6: They're Coming!
The Base Under Siege is a perennial Doctor Who story archetype, so this one gets almost as much detail as the subsets of Historical put together...
The travellers arrive in a smallish, enclosed structure. They get separated from the TARDIS and/or each other. The few residents are besieged by outside forces. The enemy is close to getting in, supplies and morale are both perilously low, there may be a traitor in the camp, something is about to go badly wrong and there's no way out!
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
This week's Sarah Jane Adventures
Not coincidentally to my writing the last three entries, this week sees our heroes Lost In Time, in which the not-normally-time-travelling investigators are thrown by a literally handwavy outside force into three different periods of British history. Rani gets a Celebrity Historical, Clyde a straightish Historical with the alien artefact as an excuse and Sarah Jane a full-on Pseudohistorical with time warps in a haunted house. We've got teaming up with concerned locals, fighting historical villains, threats to the fabric of time and space, and dressing up.
Gamewise, we have A Mysterious Man (deliberately left vague as anything) who can open portals in time and send unwilling investigators to deal with threats to history, a metal that warps time, a crystal ball that can keep up with the heroes' progress in the present... You could base a series on this episode by itself.
Gamewise, we have A Mysterious Man (deliberately left vague as anything) who can open portals in time and send unwilling investigators to deal with threats to history, a metal that warps time, a crystal ball that can keep up with the heroes' progress in the present... You could base a series on this episode by itself.
Monday, 8 November 2010
A series-ful of classic Who plots: The Celebrity Historical
5: Stumbling Into History (and wishing you had an autograph book)
A subset, but common enough to get its own entry since I'm doing the Historicals today, the Celebrity Historical is a (pseudo)historical where the travellers meet someone famous, and the monsters often have something to do with the guest star's place in history.
There are degrees of "celebrity" of course. Tooth And Claw assumed more knowledge of Queen Victoria on the part of the audience than The Girl In The Fireplace did of Madame de Pompadour.
Since they're dealing with real historical figures in family entertainment, they don't want to cause offence and tend to "print the legend" rather than go for any grim real details.
The ones about historical figures that the travellers (and writers) would like to meet show their subjects being heroic, bravely facing their monsters and having a hand in saving the day.
In terms of typical plot points, these are pretty much Pseudohistoricals with the addition of starry guest casting.
A subset, but common enough to get its own entry since I'm doing the Historicals today, the Celebrity Historical is a (pseudo)historical where the travellers meet someone famous, and the monsters often have something to do with the guest star's place in history.
There are degrees of "celebrity" of course. Tooth And Claw assumed more knowledge of Queen Victoria on the part of the audience than The Girl In The Fireplace did of Madame de Pompadour.
Since they're dealing with real historical figures in family entertainment, they don't want to cause offence and tend to "print the legend" rather than go for any grim real details.
The ones about historical figures that the travellers (and writers) would like to meet show their subjects being heroic, bravely facing their monsters and having a hand in saving the day.
In terms of typical plot points, these are pretty much Pseudohistoricals with the addition of starry guest casting.
A series-ful of classic Who plots: The Pseudohistorical
4: Stumbling Into History (with aliens)
This rather horrible word is apparently standard Who fandom terminology for "a story set in history but with aliens and the like instead of only historical events," i.e. every period adventure for the last thirty years, including every one from the revived series.
Since it's been six whole Doctors since a "straight" historical, these have picked up most of the features of those (historical mysteries and disasters, meeting both famous and unknown people of the era, dressing up) as well as regular Who stuff like arguing with monsters and running from laser beams.
The earliest example was The Chase, which explained the Mary Celeste mystery by having Daleks exterminate everybody on board. That set the standard for answering historical mysteries by saying "aliens did it" as seen in quite a few of these. Grab a historic mystery (there are sites cataloguing them) and run with it.
It also provides an easy reason for the travellers to leave the TARDIS and follow the adventure all the way through, rather than leaving before things get dangerous as they might choose to in a straight historical. Something weird is messing with time, and sorting that out is their job!
Side note: While counted as a type of Who story, it's really more a setting for Who stories unlike the more has-its-own-rules straight historical. So it can and does mix with the other types on this list...
This rather horrible word is apparently standard Who fandom terminology for "a story set in history but with aliens and the like instead of only historical events," i.e. every period adventure for the last thirty years, including every one from the revived series.
