Bringing Terry Pratchett's Wit to The Table: Discworld TTRPG Unveiled

One of the standout products at GenCon 2026 this year was DISCWORLD: Adventures in Ankh-Morpork, a tabletop adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s popular comedic fantasy setting by Modiphius. The game adopted a notable design change in its pivot away from the publisher’s traditional 2d20 system toward something that allowed for more wordplay and loose storytelling. Pratchett always had a very particular approach to humor that demanded a mixture of wit and social commentary but that was also very distinctly him. He’s also extremely UK-coded in his humor. So how do you make that into a game that everyone will enjoy?

TTRPG Insider sat down with project manager Daniel Lade to talk about adapting Pratchett’s property, the distinct challenges the game faced and more.

Terry Pratchett is considered among some of the best British satirists and fantasy writers of the 20th century. His work stood out for years for its mix of conversational witticisms and wordplay. While it might seem like the game would translate well to a traditional fantasy setting, Modiphius wanted to make sure they did it right.

“We created our own system, a narrative system that relies heavily on wordplay and interaction as a player with the GM,” Modiphius project manager Daniel Lade, who oversaw the game’s development, told TTRPG Insider.

One of the most distinctive elements of the game is that it doesn’t use stats to modify dice rolls. Instead, players have to rely on “bluff, humor and comedy,” Lade emphasized, forcing players to make either funny or persuasive cases for why their character can do a certain task.

The example Lade gave was of “Bob”, a member of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. Bob used to be a good cobbler and made good shoes. If the players wanted to chase a criminal, Bob’s player would have to make a case for which character trait on their sheet applies to the scenario. IF they said something generic, they would get the default dice (which is a d8). However, if a player uses Bob’s history as a cobbler to imply he was wearing his best shoes while running, the storyteller might give him a better dice roll (such as a d12). It’s up to the players to use humor and reason to make a good case for their silly characters’ capabilities.

The traits relate to a number of character elements, from background to niche interests to quirky elements.

The gameplay appears to suit players who are naturally quick on their feet or prone to improvisational ideation. However, Lade emphasized that the team has also tried to make it easier for other players by fleshing out the Discworld lore (and, by extension, offering a wide spectrum of ideas they can add to their sheets) and helping players adopt the mindset that Pratchett brought to worldbuilding.

Pratchett fans are very passionate about their favorite author’s writing style, which means that Modiphius faced an uphill challenge in converting the material. Thankfully, the team involved in writing the book were “Discworld superheroes” who had read the novels multiple times.

Pratchett’s humor is captured both through collaboration with the Pratchett estate in developing the rules and lore, and through the footnotes (a tool the fantasy author regularly in his novels) throughout the book. “That was a big key to this,” Lade emphasized. “Obviously this is a rulebook. Footnotes in a rulebook is kinda weird, since it looks like we’re correcting our own mistakes with the footnotes.” However, the team writing the book used this practice to help ensure it felt Pratchett-y enough.

“We’re not trying to copy Terry,” Lade emphasized, “We’re trying to honor him.”

The Digest version of the Discworld Core Rulebook is now available for purchase.

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More Pratchett On The Way

Modiphius intends to lean heavily into Discworld in the coming months.

Later this fall, they plan to crowdfund the Adventures in Lancre and Überwald expansion, which will add new rules for Discworld’s magic as well as more information on the setting’s vampires, witches, and other supernatural entities.

Two Discworld board games are also now available for preorder.

Kill Sam Vines is a board game for 2-6 players about trainee assassins trying to kill Sam Vines (a character known in lore for his inability to get killed.)

There’s also Readers Digested, where 2-4 players are helping manage panicked students. The game is a reflavored version of Blue Moon City by Reinier Knizia.

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