All of time and space

[Stormcrow]

The idea of letting characters go anywhere in time and space at will is daunting, assuming you're supposed to give them an adventure wherever they land. How do you manage this freedom? Please select your most common method; if you use multiple methods, specify in a post.

Note: "I tell them where they go" includes scenarios like "They can't control their TARDIS."

"I give them a few choices..." means you ask the players whether they'd like to visit A, B, or C, and you've written an adventure for each. They can't go anywhere else, or if they don't there won't be an adventure there.

"I modify my adventure..." means they can go anywhere, but you've planned for, say, a Dalek attack, and wherever they go the Daleks will attack, for a reason appropriate to the locale.

"I write an adventure based on..." means you ask the players before the game where they want to go, and you write an adventure for there. They can't go elsewhere to have adventures until you've written it.

"I ad-lib..." means they can go anywhere at any time, and you'll just make stuff up off the cuff that seems fun.

"They will only have adventures where clues lead them" means you have a campaign arc that leads characters from one locale to another. The adventure only happens when they make progress along that arc; anyplace else is just sightseeing.

[Siskoid]

I really use a number of techniques, but #1 is most often what happens.

I've done "Previews" at the end of sessions that revealed, like the previews at the end of the actual episodes do, where the characters might go next. The next time, they choose to go there in character even though it was technically dictated to them.

I've done the out-of-control TARDIS. It lands where I want because they don't have very much control over it.

I've let them decide where they're going, then sent a distress call or whatever that interrupted their flight. Best of both worlds: The adventure gets played as a pitstop, but the wanted destination is also used, usually for improvised events that may or may not connect to the central plot.

I'm also keen to ask them where they'd like to go during the season, and cater to those interests at some point.

[Marnal]

#5 - I just have strong hooks at the end of each adventure that leads them to logically choosing to go where the next story is. They are flying the Doctor's TARDIS so she sometimes tweaks the precise coordinates to better suit the opening scenes of my stories.

[da professor]

So far my players haven't tried to go anywhere in particular. If they ever do, I'll decide the result on a case-by-case basis, depending on the needs of the plot.

[Craig Oxbrow]

It depends. Mostly they want to go somewhere fun, so they end up landing in an adventure I had in mind. But if they have specific ideas either in or out of character, I'll gladly go for them, either with some advanced preparation or improvising madly depending on how much of a head's up I get. I always have a few spare weird ideas.

[Pertwee]

Other. My take on it that they can and do go a lot of places between adventures, but the adventures themselves are specific exciting trips that we play out. So at some point during their 'gap time' the TARDIS misjumps or is pulled off course, or their meanderings lead them to the adventure site. No need to overplan that way and it gives the GM some room to do things he might like.

Now, if you're running an early era Doctor, like Hartnell or Troughton, this isn't really a problem because every time they take off, they'll go somewhere randomly. Indeed, they seem to end up in a new adventure before they get a chance to rest from the previous one. The Fourth Doctor had more control, but his bohemian nature was inclined to random wandering anyways. THe Fifth seemed to have problems controlling his machine and the Sixth flew around on a whim and a prayer anyways. The Seventh is the first incarnation whose travels seemed to have some underlying purpose.

So, I guess my point is this: if the players are playing in the Doctor Who universe, there are a few conceits that they should just allow in order for the gamemaster to provide a proper game experience for that universe. The primary conceit is that Time Lords in 'the wild' tend to want to see everything and go everywhere and, due to their long lifespans, aren't too fussed about what what order they visit a place or how long it takes them to get there. So if they want to go somewhere where nothing happens (i.e. the GM dosen't have a good adventure for that particular place) then assume 'you went there and the frozen waves were as beautiful as the Doctor said they would be and then you left to see something else.' That's the way I does it.

[Stormcrow]

May 29, 2013 18:10:55 GMT Pertwee said:

So if they want to go somewhere where nothing happens (i.e. the GM dosen't have a good adventure for that particular place) then assume 'you went there and the frozen waves were as beautiful as the Doctor said they would be and then you left to see something else.' That's the way I does it.

That would be "I tell them where they go." They have no control over where the adventure happens; anything between adventures is just window dressing.

[Stormcrow]

Answering my own poll:

So far in the few campaign games I've run, the plot was that the (10th) Doctor had lost navigational control of the TARDIS to an outside force, though the players hadn't quite figured out that anything had happened other than the Doctor's poor piloting. This was "I tell them where they go."

I'm not completely happy with this situation, which is why I created the poll.

[Eryx]

For a game like Dr Who it has to be option #1 for the most part, but I am open for the players to suggest something and I can work on that. Most of the time, players are happy to let the TARDIS take them where they want to go.

[ninjaconor]

Generally I guess I write an adventure for where they want to go at the end of the previous one. However, sometimes events happen out of their control and they end up getting railroaded into something important for the story arc.

[infinitydoctor]

"Tell 'em where to go" for me - it's one of the central conceits of the game really, the players accept that the TARDIS is largely a device for getting to a specific location for the adventure proper.

I've been using the 8th Doctor, and adventures that don't start with something forcing the TARDIS to be at a specific place in time and space I generally handle by giving the Doctor's player a short handout before the game, allowing him to smoothly introduce his companions to the plot....

[ubermutant]

They believe they get to choose where to go. In reality they get option 1. Just never let them see it.

This is accomplished with good planning and careful adlib.