Dying Tardis, Tardises inside each other & stuff??

[Aerzyk]

Hello, all! Been lurking for a bit, great to know this community is out there!

So, I have some questions to help me finish getting together this adventure I'm working on. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Long story short: PC's find a dying Tardis belonging to a dead/missing Time Lord. There is a population of people living inside this Tardis, who do not know their world is, in fact, inside a time-spaceship. This dying Tardis is on a populated world, maybe of tech level 2 or 3. My idea is that when this Tardis dies or pops, one or both of these populations might be destroyed, what with two worlds trying to occupy the same spot or Tardis death energy/whatever. It's Doctor Who, right?

So, in coming up with this, I realized I don't know how the PC's are supposed to solve this problem. Thoughts? =D

I was thinking maybe they could somehow get the people from the dying Tardis inside their own? Can the Doctor's Tardis take a dying Tardis inside of it? I know in "The Doctor's Wife" the Doctor managed to land his rigged Tardis console inside his Tardis. But I've also read about something called a Time Ram that could happen from Tardises being inside each other? Also, I think this would require somehow piloting a dying Tardis, which may or may not be possible because it's, well, dying. There's also the fact that the dying Tardis is now taking up the space of a large mountain, as the Doctor's did on Trenzalore.

Maybe the solution would be piloting the Doctor's Tardis inside the dying one, which still brings up the other questions...

Like I said, I'd appreciate any feedback! It's not like I'm in the middle of the adventure or anything, it hasn't started yet. lol I just had this idea & was wondering how to make it work.

Thanks.

[da professor]

A time ram happens when two Tardises occupy the same space-time but the pilots have not achieved the coordination necessary to get one inside the other properly. If one is static, there is no risk, as shown in Logopolis when the Doctor parked the Tardis around what he thought was a real police box, but was in fact the Master's Tardis.
If the PCs Tardis chameleon circuit is still working, they can park it round the dying Tardis while disguised as it, then evacuate its people and leave it somewhere out of the way so that when it finally dies it won't harm anyone.

[cigarman]

How large is the population inside the dying Tardis?
If the Tardis is dying, shouldn't weird stuff start happening on the world inside, making the population want to leave?
What's the tech level of the population inside?

I'd move the dying Tardis to an unhabited, but habitable planet and convince the people inside they have to leave their "world" and move to this new one . Come up with a cover story that their world is about to be destroyed by an asteriod/black hole/whatever and emigrating is their only hope of survival. Tell them the door of the dying Tardis is a device that will teleport them to this new world. No need to tell them they were living inside a dying Tardis. Just use a little hocus-pokus to maintain the illusion and keep the evacuation orderly.

Once the population leaves, dump the dying Tardis some place safe, like a black hole.

[Hedgewick]

Jul 6, 2014 14:59:38 GMT cigarman said:

How large is the population inside the dying Tardis?
If the Tardis is dying, shouldn't weird stuff start happening on the world inside, making the population want to leave?
What's the tech level of the population inside?

I'd move the dying Tardis to an unhabited, but habitable planet and convince the people inside they have to leave their "world" and move to this new one . Come up with a cover story that their world is about to be destroyed by an asteriod/black hole/whatever and emigrating is their only hope of survival. Tell them the door of the dying Tardis is a device that will teleport them to this new world. No need to tell them they were living inside a dying Tardis. Just use a little hocus-pokus to maintain the illusion and keep the evacuation orderly.

Once the population leaves, dump the dying Tardis some place safe, like a black hole.

This is beginning to sound very much like the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Homeward," in which an attempt is made to save a primitive population from their dying world by transporting them in a malfunctioning holographic recreation of that world. It's a fascinating set-up for a game, and it should prompt the players to consider all sorts of creative decisions and ethical quandaries.

[cigarman]

Looks like there are plenty of interesting solutions that the players can come up with.

As a GM, I wouldn't worry too much about coming up with a solution. Just set the situation up and let the players get creative.

[Aerzyk]

Thanks for the responses everyone, much appreciated.

The population inside the dying Tardis is no less that of a small town, maybe 1,000-2,000 people? They're about tech level 2. Weird stuff involves the crystalline pieces of Tardis (similar to the one 10 used to power them through the parallel universe in Season 2 or 3?). The chunks of Tardis are enabling people to perform acts which they interpret as magic, but is really the interaction of these pieces of Tardis & the rendered environment...

