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Bibliography for The Discworld Roleplaying Game

The Chronicles

The following make up the Discworld series at the time of writing:

The Colour of Magic starts the series, introduces Rincewind, Twoflower, and the games of the gods, and shows Ankh-Morpork at its most archaic and sordid. This is also the source for information on both the Wyrmberg and Krull.

The Light Fantastic continues the saga of Rincewind and Twoflower and their tour of the Disc, taking in several new lands and people, including Cohen the Barbarian.

Equal Rites is the story of the only female student yet admitted to Unseen University, partly thanks to Granny Weatherwax, and includes much about both witchcraft and wizardry.

Mort is the tale of Death's apprentice, showing something of Disc metaphysics.

Sourcery sees the return of Rincewind, who gets to visit Klatch, and shows why sourcerers are a Bad Thing.

Wyrd Sisters reintroduces Granny Weatherwax, as she and the Coven deal with a tyrant in Lancre.

Pyramids concerns Assassins, Djelibeybi, Ephebian philosophy, and the problem of too much pyramid-building.

Guards! Guards! introduces Carrot Ironfoundersson to the Watch, under Captain Vimes, and shows how Ankh-Morpork really works these days. It also features the only true Noble Dragon to appear on the Disc in recent times.

Eric is a shorter story in which Rincewind returns from the Dungeon Dimensions and promptly takes his longest journey yet, involving both the Tezuman Empire and the Discworld's Hell (and its peculiar demons).

Moving Pictures sees Ankh-Morpork under attack from the Dungeon Dimensions through the peculiar magic of motion pictures.

Reaper Man introduces Azrael and the Auditors of Reality, who force Death to retire temporarily; the plot also features an assortment of Discworld undead and the strangest alien invasion of all.

Witches Abroad sends the Coven to Genua, and a confrontation with a renegade fairy godmother and the power of Discworld voodoo.

Small Gods illustrates the secret truth about Disc religion by telling the story of the reformation of the Omnian church.

Lords and Ladies brings the Coven back to Lancre just in time to face an invasion of elves.

Men at Arms shows the Watch growing and changing, and dealing with an attack on the Patrician.

Soul Music features another alien idea invading the Disc, and introduces Susan Sto Helit as Death's occasional understudy.

Interesting Times brings Rincewind back purely so that he can be sent to the Agatean Empire, and suffer reunions with Cohen and Twoflower.

Maskerade has Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg seeking a new member for the coven – backstage at the Ankh-Morpork Opera House.

Feet of Clay presents the much-improved Watch with a complex problem involving golems and heraldry.

Hogfather explains what Hogswatchnight is really all about, as various established characters deal with a very peculiar assassination.

Jingo sees Ankh-Morpork going to war, despite its lack of an army.

The Last Continent catches up with Rincewind as his arrival on the continent of Fourecks threatens the destruction of the space/time continuum.

Carpe Jugulum takes us back to Lancre, where Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Magrat Garlick and Agnes Nitt must thwart the takeover plans of a clan of suave vampires.

The Fifth Elephant chronicles the adventures of Commander Vimes as ambassador to Uberwald and sees the return of Gaspode the wonder dog.

The Truth brings the printing press to Ankh-Morpork and sees Lord Vetinari accused of attempted murder.

Thief of Time introduces the Monks of History, working to prevent time from being stopped in its tracks and putting Death out of a job.

Night Watch takes Commander Vimes to the past, where he must deal with the Monks of History, a sociopathic murderer, and a civic rebellion, all the while trying not to change the future so much he can't get home and witness the birth of his son.

Monstrous Regiment – Polly Perks disguises herself as a man to enlist in the army of Borogravia and find her missing-in-action brother.

Going Postal is an exploration of Ankh-Morpork's post office and its newly appointed boss, Moist von Lipwig.

Thud! presents Commander Vimes with a murder that may spark a racial war between trolls and dwarves and introduces a vampire to the watch – and a new boardgame.

Where's My Cow? is a book about reading a book, and enjoyable by children of all ages (illustrated by Melvyn Grant).

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents involves Maurice (a cat), a piper, and a group of rats who earn a living in a rather unusual way.

The Wee Free Men is a book for younger readers, about 9-year-old witch-in-training Tiffany Aching and her quest to save her brother Wentworth from the clutches of the Queen of faerie, aided and abetted by a horde of six-inch tall, blue, Scots-accented Feegles (the "Wee Free Men" of the title).

