97. (February 2021) Mort by Terry Pratchett — The Tabletop Roleplayers' Book Club

Mort Q1. Quality

BurnAfterRunning — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 19:41:36 +0000

As I said at the pitch for this, I read this first when I was probably 12-14 years old, and considered it (as a precocious teen) an absolute masterpiece, and I'd quote Pratchett's rant about genre fiction at anyone who doubted me. Is it any good, or rather, is it anything more than a fun fantasy romp through a coming-of-age story? Does it offer any more food for thought than that?

Mort Q6. Misc

BurnAfterRunning — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 19:48:45 +0000

(In other discussions I've sometimes found I've had something else to say that doesn't fit exactly in any of the other categories. If this is the case here, post below - what else is worthy of discussion about the book)

Mort Q4. Which RPG System?

BurnAfterRunning — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 19:46:40 +0000

GURPS Discworld is, improbably, a thing, and was made with Pratchett's blessing (there's a lovely moment in the introduction where Phil Masters recounts beginning to start to explain RPGs to him, to be met with several AD&D war stories from the author) - what, er, other games would work for a game set in the Discworld, or in a similar style? What aspects of system help to create the game space?

Mort Q2. Plot

BurnAfterRunning — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 19:43:22 +0000

It's hard to think of a more nailed-on coming of age Hero's Journey than what Pratchett plots out for Mort. Does it manage to do something interesting with this? What advantages are there to following a similarly familiar plot structure in RPGs? Can we even do a classic coming-of-age story (say, 1st-3rd level D&D, for example) in RPGs?

Mort Q3. Humour

BurnAfterRunning — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 19:45:00 +0000

This is the same discussion that we have every time we have a 'funny' book, but, again - what is funny about the book, and is there any way to emulate that in RPGs? Does Pratchett's approach - to lean into well-worn tropes, cast likeable protagonists and poke fun at the whole process - offer a way in to run 'humourous' RPG sessions?

Mort Q5. Mort: The Convention One-Shot

BurnAfterRunning — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 19:47:41 +0000

You're running at an RPG convention. You've pitched, in a moment of madness, a 3-hour session based on the novel. What system do you use? What's your plot structure or notes? Who are your pregens?