Since it's been six whole Doctors since a "straight" historical, these have picked up most of the features of those (historical mysteries and disasters, meeting both famous and unknown people of the era, dressing up) as well as regular Who stuff like arguing with monsters and running from laser beams.
The earliest example was The Chase, which explained the Mary Celeste mystery by having Daleks exterminate everybody on board. That set the standard for answering historical mysteries by saying "aliens did it" as seen in quite a few of these. Grab a historic mystery (there are sites cataloguing them) and run with it.
It also provides an easy reason for the travellers to leave the TARDIS and follow the adventure all the way through, rather than leaving before things get dangerous as they might choose to in a straight historical. Something weird is messing with time, and sorting that out is their job!
Side note: While counted as a type of Who story, it's really more a setting for Who stories unlike the more has-its-own-rules straight historical. So it can and does mix with the other types on this list...
A series-ful of classic Who plots: The Historical
This was originally the first one on the list, but the season opener had to go in front really.
3: Stumbling Into History (without aliens)
The "historical" seems like a sensible place to start even though there hasn't been one in about thirty years, as it was the original model for the series, as set by An Unearthly Child.
The travellers step out of the TARDIS and run into events from Earth's history, which doesn't go quite as expected...
3: Stumbling Into History (without aliens)
The "historical" seems like a sensible place to start even though there hasn't been one in about thirty years, as it was the original model for the series, as set by An Unearthly Child.
The travellers step out of the TARDIS and run into events from Earth's history, which doesn't go quite as expected...
Sunday, 7 November 2010
A series-ful of classic Who plots: Aliens Of London
The travellers visit the present (possibly visiting a present-day companion's home and family) or a present-like bit of the future, and find that aliens are up to something odd.
This is snuck in behind the season opener as the standard format from which all other Doctor Who adventure types (and The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and so on) all deviate. As such, there isn't much to say about it...
2: Something that shouldn't be here...
This is snuck in behind the season opener as the standard format from which all other Doctor Who adventure types (and The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and so on) all deviate. As such, there isn't much to say about it...
2: Something that shouldn't be here...
A series-ful of classic Who plots: The Season Opener
Flagrantly borrowing an idea from A Journal of Impossible Things, let's poke around some of the classic adventure formats and see what makes them tick. If I go on long enough, we can build a whole thirteen-episode series of adventure ideas. Remind me to include some two-parters.
This run originally started with the Historical, but the Season Opener leapfrogs it because it has to really.
1: Hello, Faithful Viewer!
The Season Opener (and indeed Series Opener) is the jumping-on point for new audiences, characters and players. It might be the actual first adventure in a run, or it might be a later jumping-on point when you gain a bunch of new players, but either way it's an introduction, setting up the format of the show.
This run originally started with the Historical, but the Season Opener leapfrogs it because it has to really.
1: Hello, Faithful Viewer!
The Season Opener (and indeed Series Opener) is the jumping-on point for new audiences, characters and players. It might be the actual first adventure in a run, or it might be a later jumping-on point when you gain a bunch of new players, but either way it's an introduction, setting up the format of the show.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Aliens And Creatures for Doctor Who arrived today, preordered back when. It's as far as I can tell unchanged since the pdf release in the summer, so it still doesn't include monsters from the last three specials, but hey, I don't need them as the game's lighter than a feather, and it's here, on shelves, and has the nice 2005 Daleks on the box.
It still has the adventure hook grabbed straight out of the Fourth Doctor comics, but there are worse places to steal from. (I still think a credit would have been good, though.)
It still has the adventure hook grabbed straight out of the Fourth Doctor comics, but there are worse places to steal from. (I still think a credit would have been good, though.)
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Retro New Monsters
New looks for classic monsters always draw a bit of discussion (mutter mutter new Daleks mutter) but, just for grins, what about classic looks for new monsters?
Pertwee-era Judoon!
Pertwee-era Judoon!
;)
Okay, one cheap gag about old special effects is probably plenty. I'll be good.
Okay, one cheap gag about old special effects is probably plenty. I'll be good.
This week's Sarah Jane Adventures
Let's make a habit of this, as it's new Who TV and thus handy for turning over and looking at.
The Empty Planet
The characters find that the world has been deserted. Why? Why have they been left behind? And if they're alone... why did that lift just open?
