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Has anyone played the Ankh Morpork board game? Just wondering if it's worth picking up.
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Jul 16, 2012 04:01
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I'm a huge gaming nerd, and I have played it. I like it. It's not extremely flavorful, but it's a great game. The artwork is great, the board is fantastic, and the gameplay is awesome (you don't know what the other players' objectives are, and have to win while preventing their win conditions from occurring). I completely love it. But if you're expecting a discworld-style humour to it, you'll be disappointed. Most of the "funny" comes from playing with other discworld fans and making your own jokes about Gaspode or whoever. You can play with non-fans, but to them it will be an interesting boardgame, not an introduction to the discworld. As an example, there's a card in the deck which does nothing at all (oh, you can discard it and get a benefit if you have something else in play, but the card itself does gently caress all). The name on the card is The Peeled Nuts, who are the Ankh-Morpork Historical Reenactment Society. That's kinda funny, but unless you'd read Discworld and remembered who The Peeled Nuts were (and I think they're mentioned by name just once), it just looks like a card which does nothing and has a picture of crappy soldiers on it.
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Jul 16, 2012 05:40
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Is Lobsang the vending machine in The Long Earth the same as the thief/clockmaker Lobsang from Thief of Time?
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Jul 16, 2012 11:44
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SeanBeansShako posted:The best one really, as it had its own (slightly original) story. I liked the first two games but not a big fan of several plots of the book vaguely mashed together motiff they had. There was also the fact that the puzzles made sense. A crowbar was used to what crowbars is normally used for, you didn't have to combine it with a duck and put in a chimney.
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Jul 16, 2012 14:18
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If I thought the film version of The Colour of Magic sucked, should I bother watching the others? Going Postal is one of my favorite books of all time, so I was excited when I saw there was a movie...and then I saw CoM on Netflix. Nothing worked for me. The timing of all the jokes was wrong. The scenes were just dumped haphazardly all across the timeline, and the continuity was jittery and bizarre. I mean, The Colour of Magic isn't Terry's best work, but it would be hard to produce a worse adaptation of it.
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Jul 16, 2012 15:06
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BananaNutkins posted:If I thought the film version of The Colour of Magic sucked, should I bother watching the others? Going Postal is one of my favorite books of all time, so I was excited when I saw there was a movie...and then I saw CoM on Netflix.
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Jul 16, 2012 15:36
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Color of Magic is quite bad. The sets and production values are good, mind you, I love how the world Sky managed to built in Hogfather, CoM and Going Postal. But the casting is strange, and CoM is, IMO, one of the weakest Discworld books. But yeah, if you have to see at least one more movie, do Hogfather. Because Death of Rats is strangely adorable.
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Jul 16, 2012 15:54
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Alhazred posted:There was also the fact that the puzzles made sense. A crowbar was used to what crowbars is normally used for, you didn't have to combine it with a duck and put in a chimney. Pretty much, yeah. What was the worse puzzle out of all the games? I can't really remember as it has been a while.
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Jul 16, 2012 16:13
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Just bought "The long Earth" and I'm almost done with it already. It's as funny as it should be, since it's written by Pratchett, and it's as intelligent as the usual Baxter books. Lobsang is amazing. I wish I had a near omniscient vending machine!
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Jul 16, 2012 19:45
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Kvitrafn posted:Just bought "The long Earth" and I'm almost done with it already. I agree that it is good, but for me Lobsang has moments of being a bit of an arsehole (eg forcing Joshua to wear the mechanical parrot). One thing about it bugged me a little as well, the phobics not being able to step until right at the end when Madison is about to be nuked and someone can drag them west or east just by grabbing onto them. Why did no one think of this at the start of the book when the "migration" started, especially the family that abandoned their son? Hopefully Terry won't die before the next few books come out as there's a lot of promise to the universe.
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Jul 16, 2012 20:18
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Spigs posted:Has anyone played the Ankh Morpork board game? Just wondering if it's worth picking up. Yep. I love it! I don't generally play boardgames and none of my mates are really that into them either, so I think it's a fairly stunning recommendation that everyone I've played it with (Discworld and non-discworld fans alike) have had a blast playing it and a few of us now play it with beers every other week. I got it as a present and was marginally worried that it'd be a cheap cash in, but it's a great fun game first and a pretty cool Discworld thing second; the board is Ankh Morpork and there's about 100-200 unique cards, all of which are Discworld characters. The rules are pretty straightforward and most of the fun comes from being fairly bastarding to each other while you try to work out what other people's personalities are and screw them over accordingly. Get it! Hands down my favourite boardgame and a really cool Discworld thingy.
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Jul 16, 2012 20:31
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davestones posted:One thing about it bugged me a little as well, the phobics not being able to step until right at the end when Madison is about to be nuked and someone can drag them west or east just by grabbing onto them. Why did no one think of this at the start of the book when the "migration" started, especially the family that abandoned their son? If it hadn't escaped your attention, at the end of the book the abandoned son you're talking about is dragged one step out of the Datum. He immediately goes into convulsions and has to be injected with something by a paramedic. Perhaps someone thought of this at the start of the book, which is why his family left him behind?
