a game

There's a similar game on the Stephen King fan group and I thought it might work well with Discworld books. One person will write a paragraph from any Discworld book(blanking out any names) and then others have to guess which book it is from. The winner chooses the next excerpt and so on.

I'll start with a relatively easy one:
An inexperienced prisoner would simply have run for it. But ------was a postgraduate student in the art of staying alive.

Surely that's Rincewind. Maybe The Light Fantastic?

No, wrong book

Definitely Rincewind, but he spends most of his time being imprisoned or running so that doesn't really help...

Maybe The Last Continent? Somehow I remember him being able to escape, but choosing not to for some reason...

#1

That's "Interesting Times."

Yes it's interesting times. You go next:)

Rubbah, you go again - unfortunately, I don't have my Pratchett books with me :(.

Since this got dropped by the wayside, I'll pick it up with another quote.

"It took them a little while to realize that they'd run out of people to fight. They went on fighting one another for a bit anyway, since they'd come all this way, and then settled down and began to go through the pockets of the fallen in case there was any loose change."

The danger of this game, of course, is that once I choose a quote, I end up reading the rest of the book it's in!

Cohen the Barbarian?

Sorry, every time I went on the computer recently I forgot about it, I'm glad people wanted to continue though:)
Is it The last continent?

Sounds a lot like the Nac Mac Feegle. Is it The Wee Free Men?

Octane wins! Your turn to choose a quote, Octane. Glad I was able to throw a few people off the scent, though. I thought that it might sound enough like Cohen's group to mask the spoor of the Nac Mac Feegle a bit.

*giggles at ronincats smelly post*

I thought of Cohen too, but I couldn't remember the Silver Horde ever fighting each other... and from there it was only a very small step to the pictsies.

New quote:
"You could have a stroll back to where you were eighteen. Or wander up and see what you are going to look like when you're seventy."

I've actually read this one, I think.

Is it Pyramids?

Sounds like it should be Thief of Time--which means it probably isn't!!

You are both absolutely right! It's Pyramids, which means that it isn't Thief of Time!

Sweet! I after I posted I was sure it was Small Gods.

I guess I go next right?

"The twin City of Ankh-Morpork, foremost of all the cities bounding the Circle Sea, was as a matter of course the home of a large number of gangs, thieves' guilds, syndicates, and similar organizations. This is was one of the reasons for its wealth."

A wild guess, Hogfather?

I'm going to go for one of the guards ones: men at arms?

Colour of Magic?

Guards! Guards!

Rojse's Got it!

That's two for rojse, but he doesn't have his books with him. Who wants to pick it up next?

By the way, did you hear Pterry's collaborator on Good Omens, Neil Gaiman, won the Newbery Award for The Graveyard Book today? Read his take on it here...

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/insert-amazed-and-delighted-swearing.html

I've only got Color of Magic not packed away. Moving is hell on my library. So...

I'll go if no-one minds:

Wheresoever men are gathered together,someone will find something to ferment in a rubber boot, distil in a kettle and flog to his mates. Made from rats by the smell of it. Ferments well, your average rat. Fancy a taste?

#20

Hogfather.

no, good luck keeping your winning streak going:)

Night Watch maybe?

The last continent?

both wrong

Monsterous Regiment

Has to be Soul Music then - I know it's early Susan Sto Helit.

MrsLee is right, it's monsterous regiment!

Woo-hoo! I know I'm in the minority, but I rather liked that book. :) It's been awhile since I read it though.

"Do Not Ask Us About Saber-Toothed Tigers, Tar Pits, Big Green Things With Teeth, Or The Goddess Czol."

is it going postal?

#36 - Yep, too easy I guess, but I love the golems. :)

Ok, heres a quote:
'just by looking at him you could tell he was the sort of man to keep a white cat, and caress it idly whilst sentencing people to death in a pirranha tank.'

Vetinari? No idea which book though... maybe Guards! Guards!?

Hmm, Eric?

Pyramids?

right character, all books wrong

going postal?

no again. Maybe this is a mean one, he is in quite a few of the books. I'll give you a clue, it's an early one.

