The Campaign Builder's Guild

Of the sample listed, which one is your favorite?
Any special reasons?

You listed Lu-Tze twice. I haven't voted yet, so if it was by accident you might be able to remove him yet.

My vote goes to Rincewind, with Death a close second (especially in the novels where he isn't a primary character).

I cannot fix it.  Wonder why that happened?

The Dogbotherer is my favorite, with Vimes and Death tying for second.

probably because you had voted yourself already? :P

Have you seen Art of Discworld?
Amazing how much Rincewind looks like Pratchett.

I thought Rincewind was extremely skinny and had a very long red(-ish) beard? Pratchett, as I recall, is not exactly thin and has a short beard.

But I haven't seen Art of Discworld...

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1a/Rincewind_color.png/220px-Rincewind_color.png) vs. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3a/Terry_pratchett.jpg/250px-Terry_pratchett.jpg)

Slightly far-fetched, don't you think?

EDIT: though I'm sure he based the CHARACTER on himself ;)

You should really have a "Never read any Discworld" option for those of us who want to lurk and add to our post counts, but can't really participate :)

dude, you're the admin. you can edit the database to increase your post count. i'm sure it's just an integer. ;)

also: rincewind. vimes is also cool in night watch, but that story seemed almost to be a novel of a different genre, just also set in discworld.

also, you left off "the luggage". best character by far.

Quote from: TúrinSlightly far-fetched, don't you think?

EDIT: though I'm sure he based the CHARACTER on himself ;)

I was refering specifically to the Kirby art book's rendition of Rincee.

Quote from: brainfacealso: rincewind. vimes is also cool in night watch, but that story seemed almost to be a novel of a different genre, just also set in discworld.

also, you left off "the luggage". best character by far.

Most of the Vimes stories(NW, 5th Elephant, THUD, etc.) are of a different tone than the Rincewind books, or the Death Books.

And the luggage is cool, even in drag!(Lost Continent) !amazed

Yay! Rincewind taking the lead, with as much votes as all of his opponents' votes taken together! :D

Quote from: IshmaylYou should really have a "Never read any Discworld" option for those of us who want to lurk and add to our post counts, but can't really participate :)

None?
I highly recommend them all!
And the beauty of the series is that reading them in order is not a must.
Much more entertaining and soul stirring than say the Runelords. %-6

I see poor Polly has no votes, nor Mr. de Worde.

Is Discworld the series written by Terry Pratchett?  Because if so, I"ve read one ("Color of Magic," maybe??) and didn't really like it... if not, then I'm a fool and will find some to read sometime.

Quote from: IshmaylIs Discworld the series written by Terry Pratchett?  Because if so, I"ve read one ("Color of Magic," maybe??) and didn't really like it... if not, then I'm a fool and will find some to read sometime.

Yes, that was his first Discworld novel, followed by The Light Fantastic.  His style really became his own after that, in Mort and Sourcery, and continued to get better.

the rest of the series is very different from those early works.  Even the later Rincewind books have a different tone.
My top picks are:
Night Watch
The Fifth Elephant
Truth
Thud
Thief of Time
Reaper Man
Soul Music
Jingo

dude, ish, i can't believe you read like, 9 wheel of time books, and gave up after only one terry pratchet. seriously, pratchet does this thing jordan can learn, it's called "improving".

brain, just because you don't have the patience to wait your entire life for the next and last WoT book to come out doesn't mean that Jordan is a poor writer :)  And anyway, I've read 11.  And except for 7, 8, and 10, they do get better... kind of... well, the last book was really good, anyway.

I wish I could play along but I haven't read any of these books. That makes me sad...

I love both Vimes and Vetenari, and had alot of trouble choosing, with Death a very close third. I ended up voting Vimes, since Vimes is just so awesome, and I see alot of myself in him, especially his cynicism. :)

pratchet also does this thing jordan can learn, called "finish a story in one frigg'n book". all the discworld novels--actually complete stories! with a beginning, and an end! it's amazing! seriously, other authors ought to adopt that concept ;)

Yeah, that is true.  The concept of the trilogy seems to have taken over everything, and there are very few single-book stories anymore.  Rad Williams has one called "The War of the Flowers," that's really good, but I haven't read any one-shots in awhile that I really liked.

I'm not sure I agree about Terry Pratchett improving. While he wrote some very nice stories and his style certainly "evolved", I think that, all taken together, I prefer The Colour of Magic (remember kids, Pratchett is British) and The Light Fantastic over the later works. The Discworld, IMO, was never meant to be "standardized" (by which I mean getting a map drawn, a history written, and most importantly, a status quo existing), but it happened.