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Jul 16, 2012 22:41
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SeanBeansShako posted:Pretty much, yeah. Here's what Terry had to say in the manual for Discworld 2: Missing Presumed ... !? quote:What do you mean, "I haven't finished the first one yet"?
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Jul 17, 2012 00:57
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I just finished The Long Earth and really enjoyed it. Pratchett's voice comes across very strongly; I've not read anything of Stephen Baxter's so I can't judge his contribution. My only complaint is that the 'Humanity First' villains are very cliched, even down to the name. I'll be pleasantly suprised if they manage to take the idea somewhere interesting.
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Jul 25, 2012 14:42
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Has anyone checked out Pratchett's short stories that he's allowed to be placed online? Death and What Comes Next. - A Death story. Theatre of Cruelty - A Watch story. (also comes in other langauges, including Orangutan) A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices - A wizards story. And my personal favourite short story - The Sea and Little Fishes - The Witches. Or you could watch the uncanny valley poser adaption.
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Aug 3, 2012 14:47
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Yes, and I love them. Especially the Witches one which I read in a compilation ages ago.
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Aug 4, 2012 07:04
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The Supreme Court posted:I got it as a present and was marginally worried that it'd be a cheap cash in, but it's a great fun game first and a pretty cool Discworld thing second This. I was stunned by how well designed it was as a game. You could strip all the Discworld stuff out and it would still be a good board game, just not as fun or funny. I've played it with people that haven't read any Pratchett and they had a blast. Definitely pick it up if you can.
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Aug 4, 2012 09:40
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I've started reading Guards! Guards! and I'm quite enjoying it. Reading Pratchett again made me think of when I was a kid, probably around 8 years old or less. And I was given a copy of Truckers and Diggers. I never read them because I didn't really read "books" when I was that age. I remember admiring the cover art for ages and trying to make a story up from it. These are the covers I had:   I think when I'm done with the Guards books I'm going to correct a wrong from my past. I'm going to read these books! I think if I had been given them when I was older I would have read them and likely gone on to be a huge Pratchett fan. I'd probably have read all of his books by now and I wouldn't have grown up reading Goosebumps 
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Aug 9, 2012 07:18
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Do it. A while back when it was really crazy at work, I almost had a complete breakdown due to the end of Diggers. Together, I think they're my favourite work by Terry. VVV I have, I bought the compiled Bromeliad from Book Depository 
Big Bad Beetleborg fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Aug 9, 2012 |
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Aug 9, 2012 07:41
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Both of you should also check out "Wings", the third book in the series.
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Aug 9, 2012 18:24
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Autumncomet posted:I want that game. Sourcery isn't really bad, it's just not as witty or clever as the rest of Discworld. Approach it like the action movie of the books, and enjoy the described imagery- because it's some of the most fantastic in the series, in my opinion. Particularly the magic analogue of ICBM warfare. It should definitely fare better than some of the other stories when it gets translated to the screen. Sard fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Aug 12, 2012 |
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Aug 12, 2012 00:29
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My favorite bit in Sourcery is Rincewind trying to build his little Wizzard Tower.  And there's some good bits with Conina and Nijel the Destroyer.
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Aug 12, 2012 03:49
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Got the Discworld Con schedule last night. Seems a little less organised than usual - Stephen Baxter's guest lecture clashes with the Charity Auction - but the big standout is the lack of a signing. Last time there was one, with a "two books, no dedications" rider. This time, no signing and advice to please not ask Terry to sign books if you see him around. Not good news.
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Aug 14, 2012 08:08
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Jedit posted:Got the Discworld Con schedule last night. Seems a little less organised than usual - Stephen Baxter's guest lecture clashes with the Charity Auction - but the big standout is the lack of a signing. Last time there was one, with a "two books, no dedications" rider. This time, no signing and advice to please not ask Terry to sign books if you see him around. Not good news. I feel like any Pratchett fan who hasn't been living under a rock for the past decade would have the decency to not ask him for an autograph at this point. That's just tacky. I'd love to be able to make it to a Disc Con before he's gone, just to say a few kind words if I happened to see him. Not to shove a copy of The Colour of Magic in his face and say "CAN YOU SIGN THIS BRO". Jeez.
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Aug 18, 2012 21:06
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All I could say to him would be "Thank you for all the wonderful stories".
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Aug 18, 2012 22:23
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AlphaDog posted:All I could say to him would be "Thank you for all the wonderful stories". That, and "Your books literally made me a better person." Reading stuff like Mort and Small Gods in my late teens was honestly just about as important to me as, I don't know, The Stranger. No hyperbole.
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Aug 18, 2012 22:33
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I can quite comfortably say that several parts of Night Watch have stuck by me through the years, what a beautiful little book.
