Terry Pratchett
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Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett (April 28, 1948 - March 12, 2015) was an English fantasy author, best known for his series of novels set on the Discworld.
The Discworld mythos had an important influence on NetHack, especially on the Tourist role, which has a Discworld pantheon and a quest with characters (Twoflower, the Master of Thieves) and a setting (Ankh-Morpork) from the series.
Pratchett passed away from Alzheimer's in early 2015. NetHack 3.6.0, released later that year, contains a tribute to the author: novels named after works in the Discworld series. Novels belong to the book item class and can be found in bookstores. Reading a novel displays a quotation from Pratchett's writings, and the first novel read gives 20 experience points.
Other references and tributes to the Discworld in version 3.6.0:
- Breaking an expensive camera has a 33% chance of creating an imp or a homunculus. This is a reference to The Color of Magic, which reveals that the iconoscope, the Discworld equivalent of a camera, contains a 'picture-painting demon'.
- Each squeaky board trap squeaks in a specific pitch (for example, "You hear a distant D flat squeak"), which a careful player can use to determine if enemies are near. This is a reference to The Light Fantastic, in which a character has floorboards tuned so he can determine not only if someone is approaching but also where that person is standing.
- Death now speaks in all caps and without quotation marks, in the same manner as the recurring Discworld character.
