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Old 12-28-2016, 10:38 AM   #11
robkelk
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

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Originally Posted by DavidJSnyder View Post
Are the Young Adult novels not part of the license or was it just your all's decision not to include them?
When I asked earlier, Phil Masters replied that he was asked to not include the YA books. (Can't find the post offhand, sorry.)
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Old 12-28-2016, 11:03 AM   #12
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

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Originally Posted by DavidJSnyder View Post
Are the Young Adult novels not part of the license or was it just your all's decision not to include them?
The Forward/Intro page says they were not included for style reasons.
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Old 12-28-2016, 11:36 AM   #13
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

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Originally Posted by DavidJSnyder View Post
Are the Young Adult novels not part of the license or was it just your all's decision not to include them?
I was told early on not to include them because license-related reasons. And that's all I know.

Statting Tiffany up anyway is left as an exercise for the fanbase.
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Old 12-28-2016, 11:41 AM   #14
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

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Okay, here's my notes on how things were put together:

https://www.philmasters.org.uk/RPGs/UnderTheBonnet.pdf
Thank you, interesting read.
Any chance you could write up the dueling ideas as a Pyramid article for adding to other systems? Or maybe write up and broaden it for its own supplement?
The 3 dueling types wont fit all systems but are too good to just leave here and they could be adapted or used as is in most systems.
And the overall system is a nice one itself. Is it more a variation on Ritual Magic from Basic and GURPS Magic? If so I have some spell design rules I built with GURPS Magic and GURPS Thaumatology that could be adapted to it. There mainly used for building spells as skills with different difficulty levels but practically fit as is into penalties. Its too long for a Pyramid article so I am unlikely to ever get it published.
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Old 12-28-2016, 01:20 PM   #15
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

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Any chance you could write up the dueling ideas as a Pyramid article for adding to other systems? Or maybe write up and broaden it for its own supplement?
To be honest, I'm currently focussed on selling Discworld, not on creating reasons for people not to buy it.

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And the overall system is a nice one itself. Is it more a variation on Ritual Magic from Basic and GURPS Magic?
It's another variation on that whole family of variant flexible magic systems that have now shown up all over the place. As the compiler of GURPS Thaumatology, I'm happy to play with whatever variations a project might seem to need.

Being an old fan of the GURPS Mage the Ascension rules was probably a significant influence in this case, I guess.
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Old 12-28-2016, 03:26 PM   #16
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

Really good to see your designer's notes Phil, thanks. The Magic system in particular appears very well matched to the setting. Once my pre-order copy finally arrives (!) I'll at least be fully briefed on the notable differences from 4e Basic :-)

Can't wait to put it all to the test...
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Old 12-28-2016, 03:30 PM   #17
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

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To be honest, I'm currently focussed on selling Discworld, not on creating reasons for people not to buy it.


It's another variation on that whole family of variant flexible magic systems that have now shown up all over the place. As the compiler of GURPS Thaumatology, I'm happy to play with whatever variations a project might seem to need.

Being an old fan of the GURPS Mage the Ascension rules was probably a significant influence in this case, I guess.
Fair enough, I know this is your latest baby.
I doubt porting the system over would dampen sales but I will mull it over and eventually send some ideas over to you for consideration and approval.
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Old 12-28-2016, 04:18 PM   #18
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

I can consider things, and I may or may not approve of them, but in that case it wouldn't signify anything much...
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Old 12-28-2016, 05:04 PM   #19
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

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I can consider things, and I may or may not approve of them, but in that case it wouldn't signify anything much...
It may signify enough to me and that is all I would be looking for. I would use normal channels (Steven Marsh) for actual submissions but you could tell me how comfortable you were towards protecting your work and as regards inspired by vs. plagiarism. Ill let you know when I have anything and doubt it would be soon anyhow.
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Old 12-28-2016, 06:17 PM   #20
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Default Re: GURPS Discworld - Reviews

As a quick review: Discworld is really well done.

The tone absolutely fits with the Discworld novels. The sense of humor and writing style evoke Pratchett's style very well.

The character creation section is a highlight. Character creation is very clear, the selected traits are manageable yet comprehensive enough to support most character concepts, and the templates provide a great starting point for most games. I would have liked to see a single table with the full trait lists, like the back of Basic Set or the cheat sheets in the worked genres, but that's the only major quibble I have here. I also would have liked to see the references to tech level in the skills eliminated. Given that TLs are included, I think it's a mistake to not include the penalties for working with stuff at different tech levels; if the TL rules are going to be included, the mechanical consequences should be as well. But again, these are small criticisms in the overall scope.

The magic system is well constructed. It's flexible, much less rules-detail-driven than the Basic Set, and makes it easy to play the kind of magic in the books. It's similar to realm magic, effect shaping magic, and ritual path magic in that the caster can create an effect and then determine the penalty to cast.

The way that the GURPS basic rules are condensed down is solid. My biggest criticism is that I think it's a mistake to skip the generic task difficulty modifiers, because that provides a framework for GMs to approximate modifiers when there's no specific rule. Otherwise, I would have no concerns running a game with this ruleset.

The world background, NPCs, and so forth is comprehensive. I do have one more criticism here: the book is written more descriptively rather than in terms of narrative hooks. There are a couple of adventure seeds in the book, but in comparison to setting books from other games, there's a lot less inspiration for creating your own adventure. I think this is a fault of lots of GURPS books, but I think it's worth mentioning here because Discworld is not exempt.

Overall, I'd give this book a strong B+. It gives enough guidance to play a game, gives a lot of templates to help players get started, and does an excellent job of matching style with the source material. I finished reading it inspired to start a Discworld game.

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