Is it Sourcery?

it is! Kalexa your turn:)

Yay! Okay, here's mine:

"Practically anything can go faster than Disc light, which is lazy and tame, unlike ordinary light. The only thing known to go faster than ordinary light is monarchy, according to philosopher Ly Tin Wheedle. He reasoned like this: you can't have more than one king at a time, and tradition demands that there is no gaps between kings, so when a king dies the succession must therefor pass to the heir instantaneously. Presumably, he said, there must be some elementary particles - kingons, or possibly queons - that do this job, but of course succession fails if, in mid-flight, they strike and anti-particle, or republicon. His ambitious plans to use his discovery to send messages, involving the careful torturing of a small king to modulate the signal, were never fully expounded because, at that point, the bar closed."

Interesting Times?

Thief of time

Reaper Man?

Mort?

Pyramids?

Has anyone got it right, Kalexa?

MrsLee's got it, it's Mort!

Darn! I knew it was one of the books I just finished reading in the last few months, which were Mort, Soul Music, and Thief of Time. But I guessed wrong.

Hooray for me! I just read Mort not long ago. New clue:

"Be careful. People like to be told what they already know. Remember that. They get uncomfortable when you tell them new things."

The Truth?

#57 - You are the winner, Sjoerd3000! I'm not very good at making these hard and obscure, am I? :) Or is it that you are just very good at your Pratchett?

I'm just very good at my Pratchett:) Here is mine:

"Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on."

The Light Fantastic?

No, it's not the Light Fantastic

Could it be Thief of Time?

How about Moving Pictures?

Soul music.

I think this is one with Ponder Stibbons in it. Hmmm, Interesting Times?

I thought of Soul Music too, but since that's already taken: Hogfather?

It is Hogfather, well done Octane!

"Some people are confident, because they are fools. X had the look of someone who was confident because, so far, he'd never found a reason not to be. He would step off a high building in the happy state of mind of someone who intended to deal with the problem of the ground when it presented itself."

thats definitely leonard da quirm...I'm going to say feet of clay

Going Postal?

I think it sounds more like Ridcully. Reaper Man

Definitely Leonard. I think it's the last hero

Sjoerd3000 is right, it's The Last Hero!

"There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do."

#74

Night Watch.

BTW, the score so far for anyone interested:

Mrs Lee – 2
Octane – 2
Rojse – 2
Sjoerd3000 - 2

Kalexa – 1
Rubbah – 1
Stretch – 1

men at arms?
So technically I'm joint second...
:)

no night watch and men at arms are both wrong

Jingo?

nope not Jingo

I still think it's one with the guards, maybe guards! guards!?

Could it be Small Gods?

Small Gods, talking about what's-his-name, the Exquisitioner.

Small Gods is correct!

Excitement! I'm sorry it took me so long to post this one guys, I completely forgot.

"It seemed to be a chronic disease. It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank spot in their head where someone had written: 'Kings. What a good idea.' Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend at the knees."

Guards! Guards! ?

Men at Arms there was a lot of King talk in that one.

Definitely one with Vimes etc....

Feet of clay? (Since the ones I thought of first are already taken :p)

yes, Octane. It was Feet of Clay. I need to start coming up with harder quotes....

"According to the history books, the decisive battle that ended the Ankh-Morpork Civil War was fought between two handfuls of bone-weary men in a swamp early one misty morning and, although one side claimed victory, ended with a practical score of Humans 0, ravens 1,000, which is the case with most battles."

is it Moving Pictures?

Jingo?

guards!guards! ?
I don't know how many times that book has been guessed and it never is the answer, but I'll keep trying:)

Monstrous Regiment?

Moving Pictures is correct!

Here is the new quote:

"In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious."

I know the cat in the box thing is mentioned in the last hero, but I'm not sure if thats where the quote is from. I'll guess it anyway:)

Nope it´s not the last hero

Pyramids?

No not Pyramids

Schrödinger's cat is definitely mentioned in The Science of Discworld. But I'm sure that was also in one of the normal novels... maybe one with Greebo. Witches Abroad?

