The Discworld (Gollancz S.F.) (Hardcover)

GURPS (General Universal Role Playing System) publish a whole range of interesting background variants for the entertainment of the roleplaying public. It has to be said that Pratchett's fantasy Discworld is hugely popular and etched into the public consciousness in a way that allows instant comprehension of the setting by experienced gamer and layman alike.

But does this work? GURPS is not an especially user-friendly system, for all its cross-genre potential, it is decidedly clunky in many areas, not least character generation. I wouldn't advise trying this until you've got your head around tabletop roleplaying, maybe something accessible like Dungeons & Dragons or Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. The Discworld games always suffer in practice because Terry Pratchett isn't actually sitting at the table being innovative and witty. Games tend to trail off into a recital of half-remembered plotlines, non-player characters, settings and events. This gets more confusing these days, when the volume of Pratchett's excellent novels lends itself to a reasonably strict chronology.

So, it's an interesting read for a Pratchett fan who's a gamer. But don't expect anything new here, and a Pratchett obsessive will find this repetitive. There are better games than GURPS, and even within GURPS you'd be better considering their Illuminati variant or any one of many other comedy or more user-friendly game settings.

If you ever wondered how the non-blood drinking vampires get by, then this is the book for you. And if you're a non-blood drinking vampire yourself then you cannot move to Ankh-Morpork without it. It gives you information on how to choose a name (vice-president Jane Mary Betty Pamela Ann Peggy von Jones is sure to help you out), what to wear, where to live, where to get a job, where NOT to get a job (face it - you are just not cut out to be a deckchair attendant), and much more.

As with all of the other diaries, each week has 8 days, but the 8th day (Octeday) is filled up with little encouraging tidbits or comments of some sort, especially about various famous and infamous vampires. These tidbits include: "Thought for the week: A day without blood is a day without guilt; that's the Rock upon which our new Movement is built."

It is illustrated by the always talented (very talented) Paul Kidby, and there is a picture of Greebo on the very last page of the diary that is a MUST SEE. I am not kidding; this is the cutest picture I ever did see in all my life and devotion to the Discworld. I would recommend getting this book just for that single picture alone.

However (there is always one of those, isn't there?). However, while I think this is a commendable and well-laid out book, it does not as such catch my attention (except for that picture I mentioned) but this is caused by the fact that I am not so interested in the vampires. I would rather have seen a Guild of Seamstresses' Yearbook and Diary (I believe this would be *very* interesting to see indeed) but there is always next year!

The bottom line: If you are a Discworld fanatic: why are you even wasting time reading this review? Just buy it! Everyone else: if you in any way like the vampires (or just vampires in general) then get it, because this is truly worthy of sitting somewhere visible (unlike the Thieves' Guild Diary, as mentioned). Very beautiful! (Or maybe it's because I'm partial to purple)