As for Jordan, I'm currently reading book IX of WoTÃ, and I'm still undecided whether he is a good writer or not. I often think of him as the worst writer I have ever read, but I keep reading. Very annoying, Jordan is. Back in books I, II and III, there were very climactic endings that made you feel satisfied you had persevered to the end, but not so (at least, not as much) in the later ones. His writing style makes me feel like I'm reading a 6,000 page summary of the actual story.

one of my definitions of a bad writer is "someone who can't tell a good story in one book". i mean, seriously, modern fantasy writers write longer books than Herman Melville, and that's insane. (i'm counting 1 story partitioned over 11 volumes as 'one book')

i've never read discworld, or WoT, so I am going to leave this noe, then continue to stay out of this conversation.

Quote from: brainfaceone of my definitions of a bad writer is "someone who can't tell a good story in one book". i mean, seriously, modern fantasy writers write longer books than Herman Melville, and that's insane. (i'm counting 1 story partitioned over 11 volumes as 'one book')

THat is one of the joys of Pratchett's work.Ã,  Each book is a separate story, complete in itself.
As for WoT, it bores me....

This poll lacks Weatherwax.

Seriously, you listed Lu-Tze twice, and even small-time protagonists (Polly, de Worde) got listed, when they only have one book each. But you forgot Esme Weatherwax, headology adept whose willpower is strong enough to bend horseshoes around. For shame.

Quote from: Luminous CrayonThis poll lacks Weatherwax.

Seriously, you listed Lu-Tze twice, and even small-time protagonists (Polly, de Worde) got listed, when they only have one book each. But you forgot Esme Weatherwax, headology adept whose willpower is strong enough to bend horseshoes around. For shame.

Lu-Tze got listed twic because of an errant time stream.

I chose to not include Weatherwax, because then I would have to include Nanny Ogg and the Bursar and Mustrum Ridcully and the Dean, etc.
THey are all less protagonists than pillars of society.

I always considered Weatherwax as the "main" protagonist of the witches' books, with Nanny and Magrat as supporting cast, in much the same way that the UU wizards are often Rincewind's supporting cast. Granny works with a group, but I don't consider her a lesser character because of it, and I certainly don't consider her less of a protagonist.

How are one-book-only characters like de Worde more major characters than Weatherwax? How is Vetinari more of a protagonist than a "pillar of society" (with the exception of the single book Night Watch)?

I don't mean to get defensive, and the questions above are genuinely and honestly asked. I just sometimes get the feeling I'm the only Weatherwax fan on the entire internets.

Quote from: Luminous CrayonI always considered Weatherwax as the "main" protagonist of the witches' books, with Nanny and Magrat as supporting cast, in much the same way that the UU wizards are often Rincewind's supporting cast. Granny works with a group, but I don't consider her a lesser character because of it, and I certainly don't consider her less of a protagonist.

How are one-book-only characters like de Worde more major characters than Weatherwax? How is Vetinari more of a protagonist than a "pillar of society" (with the exception of the single book Night Watch)?

I don't mean to get defensive, and the questions above are genuinely and honestly asked. I just sometimes get the feeling I'm the only Weatherwax fan on the entire internets.

My girlfriend is also a Weatherwax fan.
And the choices in the poll reflect my personal prejudices and highly discriminating literary palate.         :jackbox:

And as for Havelock, he is not a pillar, but the very foundation upon which odiferous Ankh-Morpork exists....
And, have you read Jingo?  Vetenari, Colon, and Nobby Nobbs together on a mission...:eek:

And I liked de Worde in Truth and even more with Miss Perks in Monstrous Regiment.

Maybe an all encompassing Discworld poll is in order...... :demon:

I've read all the Discworld books except Thud, many of them several times (though in some cases it's been a while, and the details have gone fuzzy on me.)

To continue the cheerful repartee, I'll contend that while Vetenari is certainly the soul of Ankh-Morpork, Weatherwax is at least as important to Lancre; after all, Ankh-Morpork has more unpredictable variables than Lancre does. And while AM is more centrally important to Discworld as a whole than Lancre is (all roads lead away from AM, after all :) ), Weatherwax is, to me, simply a more interesting character. Granny's a firebrand while Vetenari, for all his style and subtlety, has only recently begun to display the early warning symptoms of having a personality.

And if you want to make that poll, I'd be more than happy to come and mix things up a bit.

LC, do you discworld MUD?

Thud is amazing, by the way.