All about this brand new RPG system set in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld setting.
As an avid Discworld reader since my teens, I was very excited to learn that we’d be getting a whole RPG dedicated to one of the whackiest and most beloved universes ever created.
Arriving in June 2025 (with physical fulfillment expected in August 2025), Modiphius (who are developing the Discworld RPG) seek to capture the same spirit of off the wall zaniness and pun-fueled adventures as Sir Terry Pratchett’s books.
If you’d like to get your hands on the Discworld RPG, the Kickstarter campaign has ended, but you can still make late pledges at Gamefound. I’ve already been digging into the playtest materials and everything Modiphius have shared and have pieced that knowledge into the article below.
What is Discworld?
About the Discworld RPG
Category: Tabletop Role Playing Game
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Modiphus
Release Date: June 2025
The Discworld is the Fantasy world created by the late Sir Terry Pratchett. It spans 41 books focused on different characters, groups and locations.
The Discworld itself is a disc (of course) that hurtles through space on the back of 4 gigantic elephants who themselves ride upon the back of an even more gigantic turtle. At this point you may want to leave your science book at home, it won’t help.
The Disc is home to civilisations and creatures that vary from the normalish (like Humans and Dwarves) to the kind of odd (like trolls, vampires and werewolves) to the downright baffling (like Igors and an orangutan librarian).
Central to many of the stories is the city of Ankh-Morpork, a cesspool of crime and probably “cess” (whatever that is). It also happens to be the setting of the Discworld RPG (at least this initial book is, we don’t know if there will be future books dedicated to places like Borogravia, Genua, Lancre, Uberwald or anywhere else).
What makes the Discworld RPG different?
Reading the playtest materials, it’s clear that this is intended to be a rules-lite RPG. In fact, even where rules do exist, it is expected that they be bent, twisted and contorted in ridiculous and completely unintended ways. Discworld is not a serious place and neither are adventures in the Discworld RPG.
Instead, it’s very narrative, humour and pun-driven. Players will take on the role of a character who, rather than having very sensible things like mechanics and skills, have traits that give them loose concepts of capabilities. It is the job of the player to justify how their traits might help them achieve whatever outcome they’re trying to accomplish. You’ll still roll to determine the success of your actions, but how well you justify your approach and how well your character can tackle that approach, the more of a boost your roll will get and the more likely you are to succeed.
Traits are the kinds of things you might write on a D&D character sheet for flavour like “I spend more time in the Drum than the Library” or “A winning smile and chiselled features”. But in the Discworld RPG, characters with such traits might argue that they have contacts among the Drum’s clientele, can hold their liquor better than most other people or be the most likely to flirt their way into the heavily guarded keep.
The other thing to influence your success is luck. Luck is granted by the DM for creative, cunning or downright weird solutions. It can then be used to improve outcomes or help other players out.
But while these mechanics do exist, the core of the Discworld RPG experience hinges around the following principles:
- The Disc has a story it wants to tell, and left alone, it will spin on much as it has always done.
- The players want to change the story to one more to their liking.
It’s your traits, dice and decisions that will determine how well you can transform the “Narrativium” into the direction you want it to go. The DM, as usual, will determine outcomes, consequences and adjust the story accordingly; hopefully in completely absurd and wonderfully weird ways.
When is the Discworld RPG set?
The books of the Discworld follow a progression with the Disc undergoing something of an industrial revolution during its time. Wargamer were able to confirm in an interview that the Discworld RPG is set during the earlier stages of the industrial revolution, before the books of Thud and Going Postal. You’ll find the newspapers and clacks already established, and the Watch filled with all sorts of species, but you won’t find things like steam trains (or a functional postal service).
What do you play as?
Species
The Discworld is home to many odd and unusual species. Humans Dwarves and Trolls exist in abundance, but you’ll also get weird and wonderful creatures like animated objects and Igors.
We don’t have a full list of species you can choose yet, and even when the final book does come out, we know you can choose beyond the options mentioned in there. But thanks again to Wargamer’s interview, we do have a decent idea of some of the species you can play as. These include:
- Humans
- Dwarfs
- Trolls
- Gargoyles
- Igors
- Sapient magic creatures and items
Organisations
The other big part of your character is the organisation they’re a member of. This is sort of the equivalent of a class (though has none of the boring stuff like mechanics). But it will help you justify your capabilities in certain areas.
Again, we don’t know all the organisations you can be a part of, but some already mentioned include:
- The Watch
- Student wizards
- Beggars
- Seamstresses
I wouldn’t be surprised if we also see things like the Thieves’ guild, Assassin’s guild, journalists, postal workers or bankers show up as well as the many other guilds, unions and groups that feature on the Disc.
That’s all we know ahead of the release of the Discworld RPG in June 2025. We’ve pre-ordered our copies and will be featuring more articles on it as it releases. Will you be picking up the Discworld RPG? Let me know in the comments below.
