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Post by Kit on Apr 28, 2011 20:11:03 GMT
I know the idea of a game using a "recovered" TARDIS without a Time Lord is not new. That said, I thought I'd ask if anyone here has had any success running such a game? How did you handle the PCs? Did you have a group of characters from various points in time and space who walked into or were "picked up by" the TARDIS? Did you have an already existent group [archeologists/exploration team/whatever] who discovered a TARDIS? What did you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the approach you took? Without a Time Lord, how did you handle exposition and info-dumps? Did you handle this via a program of the TARDIS or an NPC of some sort? Ddi you give the players any control of the TARDIS or did it travel without any input from the characters? If the latter, how do you get PCs out of the TARDIS when it could theoretically be leaving without them at any time?
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Post by Craig Oxbrow on Apr 28, 2011 23:12:33 GMT
Let's see...
The PCs came from all over time and space, picked up as the TARDIS had need to their knowledge and skills. Vaguely, at least.
It required the player buy-in of "people who'd be willing to leave the TARDIS and go on adventures" which sounds easy but I've known players who'd fall at that first hurdle.
Exposition by psychic imprint from the dying Time Lord who bequeathed the psychic PC the key, and the TARDIS control room walls being a library where relevant volumes sometimes slide off the shelves. Also, one of the PCs was from the 25th Century so knew all about Cybermen and such, and another was a history student so well read on Earth before now.
Some measure of control, mostly by arguing with the TARDIS mind. The TARDIS key was also portable, which would generally mean it wouldn't leave the PCs behind. Much.
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Post by da professor on Apr 30, 2011 18:05:29 GMT
I'm using a broken tardis idea, with the PCs finding pieces and putting them together with the help of two npcs, one who has travelled by Tardis before, but has amnesia, and the other who is a rookie time agent whose vortex manipulator will prove useful in getting the various pieces to the same era once they are geographically close enough.
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Post by starkllr on May 2, 2011 18:45:38 GMT
I'm going with the "found" TARDIS idea as well in my online game.
I'm playing it that the TARDIS is fully sentient, and fully in control, and it's allowing the PCs (all normal - more or less - humans) to think they have control, but really it's only giving them limited choices in any given situation.
It's using the long-lost pet of one of the PCs (a cat who "ran away" years ago) as an additional nudge to get them to do what it wants them to do.
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jennysfan
Dominus Tempus 
Moved awhile ago, still a mess
Posts: 195
Favourite Doctors: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, War, 9, 10, 11 & 12 in no particular order
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Post by jennysfan on May 20, 2011 0:05:31 GMT
I haven't used it yet but it does give me an idea. Anyone know what happened to the Master's TARDIS once he went to the end of the Universe?
And did he leave any 'goodies'* behind inside?
*Well they are to him/sociopathic egotistical temporal criminal
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Post by da professor on May 21, 2011 14:57:21 GMT
He could have parked it near where he was found or sent it into the vortex, in which case it could be still in there or have popped out wherever the GM wants it to have popped out. As for goodies, we haven't seen his tissue compression eliminator since the '80s.
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Post by Marnal on May 21, 2011 15:12:08 GMT
The Master had several TARDISes. For a Time Lord, he kinda slept around. One of them was Lolita. One of the Form 100 walking talking people-ish TARDISes. [I've got more info on her if you need it]. Another one is the Type 45 that you see him using during the Pertwee Era of the show. After being repeatedly sabotaged by the Doctor, the Master has now booby trapped the heck out of his TARDIS entrances with all sorts of security systems [details availible on request]. Something to keep in mind if your having some unsuspected tin dogs trying to break into it. Another alternative is the Type 51 TARDIS which has a Cybernetic Personality Matrix Interface which allows the TARDIS to talk to the heroes and respond to verbel commands. But it tends to glitch a lot and go through wild mood swings. [FASA has these fun little tables to roll on]. This is why the CPMI was discontinued untill the Type 90s. There's not evidence to show that the Master ever owned a Type 51. But theres no evidence that he didn't either. The Master sourcebook by FASA also has loads of technology and unfinished plots and secret hideouts that the Master might have left lying about inside his TARDIS. - Marnal Gate "I was told by the producer that the guiding principle was to make the scripts complex enough to keep the Kids interested and simple enough for the Adults to understand!" -Douglas Adams on writing Doctor Who For Everything about the TARDIS check out www.whoniverse.net/tardis/ For all things Gallifreyan check out www.curufea.com/rassilon/or meshyfish.com/~roo/index.html |
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jennysfan
Dominus Tempus
Moved awhile ago, still a mess
Posts: 195
Favourite Doctors: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, War, 9, 10, 11 & 12 in no particular order
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Post by jennysfan on May 22, 2011 13:45:20 GMT
Unfortunatly, Amazon doesn't like me right now, so i'll have to wait to check it out. But Thank you.
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Post by Craig Oxbrow on May 22, 2011 14:54:02 GMT
The FASA books are very, very out of print. I just checked eBay, and there's one copy in the US going for about forty dollars.
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Post by zebaroth on May 25, 2011 3:02:02 GMT
The Master had several TARDISes. For a Time Lord, he kinda slept around. One of them was Lolita. One of the Form 100 walking talking people-ish TARDISes. [I've got more info on her if you need it]. Another one is the Type 45 that you see him using during the Pertwee Era of the show. After being repeatedly sabotaged by the Doctor, the Master has now booby trapped the heck out of his TARDIS entrances with all sorts of security systems [details availible on request]. Something to keep in mind if your having some unsuspected tin dogs trying to break into it. Another alternative is the Type 51 TARDIS which has a Cybernetic Personality Matrix Interface which allows the TARDIS to talk to the heroes and respond to verbel commands. But it tends to glitch a lot and go through wild mood swings. [FASA has these fun little tables to roll on]. This is why the CPMI was discontinued untill the Type 90s. There's not evidence to show that the Master ever owned a Type 51. But theres no evidence that he didn't either. The Master sourcebook by FASA also has loads of technology and unfinished plots and secret hideouts that the Master might have left lying about inside his TARDIS. - Marnal Gate "I was told by the producer that the guiding principle was to make the scripts complex enough to keep the Kids interested and simple enough for the Adults to understand!" -Douglas Adams on writing Doctor Who For Everything about the TARDIS check out www.whoniverse.net/tardis/ For all things Gallifreyan check out www.curufea.com/rassilon/or meshyfish.com/~roo/index.htmli might have to that Cybernetic Personality Matrix Interface for the wanderer's tardis |
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Post by Marnal on May 26, 2011 19:12:05 GMT
My notes are as follows... Cybernetic Personality Matrix Interface (CPMI): This Interface was installed only on Type 51 TARDISes. The CPM Interface is able to verbally interact with the operators and acts as a lesion with the TARDIS's Artron Center. The CPMI is capable of controlling all the TARDIS's functions (assuming the Automatic Systems Override hasn't been thrown). There was a basic design flaw in the system that caused the CPMI to develop new personalities. Later Type 89 TARDISes seemed to have a similar system but without other the tendency to develop cranky personalities. The FASA module "The Iytean Menace" had lots more about the CPMI (including rules for personality changes). The Doctor Who novel "Christmas on a Rational Planet" also shows an home made CPMI that's been plugged into the Doctors TARDIS. - Marnal Gate "I was told by the producer that the guiding principle was to make the scripts complex enough to keep the Kids interested and simple enough for the Adults to understand!" -Douglas Adams on writing Doctor Who For Everything about the TARDIS check out www.whoniverse.net/tardis/ For all things Gallifreyan check out www.curufea.com/rassilon/or meshyfish.com/~roo/index.html |
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