(The latter creepy moment didn't make it into the story, having been part of an earlier version that was almost one of the 2009 Doctor Who specials, as discussed in Russell T Davies's great big behind-the-scenes book The Writer's Tale.)
It's a great way of cutting some characters off from others and from their support network, looking at isolation, loneliness and the fear it can bring and connections it can strengthen, giving them a chance to shine while others are absent... and have big robots stomping around.
The Empty Planet
The characters find that the world has been deserted. Why? Why have they been left behind? And if they're alone... why did that lift just open?
(The latter creepy moment didn't make it into the story, having been part of an earlier version that was almost one of the 2009 Doctor Who specials, as discussed in Russell T Davies's great big behind-the-scenes book The Writer's Tale.)
It's a great way of cutting some characters off from others and from their support network, looking at isolation, loneliness and the fear it can bring and connections it can strengthen, giving them a chance to shine while others are absent... and have big robots stomping around.
Friday, 29 October 2010
Death Of The Doctor...?
This particular story in The Sarah Jane Adventures has drawn more scrutiny from general Whogeekery than most, because of (a) that title, (b) Matt Smith, (c) Jo Jones nee Grant and (d) Russell T Davies returning to writing the universe he left running less than a year ago. And (e) the regeneration limit gag and (f) the bit at the end.
So apart from all that, from a things-to-run-with-in-games perspective, what does it bring us?
So apart from all that, from a things-to-run-with-in-games perspective, what does it bring us?
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Quoting myself
When asked:
Did you find any issues in having a player character Time Lord? Issues I've heard of in other games have ranged from the Time lord being 'more powerful' than other characters, it being a bad idea to have a time machine in the hands of a PC, and the issue of how do you handle the Time lord's knowledge without him having to repeat what you just told him-the Galaxy Quest "I have one job on this spaceship.." problem. Faced with these issues, the players i deal with actually prefer an NPC Time Lord. I'm curious what your thoughts were.
I responded:
A Time Lord PC provides a level of power and responsibility I wouldn't give to just anyone. I was happy to go for it in this case, as the group as a whole nudged Kai's player towards the Time Lord role because (a) he's a card-carrying Who nut who (b) he has an uncanny ability to roll badly on crucial dice rolls so having a character who could regenerate from mortal injuries seemed smart, and (c) he's a GM himself and both able to come up with his own bizarre technobabble and from previous form demonstrably unlikely to go on a mad power trip.
In a few cases I prompted some particular info or technobabble in advance, in some cases I explained what something was and he said "I say that!" and in some cases he came up with his own improvised space history and pseudoscientific gobbledigook.
(And in terms of raw power at the table, everyone could do something better than Kai, Gabriel edged him out by a point or two in Ingenuity + Technology rolls, and the telepathic and telekinetic Nimue could wipe the floor with him.)
The TARDIS, by comparison, was no trouble at all. It was occasionally used as an emergency teleport (powered by Story Points, so it's a specific variation of using Story Points to dodge trouble) but it being a time machine really only featured in the final episode. Otherwise it played the traditional role of dropping the characters into the story at the start. The group as a whole had some say in where the TARDIS dropped the characters, rather than Kai's player in particular.
The only times when it might have had a greater impact were in adventures expressly about time travel. In Ghost Ship it was almost immediately written out, while in The Girl That Time Forgot it was used on Effie's behalf.
Did you find any issues in having a player character Time Lord? Issues I've heard of in other games have ranged from the Time lord being 'more powerful' than other characters, it being a bad idea to have a time machine in the hands of a PC, and the issue of how do you handle the Time lord's knowledge without him having to repeat what you just told him-the Galaxy Quest "I have one job on this spaceship.." problem. Faced with these issues, the players i deal with actually prefer an NPC Time Lord. I'm curious what your thoughts were.
I responded:
A Time Lord PC provides a level of power and responsibility I wouldn't give to just anyone. I was happy to go for it in this case, as the group as a whole nudged Kai's player towards the Time Lord role because (a) he's a card-carrying Who nut who (b) he has an uncanny ability to roll badly on crucial dice rolls so having a character who could regenerate from mortal injuries seemed smart, and (c) he's a GM himself and both able to come up with his own bizarre technobabble and from previous form demonstrably unlikely to go on a mad power trip.
