Discworld - Best system?

[HellHound]

Well, now that I'm done ranting about it, allow me to rave.

The two GURPS discworld books are quite QUITE funny and well written (although the vehicle mechanics in Also were a little bit much). In fact, I think it is the only time I laughed to the point of crying while reading an RPG or RPG supplement. But don't be fooled - this is indeed a supplement and not a full RPG.

Fantastic supplement.

 

[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.

That is an excellent idea and one I've often though about doing myself. Just pages and pages of cool ideas and great art with no real rules. Too cool

NewLifeForm

 

[Macbeth]

I'd also recommend True20. the one problem I can see is having high level characters be too highly skilled. But this will be a problem in many systems: once your characters grow much, they may be a little too competent for Discworld.

The things True20 has going for it, in my opinion:

-Fairly lethal damage, since Toughness Saves don't really grow.

-Skilled Spells: A lot of spells are kind of like skills: you have ranks, they're easier to cast and you get better effects the higher rank you are. You rank = your adept level, in most cases. This, to me, gives a really good feel for the good ol' UU wizards. unlike standard d20, where you pick up a new level of spells, here your existing spells allow you to do more things, or do them better.

-Convicition allows for conveint literary twists: sure, you may not have a lot of skills (which is probably good for a disc character: very good at a few useless things), but if the plot demans it you can spend conviction to pick up what you need.

-Fatigue Spells: I seem to recall at least a few references to magic being very tiring, so this fits well.

Basically, it's a nice, simple system that gives you a imple rules framework That I think is great for Discworld. It's a PDF worth getting anyway, but for Discworl it's a great fit.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Hmm. Maybe two? The Patrician and Granny Weatherwax?

I'd argue that Cohen the Barbarian and his fellows are competent for what they do, as is Vimes.

Spoiler

That makes a grand total of three living competent folk.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'd argue that Cohen the Barbarian and his fellows are competent for what they do, as is Vimes.

Though Vimes and Cohen (and his fellows) are a bit ... shortsighted from time to time...

 

[Macbeth]

Though Vimes and Cohen (and his fellows) are a bit ... shortsighted from time to time...

But Vimes in particular always gets the job done, outsmarts the bad guy, and suaully does it with some flair and heroics. Shortsighted? Maybe, but I'd just as soon say stubborn.

 

[drothgery]

Hmm. Maybe two? The Patrician and Granny Weatherwax?

I'd actually say there are quire a few, just not in the Rincewind books...

I mean, Carrot, Angua, Lady Ramkin, and even Cheri know what they're doing most of the time in the Watch books. Susan and Death in the Death books have to remember to make mistakes if they want to pass as human. And while the other witches make more mistakes than Granny, Nanny, Margrat, and Agnes are pretty competent most of the time.

 

[NewLifeForm]

The "shortsightedness" of some of the characters comes more from their personalities than from their lack of ability IMO. One is how the character is played/written and the other concerns their stats and game mechanics.

I had a smart-ass, shirt-chasing half-elf in one of my campaigns who always got the party into trouble. He wasn't dumb (Int:16), nor was he incompetent. He also got them out of a number of messes. He was just, well, quite the character (pun intended).

True20 is sounding better and better. Is there somewhere I can get a more indepth idea of what the rules contain? For example, are there classes and levels or is it more akin to Mutants & Masterminds?

NewLifeForm

 

[PJ-Mason]

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...

It does say that you can create your characters for the BPRD, so it would need to be somewhat complete. For Hellboy, that is.

 

[PJ-Mason]

Well, now that I'm done ranting about it, allow me to rave.

The two GURPS discworld books are quite QUITE funny and well written (although the vehicle mechanics in Also were a little bit much). In fact, I think it is the only time I laughed to the point of crying while reading an RPG or RPG supplement. But don't be fooled - this is indeed a supplement and not a full RPG.

Fantastic supplement.

I've always heard that Gurps sourcebooks are great for background and such. I had a friend who had a bunch of Gurps books and, outside of Gurps supers (eek!), they looked pretty good.