The Discworld Roleplaying Game (now available in PDF)

[Phil Masters]

Agreed on Going Postal. Thud! may be a bit ... anvillicious is the TV Tropes term, I think. (Terry got a tiny bit opinionated towards the end.) Equal Rites is probably a good starting place from among the early novels (to be followed by the rest of the Witches sequence), or Guards! Guards! as the start of the Watch sequence.

I have a very huge personal fondness for Small Gods; I suspect that some people will agree more than others.

[Kalzazz]

The Colour of Magic, it's the first one I read and it's the one I've enjoyed enough to reread the most . . . it sets a high standard for others to strive for

Rincewind and the Luggage are my two favorite characters, and this book introduces them

[dcarson]

The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are different from the rest, much more straight parody of fantasy. He them goes to poking at the real world instead of fantasy tropes.

[DreadDomain]

So Going Postal or the Colour of Magic then. Thanks!

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by dcarson

The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are different from the rest, much more straight parody of fantasy. He them goes to poking at the real world instead of fantasy tropes.

Had I been older when I read those I never would have continued reading the Diskworld books.

However, Guards, Guards! had just come out and I discovered the series at the library. So I got the first eight books and having nothing better to do that week I read them. Luckily book 3 (Equal Rites) had an intriguing sounding premise and, most importantly, no Rincewind. If I'd had to put up with Rincewind for even one more book, I'd have quite Pratchet forever.

[evileeyore]

Because thinking about it brought this back to mind... this is a really good speech Terry Pratchett gave back in 1985... it really speaks to his style at the time (the first two books) but also speaks to how his style might evolve.

[(E)]

I'll throw in Mort as another good place to start, the start of the death books

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Agreed on Going Postal. Thud! may be a bit ... anvillicious is the TV Tropes term, I think. (Terry got a tiny bit opinionated towards the end.) Equal Rites is probably a good starting place from among the early novels (to be followed by the rest of the Witches sequence), or Guards! Guards! as the start of the Watch sequence.

If I recall correctly, Pterry knew he didn't have too much longer left when he wrote Thud! The knowledge of one's own mortality tends to send writers into anvil-dropping mode.

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

I have a very huge personal fondness for Small Gods; I suspect that some people will agree more than others.

I'd agree. Small Gods isn't one of my recommendations on where to start solely because it's a stand-alone story,* but it's a very good book.

* It's only loosely connected to the rest of the canon - even Equal Rites is tied to the canon (at least to the Tiffany Aching books) closer than Small Gods is.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by robkelk

If I recall correctly, Pterry knew he didn't have too much longer left when he wrote Thud! The knowledge of one's own mortality tends to send writers into anvil-dropping mode.

Yes, but he got over it. Mostly.


In which I mean further books in the series weren't so very anvilicious. And keep in mind Thud! wasn't the first overly moralistically preachy novel... Monstrous Regiment had a lot of moments where you could tell Pterry was throwing up his hands and shouting "But it's [CURRENT YEAR] why aren't we past this yet?!?!?!"

[sir_pudding]

Small Gods, followed closely by Night's Watch are my favorites.