Project Update, and the wonderful world of the Discworld...

Hi everyone!

So work on a Starfinder campaign is a slow moving thing.  The trouble I'm having is two fold.

First, time, has not been on my side.  A new round of college has started, though this semester seems like it will be a bit easier to handle than last semester.  The previous semester of work was a lot of busy work, lots of coding, but lack of structure from the instructors.  They wanted you to create your own structure for delivering different parts of the over all projects.  That doesn't work so well for people like myself who have a busy home life and need that little bit of structure we've gotten from our classes.

Second problem I've faced is a case of writer's block.  Nothing to really be done about this one other than to try and get some sort of inspiration.  Sure, Star Wars is a source point that could be used, or Star Trek if I cared about that franchize (which I don't, sorry Trekkies).  Right now I'm hammering on an idea of giant robots, but the problem is - where to take this ride?

In other news is my current love for the Discworld.

For those of you who don't know, the Discworld is a flat world - roughly over 6,000 miles across, that rests on the backs of 4 elephants, who stand upon the back of a massive space faring turtle - the great A'Tuin.

The series of novels were written by Terry Pratchett and consists of 41 novels.

The series contains a few stand alone stories that helps to flesh out the world, but mainly consists of several character story arcs.

The first character introduced is a wizard who goes by the name, Rincewind.

Rincewind is indeed a wizard, though if you spent any time with him you'd learn that it would be difficult to call him this.  When first introduced he knows only 1 spell, and that spell could destroy the discworld.  He is a consummate coward, which explains how he's survived for as long as he has.  But more importantly he is a pawn of the gods, an interesting playing piece in their games.

While incompetent, cowardly, a bit greedy, and capable of some magic under the right conditions, he is more or less a good person.

His adventures often lead him into any amount of trouble, which he promptly puts at his back. He is considered to be the fastest runner on the Discworld.


The next group of characters your introduced to are the 3 witches.  The adventures of the 3 tend to follow some established plays or stories that have a discworld twist.  You are treated to the tales of Magrat Garlic, Nanny Ogg, and Granny Weatherwax.

Each witch has her own way, and are not of the wicked sort you would think, though they like to play up the mythos for the respect it brings them. Witches in the discworld are able to use magic, but prefer more practical forms of everyday magic.

Namely, they use their heads, apply some logic and common sense to a situation, and question their own thoughts on a matter.  People fear the pointy hat of a witch, but they also know who to see when a child birth is not coming along well, or if animals are getting sick, or if old man Gunther's toe nails require a hammer and chisel to cut down.

Magrat is the youngest and often see's herself playing 3rd fiddle to the other two, much older & skilled women.  She is capable in her own way, and gains a bit of strength for herself by the 3rd book.

Nanny Ogg...well she's interesting.  She's led a very...colorful life.  Nanny Ogg has a massive brood of children, with two of her son's playing parts in some of the books.  She is always the peace maker, and is surprisingly fast for a woman of her girth & age.  She can drink most men under and around a table, has a singing voice that makes people run for cover (literally when its bath time), and she owner to the evilest cat on the discworld - the tomcat Greebo, though to her he's just an old softy (though she will admit that he is quite evil).

Finally there is Granny Weatherwax.  Granny only to those whom have shown respect to her, otherwise she's Mistress Weatherwax.  Considered the greatest witch of the age, and the most powerful, she's a woman who see's to the heart of the matter.  She's very no nonsense, knows a tick when she see's it, and only a good witch by choice (as she could have gone to "the dark" quite easily).  Granny Weatherwax is the main character of the series and has shown up in other books, along with Nanny Ogg.  She has even had a magical duel with one of the former headmasters of the magical school of the discworld and it ended in a draw.  Though witches would never call anyone of their kind the "head witch", Granny Weatherwax is generally treated as it.


The next arc of books deals with the city watch of Ankh-Morpork (the largest city of the discworld).  This series follows Samuel Vimes, a police man at the core of his being, but also a drunk - but the type of drunk who's typically two drinks short of actually being sober.  Initially the captain of the cities night watch.  The mundane life he had of he and his men saying "all's well" and avoiding any actual police duty changes when the next main character, Carrot Ironfoundersson.