Can a dying Tardis be driven? This is one that has started to expand, taking up the same space outside as inside.
That being the case, could the Doctor's Tardis materialize around such a large mass?

I was thinking about just letting the players come up w/the solution & work off that, & I may have to. I just wanted to have some kind of back up idea in case they couldn't come up w/something feasible & bought a hint w/Story Points or something.

Thanks again, everyone.

[da professor]

Jul 7, 2014 9:22:24 GMT Aerzyk said:

Can a dying Tardis be driven?

It has not been established that it can't, so I see no reason why one last trip should be out of the question.

[Marnal]

Aerzyk said:
So, in coming up with this, I realized I don't know how the PC's are supposed to solve this problem. Thoughts? =D

Here are the relevant notes on Dying TARDISes...

Every TARDIS has an expected life span of several thousand years but in modern times it is unlikely that any TARDIS will reach that age. In most cases, a TARDIS will be replaced as soon as its technology becomes obsolete and its operator can afford a newer timeship.

After being put to sleep by its owner, the old TARDIS is usually scrapped at the breakers. At the breakers, a dying TARDIS will automatically time-link itself to another nearby TARDIS. When Time-Linked the dying TARDIS’s chameleon circuit and desktop theme will instantly be re-configured to match the pattern of the healthy one. This will stabilize the flow of time inside the capsule. It is then traditional to use the time-link to pilot the dying TARDIS into the heart of a star. The healthy TARDIS to aid the dying one in reaching the star by generating a wormhole within the Vortex for it to travel along. This can be done by synchronizing the coordinates of both timeships, making sure the calibrators are online, and dematerializing at the exact same time. Care should be taken that the impact doesn’t cause any minor shift the orbits of any planets in the star system.

Once the timeship reaches the heart of the star the energies found there will allow the dying time ship to reach the TARDIS Graveyard, located in an impacted pocket dimension outside of normal space and time. Very few Time Lords have seen this graveyard, but one such visitor reported seeing hundreds of decaying TARDISes. The Cloister Room will be the last part to disintegrate.

If a TARDIS is spared the breakers, eventually, entropy will eat away at a TARDIS's systems until a major system failure occurs. A TARDIS that is abandoned for around 3000 years will breakdown from lack of maintenance, leading to the death of the timeship. When a TARDIS is near death the flow of time between the interior and exterior begins to break down. Some areas will show the past, some the future. Some will be frozen in time, some will have accelerated reference frames.

A TARDIS that dies with an active Eye of Harmony will jettison its entire interior. Its location at the
time of death will determine whether the interior is dumped into the Space-Time Vortex or into normal space (which can cause massive amounts of destruction). It is for this reason that a TARDISes owner is responsible for putting them to sleep when they are beyond repair.

A dying TARDIS will, if capable, travel to a secret TARDIS graveyard. But a mortally wounded TARDIS could rip a hole in the vortex as it moved through the Vortex. If the TARDIS is incapable of reaching the Graveyard on its own it not unknown for the wounded timeship to send out a telepathic recall signal to any Time Lords who share a symbiotic link with it. If the TARDIS is incapable of safely traveling then it might be forced to suffer in a near death state for centuries.

I was thinking maybe they could somehow get the people from the dying Tardis inside their own? Can the Doctor's Tardis take a dying Tardis inside of it?

TARDIS Interlock: Two TARDISes can phase into (or materialize inside) one another, but they have to be operating on the same frequency. The frequency is adjusted using the Time Sensor Control. The Time Sensor Control fine-tunes the exact space-time coordinates of the atoms that make up a TARDIS and also ensures the proper time setting, which must be within 1 x 10^-9 nano-seconds. If the time setting is too low the TARDISes will go flying off in opposite directions. If it's too high, then Time Ram occurs. For this reason performing TARDIS Interlock violates 15,473 different Laws of Time. If one TARDIS has no shields then the other ship must lower their shields for Interlock to occur. If someone or something happens to be standing in the space where a TARDIS is phasing into during interlock the person or object will be atomized.

When two TARDISes are successfully Interlocked, they will appear to be inside each other. This can cause a Gravity Bubble by increasing the weak force flux beyond design limits. A Gravity Bubble will trap a TARDIS at its current Space-Time Coordinates. If the operators of both timeships work together the capsules can be separated without danger of damage. But without the help of the other Time Lord a significant power boost to the drive systems is necessary to escape the Bubble. It should be noted that prior reconfiguration of the Architectural Configuration Program can prevent Gravity bubbles (see Environmental Systems).

