A new Discworld board game release has been confirmed for later this year, and is now available for pre-order. Terry Pratchett’s fantasy-comedy series of novels has often been adapted into tabletop form, including the recently crowdfunded RPG Adventures in Ankh-Morpork. Coming later this year, though, are two new Discworld board game releases by Modiphius Entertainment.
One of those is Kill Sam Vimes, a competitive strategy game for 2-6 players in which you set out to do exactly that. The other, Readers Digested, centers on the recurring Librarian of the Unseen University, and promises absurd, book-sorting fun for 1-4 players.
In Readers Digested, you and up to three friends play as assistant librarians at the Unseen University, reshelving wayward books during a chaotic finals week. You do so by moving around the board and picking up book cards, some of which you can play to take additional actions or pick up additional books. The goal, over time, is to be the first to evacuate enough students before the sentient library can kick them out itself.
Readers Digested is actually a Discworld-themed spinoff of Blue Moon City, an earlier board game by tabletop magnate Reiner Knizia. In Blue Moon City, you attempt to rebuild a ruined city, where in Readers Digested, you’re rearranging a library. Other than that, though, many of the concepts are the same, albeit with an infusion of Pratchett’s humor and a Discworld coat of paint.
Readers Digested is currently available for preorder via Modiphius Entertainment (although may be sold out, depending on when you get to it). All preorders are expected to ship sometime in November, and include a bonus second tile that can be used to add variation to each round of play.
It’s also worth noting that Readers Digested comes in a basic and a deluxe edition. The deluxe version includes four expansions and a ruleset that adds an extra “Quantum Player,” who acts according to their own rules and is designed to make solo play more dynamic. You also get some more nicely made tokens and a fancier board.
The late Pratchett’s final Discworld novel was published posthumously in 2015, and, as far as writing new books goes, no one has taken up the mantle. However, the series’ legacy of brilliant wit, complex lore, and occasional poignant musings lives on in adaptations like these. As long as there are Discworld fans to play them, games like this will continue the series’ legacy.
- Video Game(s)
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Discworld MUD
- Cast
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David Jason, Charles Dance, Michelle Dockery, Marc Warren, Anna Chancellor, Richard Coyle, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Adam Hugill, Jo Eaton-Kent, Wendell Pierce, Ralph Ineson, James Fleet, Terry Pratchett
- Created by
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Terry Pratchett