Lords and Ladies.

Maskerade?

The problem with this game is that I always remember READING the quote--but never have any idea from where!! So I end up just guessing randomly.

The Truth?

It's Lords and Ladies Well done rojse!

Since I don't have my books, the first person to post a new text excerpt can take my place.

"Are you sure the illl-built tower doesn't tremble mightily at a butterfly's passage?" 8^)

is it Guards! Guards!?

thief of time?

Interesting Times?

It is Guards! Guards! & i must confess to having a secret weapon i.e. Terry Pratchett: The Wit & Wisdom of Discworld compiled by Stephen Briggs. Makes it real simple to find a quote to use. Sjoerd you are up next! 8^)

I hadn't though of using the wit and wisdom, i have that somewhere... I'll use it when(if) i next win:)

next quote:

"There was not a lot that could be done to make Morpork a worse place. A direct hit by a meteorite, for example, would count as gentrification."

#113

That's a tough one. Men at Arms?

Pyramids?

Pyramids is the correct answer! Your turn next ronincats

"An ant has an easy mind to read. There's just one stream of big simple thoughts: Carry, Carry, bite, Get Into The Sandwiches, Carry, Eat. Something like a dog is more complicated--a dog can be thinking several thoughts at the same time. But a human mind is a great sullen lightning-filled cloud of thoughts, all of them occupying a finite amount of brain-processing time. Finding whatever the owner THINKS they're thinking in the middle of the smog of prejudices, memories, worries, hopes and fears is almost impossible."

Carpe Jugulum.

Witches Abroad it is! Your turn, Sjoerd3000.

Ok an easy one this time:

"What is it that a man may call the greatest things in life?"
"Hot water, good dentishtry and shoft lavatory paper."

Colour of Magic.

If I get it right, the first person to post their excerpt can take my place.

Lords and Ladies?

The Light Fantastic?

it is the light fantastic your turn next octane

"It is always useful to have an enemy who is prepared to die for his country, this means that both you and he have exactly the same aim in mind."

Jingo?

Yes, Jingo is correct. Probably too easy...

Sorry this has taken me a while:

'Old shoes turn up at bottom of every wardrobe. If a mermaid had a wardrobe, old shoes would turn up at the bottom of it.'

Hogfather?

You beat me to that guess. So I'll have to say Soul Music as backup, because I think it's a book that Susan is in.

Interesting Times?

Ronincats is right, it's soul music.

Here is our 21st quote:

"The whisper spread outward from that point. There is nothing like a chorus for rumor. People who would not believe a High Priest if he said the sky was blue, and was able to produce signed affidavits to this effect from his white-haired old mother and three Vestal virgins, would trust just about anything whispered darkly behind their hand by a complete stranger in a pub."

Edited to correct typo--NOT put but pub as the last word.

Moving Pictures?

Going Postal?

Going Postal?

maskerade?

Sjoerd has it! What was your clue?

Hooray! Maskerade was a wild guess actually;-)

Next quote:
"The sergeant put on the poker face which has been handed down from NCO to NCO ever since one protoamphibian told another, lower ranking protoamphibian to muster a squad of newts and Take That Beach."

Jingo?

Monstrous Regiment?

Eric is the correct answer. your turn next ArmyAngel1986

"We took pity on him because he'd lost both parents at an early age. I think that, on reflection, we should have wondered a bit more about that."

Hogfather!

That was quick!

#146, 147, 148 - That's the first line in the first Pratchett book I read that made me laugh out loud in a Chinese restaurant while I was waiting for take out. :)

Ah, but I remember the head of the guild of assassins saying that about Teatime when we are first introduced to his character! It helps that I both read Hogfather and watched the DVD (for the first time) over Christmas. Did everyone see that The Colour of Magic is being televised on ION at the end of the month?
I have to wait until I get home to my books to find a new quote.

"It wasn't much of a room. It was mainly brown. Brown oilcloth flooring, brown walls, a picture over the brown bed of a brown stag being attacked by brown dogs on a brown moorland against a sky which, contrary to established meteorological knowledge, was brown. There was a brown wardrobe. Possibly, if you fought your way through the mysterious old coats* hanging in it, you'd break through into a magical fairyland full of talking animals and goblins, but it'd probably not be worth it."