A Hat Full of Sky continues the adventures of apprentice witch Tiffany Aching and her allies, the Feegles.

Wintersmith tells how the the Wintersmith, the god of Winter, has fallen in love with 13-year-old Tiffany Aching, and has covered the land with snow to win her over.

The Last Hero – Cohen the Barbarian, for reasons of his own, is out to destroy the Discworld, and it's up to an eccentric crew of misfits (including Leonard of Quirm, the Unseen University Librarian, and Rincewind) to stop him (illustrated by Paul Kidby).

Making Money – Moist von Lipwig, fresh from his triumph at the Ankh-Morpork post office, is given control of the Royal Mint.

"Troll Bridge" and "Theatre of Cruelty" are short stories. The former isn't quite a Discworld tale, but could be squeezed in; it concerns trolls and heroism. The latter is a snapshot of Carrot's early work in the Watch.

In addition, this volume contains one or two 'future echoes' from books written but not yet published, or even in the process of being planned. Discworld books turn up so frequently that any publication of this nature will miss at least one, but in more than 20 books so far the basics of Discworld geography and society have been pretty well established.

References

Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion . . . So Far, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, is the definitive guide to people, places, and phenomena mentioned in the chronicles. It is an invaluable reference for all Discworld GMs.

The Streets of Ankh-Morpork is a map of the walled centre of that city, with additional notes. It can be used to pin down the locations of events in either the chronicles or games set there.

The Discworld Mapp provides an over-view of the setting, very useful to GMs running quests and picaresque adventures.

The Science of Discworld, The Science of Discworld II: The Globe, The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch, and The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day, with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, combine Pratchett's story-telling talents with a concise and entertaining summary of real world (or "round world") scientific knowledge.

Wit and Wisdom of Discworld is a collection of comments and observations on life in general, taken from assorted Discworld books and compiled by Stephen Briggs.

Spin-Offs

The Discworld has inspired computer games, music, figurines, posters, a Christmas ('Hogswatch') card, T-shirts, jewellery, the Unseen University college scarf, a micro-brewery beer and many tattoos on the more devoted fans. A couple of stories have been adapted into graphic novels, and others have become animated films for TV and video release. There have also been radio dramatisations. Several of the stories have also been adapted for the stage, and the scripts of four of these have been published. At any one time there are probably forty or more amateur dramatic Discworld plays in production somewhere in the world.

The Pratchett Portfolio, a collection of portraits and sketches by Paul Kidby with text by Terry Pratchett, may be the best available guide to the appearance of many of the characters in the chronicles.

By the Same Author

Some other works by Terry Pratchett may be of direct interest to Discworld GMs:

The Carpet People, an early work (later revised), features another flat fantasy world.

Good Omens, with Neil Gaiman, is set in our modern-day world, and includes an alternative view of the Four Horsemen.

Strata is an SF novel – but there is this big flat disc in space . . .

Other Fantasies

The Discworld stories are written in a long-established tradition of comic fantasy, and initially at least owed to a great deal to what Pratchett has defined as 'the consensus fantasy universe' – the one based slightly on NW European mythology, filtered through Tolkien and a thousand roleplaying games. The following are other building-blocks of that tradition:

The Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series, by Fritz Leiber, is always worth reading. The city of Lankhmar does somewhat resemble Ankh-Morpork in the early part of the chronicles.

The Dying Earth and The Eyes of the Overworld by Jack Vance, specifically for the way in which magic spells and systems ('Chapstick's Wonderful Invigorator') are portrayed; they were a seed for a lot of RPG usages, and hence for the Discworld, too.

The Evolution Man (also known as What We Did To Father or Once Upon an Ice Age), by Roy Lewis, is an anthropological comedy. A few details of geography aside, it might almost be set in the early days of Disc history. It could inspire a merger of the Discworld Roleplaying Game and GURPS Ice Age.

Tanith Lee's Flat Earth series is not especially comic, but it's set on another disc-shaped world, with untrustworthy higher powers and strange societies, and could be of interest for those after more of a "high fantasy" feel in their games.

James Branch Cabell was one of the founders of 20th-century comic fantasy; his epic Biography of the Life of Manuel, set in and around the mythical land of Poictesme, provides an alternative approach to such comedy.

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