Good systems for running Discworld?

[PenguinKing]

I've given GURPS Discworld a try, but I haven't found the system to be particularly suited to it - sure, GURPS character creation lets you be obsessively accurate about simulating the characters from the novels, but since they're all NPCs anyway, I don't see the need for that level of detail, and the system itself tends to bog down just when things are getting interesting.

So anyone have a suggestion for a faster-playing system that could "do" Discworld reasonably well with a minimum of modification? I'm out of ideas - d20 would need to be modified too extensively "out of the box", Storyteller has the opposite problem of GURPS (it's not granular enough)... I've even considered Big Eyes, Small Mouth, but that's just silly, isn't it?

- Sir Bob.

P.S. Yeah, this is Sir Bob. After the board switchover, I had to reregister, but for some reason I never received the confirmation email, so my account is kicking around unactivated. Emails to whom it may concern have gone un-responded-to, as well. So on the off-chance that anybody who can do anything about it sees this...

P.P.S. Nih!

 

[trancejeremy]

I was actually under the impression Discworld was originally a world for a game using the original AD&D rules.

The big give away is how the spells of the wizards were divided up.


I also wouldn't think it would take too much effort to use the d20/D&D 3e rules.

 

[Glyfair]

It's been a while since I've looked at the rules, but I think the Dying Earth RPG could be easily adapted to Discworld. Both have a slant towards roguish characters, and you could borrow Discworld quotes as easily as Dying Earth ones (probably even easier).

I haven't played it, but I'm considering picked up the new supplement given I like the idea and simplicity of the system. Plus two of my favorite RPG authors worked on the supplement (Robin Laws, who designed the RPG, and Aaron Allston).

Glyfair of Glamis

 

[fakename]

I suggest either Nexus or Over the Edge

IMO discworld doesn't suit a rules-intensive system like D20.

 

[Fade]

I was actually under the impression Discworld was originally a world for a game using the original AD&D rules.

The big give away is how the spells of the wizards were divided up.

Wha?

I think you must be thinking of a different series. Discworld is the one where wizards eat vast meals rather than cast spells.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Several aspects fit nicely.

Hmm, in the book where they encounter those "super markets" and "Holy Wood", I believe Mustrum (hey! That`s me!) asks the wizard if anyone has a certain spell (something like fireball or so, I can`t remember exactly, and it is getting more complicated since I only read it on German) available.
And at two of their staffs seemed to be wands holding fireballs (remember when mustrum takes away the staff of someone else since his own staff went empty).

And I think it can be easily proven that Cohon the Barbarian is, well a Barbarian (with some Fighter levels added) - he evades most enemy blows (High Dexterity and great hit points) and is able to handle several enemies at once...

And that mad assassin in "Hogfather" seems to be a Rogue. When it comes to picking the enchanted lock, the wizard tells something about the used spells, and the assassin indicates that he could do it himself it that was really that easy - Use Magic Device or Disable Device, one of those feats...

Perhaps a Discworld D20 might be quite easily created...

 

[zorlag]

zorlag

How about Paranoia?

 

[Daniel Knight]

…I think you must be thinking of a different series. Discworld is the one where wizards eat vast meals rather than cast spells.

Sure, but that doesn’t mean that spells don’t exist on the Discworld. I think what trancejeremy was trying to say (even if they don’t know it), is that parts of Discworld magic is based on D&D. For example, most of the spells have names before them such as Brother Hushmaster’s Potent Asp-Spray or Maligree’s Wonderful Garden mirroring the Tensor and Bigby spells etc. Spells on the Discworld must also be memorised from books before being used, once again paying homage to D&D.

As the series progressed however, so did the need for wizards not to cast spells. Hence why they now mostly sit around eating large meals.

 

[Piratecat]

Re: zorlag

How about Paranoia?

How about Battletech?

 

[Horacio]

I would use d20, it can do the job without problem. In fact, I've always thought of Diskworld to be a parody of D&D (or Forgotten Reamls ). Sometimes the characters almost follow the D&D rules...