*Brown

I realize this is the second wardrobe to show up, but what the heck!

Men at Arms?

Yes, you've got it. Do you know how hard it is to find a quote from that book that doesn't definitively identify it? Trolls vs. dwarfs, gonne, marriage, Vimes, etc. Way distinctive!

I've just been finding that out for myself!

I quite like this paragraph:

"(There should be a word for words that sound like things would sound like if they made a noise, he thought. The word 'glisten' does indeed gleam oilily, and if there was ever a word that sounded exactly the way sparks look as they creep across burned paper, or the way the lights of cities would creep across the world if the whole of human civilisation was crammed into one night, then you couldn't do better than 'coruscate'.)"

thief of time?

feet of clay?

Equal Rites?

Octane has it - it's from Equal Rites

"The result would have been called primitive even by people who were too primitive to have a word yet for 'primitive'."

Pyramids?

Small Gods?

The Light Fantastic?

Carpe Jugulum?

The Last Continent?

Carpe Jugulum is correct!

"Students, eh? Love 'em or hate 'em, you're not allowed to hit 'em with a shovel."

Wyrdd Sisters? 8^)

Last Continent?

equal rites?

Interesting Times?

Soul Music?

I haven´t seen the right answer yet;-)

This is really hard, it could be anything!
small gods?

Guards! Guards!?

Sourcery?

Sjoerd, anyone got it right so far?

hogfather?

No right answers yet.;-)

The Light Fantastic?

Moving Pictures?

The Last Hero?

eric?

Here's a hint to make it easier:
Money is a big subject in the novel;-)

Making Money?

Moving pictures?

it's making money well done ronincats;-)

Yeah, after your oh-so-subtle hint, it took a LOT of brain power. ;-)

"There is something called the Doctrine of Signatures. It works like this: When the Creator of the Universe made helpful plants for the use of people, he (or in some versions, she) put little clues on them to give people hints. A plant useful for toothache would look like teeth, one to cure earache would look like an ear, one good for nose problems would drip green goo, and so on. Many people believed this."

Last Continent?

a hat full of sky?

Wyrd Sisters?

wintersmith?

Congrats, Rubbah! A Hat Full of Sky it is.

'"ah, well life goes on" people say when someone dies. But from the point of view of the person who has just died, it doesn't.'

Mort?

nope

Reaper Man

#187 - I haven't read that book, but I actually saw a book which proposed that theory! Most of it was a pretty big stretch as far as I could tell.

Wyrd Sisters?

nope:)

196, I think that in the intro or afterword, pratchett does say that he based the theory on a real theory. sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

I think it´s from the last hero

Hogfather?

Sjoerd3000 is right, it's the last hero

"This is important. Inexperienced travellers might think that 'Aargh!' is universal, but in Betrobi it means 'highly enjoyable' and in Howondalaland it means, variosly, 'I would like to eat your foot', 'Your wife is a big hippo' and 'Hello, Thinks Mr Purple Cat.' One particular tribe has a fearsome reputation for cruelty merely because prisoners appear, to them, to be shouting 'Quick! Extra boiling oil!'"

Thief of Time?

Eric?

Interesting Times?

The Colour of Magic?

the last continent?

Small Gods?

it´s interesting times

Yay! I finally got one! Okay, okay down to business.

"There was a certain something about the air in the city. You got the feeling that it was air that had seen life. You couldn't help noting with every breath that thousands of other people were very close to you and nearly all of them had armpits."

Men at Arms?

The Truth?

Nobody has it yet :)

Mort?

Mort is correct! Your turn Octane.

"A woman always has half an onion left over, no matter what the size of the onion, the dish or the woman."

Monstrous Regiment

Yes, your turn!

wow, sphen, you beat my time record by almost half!! Way to go!

Thank you!
It took a little longer to choose a new quote, but here it is:

"He stared at the plinth. He didn't remember what statue had once been there. It celebrated generations of graffiti artists now."

