So is Thud worth playing?

welcome to the forum, though as you have noticed there isn't much left.
to answer your questions, i think thud is definitely a good game and people would probably enjoy it even if they dont know terry pratchett. it's worth playing if you're into these kind of games. personally i suck at thud and when practicing didnt help the frustration won and i've mostly stopped playing.
the reason why this forum is practically dead isnt because we all think thud is dull. it's mostly that a lot of the people who kept this place buzzing 3 years ago were here for the forum, the people, the nights on chat. not everyone played thud, some only played occasionally. and then the chat broke and life caught up and somehow the place died.
another problem is that as far as i know, no one has managed to write a decent thud AI yet. the dwarves are apparently very tricky and have a tendency to be suicidal. so a quick game against the computer just isnt possible.
amazon (uk) used to sell thud boards, but it seems they only have used ones now. though you could always make one yourself, that's what i did. not as pretty obviously, but it works.
anyway, if we can make it work with the time difference, i'd be willing to give it a shot and play again.

So the only option is forum thud? The game itself (the chat) doesn't work anymore?

And thudgame AI is something I've been thinking about.

no, sorry, should have mentioned that. the chat works fine, well as fine as it ever has. it just took a couple months to get it up and running again after a server move because the person responsible had gone awol. and by then things had sort of moved to other places. but it does work.

Not to be rude, but are you sure? I have been attempting to use the chat a few times recently, and have had repeatedly been unable. All it will tell me is that an error occurred.
EDIT: I have read that some forms of Safari has difficulty manipulating the chat. I use Safari. I attempted to make use of the link provided to such users, but the link appears to be dead.
I understand that this post should probably be written in the form of a message to an Administrator, or some other person who can change things of this nature. I haven't been here for some time, and would very much like to be referred to someone who could help, as I do not know who that would be. Any help would be appreciated.

yes, i'm sure. i went on there to check before i posted and had no issues using both opera and firefox.
the link probably hasnt been fixed after the server move that broke the chat in the first place. i guess the best thing to do would be to get firefox and use that for the chat if safari isnt working for some reason.

There's a chat?

Wow, an age since I posted in here. It is a bit sad that the forum has gone the way it has, I used to like it here. Though actually having grown up more reading the old stuff I've written is what's offputting, never mind the quiet. I don't think it had to do with the subject of Thud itself for me personally, at least! I do miss the game, but don't make the time for it either.

This comment has been moved http://www.thudgame.com/node/1721#comment-41120">here.

got bored with chess and started looking for other similar battle board games and found hnefatafl and thud, even bought the games. you can play hnefatafl online against computers but not thud. if someone created an online thud where people could practice against computers it certainly would have done better than it has. every blue moon i always come back to this site hoping it has gained some traction but its the same old tired pages, give the site a face lift and inlcude a game and see what happens.

If I may put in my 2c. I would argue that Thud! is dead because Thud! really isn't a good game. It's true, it has some unique mechanics, but on the whole it lacks enough mechanics to make it highly strategic.

For example, some problems I have with the game are:
- all pieces on your own side have pretty much one movement-move and one capture-move. Move a troll one space or shove him. Move a dwarf or hurl him. This makes all moves fairly transparent. There's no aspect of double-threats (e.g., knights many other chess pieces), nor is there any hidden threats (moving a piece and revealing a new threat).

- entirely too high predictability: but you can see each upcoming move in thud well before it materializes on your own turn; By virtue of the lining up dwarves and trolls must do, it is readily apparent which tokens are under attack from which direction. It soon becomes a game of [as dwarf] 'minimizing dwarf casualties' while ensuring the shoved troll can be captured. [as troll], ''step out of hurled dwarf lines'

- there is no luck. departing from the chess-comparison, an aspect that often increases enjoyment in games is luck. Think of Risk (global domination) vs Thud! (battle domination). Since each turn easily resolves battle, it turns the game into ... something more resembling checkers. Just remove a piece, or two...et cetera. Risk is also a no-hidden-information game, but strategy emerges from the defenders-advantage dice rolls, etc.

- game must be played twice: since one game is truly unbalanced (not a criticism), the rules make it so balance is provided by the switching sides and playing again. This makes the game much less exciting, both because that's ANOTHER game setup as well as its discouraging if the first matchup didn't go well for one side. This ties into the last item....

- game does not have a definitive end. The game rules say "When the players agree that it is clear that no further captures can be made then the battle is ended. If they cannot agree, the battle continues until agreement is reached.". The problem here is that
a) if you do not agree the battle is over, it can continue infinitely.
b) assuming any game can be played infinitely, the second game can be fillibustered. If the losing player from the first game doesn't want to admit defeat, he can (assuming he hasn't made TOO many blunders), opt to continue a stalemated game.
c) a solo dwarf can't take on a solo troll.

For these reasons (and a few others), Thud! just is an inferior game. If it weren't tied to Terry Pratchett, this game would have fallen to the wayside ages upon ages ago.

But don't get me wrong, I have a place in my heart for this game. Without exaggeration, I feel like there are few people out there AT ALL who have played it as much as I have, as I think I am still the only person who attempted to create an Artificial Intelligence opponent for this game (and I've spent a lot of time playing them to improve them).

As a plug, the Python3 based Thud! game I created is still available here: http://codeemo.com/thud.html
This iteration of AI--I contest--is perfectly decent--both trolls and dwarves. If you play it, I think you and others may come to the same conclusion...that even with a decent opponent, the game lacks replayability, satisfaction, and strategy of games.