In a few cases I prompted some particular info or technobabble in advance, in some cases I explained what something was and he said "I say that!" and in some cases he came up with his own improvised space history and pseudoscientific gobbledigook.
(And in terms of raw power at the table, everyone could do something better than Kai, Gabriel edged him out by a point or two in Ingenuity + Technology rolls, and the telepathic and telekinetic Nimue could wipe the floor with him.)
The TARDIS, by comparison, was no trouble at all. It was occasionally used as an emergency teleport (powered by Story Points, so it's a specific variation of using Story Points to dodge trouble) but it being a time machine really only featured in the final episode. Otherwise it played the traditional role of dropping the characters into the story at the start. The group as a whole had some say in where the TARDIS dropped the characters, rather than Kai's player in particular.
The only times when it might have had a greater impact were in adventures expressly about time travel. In Ghost Ship it was almost immediately written out, while in The Girl That Time Forgot it was used on Effie's behalf.
Friday, 22 October 2010
The Professional Time Lord
All the major recurring Time Lords have been rogues.
The Doctor. The Master. Romana. The Rani. The Meddling Monk.
Borusa, the boss of the whole gang, appeared a couple times and his second appearance was mad.
Have we ever had an adventure where the main opposition came from a Time Lord who was actually doing his job properly?
Romana started that way and was lead astray by a bad influence (or more accurately a Chaotic Good influence) but considering the Doctor's renegade status, a by-the-book Time Lord out to stop paradoxes and keep the timeline running smoothly would work as an ongoing antagonist. It's just a question of finding a suitable fancy title to use instead of a name...
The Doctor. The Master. Romana. The Rani. The Meddling Monk.
Borusa, the boss of the whole gang, appeared a couple times and his second appearance was mad.
Have we ever had an adventure where the main opposition came from a Time Lord who was actually doing his job properly?
Romana started that way and was lead astray by a bad influence (or more accurately a Chaotic Good influence) but considering the Doctor's renegade status, a by-the-book Time Lord out to stop paradoxes and keep the timeline running smoothly would work as an ongoing antagonist. It's just a question of finding a suitable fancy title to use instead of a name...
Thursday, 14 October 2010
What is your Doctor Who monster quirk?
Create a bunch of monsters and you'll probably notice a theme developing, intentional or not.
With Russell T Davies, it was anthropomorphic animals - he wanted to give young viewers something immediately relatable. I did think it maybe went a bit far when the season three trailer had a Cat People pilot, Pig Slaves and Judoon all in a minute. Since the Cat Pilot looked quite WWII as well, I was imagining a setting where different groups of animal people (like Catkind Fighter Pilots and berserker Pig Guys in boiler suits) were all fighting in a 40s style war. Could still be an interesting basis for an episode, I reckon.
With Steven Moffat, it's masks and unmoving faces. Nanogenes, check. Clockwork Robots, check. Weeping Angels, check. Skeletons in spacesuits, check. Smilers, check. Not the Atraxi or Prisoner Zero, but still, quite a list. Even the Silurians started wearing masks on his watch.
Mine would appear to be disguises. Sea Devils in coats, hats and scarves. Robots in Roman armour. Leanhaun Sidhe in human guise. Movellans. I avoid making it a constant, but since it's both a monster quirk and a plot point then if nothing else I'm being efficient.
What's yours?
With Russell T Davies, it was anthropomorphic animals - he wanted to give young viewers something immediately relatable. I did think it maybe went a bit far when the season three trailer had a Cat People pilot, Pig Slaves and Judoon all in a minute. Since the Cat Pilot looked quite WWII as well, I was imagining a setting where different groups of animal people (like Catkind Fighter Pilots and berserker Pig Guys in boiler suits) were all fighting in a 40s style war. Could still be an interesting basis for an episode, I reckon.
With Steven Moffat, it's masks and unmoving faces. Nanogenes, check. Clockwork Robots, check. Weeping Angels, check. Skeletons in spacesuits, check. Smilers, check. Not the Atraxi or Prisoner Zero, but still, quite a list. Even the Silurians started wearing masks on his watch.
Mine would appear to be disguises. Sea Devils in coats, hats and scarves. Robots in Roman armour. Leanhaun Sidhe in human guise. Movellans. I avoid making it a constant, but since it's both a monster quirk and a plot point then if nothing else I'm being efficient.
What's yours?
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