Going Postal?

Sorry, but no.

Eric.

Not Eric either

Making Money?

Going Postal.

The Truth?

Still haven't seen the right answer.

If it helps, the graffiti is a clue.

is it thud!?

Night Watch?

It is indeed!

Over to you.....

Sorry, Kittybee, you and I posted at the same time! Sjoerd has the right answer,

"It's a fact known throughout the universes that no matter how carefully the colors are chosen, institutional decor ends up as either vomit green, unmentionable brown, nicotine yellow, or surgical appliance pink. By some little-understood process of sympathetic resonance, corridors painted in those colors always smell slightly of boiled cabbage—even if no cabbage is ever cooked in the vicinity."

I pass my turn over to Kittybee

Apologies to all for any confusion I caused, and my thanks for Sjoerd for resolving it.

(edit for poor typing!)

*Blushing in the way only a redhead can* Sorry for jumping the gun guys, I didn't even notice the times on the posts were exactly the same.

it´s okay. I've had more than enough turns already;-)

Hogfather?

No correct answer yet :)

Equal Rites

I KNOW that quote, it's something I've read in the last 6 months. Thief of Time?

making money?

Soul Music?

Octane got it, it was Equal Rites.

Octane, got a quote for us?

"The person on the other side was a young woman. Very obviously a young woman. There was no possible way that she could have been mistaken for a young man in any language, especially Braille."

Sorry that it took me so long, I was pretty busy last week and completely forgot that it was my turn.

Equal Rites.

Soul Music?

Maskerade?

Yes, it's from Maskerade.

Sweet!

"There were other ways, ways to mislead, to distract, to anger. Anger was always good. Angry people makes mistakes."

Making Money.

Neither of those are correct.

Night Watch?

carpe jugulum?

Men at Arms?

Going Postal.

fifth elephant?

Rojse Got it.

The next person to post can give us the next quote to guess. Not having my Discworld books on me is somewhat aggrieving.

"Clearly, nothing that the Creator makes could ever be destroyed, which means that the echoes of those first syllables must still be around somewhere, bouncing and rebounding off all the matter in the cosmos but still audible to a really good listener/"

Easy enough? Ha, there are occasionally advantages to being on the West Coast in a later time zone!

Thief of Time.

Mort?

Both from the correct sequence! I thought that would be enough of a clue. But KittenKirby got the correct book. Your turn.

Woohoo!

"It was amazing how much information can be crammed into a couple of words. To achieve the same effect the man could have said: It's been a long night, I'm having to organize everything from wooden horse building to the laundry rota, these idiots are about as much help as a rubber hammer, I never wanted to be her anyway and, on top of all this, there's you. Hallo, you."

Eric.

Yep, Eric is right.

"He was, on the whole, a pretty good jailer: he always had a spot of tea on the go, he was as a general rule amiably disposed to most people, he was too slow to be easily fooled, and he kept the cell keys in a tin box in the bottom drawer of his desk, a long way out of reach of any stick, hand, dog, cunningly thrown belt, or trained Klatchian monkey spider."

Nightwatch?

Guards! Guards!?

Thud?

Feet of Clay?

Yes, it's Thud, back to KittenKirby!

Woo, a twofer! I actually thought it was Night Watch and since ArmyAngel1986 beat me to it, threw Thud out for the heck of it.
Anywho, here it is ...

"Witches didn’t need to slap the stupid, not when they had a sharp tongue that was always ready."

Wyrd Sisters?

No and no. :P

Well, there's four more Witches books.

Witches Abroad?

Nope.

maskerade?

could it be a tiffany aching book? Wintersmith?

Wintersmith is right . . :D

"A witch's cottage is a very specific architectural item. It is not exactly built, but put together over the years as the areas of repair join up, like a sock made entirely of darns. The chimney twists like a corkscrew. The roof is thatch so old that small but flourishing trees are growing in it, the floors are switchbacks, it creaks at night like a tea clipper in a gale. If at least two walls aren't shored up with balks of timber than it's not a true witch's cottage at all, but merely the home of some daft old bat who reads tea leaves and talks to her cat.

