Tabletop RPG fans subscribed to Modiphius’ mailing list will discover a sweet treat in their inbox on September 26 – the Discworld RPG Quickstart rules. Since the Venn diagram between ‘Wargamer writer’ and ‘Terry Pratchett fan’ is a circle, we leapt on the document faster than a talking dog on a dropped sausage. Our full readthrough is now finished, so we can tell you about every rule that made us say wow (I mean…woof).
If you don’t know much about the upcoming game, we recommend checking out our previous Discworld RPG interview. This confirms that the system is a “wordplay-based pun-stravaganza” where you can play any kind of Ankh-Morpork resident. And if you’re looking for the Discworld RPG Kickstarter launch date, we can help with that, too.
Now, let’s break down exactly what’s coming in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork.
Narrativium is the big bad boss of every game
In the Discworld universe, Narrativium is an element that ensures that the world follows the rules of a story. In the Discworld RPG, Narrativium is a game mechanic that you must best if you want to get your own way.
According to the Quickstart, the Discworld RPG is built on two main ideas. Firstly, “the Disc has a story it wants to tell, and left alone will spin on much as it has always done”. And secondly, “the players want to change this story to one more to their liking.”
Every time you attempt a task that could end in failure, you must make a roll*. The Game Master makes a competing Narrativium roll, and the higher result wins the check. If you beat the Narrativium roll, you succeed in your task. Otherwise, you fail and suffer a negative consequence, which could be anything from a minor nuisance to an exceptionally bad bit of luck.
*So far, so tabletop RPG.
You’ll need a full set of polyhedral dice
What you roll to beat the Narrativium is determined by the Game Master. After you declare your action, you must select a trait from your character sheet that justifies why you might succeed at such a task. The Discworld RPG encourages you to bend the wording of your traits in innovative and ridiculous ways, so get creative here.
After this, the GM evaluates how reasonable your pitch is, and they assign you a die based on this. You could be rolling anything from a d4 to a d12. Since a d20 and a d100 can be used to roll on tables, players will need a full set of polyhedral dice to play.
The Narrativium roll is always a d8. So work hard on deliberately misunderstanding your character traits if you want to succeed.
Luck plays a major role*
Luck is a resource that players can gain by impressing the GM with clever, creative, or downright silly roleplay. It can have a major impact on your progress, so this is recommended.
If you fail a roll, you’re not out of the game just yet, as another player can spend one point of Luck to revise your roll. After spending Luck, your ally explains how they plan to help and which trait they’ll use to do so.
The GM decides what die they roll, and your friend makes a roll that will replace yours. Generally, the Narrativium die is not re-rolled, though the GM might sometimes rule that an NPC’s trait justifies doing so.
If the test still fails (or ties with the Narrativium roll), both players suffer the consequences. Interfering with the roll actually makes the consequences one degree worse than they originally were, so push your luck with caution.
Luck can also be used to reduce the severity of a failed roll by one degree. However, this can’t be done if another player has already spent Luck on your roll.
*And not just because rolling dice is random.
A ‘million to one’ plan can often pay off
Sometimes, a player will suggest a plan that is so monumentally stupid, so elaborate, or so unexpected that it just might work. In these cases, the GM can give the player an automatic success, no rolls required. The Discworld RPG recommends using these very sparingly, of course.
Beyond that, the game doesn’t give two figs about math
Other than a box to record your Luck points, there is no space for numbers on your character sheet. It’s entirely dedicated to backstory. You’ll list your name, background, niche skills, core beliefs, and unusual quirks. There’s space for a more detailed backstory and notes, and the rest of the character sheet is dedicated to ‘consequences’.
Failing rolls in the Discworld RPG might result in picking up some new traits. They’ll usually be negative – something like ‘smells of cat pee’ or ‘is unaware that there is a talking duck on their head’.
However, every word on this page can be used as a trait to justify a roll (even your name, if you can argue its case). So consequences can definitely be spun to your advantage with a bit of brain work. It’s a ‘one man’s trash, another man’s treasure’ situation.*
*Which is exactly how C.M.O.T Dibbler makes his meat products, incidentally.
It’s designed for one shots rather than campaign play
The Discworld RPG Quickstart says this game “is intended to be played as a short-form storytelling game, or as a palette cleanser between long form campaign play”. The lack of stats and maths implies that the full game won’t have rules for leveling up (unless you count all those new traits you gained from failing rolls), so it makes sense that one-offs are the preferred medium.
That being said, there probably isn’t much stopping you from telling a story that takes longer than four hours to resolve. We won’t know for sure until we have the complete RPG book in our hands. And while Adventures in Ankh-Morpork might have been tweaked and tinkered with between now and its release date, the Quickstart has confirmed one thing. We’re bloody excited to start playing.
If you haven’t already got your hands on a copy, the Discworld RPG Quickstart document will be available to download on Friday, September 27. For a world that can be explained with numbers instead of puns, here’s a guide to DnD classes and DnD races. And be sure to follow Wargamer on Google News for more tabletop updates of all sorts.
Source: Wargamer