With the arrival of Carrot, the lives of the watch change from a bunch of lazy guards who just yell the time and tell people it's all well, (even if it's not, but it has to be somewhere), to an impressive bunch of city guards who actually do a decent job.  They even become fairly progressive later, as they are ordered to open their doors to more than just human men (namely dwarves, trolls, and others).  Their cast is ever expanding, though there is a core group of characters.


Next there is the Tiffany Aching series.  Its 5 books long with the last book of the series also being Terry Pratchett's final book.  While it can be difficult to gauge the exact passage of time in the various books, Tiffany's series takes you from the time she is 9 yrs old, to her being an adult.  She's a girl who makes a lot of mistakes, but she is also an impressive young lady.  In each book, Tiffany faces an unusual opponent, something or someone that tests her capabilities.

But if you think that she's the only character in the story, you'd be wrong.  While certain witches make cameo appearances in the story, it can be said that there are some other small players in the game, who have big personalities.  They're called the Nac Mac Feegle.  Imagine a Scotsman who is 6 inches tall, likes stealing, fighting, and drinking (in any order, or preferably all at once), who has a fear of lawyers, books, and having to explain themselves to hags (witches in their language), and you'd have a Nac Mac Feegle.  On top of being 6 inches tall they all have a mess of red hair, blue skinned in addition to the blue tattoo's the have.  Their swords glow blue when lawyers are around as well.

The series is worth the read just for the appearance of the Wee Free Men (the Nac Mac Feegle).  One of them even joins the city watch of Ankh-MorPork at one time.

The series is meant for younger readers, but is still enjoyable for older readers as well (my wife in particular has been enjoying me reading the books to our kids).


Finally there is the last player that no one would want to forget.  His name is Death.  Not some guy calling himself that, but the actual anthropomorphic personification of Death, complete with scythe.  Death of the discworld is someone only a few people can see when he goes about his business.  He appears in almost every novel in some way.  He is often irritated that Rincewind ends up in many near death situations but never actually takes that last step.  He has a soft spot for cats, and often finds himself caring just a little too much for mortals.  This has led him to adopting an orphan to be his daughter, keeping a man servant to help mind things around his home, and even taking on an apprentice.

Death is fascinated by mortals, and often suffers from bouts of depression, as he can remember everything like it happened tomorrow.  He has a white horse named Binky, which is a real horse since flaming horses tend to catch things on fire (and then be rather embarrassed about the whole thing), and skeletal horses had difficulty keeping themselves together (since a horse often needs time to sort out just how many legs it has to run with).

But Death isn't alone in his little adventures.  There is also a small matter of his granddaughter.  While her mother was adopted, her father (who was Death's apprentice) became Death for a time - that is he filled in the roll of Death.  This left the two marked, and something was passed on to their daughter, Susan.  Susan is often the main character in stories dealing with Death, though he is a main character as well.  She is first introduced as a young girl in her teens who is completely fearless, and has many powers that Death himself possesses (though not to the same extent).



Susan and Death are the only supernatural beings that are the major character's of a series in discworld.  Death's antics are often humorous and you feel just a bit sorry for a guy who is always meeting people on the last day of their lives, and who remembers everything that has been and will be.  Susan is very much like the witches you'll read in the other stories.  She's abundantly smart and takes a very practical approach to dealing with problems.  One way of looking at her is as a sort of Goth Mary Poppins.

For example, when a couple of children she is a governess of are being frightened by boogyman in the basement, she arms the children with suitable weapons to deal with the problem head on, or in some cases (when there is an actual monster there) she takes up the dreaded fire poker and deals with the monster herself.

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--The Discworld as a Game--

It's an interesting fantasy setting, and for those that know - it has been turned into a supplement for the GURPS RPG.  Not exactly the game rules I'd use.

The Discworld is a very story friendly setting, favoring a rich and fun story to tell instead of out right fighting and dungeon delving.  Now it may be 41 books long, but it's an excellent source for an adventure using the Savage Worlds game system.

Now you may need to think up of a different way to handle magic in this game system.  One skill to govern it all is the best path, but you're also going to have to be sure that magic works like it does in the books.  Sure wizards can know a lot of spells, but it takes time to recover from casting spells, and many wizards would rather just stay put than miss out on their four square meals a day.

If your looking for something different for your game sessions - LOOK HERE.

But just remember, the Librarian of Unseen University is an Orangutan, not a monkey - never call him a monkey.  Things tend to go badly for people that do.