A Hat Full of Sky?

Lords and Ladies?

carpe jugulum?

Wyrd Sisters?

Witches Abroad?

ArmyAngel nabbed it, it's Lords and Ladies.

ArmyAngel1986, are you out there?

oh, dear! So sorry, I completely forgot (see what college does to you?).

"...he explained carefully that Terminate with Extreme Prejudice did not simply require that the victim was inhumed, preferably in an extremely thorough way, but that his associates and employees were also intimately involved, along with the business premises, the building, and a large part of the surrounding neighborhood, so that everyone involved would know that the man had been unwise enough to make the kind of enemies who could get very angry and indiscriminate."

Maybe I shouldn't pick my favorite lines from my favorite books. Norabelle got it.

night watch?

Small Gods?

"It is said that whosoever the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. In fact, whosoever the gods wish to destroy, they first hand the equivalent of a stick with a fizzing fuse and Acme Dynamite Company written on its side. It's more interesting, and doesn't take as long."

Soul Music?

Of course! Your turn.

I'll put a quote up - I have passed on my turn often enough.

"Sometimes words need music too. Sometimes the descriptions are not enough; books should be written with soundtracks, like films.
Something deep on an organ, perhaps."

I hope this one is somewhat difficult.

maskerade?

Sorry--I was doing taxes and completely forgot to come back and put up a quote. Are you back with your books, rojse? Thanks for filling in.

My first guess would have been Maskerade as well. But since that is the obvious choice, let's try Monstrous Regiment.

Both are wrong.

#311

No, found a book that I didn't have yet, had to add it to my collection. Still don't have my Pratchett books.

EDIT: If I don't get a correct response in a day or two, I'll put a clue up.

Nation?

moving pictures?

Neither are correct.

The Truth?

Going Postal?

Neither are correct.

I'll give a clue - Jekub.

Diggers? Not 100% sure, but definitely a book from the Bromeliad trilogy...

Octane is correct. It is Diggers.

And I haven't read them yet, although I just ordered them last month.

'Well, what is it achieving? I mean, really? Y'know, I thought, all you had to do is get a world working, and before you could say "creation" there'd be some creature who'd stand up, getting a grip on its surroundings, gaze with a certain amount of intelligence and awe at the infinite sky and say ''that thing's getting bigger, I wonder if it's going to hit us"'

Lost Continent?

Colour of Magic?

pyramids?

No correct answers so far.

Eric?

Sourcery?

science of discworld?

Rubbah's got it!

Since Rubbah isn't posting at all, or is not keen on putting up a quote, does anyone want to go in Rubbah's place?

Oh my god, i'm so sorry, I completely forgot. Someone else can take my go to punish me:(

If you post one really quickly, I am sure everyone will forgive you.

Yes, Rubbah, we really aren't into flagellation and penance. Please post!

Okey dokey, here we go:

'------ sometimes wished he could have an enemy as clever as himself. Or, because he was indeed very clever,he sometimes wished for an enemy almost as clever as himself.'

That´s easy ;-) It's from interesting times one of my favorite Pratchett novels

I was hoping people would think it was vetinari :) I wouldn't have gotten it because it's one of the few I hardly ever re-read.

I must have re-read it 7 or 8 times now. So for me it was easy;)

Next quote:
"Pets are always a great help in times of stress. And in times of starvation too, o'course."

The Last Continent?

Small Gods?

Yes it´s from small gods

"Lord Vetinari seldom had balls. There was a popular song about it, in fact."

The Truth?

Night Watch?

Nope... :)

Guards, Guards?

Feet of Clay?

Rojse got it!

Next to post gets my turn.

I'll go then

"Of course, Ankh-Morpork's citizens had always claimed that the river water was incredibly pure. Any water that had passed through so many kidneys, they reasoned, had to be very pure indeed."

Equal Rites?

Men at Arms?

night watch?

Nope

Pyramids?

Sourcery?

thud!?

Sourcery is correct

Great! This thread is getting very long, so I have posted my quote in a continuation thread here:
Game: thread 2