#128: Crying About Discworld
#128: Crying About Discworld
Okay, so there's a turtle flying through space...
I. Dear Reader,
I just finished reading A Life in Footnotes, the official biography of Terry Pratchett. And I’m talking about it on a newsletter (allegedly) about games for a couple reasons.
One, because Discworld is a foundational pillar of high fantasy now. If you like dwarves and you like laughing, you’ll probably get hours of pleasure from this series. Start with Guards, Guards or Monstrous Regiment. (Steal his ideas for your games. I have!)
Two, because Pratchett’s unquestionable success (the best-selling British author before a particular terf-y magic school series came along) comes on the back of being a good writer but also… something else.
But before that, let’s get to the business end of any discussion of a book. And like the business end of a spear, it’ll be short and pointy. Should you read this biography? Well, calibrate your expectations. It begins slowly (apparently, he started as a baby, who knew; also all babies seem to be pretty similar, huh) and there isn’t too much about actually writing the books (turns out he started at the beginning and then just wrote till he finished them, the gall!). But the sections on his early career (20s and 30s) is great and I was in tears by the end of the book. Just sobbing.
So what was Pratchett’s secret? Being a genius, sure, whatever. But his first book only sold half of its print run, the rest were pulped. It took him five years to get to his second book and it also did badly. And his third book (four years later, I believe) also did badly. And then he wrote his first Discworld book, Colour of Magic - which I did not recommend as a starting book for a reason. And then he wrote his fifth book (and second in the Discworld series) and that’s when things started ever-so-slightly picking up. And then he wrote his !sixth! book and it actually started selling. And then he got a massive publishing deal which allowed him to quit his job and go full-time at the age of 40.
(If you’re seeing a hustlegrind moral here, please stop or I will delete this newsletter.)
I think most people end up stopping after that first book didn’t do well. And I think that’s really understandable. I think that’s normal. I think it’s rare to have circumstances that let you keep putting coins in the slot machine of success. I think its hard to shrug off “failure”.
I think those four years after his first book, Pratchett didn’t know if he could be a real writer. I think he didn’t know after ten years and 3 books.
But I’m glad he stuck to it. And it makes me want to stick to it. And I hope that maybe you stick to it as well.
Yours from the back of a giant turtle,
Thomas
PS. Also turns out Terry Pratchett had terible D&D sessions too. He’s just like us!
II. City23: Immoria
Read all the entries at immoria.xyz
We got our first people added today, Mama Crowder and Adair - both impressive heads of families who run eating establishments. I’ve also finally updated the list so you can see how they’re all connected here.
We also got a lovely guerilla food pantry from reader Caro (who I suspect is caro asercion, designer of the game we are playing):
Landmark: Cauldronshrine
Address: The raft behind Old Man Tilenas’s shack
Nobody in Bargetown knows who first abandoned the old iron cauldron. Nobody knows whether it had food in it to begin, or whether that food was placed inside as an afterthought. What the people of Bargetown do know is that one night, someone took some preserved fish from the cauldron, and the next week, they dropped into the cauldron a tin of jam. Someone else took that jam, and returned a loaf of bread; someone else took that bread, and returned a sack of peppers. Over time, people continued to take from the cauldron, and gave what they could.
Now, Cauldronshrine is a thriving guerrilla food pantry, a place where people share what food they can offer. Smaller cauldrons are a frequent sight in Bargetown. They have begun popping up in other neighborhoods, to varying degrees of success.
True name: The first of many open hands
I think it’s also a good time to switch compasses. From our previous list, I think an interesting next one could be HISTORY. What are the tourist attractions, forgotten monuments, historians, founding myths of the city? Submit neighbourhoods, landmarks or people themed around history. For the rules of what a submission looks like, go here!
III. Media of the Week
ACFM is a podcast from UK-based leftist media outfit, Novara Media. They have an episode about games and politics, including a nice point about roleplaying games helping fight “capitalist realism”, which is basically the idea that capitalism is the only system that works, an idea that lives in all our heads to some extent.
I’ve been so busy I almost forgot share that the Playtest Zero community did their showcase. It had some really nice (and short!) presentations about games. The video is on twitch and somewhere in the middle, I talk about For The Other City.
IV. Links of the Week
Articles
WH Arthur writes about game jams and minimalist games for Geeknative.
Blinking Birch Games, the home of Sam Leigh of Anamnesis fame, has a newsletter which shouted me out recently.
Polygon has a list of 7 most anticipated games of 2023. It’s a more interesting list than the EnWorld one, which tends to favour very famous trad games or big ticket licensed products. This one is mostly games that had big kickstarters but hey, you need to gauge anticipation somehow!
It’s been a year for awards that are alternative to the Ennies. This one is called The Awards and has a mysterious and anonymous panel of judges. It’s a fun list of games - many of which I haven’t heard of, which is always good to see. (I have had Devil City and its 77 Vicious Princes bookmarked for a long time!)
But the real gem is there is an accompanying PDF of judges’ remarks on these games which are fun to read. More stuff like this please! (Also, hello judge 3, who seems to be a reader, loved your pieces!)
Reviews
Wonderful double whammy from the Molten Sulfur blog: another nugget of game-able Indian history as well as a review of Ultraviolet Grasslands.
I had the pleasure of reading about Teenagers From Outer Space, a 1987 game by Mike Pondsmith, which seems like an indie game from last year. “The plot… is pretty simple. Aliens from Out There invade our planet. They enroll their kids in our schools; shop in our shopping malls; hang out in our fast food joints.”
Philgamer is blogging his way through Pathfinder 2e. If you need someone to read along with you, this is helpful!
On Age of Ravens, a review of Hard City, a noir RPG from Osprey Games
V. Small Ads
All links in the newsletter are completely based on my own interest. But to help support my work, this section contains sponsored links and advertisements. If you’d like your products to appear here, read the submission form.
On the Way to Chrysopoeia is an epistolary RPG where a Master and their Disciple embark on a world-changing Great Work of alchemy. Coming to Kickstarter on February 13.
Cloud Empress is an expansive, Nausicaa-inspired setting for the Mothership RPG. Cloud Empress imagines a far-off future ruled by giant psychic cicadas. Back on Kickstarter
This newsletter is currently sponsored by the Bundle of Holding.
Now, available, a bundle of Beowulf: Age of Heroes, based on 5e, this is a one-on-one game of a lone hero and a epic quest.
Also, the Alternatives to D&D bundle brings together Five Torches, Hackmaster, Fragged Empire and other games!
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