TARDIS Interlock can be used to capture and tow a more primitive TARDIS. Under such circumstances the only way to escape is for the captured TARDIS to reverse the time vector drive. The back surge will break the two ships apart. Such an action can tear a rift in the Vortex and also runs the risk of draining the transpower system to the point were it needs to be jump started to access the Eye of Harmony.

I know in "The Doctor's Wife" the Doctor managed to land his rigged Tardis console inside his Tardis. But I've also read about something called a Time Ram that could happen from Tardises being inside each other?

Time Ram: If two TARDISes occupy precisely the same point in the Vortex (such as from a failed attempt at Interlock), then Time Ram occurs. It is one of the most dangerous things that an operator can do with a TARDIS. During Time Ram the atoms making up two TARDISes occupy exactly the same
space. This is enabled by careful manipulation of the Time Sensor control. The chaotic forces between the two overlapping ships will grow until one of them explodes. While the attacking TARDIS sometimes survives in a Time Ram a more likely outcome is that both TARDISes will be destroyed, as well their Eyes of Harmony. This will result in the uncontrolled release of enough Energy to destroy most of a solar system. There is, however, there a small chance that one of the TARDISes will evaporate and the other will survive. In this case the energy released would only destroy all matter in a 2.4 km (1.5 mile) radius.

Also, I think this would require somehow piloting a dying Tardis, which may or may not be possible because it's, well, dying. Can a dying Tardis be driven?

This TARDIS flight mode might prove useful...
Remote-Parallel Mode: Using the Tracking Monitor Control Board, the navigation units of two TARDISes can be Remote-Paralleled so that wherever one goes the other will go too. If the power ratios are correctly known and balanced this function can even be used on another TARDIS that is being
tracked by the Time Path Indicator. A variation of this function allows an operator who has access to the Control Crystal of another TARDIS to use his console to enact complete Parallel Control over the other TARDIS. This allows him to remotely operate almost all the systems of the other TARDIS. Both forms of parallel control can be thwarted by reversing the time vector drive. However this tears a rift in Vortex drains the power of both TARDISes to the point where there is not enough to jump start the systems.

There's also the fact that the dying Tardis is now taking up the space of a large mountain, as the Doctor's did on Trenzalore. This is one that has started to expand, taking up the same space outside as inside. That being the case, could the Doctor's Tardis materialize around such a large mass?

In the novel “Blood Heat” The TARDIS once [after a great deal on internal reconfiguration] materialized around the entire planet Earth. But this strained the internal dimensions to the breaking point, and she could only hold it for a few minutes [with lots of bits in the console room exploding and what not].

Hope this helps!

[Stormcrow]

If you spend enough story points, anything can happen. Make up some technobabble, reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, spend those story points, and go ahead and land one TARDIS inside another.

As always, the GM should charge more story points for effects that are more powerful or more unlikely. Materialize around Earth? One gazillion story points, please! But nothing's stopping you from trying it. On no account should you limit yourself to what you saw in a Doctor Who story.

[Marnal]

I agree absolutely wiht Stomcrow on this BTW. The above material should be used to spark ideas and [if so desired] provide context. Not as a continuity straight-jacket.

The above is clearly written from the point of view of someone who likes to buy the source books as well the core game book, and enjoys seeing writeups for all the stories and characters and settings.

For many [including most of the writers on the show] what happened in a Dr Who story should viewed [at best] as only a suggestion of what should happen in yours.

[Aerzyk]

WOW, thank you for all the info, Marnal! I agree as well, Stormcrow. Maybe I need to put more trust in my players!

Amazing stuff, that definitely gets me where I need to be, thank you again everyone.

[Craig Oxbrow]

A solution can be found. It might involve a lot of running, some shouting, inappropriate use of regeneration energy, and the biggest jump lead in the universe, but a solution can be found!

[Aerzyk]

Hey, in case anyone was wondering how that adventure turned out, I posted up a (somewhat lengthy) narrative recap up on my blog: aerzyk.weebly.com/home/doctor-who-rpg-season-premiere

Feel free to leave some feedback or ask questions here or on the blog, or not at all! Hope it's entertaining, at any rate.

Oh, & if you need a TL;DR, this image sums up the ending...

Spoiler!