August 6, 2011: Call For Playtesters: Discworld Roleplaying Game

Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels have become classics in their own time. Their influence on modern fantasy has been profound; they have entire conventions dedicated to them, and they've inspired spin-off media that include art books, TV adaptations, and games. One of those was the Discworld Roleplaying Game, for GURPS Third Edition. The time has come to update it to GURPS Fourth Edition!

For over a year, Phil Masters has been hard at work doing exactly that. He has merged the Discworld Roleplaying Game with GURPS Discworld Also. He has expanded that content to cover Sir Terry's writings over the decade since we released those books. And he has updated all of the rules to GURPS Fourth Edition. The result? A manuscript for a 400-page standalone RPG! This monster needs three things:

1. A thorough rules review by GURPS experts, some of them Discworld fans. Since the game has been simplified so that Discworld fans who are new to gaming can jump right in, we seek people who can set aside blind adherence to GURPS where needed. However, it is also important that these playtesters point out where crucial rules have gone missing, make sure that the points add up, and so on, just as for any GURPS playtest.

2. A thorough canon review by Discworld experts, some of them GURPS fans. With dozens of novels, short stories, and supplemental guides to consider, we want to make sure we get the facts right. Beyond that, though, this book must convey the feel of the stories, and summarize well enough that roleplayers who are new to the setting can use it as a sourcebook for GURPS and other RPGs.

3. A comprehensive check of cross-references and internal consistency in a work of truly epic length.

We want 20-25 playtesters to tackle these tasks for us. We'll give top priority to those who know both GURPS and Discworld inside and out, but we will fill the remaining slots with people who are extremely familiar with one but merely somewhat familiar with the other. We also plan to reserve a few spots for individuals who are well-versed in just one of the two areas, because we want to see how well the game stands up to "blind" testing.

The playtest is currently scheduled to run from August 19, 2011 to September 30, 2011. It will use a closed mailing list. Please do not apply if you cannot spare the necessary time over those dates, or will be away from daily e-mail access. Playtesters must be registered e23 customers who have spent more than $50 at e23 in the past 12 months. For other important details, see Playtesting for Steve Jackson Games.

Prospective playtesters should e-mail jwilson@clueland.com with [D4] in the subject line. Include your name as you would want it to appear in credits, your preferred e-mail address for the playtest mailing list, your e23 login name, and your degree of familiarity with Discworld, GURPS, and playtesting. Information about the preferred submission format is in the forums post for this playtest call.

-- Sean Punch