Handling Timey-Wimey Stuff

[Eternally Lost Zeppo]

Well, my campaign is finally off the ground now, and I've already laid a couple of seeds about the arc plot in the first adventure. (I'll be trying to get the actual play posted here shortly after the next session on Monday.)

One of those seeds, is a mysterious radio distress signal from someone who seems to know one of the characters by name, but they haven't met yet, and he breaks contact as soon as he realises that it's 'too early'.

My intention is for them to eventually somehow be 'witnesses' to the events leading to the crash of a TARDIS, which has caused all of the current problems.

After they've properly met the Time Lord who's been sending the messages during this 'flashback', he'll get back in touch in the present and enlist their help in escaping the ruined TARDIS without it falling into the hands of the black ops types who're trying to break in.

My problem: how do I continue to lay the seeds for this in-game, eventually allow the characters to participate in the crash of the TARDIS, but not let them disrupt the original course of events?
I don't like denying the players free will, but it does seem that it might cause problems when trying to pull off timey wimey plots.

Since we're all playing around with a RPG whose central concept is time travel, I thought that I might take this opportunity to not only ask advice on my present dilemma, but open up a discussion on how we have or might go about playing around with time travel as a plot device in our campaigns?

[Marnal]

Well the Laws of Time are pretty clear that your not supposed to change history as you know it.

So if they KNOW that X Y and Z are going to happen in the future then they are honor bound not to contradict those events.

Of course if your players feel like they don't need to respect the Laws of Time then remind them the Reapers have a better then 50% chance of eating the alterntate timeline they end up in. And, if that happens, their characters will get eaten too!

- 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

[Craig Oxbrow]

I'd say keep thing loose. If something can't be changed, make sure (a) the players know that out of character, (b) there are multiple ways it can happen, which the PCs can effect or (c) it's out of the PCs' hands entirely.

I'd avoid including anything that must happen that they'll absolutely want to stop - "this character you love must die!" for example - but this can still happen if you include a get-out clause or two. (To use a Buffy example, Buffy did die fighting the Master, but the prophecy didn't mention CPR.)