworld is relatively "realistic" - more so than most other fantasy settings out there. People still bleed and even die. No one is really invulnerable, and ultra-cinematic stunts are a rarity (it should be noted that some of the most badass fighters in the setting are more than a hundred years old with lots of age-related health problems, not to mention dead.

And magic seems to be very fatiguing, so the True20 magic system should work fine as well.

 

[HellHound]

It also comes prepackaged with Gurps Lite so it is a stand alone game.

Standa alone game... grumble grumble...

I used to be a fan of SJGames. However, I had long ago given up GURPS and had sold all the core rules for GURPS 1st edition, and hadn't bought any of the new GURPS material, because GURPS really wasn't my cup of tea.

I bought GURPS Discworld through the SJGames website for my wife as a present, excited because it claimed to be a stand-alone game. My wife and I were very interested in running an Unseen University mini-campaign with another friend.

And of course, GURPS Discworld / GURPS lite doesn't include the GURPS rules for magic.

Yep - fantasy setting - with magic, wizards, spells, etc... but no rules for magic.

One geek-rific anniversary gift down the tubes, I asked SJGames for a refund, or at least for an excerpt from a book that does describe how magic works in GURPS. I got a 'friendly' response that I would have to (a) buy the core GURPS book to get the rules and no they won't send me the excerpt and (b) suck it up, they don't give refunds and the book -is- a stand-alone RPG since no one actually needs the magic rules to play the game.

I ended up indeed buying two core books of GURPS rules, but never ran the game because of the bad taste left in my mouth from the horrible customer service. To this day, I only buy non-RPG products from SJGames because of this, and get REALLY rilled up whenever I see a release that claims to be "powered by GURPS".

(BTW, the purchases from Warehouse 23 weren't completely wasted, I also picked up two boxes of boosters for one of my fave OOP CCGs, XXXenophile).

 

[Darmanicus]

Oh man, I've still got this mini-adventure in an edition of a Gamesmaster mag set in Discworld and there's this hilarious scene where I think the party's paladin's intelligent weapon kicks off at another guys intelligent weapon; a bar brawl ensues I do believe! It was very funny.

 

[PJ-Mason]

Standa alone game... grumble grumble...

I used to be a fan of SJGames. However, I had long ago given up GURPS and had sold all the core rules for GURPS 1st edition, and hadn't bought any of the new GURPS material, because GURPS really wasn't my cup of tea.

I bought GURPS Discworld through the SJGames website for my wife as a present, excited because it claimed to be a stand-alone game. My wife and I were very interested in running an Unseen University mini-campaign with another friend.

And of course, GURPS Discworld / GURPS lite doesn't include the GURPS rules for magic.

Yep - fantasy setting - with magic, wizards, spells, etc... but no rules for magic.

One geek-rific anniversary gift down the tubes, I asked SJGames for a refund, or at least for an excerpt from a book that does describe how magic works in GURPS. I got a 'friendly' response that I would have to (a) buy the core GURPS book to get the rules and no they won't send me the excerpt and (b) suck it up, they don't give refunds and the book -is- a stand-alone RPG since no one actually needs the magic rules to play the game.

I ended up indeed buying two core books of GURPS rules, but never ran the game because of the bad taste left in my mouth from the horrible customer service. To this day, I only buy non-RPG products from SJGames because of this, and get REALLY rilled up whenever I see a release that claims to be "powered by GURPS".

(BTW, the purchases from Warehouse 23 weren't completely wasted, I also picked up two boxes of boosters for one of my fave OOP CCGs, XXXenophile).

See...now this worries me. I saw the gurps sourcebook for Hellboy and i planned on getting it. I thought to myself "Hey, i can stand to play gurps if it allows me to run a great Hellboy campaign". Now i wonder if it would be incomplete? Hmm..well i probably will get it just to have a good background sourcebook for a Hellboy campaign. Its not like i don't have 101 systems i could use for it, but it would nice if the book does what it claims it can.

 

[kolikeos]

although thats a great idea and i really like terry prachets books i don't see myself ever running a compaign in discworld. but if i did it will probobly be a d20 system, dnd 3.5 most likely, as i never actually used any other system and probobly never will.

 

[NewLifeForm]

In this vein...

Hmm..well i probably will get it just to have a good background sourcebook for a Hellboy campaign. Its not like i don't have 101 systems i could use for it, but it would nice if the book does what it claims it can.

You've hit the nail on the head with this statement. This is how I view GURPS and running anything in that system. I've already got a million complete rules systems. I like the material and just need to find the game that fits it instead of the other way around.

True20 is very intriging, but it would mean I have to buy another new system (sigh). I'm starting to think it may be a good idea though. Can anyone else recommend a D20 lite system worth looking into?

NewLifeForm

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Silhouette Core from Dream Pod 9 would make a solid Discworld system. It's got a good variety of stats and skills but remains both rules-lite (or rules-liter) and very fast to play. Also, it's quite deadly in most incarnations.

One of the complaints I've heard against SilCore (higher skill levels give you a negligible chance of doing better because they cost more and add less) actually makes sense for Discworld - how many competent people exist on the entire Disc?

True20 would be a solid d20 alternative.

If you went the rules-heavy approach, you might as well use GURPS since there's already a GURPS Discworld book. Otherwise, I would go with HERO, but that's personal preference.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Silhouette Core from Dream Pod 9 would make a solid Discworld system. It's got a good variety of stats and skills but remains both rules-lite (or rules-liter) and very fast to play. Also, it's quite deadly in most incarnations.

One of the complaints I've heard against SilCore (higher skill levels give you a negligible chance of doing better because they cost more and add less) actually makes sense for Discworld - how many competent people exist on the entire Disc?

Hmm. Maybe two? The Patrician and Granny Weatherwax?

 

[PJ-Mason]

You've hit the nail on the head with this statement. This is how I view GURPS and running anything in that system. I've already got a million complete rules systems. I like the material and just need to find the game that fits it instead of the other way around.

True20 is very intriging, but it would mean I have to buy another new system (sigh). I'm starting to think it may be a good idea though. Can anyone else recommend a D20 lite system worth looking into?

NewLifeForm

Yeah, i think maybe the people who make non-system specific sourcebooks or rp aids have the right idea. Give me a great rpg oriented Hellboy sourcebook and allow me to pick my own system. Or maybe with a real simple system to indicate character strengths for easy modeling to everyone's favorite system/ like a 1-10 rating for character abillities in the sourcebook. That would probably be easy to relate to your own system.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

See...now this worries me. I saw the gurps sourcebook for Hellboy and i planned on getting it. I thought to myself "Hey, i can stand to play gurps if it allows me to run a great Hellboy campaign". Now i wonder if it would be incomplete? Hmm..well i probably will get it just to have a good background sourcebook for a Hellboy campaign. Its not like i don't have 101 systems i could use for it, but it would nice if the book does what it claims it can.

From what I've heard, Hellboy is much better in that regard.

"The Discworld RPG powered by GURPS" was originally "GURPS Discworld" (though it still had GURPS Lite), and it works much better as a supplement than an RPG in its own right.

We'll see how the "Girl Genius RPG" (also "powered by GURPS") will do in that regard...