Product Description

RULES OF THE UBERWALD LEAGUE OF TEMPERANCE ANKH-MORPORK MISSION OBJECT To further the cause of temperance and of total abstinence from drinking human blood (The Old Practice), to provide recreation and means of social intercourse for its members and to encourage by meetings, lectures, discussions, sing-songs and hot tea a better knowledge of the dangers of the Old Practice. MEMBERSHIP Any person 100 years or over, who is undead, of good character and is prepared to sign the Pledge shall, irrespective of race, sex, nationality or species be eligible for admission to membership. THE PLEDGE Every member must, during his or her membership, be a strict adherent to the principles set out in the Pledge. GOVERNMENT The affairs of the League shall be managed, at each Mission of the League, by a General Committee which shall consist of the Officers of the Mission plus other members up to a total of thirteen, and two members nominated by the Avoidance of Old Practices Committee.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #201620 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

About the Author
Stephen Briggs lives in Oxford. As well as compiling THE DISCWORLD COMPANION and THE NEW DISCWORLD COMPANION, he has also co-authored the Discworld DIARIES, the MAPPS and has dramatised most of the Discworld novels. Paul Kidby discovered Terry Pratchett's Discworld in 1993 and since then has devoted his working life to the place. He is the illustrator of THE PRATCHETT PORTFOLIO, the bestsellers THE LAST HERO and THE ART OF DISCWORLD, as well as the Discworld DIARIES, cards, T-shirts, maps, mugs and, of course, the covers. Terry Pratchett lives in Wiltshire. Stephen Briggs, who lives in Oxford, collaborates with Terry Pratchett on THE DISCWORLD COMPANION, the MAPPS and play adaptations of the Discworld novels. Paul Kidby, who also lives in Wiltshire, is now established as the most popular Discworld artist.

Customer Reviews

A novelty for the shelf, but sadly not as playable as it sho
"No, not the Fighting Fantasy Steve Jackson, the GURPS Steve Jackson". I hear it quite a lot; it's an easy mistake to make, and an assumption I held myself for years.

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.

Beautiful yearbook
Another year, another Discworld yearbook! In my opinion this one has a stunning layout. The cover is purple & black, the writing in white & silver, and the cover pictures (both back and front) are much prettier and better than last year (which I really disapproved of). There is even a picture of Otto (from the Truth) on the back.

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)

Not enough bite for my taste...
I have all the discworld diaries and I Love them all (really I do!!!) but this one seemed not as amusing or funny as the others. This is probably due to the fact that I have not grown to care about these particular characters from reading the Pratchett books. He hasn't gone into depth into vampires trying to kick their blood addiction except for his novel "The Truth". It's a very attractive diary, (reminiscent of the Assassin’s Guild) with its deep purple cover and blood red bookmark. And like Death the vampire's speech occasionally has a different font style "Vhen they talk about zer old days". Still maybe we will meet more vampires later in the Pratchett novels that got their start here (like the mysterious 'Bob' or 'John Not-A-Vampire-At-All Smith'). And it is worth buying it to see "The Ascent of Igor". I wish they had added more information about Igors in here, along with puzzling personal histories of how these particular (and somewhat silly) vampires became vampires. Don't be a sucker, know what your getting, some great illustrations but not Terry Pratchett at his best. Let's keep our fingers crossed that he does the Seamstress's guild next time!