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What sort of Doctor Who Would you Rather Play?

Started by RPGPundit, February 05, 2010, 05:56:18 PM

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Seanchai

Oh, and about the OP, I'd rather there be no Time Lord. It's hard to re-create the Doctor and Companions tend to be mechanically boring or appendage like around Time Lords. 'Course, I haven't read the latest incarnation of the rules, so maybe that's changed. Still, we were happiest with our Torchwood game.

Seanchai
"Thus tens of children were left holding the bag. And it was a bag bereft of both Hellscream and allowance money."

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Ian Absentia

#16
I chalk it up to Tourette's.  Funnily enough, he doesn't have a problem with "Jenny", whose name is a pun on "genetic anomaly", or that she's The Doctor's "daughter".

Say, Pundy, do you have a problem in your Amber game if players come up with new Amberite offspring? Or your LSH game if players come up with the younger brother of an established hero?  I ask for two reasons:
  • There are published precedents in both series for just this sort of thing.
  • Basing a roleplaying game on a popular licensed property allows, and even encourages just this sort of thing.
RPGs set in established literary settings are fan-fic wankery from the outset, you moron.  You of all people should know this with your LSH/Doctor Who cross-over action where your two favorite Mary Sues engage in intellectual slash/fic on each other.

!i!

jeff37923

Quote from: RPGPundit;359281Which kind of campaign:

One where the Doctor is played by the GM?
One where the Doctor is played by a single player?
One where the Doctor is rotated among players?
One where there's a timelord but its not the doctor?

None of the above interest me.



Quote from: RPGPundit;359281One where there is no timelord?



This could be a possibility. However, without a timelord then it really isn't a Doctor Who campaign, is it?
"Meh."

Ian Absentia

Quote from: jeff37923;359445This could be a possibility. However, without a timelord then it really isn't a Doctor Who campaign, is it?
A Torchwood campaign, or maybe a UNIT game.  I think Seanchai and Casey777 have the right of it here.  It's certainly the option that's most free of constraints.

!i!

jeff37923

Quote from: Ian Absentia;359451A Torchwood campaign, or maybe a UNIT game.  I think Seanchai and Casey777 have the right of it here.  It's certainly the option that's most free of constraints.

!i!

OK, I could see that working for Players.
"Meh."

Seanchai

Quote from: Ian Absentia;359451A Torchwood campaign, or maybe a UNIT game.  

I'm salivating for the UNIT materials that are on the horizon.

Quote from: Ian Absentia;359451It's certainly the option that's most free of constraints.

Yeah. Unless you've got a player who can pull off a Doctor-like character most of the time, it becomes, in my opinion, more of a hindrance to the game than anything else.

Seanchai
"Thus tens of children were left holding the bag. And it was a bag bereft of both Hellscream and allowance money."

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Simlasa

I'd rather play something like 'Sapphire and Steel'... widened to a more cosmic setting. So I guess that means everyone is playing a Timelord... or something similar.

Casey777

Quote from: jeff37923;359445This could be a possibility. However, without a timelord then it really isn't a Doctor Who campaign, is it?

More a Dr. Who 'verse campaign. I've run an American Torchwood campaign using CoC that was rather fun while it lasted. Updated XFiles & Delta Green vs. Dr. Who Aliens (Salurians and Sea Devils in Innsmouth). Threw in the time clock from Lovecraft but didn't get a chance to use it, had planned to do some time travelling to the '60s and before.

If you remember the New Adventures (?) series by Virgin Books, they typically focused on companions' adventures. That would work for the space stuff, or just be members of one of those empires doing their thing.

two_fishes

I was thinking about this the other day when I heard about the release of a dr who rpg. I think i would want some sort of structure where each session is largely self-contained. each session all the players together generate a situation and threat, perhaps including some element of randomization. then the doctor/gm has to resolve the problem and all the other players take on roles of natives to the situation and provide twists and complications. if the doctor/gm fails to resolve the threat, then the doctor has to regenerate and the role of doctor passes to a different player.

David R

Quote from: Simlasa;359464I'd rather play something like 'Sapphire and Steel'... widened to a more cosmic setting. So I guess that means everyone is playing a Timelord... or something similar.

I've been trying to get a Saphire & Steel campaign of the ground using Nobillis for some time now. It's been difficult. The fact that I have no real idea what S&S is about, doesn't help.

Regards,
David R

Simlasa

#25
Quote from: David R;359608I've been trying to get a Saphire & Steel campaign of the ground using Nobillis for some time now. It's been difficult. The fact that I have no real idea what S&S is about, doesn't help.

Regards,
David R

Last I looked the entire TV series was up on UTube. The radio shows are cool too...
One distinctive thing about Sapphire and Steel is that, unlike Dr. Who, they really don't care all that much about the fates of individual humans... they don't hesitate to use humans as bait and won't bother to save anyone if it doesn't further their mission.  
Sapphire seems softer but it's more because of her function as liason than a heartfelt concern.

The Whispering Vault has a great S&S feel to it... if you can look past all the Hellraiser trappings.

Casey777

Quote from: Simlasa;359464I'd rather play something like 'Sapphire and Steel'... widened to a more cosmic setting. So I guess that means everyone is playing a Timelord... or something similar.

They could play whatever Cap'n Jack was supposed to be when 1st intro'd. A time agent somethingorother but not a Time Lord. Though workaday flunky Time Lord work could be like that show. Or just keep 'em mysterious like in the show? As for the "enroaching Time corridor" bit, perhaps the Time War between the Daleks and the Time Lords is really shaking up the 'verse and time's fragmenting and flowing all over the place. The party's agents sent to patch things up, on a world or a sector of space.

And WTF wasn't I aware of this show until now? David McCallum and Joanna Lumley in a show like this? Yes please! I still think Lumley would make a good female Dr. Who or at the least a Time Lord.

Sapphire & Steel Overview :hmm:

I'm also getting vibes of the time traveller guy from Star Trek TOS (Assignment: Earth) when they visit 1960's earth.

David R

Quote from: Simlasa;359652Sapphire seems softer but it's more because of her function as liason than a heartfelt concern.

Here's a rather cool example of that, where she explains time, hinting at it's nemesis role :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHdseqqdZgo&feature=related

And of course, the really cool into :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gjHmEUiaxo&feature=related

QuoteThe Whispering Vault has a great S&S feel to it... if you can look past all the Hellraiser trappings.

I really dig WV but I don't really get the S&S vibe from it. I mean capturing beasties and returning them to the Vault is cool and all, but S&S seemed a lot more sinister and unexplainable even though they were capturing or restoring some things to their natural order....I think.

Regards,
David R

Simlasa

It might be because I first sought out Sapphire and Steel because of someone referencing it on a Whispering Vault thread... so when I watched it I was looking for the parallels.
The Stalkers in Whispering Vault do more than just capture and return though... it's not spelled out as thoroughly but there are mentions of other roles they play... such as the Warden campaigns where they set up watch in an area of time/space (kinda like Buffy with the Hellmouth...). There are also the Stalkers who have judged the Unbidden and set them free.
S&S probably seems more 'sinister and unexplainable' because it doesn't have a line of RPG books to lay the whole background out in black and white.

Dr. Who would seem much weirder if he didn't have non-timelord companions to keep his explanations flowing.

RPGPundit

This is all very interesting, I'm going to have to consider my options.  I may consider the possibility of doing a rotating GM spot, though I don't know how well that'd turn out with this group.

RPGPundit
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