Thud
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
For the novel with the same title, see Thud (novel).
Thud is a board game devised by Trevor Truran, inspired by the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett. It bears a slight resemblance to the ancient Norse games of Hnefatafl and Tablut (and, in Dwarfish, is supposedly called "Hnaflbaflwhiflsnifltafl") but has been radically redefined to be less one sided. The two sides are dwarfs and trolls, the game representing the famous battle of Koom Valley.
Overview of game-play
In the game, the objective is to eliminate the opposition's pieces. As mentioned before, the two antagonists are the trolls and the dwarfs, the trolls being few in number (but individually very powerful), while there are a large number of dwarves, but each individual dwarf is very weak and requires support from nearby dwarfs to be of use against the trolls. In some ways, Thud is somewhat like chess, with different pieces having different movement and attacking styles, except that unlike chess, in Thud the two sides have different pieces. Also, the pieces in Thud do not have any direct equivalents in chess, both in movement and attacking styles.
Thud uses an unconventional, octagonal board divided into smaller squares, with only one piece allowed to occupy each square.
The exact nature of gameplay (rules, etc.) is copyrighted, and thus cannot be discussed here.
Fictional origins
Terry Pratchett has devised a fictional history of how Thud was invented, which bears some similarity to the Shahnama theory of the origins of chess.
In short, the clever dwarf who invented the game was asked by his king to name his reward. The answer was that he wanted his hnaflbaflwhiflsnifltafl board filled with gold: One small gold piece on the first square, two pieces on the second, four pieces on the third, etc. Needless to say this is more than all the gold of the Disc combined. The king then got angry and threatened to kill the dwarf who was 'too bloody clever by half'. The inventor then hastily changed his reward to 'as much gold as he could carry', whereupon he was merely punished by having his arms broken.
Thud is also the title of the 34th Discworld novel, due to be published in October 2005. The game will, apparently, be relevant in the story.
External links
- Official site (http://www.thudgame.com), including Pratchett's Story of Thud
