The Doctor-Lite Episode is a subset of The Format-Bender that appears in the show for very practical reasons - they can shoot it at the same time as another story and the Doctor (and/or Companions) who misses most of the episode can devote their time to that or take a few days off. It generally ends up being a Format-Bender as well, because one of the main characters is absent so they do something a bit different.
I split this off from the previous article because it has some obvious effects on the story, and it would factor in to how a game using it might run.
10: Doctor...?
Thursday, 11 November 2010
A series-ful of classic Who plots: The Format-Bender
Most genre shows have the occasional format-bender and sometimes a total format-breaker. Doctor Who has such a flexible format that it can bend quite easily to contain fourth wall breakers, locked room dramas, live stage appearances, cartoons, out-and-out horror, out-and-out comedy, episodes almost entirely lacking the main characters...
The trick with a Format-Bender is to still provide a fun evening's viewing or gaming, so grab something you know your players would be interested in.
Since these are all as different from each other as from the more common story types, I won't try and delineate common features except in the latter case, but instead offer some examples.
9: They'll talk about this for years to come...
The trick with a Format-Bender is to still provide a fun evening's viewing or gaming, so grab something you know your players would be interested in.
Since these are all as different from each other as from the more common story types, I won't try and delineate common features except in the latter case, but instead offer some examples.
9: They'll talk about this for years to come...
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
A series-ful of classic Who plots: Secret Invasion
A subset of The Big Two-Parter, and worth going into detail over because a lot of Big Two-Parters are Secret Invasion stories and they're different enough from a regular Aliens Of London story to have their own common features.
Modern Britain (or some similarly recognisable culture) is threatened by sinister forces working in secret in part one, and then more openly in part two.
Another of the classic Who adventure models, largely lifted from Quatermass II. So, in that spirit, I'll be lifting a bit from the DWAITAS forum post by sutekh which inspired this entire series of articles. ;)
(Look at the rest of his story type rundowns while you're there, I won't be covering them in their own posts but they're all gold dust if you want to run something like them.)
7: What's going on?
8: RUN!
Modern Britain (or some similarly recognisable culture) is threatened by sinister forces working in secret in part one, and then more openly in part two.
Another of the classic Who adventure models, largely lifted from Quatermass II. So, in that spirit, I'll be lifting a bit from the DWAITAS forum post by sutekh which inspired this entire series of articles. ;)
(Look at the rest of his story type rundowns while you're there, I won't be covering them in their own posts but they're all gold dust if you want to run something like them.)
7: What's going on?
8: RUN!
A series-ful of classic Who plots: The Big Two-Parter
Somewhere in the middle of the run there's generally a Big Two-Parter. This is basically one of the other formats on a bigger scale with a cliffhanger. In particular, it's most often a Secret Invasion, a bigger version of Aliens Of London which involves more sneaking at the start and a bigger fight at the end, different enough that it gets its own entry. But a large enough threat, a complicated enough story, or a fun enough enemy, can be reason enough to go Big Two-Parter with another format, or even something a bit outside the format - Series Three had two Big Two-Parters which were an (Insert Ominous Word Here) Of The Daleks and a tragic romance Pseudohistorical, and bolted the Secret Invasion on to the Season Finale.
All you really need are bigger stakes and a good cliffhanger.
All you really need are bigger stakes and a good cliffhanger.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
A series-ful of classic Who plots: The Base Under Siege
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!
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!
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.
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