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Aug 18, 2012 22:58
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precision posted:I feel like any Pratchett fan who hasn't been living under a rock for the past decade would have the decency to not ask him for an autograph at this point. That's just tacky. I'd love to be able to make it to a Disc Con before he's gone, just to say a few kind words if I happened to see him. Not to shove a copy of The Colour of Magic in his face and say "CAN YOU SIGN THIS BRO". Jeez. No, it needed to be said. Pterry has always loved talking to fans at the Cons and has been known to sign the occasional book for someone who can't stay for the signing because they need to go home. None of the Con regulars would think it tacky to ask in those circumstances, because it's a big change that you can't.
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Aug 19, 2012 00:39
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precision posted:I feel like any Pratchett fan who hasn't been living under a rock for the past decade would have the decency to not ask him for an autograph at this point. That's just tacky. I'd love to be able to make it to a Disc Con before he's gone, just to say a few kind words if I happened to see him. Not to shove a copy of The Colour of Magic in his face and say "CAN YOU SIGN THIS BRO". Jeez. Making assumptions about "decency" and similar things like Common Sense is an unstable bridge to place your stance. The best and nicest person in the world who always lived as nice as they could can still be unintentionally cruel because it never occurred to them that X could be considered cruel. Sometimes you need to be told things to realize them.
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Aug 19, 2012 05:09
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I'm in the middle of doing a Discworld reread. (Up to Feet of Clay.) So many good books on either side of me. I think I'm on the verge of getting a friend hooked. We watched Hogfather the other night, and she's a big Harry Potter friend, so I've been talking up Tiffany Aching to her.
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Aug 19, 2012 05:29
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I would really love it if some big studio (but not so big they'll gently caress it up) got it in their heads to do a Tiffany Aching series of films and cast Chloe Grace Meritz (Let Me In, Kick-rear end, (500) Days of Summer). I think she would be just super in that role. I mean, they tried to do The Dark is Rising which, while a great series of young adult books, is ancient and completely obscure to anyone under the age of 30.
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Aug 19, 2012 06:07
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Wikipedia says that Sam Raimi was attached to a production, but Pratchett thought the script was awful (and has since gotten the rights back). Didn't know that.
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Aug 19, 2012 06:27
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One of my favourite anecdotes from Pratchett about people trying to turn his books into movies is the one about Mort, where the studio liked it, but said "can we drop the death angle?"
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Aug 19, 2012 23:14
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Pesky Splinter posted:One of my favourite anecdotes from Pratchett about people trying to turn his books into movies is the one about Mort, where the studio liked it, but said "can we drop the death angle?"
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Aug 20, 2012 15:36
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davestones posted:Is Lobsang the vending machine in The Long Earth the same as the thief/clockmaker Lobsang from Thief of Time? I would definitely like to think so. He is also without a doubt meant to be the Discworld counterpart of this dude: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Rampa. Actually I guess counterpart is quite a strong word, but he surely must be inspired by him. And of course by dude, I mean nut-job/charlatan. chippy fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Aug 23, 2012 |
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Aug 23, 2012 09:51
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Lobsang is just Pterry's go-to name for vaguely Tibetan monk types. The two characters are totally unconnected. Setting off for the Con in a couple of hours. Would anyone be interested in photos?
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Aug 23, 2012 09:59
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So I've always loved Pratchett, especially his YA stuff, but for some reason had never heard of or acknowledged Nation until a couple of weeks ago. God drat that book is really good. One of the few books I've ever read that almost made me cry. Pratchett makes me wish I had kids so I could make them read his books.
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Aug 23, 2012 12:47
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Jedit posted:Lobsang is just Pterry's go-to name for vaguely Tibetan monk types. The two characters are totally unconnected. I'd accept that the Lobsang in Thief of Time and the one in The Long Earth are different people, although it seems odd to me that he wouldn't just find a different name for them, but Lobsang in The Long Earth has surely got to be based on Lobsang Rampa, the "soul of tibetan monk now inhabiting another vessel" parallel is just too similar. I also liked the fact that he was a motorcyle repairmen. Surely a nod to Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? chippy fucked around with this message at 12:52 on Aug 23, 2012 |
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Aug 23, 2012 12:50
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Finished Long Earth, and while I enjoyed it, I thought it was all setting with no real tension. Everything gets resolved neatly at the end, with no real effort on any character's part. They're mostly just along for the ride. Thinking about it now the Long Earth setting really reminds me of Ringworld.
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Aug 24, 2012 13:07
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Gravitas Shortfall posted:Finished Long Earth, and while I enjoyed it, I thought it was all setting with no real tension. Everything gets resolved neatly at the end, with no real effort on any character's part. They're mostly just along for the ride. It's a setup novel for a series. Just got out of a Kaffee Klatch with Stephen Briggs, which was interesting and a lot of fun. We talked about how he got involved in Discworld through theatre (because Hitchhikers was taken, basically), how the audio books are recorded for the UK and US markets, and a bit of mostly spoiler free chat about Dodger. Next stop for me is Backspindle's new Discworld game demo, followed by the Bedtime Story - which will probably interest most of you more. It may be a section of Dodger that isn't in the Waterstones sampler, or it may be from Flick of the Screen. Recording is prohibited, but I'll give you a little info on what I hear.
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Aug 24, 2012 18:39
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