Terry Pratchett is dead. Long live Terry Pratchett.
The acclaimed British author - known primarily for his Discworld series of fantasy novels - succumbed to complications arising from Alzheimers this morning. He was 66 years old. Sir Terry Pratchett is no more, but his works and his biting, exquisite prose - equal parts funny, thoughtful and memorable - will live on. Such is the epitaph for all writers. Their words endure, long after their tombstones have crumbled to ash.
During his lifetime, Pratchett wrote 40 novels set in the comedic fantasy series Discworld. He also lent a hand to several adaptations of his beloved adventure, including four PC adaptations and several board games. We've scoured the bygone days of the net to check out the old titles.
The Colour of Magic - the first game from Discworld also happens to be adapted from the very first book in the series. First released in 1986 on the Commodore 64, the text-based adventure game (similar to ZORK) hewed closely to the novel, so players who had read the book could figure out the puzzles.
There was an iOS remake called 'Discworld: The Colour of Magic' released in 2006 that added some tile based graphics, that will more than likely be rereleased sometime in the near future. Pocketgamer has a good overview of that version HERE.
The most accomplished of the adaptations, however, has to be Discworld, or Discworld: The Trouble With Dragons
Released in 1995, the point and click adventure game was an entirely new story set in Discworld and once again followed Rincewind as he bumbled from adventure to adventure. The game was known for being exceedingly, wonderfully difficult in its puzzles, as well as featuring some great voice work from fellow Brit and comedian Eric Idle from Monty Python.
You can kind of download a version of the game HERE though you may encounter some compatibility issues. Again, if ever there was an adventure title that needs a modern remake, it's this one.
Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!? Came out a year later, and was later ported to the Sega Saturn (fitting, considering the game revolves around Death). Eric Idle reprises his role in this fun follow-up. The difficulty has been ratcheted down slightly, though it will still give you a challenge. Well, it would if there was a compatible version. You can still watch it, though.
Discworld Noir - breaking from the many travails of Rincewind, this 1999 game is described as both "a parody of the [noir] genre and an example of it". Grim Fandango meets Terry Pratchett. The gameplay is less of an inventory based 'insert X into Y' and feels more like a traditional mystery novel, wherein the player is tasked with writing down clues and connecting his notes with various events and mysteries found within the dark and rainy city of Ankh-Morpork.
You might be able to get a copy of it up and running on your PC from HERE. If not, there are plenty of playthough videos to be found on YouTube.
Terry might not have been big into creating games (though he certainly played them), but his daughter Rhianna certainly is, having written for such titles as Heavenly Sword, Tomb Raider, and Mirror's Edge.
Players wishing to honor Sir Pratchett with a small gathering can cozy up around Ankh-Morpork, the 2011 board game released by Mayfair Games. "The rules are relatively simple: Play a card and do what it says. Most cards have more than one action on them, and you can choose to do some or all of these actions. Some cards also allow you to play a second card, so you can chain actions" Standard fare, for 2-4 players.
You can also grab your friends and celebrate Discworld and the life of Pratchett with the GURPS Discworld rulebooks, which brings the universal game system to RPGs.
While all the games are fun, the true legacy of Terry Pratchett is not the challenges or the graphics, but the words. Pick a book and any number of quotes stand out:
"In the Ramtops village where they dance the real Morris dance, for example, they believe that no-one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away - until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence." - Reaper Man
To Sir Terry Pratchett, Death has been your companion throughout your long career. I hope he can overlook your weird and wonderful PR spin. Let me leave you with this, the last story Terry and Death get to tell: One, Two, Three
