Lara Croft scriptwriter and heir to the Discworld legacy Rhianna Pratchett at London’s Guildhall (Picture: Daniel Lynch)

The video games scriptwriter talks about rebooting Tomb Raider, growing up a tomboy and being Sir Terry Pratchett’s daughter.

Rhianna Pratchett began her writing career on a magazine aimed at ‘young, assertive, rather scary young women’.

The experience has helped her scale the heights of the male-dominated video games industry to become one of its most sought-after scriptwriters and shake off the tag of simply being Terry Pratchett’s daughter.

‘I really liked Minx magazine because it had an edge to it, which you don’t tend to get in women’s magazines these days,’ she says. ‘I told them I was a big gamer and they decided to experiment with publishing games reviews. It only lasted for about three or four issues before they had a redesign and it became all about lipstick and boys.’




I meet Pratchett for a photoshoot in the London Guildhall’s historic East Crypt and it’s quickly apparent it wasn’t lipstick that caught her attention as a young girl.

‘I’m an only child so I never had sisters to tell me what I should like based on my gender,’ she says. ‘I liked what the boys were doing and thought: “Why let them have all the fun?”

‘I went to karate classes where it was basically a line-up of hulking man, hulking man, small nine-year-old girl, hulking man, hulking man.

‘Dad was very into electronics, robotics and computers, so I was interested in what he was doing. I was also watching movies such as The Terminator and Alien and assumed these were the things women did – fighting robots and aliens.’

The East Crypt dates back to 1042 and is a fitting location to talk about the game script-writer’s latest conquest – rebooting archaeologist Lara Croft in a new Tomb Raider game.

Pratchett, 36, says: ‘It’s a story about the enduring nature of the human spirit and how it can prove resilient under extreme circumstances. As well as fictional influences such as Lost and The Descent, we looked towards true survival stories such as Aron Ralston in 127 Hours.

‘I’ve had an up-and-down relationship with Lara over the years. I played the first game, in fact Dad did and spoilt the bit with the T-Rex but it was still awesome. Then I felt she’d become reduced to a pair of boobs, a pair of pistols and a hair plait.

‘She became bigger than the games and was over-sexualised. I’m fairly used to that in games but it gave the impression that “ladies, this isn’t for you” and yet she was very popular with female gamers.

‘The chance to get my hands on her, so to speak, gave me the chance to make a difference. I spent ages working on her back story, relationships with other characters, how she evolves.

‘She’s a Lara that doesn’t have all the guns and the gadgets or the confidence to get herself out of any situation. It didn’t strike me at first just how big a character she is. It was only when I finished the script I thought: “Oh my gosh, it’s Lara Croft” – even my mother knows who she is.’



Pratchett admits her father – the best-selling fantasy author of the Discworld series – had her hooked on video games from a young age.

She says: ‘I was six when Dad brought home Mazogs on the Sinclair ZX81. He told me recently that I was scared of it. Then, when I realised the little pixelated man had a little pixelated sword and he could kill little pixelated crabbie creatures, I fell in love.’

Recalling a childhood in Somerset surrounded by her father’s fantasy world, she says: ‘I liked climbing trees and could often be found up one reading a book. I played games with Dad and drew maps for him on isometric paper. It was very bonding.’

Sir Terry was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2007 and continues to battle the condition.

Pratchett says: ‘He’s doing as well as anyone with the disease. He’s still writing and he’s using TalkingPoint speech software because he can’t type any more. The tools have changed but he’s still a powerhouse of ideas.’

Arguably the greatest of those ideas was Discworld, which Sir Terry will be passing on to his daughter.

‘There was an assumption I was going to write Discworld, which isn’t exactly the case,’ explains Pratchett. ‘They’re sacred, they’re Dad’s legacy and I’m the protector of Discworld and that means protecting it from myself as well.

‘I’ve never been involved with the series before. I always read the books and would occasionally have breakfast with him before a signing because he stayed at London hotels that did great breakfasts. But he’s never played any of my games, so…


‘Dad got me into games but my career had nothing to do with his fame. I can come to the table with ideas and not be there just because I’m Terry Pratchett’s daughter.

There’s always going to be some people who think that but I feel I’ve done enough to justify my place, which was very important to me.

‘He’s speaking to me more as a writer, which is lovely and there’s something in the blood I didn’t really acknowledge until I read a joke to Dad. He laughed thinking it was one of his until we looked it up and no, in fact I’d come up with it.’

Pratchett says Discworld adaptations are in the pipeline as well as a game ‘if the right developer came knocking’.

A TV production of Discworld series The Watch is also taking shape. ‘We’re working with BBC Worldwide and Guy Burt who is a huge fan but we’ve still got some hoops to jump through,’ she says.

But don’t expect Pratchett to give up her bread and butter. As for a dream video game creation? ‘I was either going to be a writer or a mermaid and there’s a lot of potential for games that take place underwater. The environment and physics lend itself beautifully to games plus I’m a scuba diver, so I love the underwater world.’

She’s certainly not drowning under the weight of expectation.

Tomb Raider is out tomorrow.


Five more women who changed the gaming world:

Amy Hennig (Picture: Getty)

Amy Hennig In the industry since the late 1980s, Hennig has worked on everything from Desert Strike to Legacy Of Kain. She’s best known for the successful Unchartered series and it’s roguish lead, Nathan Drake.

Reiko Kodama Japan’s most famous female designer worked on early Sega Master System games such as Alex Kidd and helped to create classic role-players such as Phantasy Star and Skies Of Arcadia.

Roberta Williams The co-founder of Sierra On-Line helped to define the graphic adventure genre with classics such as King’s Quest and Phantasmagoria. Aged 60, she’s now retired.

Kim Swift (Picture: File)

Dona Bailey The only female designer during the golden age of Atari, Bailey is the co-creator of the classic arcade game Centipede, often credited with being an early favourite of female gamers.

Kim Swift Recruited as a student by Half-Life creators Valve, Swift led the team that made the puzzle classic Portal. She left to start her own company in 2009 and create the game Quantum Conundrum.