GURPS Discworld

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

GURPS Discworld is a role-playing game sourcebook set in Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy universe, and using the GURPS rules. It was written by Phil Masters, with Pratchett, and published by Steve Jackson Games in 1998.

GURPS Discworld was the first GURPS supplement to be published with the GURPS Lite rules as an appendix, meaning it was not necessary to purchase GURPS Basic in order to play.

The game included a lot of detail about the Discworld mostly taken from the books, although in some cases it was extrapolated from vague hints. The book is considered "officially unofficial", that is, while Pratchett has authorised it, and had some input, none of the new information is "canonical". (For instance, one adventure suggests that Ankh-Morpork has municipal rubbish dumps, operated by the Guild of Plumbers. However, later books reveal that waste disposal is a non-Guild concern run by Harry King.)

The game sold well amongst both role-players and Discworld fans. According to Masters, in the USA, where The Discworld Mapp was not, at that time, available, they sold a lot of copies simply by opening the book to the black and white, scaled down copy of the map.

A sequel, GURPS Discworld Also, was published in 2000, with information on recent developments, as well as more detail on complex topics such as how Unseen University works. Amongst the campaign scenarios suggested was "EcksEcksEcksEcksian Cart Wars" which combined the Mad Max parody from The Last Continent with elements of the "Autoduel America" setting of SJG's Car Wars game and GURPS Autoduel.

The original book was republished in hardback in 2002 as The Discworld Role-Playing Game, to make it clearer that players did not need to purchase any other books.

[edit] External links