[Series/Scenario Seed] Revisiting the Classic Series

[starkllr]

This is something I wanted to explore in my abortive rpgnet DW game...an episode, or maybe a whole campaign based on revisiting classic series locations some time after the Doctor's adventures there.

It could be a year later, or a generation, or a century, whatever would be the most interesting.

Some ideas off the top of my head:

Kinda - a few years after the Mara was vanished and Deva Loka was declared unfit for human colonization, a new government decides to re-evaluate the planet. What are the natives like without the threat lurking in the dark places of the inside? Maybe some of the survivors of the previous survey team return, too. What's become of the unbalanced Mr. Hindle in the decade since the events of the first story? Maybe, without the budget constraints of a TV show, you could do a DW take on "Avatar".

The Androids of Tara - the PCs arrive on Tara 75 years after the 4th Doctor and Romana found a segment of the Key to Time. Things have been peaceful, but there's a problem now. There are twin siblings in line for the Taran throne, and there's also a catch. Taran law requires the heir to be married before they can take the throne. Coronation day is fast approaching, both siblings are still unmarried, and all the eligible suitors seem to be suffering from sudden and near (or actually) fatal accidents. Just by coincidence, two of the PCs are the right gender and age to marry the two siblings. Oh, and if neither sibling is married in time, the throne passes to the next in line - the great-great-grandson of Count Grendel, who's also coincidentally built himself an android army...

City of Death - surely Count Scarlioni's wealth and art was not all contained in his mansion, destroyed in a fire at the story's end. And since the Count didn't anticipate failing in his little science project, he didn't bother with a will to specify an heir to his fortune and estate. So a distant relation of the Countess got quite the surprise when a lawyer delivered the news: he's now the proud owner of all the Count's possessions. Including a warehouse 40 miles southwest of Paris containing 6 Gutenberg Bibles, a dozen "lost" Picassos, and too much other priceless art to count. Oh, and notebooks filled with scientific theories far beyond accepted human science. What might the new owner make of all that? Who might try to "advise" him? There's no end of mischief to be made with such a treasure trove...

You could do this for the cast majority of classic series stories...

[Catsmate]

I like it! I've often wondered at the consequences of the Doctor's actions, something that's not often seen on TV (though occasionally in the EU, such as Seven cleaning up after Six in Just War and the excellent Talons of Weng Chiang sequel The Shadow of Weng-Chiang).
Especially all the out-of-place stuff left behind.

Here's one idea that's been rattling around my head for decades.
At the end of The Visitation Richard Mace is left behind in Restoration London. Now he was a rather unscrupulous fellow, who restored to highway robbery when the theatres were closed, and after his encounter with the Doctor he's aware of aliens, advanced technology and other matters.
Then there's that deserted manor house in Surrey, less than 25km from London, packed with alien gadgetry. The lone Terileptil couldn't have brought all the equipment from the cellar on that cart along with the rat cages.
Mace was impressed by the illusionary wall, and realised it's potential as a stage effect immediately. So what if, after engaging in a little robbery under cover of the fire perhaps, he heads back to the manor and sets up shop there while examining the equipment? Given the events (Death, warlocks, plague) the villagers probably won't want to go near the place giving him time to experiment.

• And I wonder if The Knightmare might be around somewhere? Did "he" and Mace ever meet fifteen years earlier?
  

Cue the arrival of the party in (say) 1670, perhaps to study the Rebuilding of London or just to gawk at Christopher Wren's work. Then they hear stories of a spectacular new play being staged....

[starkllr]

That would be a great story to revisit! And combining it with "The Woman Who Lived" is a great way to bridge the old and new series. I hadn't even thought of that!

Another general theme to play with is something I would have loved to see Star Trek: TNG do, but they never did - revisit some of the planets where the entire basis of the society had been upended by Captain Kirk, who then immediately departed, leaving them to their own devices.

"Planet of Evil" would be a good choice for that kind of story. Xoannon is no more, and the Tesh and Sevateem are no longer forced to follow the pattern they've been living under for the last few hundred years. Yay! Freedom! Peaceful coexistence! Or not. Hundreds of years of hostility don't just vanish because a guy with a ridiculous scarf handed out some jellly babies to both sides. And people who have no history of self-rule and are suddenly given the keys to the kingdom don't generally do such a great job right out of the gate. Things might be ugly indeed when the Doctor (or your PCs) return twenty years after the 4th Doctor left.

The vampire-ruled planet in "State of Decay" would be perfect for a similar tale. Obviously the rule of the Great Vampire and its minions was horrific and had to be ended. But when the only governing principle you've ever known for a thousand generations is blood sacrifice to your demonic overlords, how exactly do you build a new and better society? Especially with nobody around to give you any advice on the matter...

[Catsmate]

Jan 28, 2016 14:14:07 GMT starkllr said:

That would be a great story to revisit! And combining it with "The Woman Who Lived" is a great way to bridge the old and new series. I hadn't even thought of that!

It was always one of my favourites. Perhaps it was the minimal presence of Adric...
Adding Ashildr/Lady Me came to me when I realised the dates were close.

Jan 28, 2016 14:14:07 GMT starkllr said:

Another general theme to play with is something I would have loved to see Star Trek: TNG do, but they never did - revisit some of the planets where the entire basis of the society had been upended by Captain Kirk, who then immediately departed, leaving them to their own devices.

Yeah, unfortunately most of these series completely ignore this idea. Fix the immediate problem and let the locals (or someone else form the Federation) take care of the details.

Jan 28, 2016 14:14:07 GMT starkllr said:

"Planet of Evil" would be a good choice for that kind of story. Xoannon is no more, and the Tesh and Sevateem are no longer forced to follow the pattern they've been living under for the last few hundred years. Yay! Freedom! Peaceful coexistence! Or not. Hundreds of years of hostility don't just vanish because a guy with a ridiculous scarf handed out some jellly babies to both sides. And people who have no history of self-rule and are suddenly given the keys to the kingdom don't generally do such a great job right out of the gate. Things might be ugly indeed when the Doctor (or your PCs) return twenty years after the 4th Doctor left.

Oh yes, I can't see those groups meshing well. Or having the skills to survive.
A few of the EU stories look into this, for example the audios like The War To End All Wars that deal with Steven helping the Savages and Elders or Peri's return in Bad Therapy.
As the Companion Chronicles have shown, after leaving the Doctor his former companions can get into trouble on their own.

Jan 28, 2016 14:14:07 GMT starkllr said:

The vampire-ruled planet in "State of Decay" would be perfect for a similar tale. Obviously the rule of the Great Vampire and its minions was horrific and had to be ended. But when the only governing principle you've ever known for a thousand generations is blood sacrifice to your demonic overlords, how exactly do you build a new and better society? Especially with nobody around to give you any advice on the matter...

Ah, I recommend you read Blood Harvest, which was party set on the vampire planet, and had Benny guiding the various factions into creating a new society.

[Stormcrow]

The Peladon stories are a TV version of this.

Another idea, for those who like to play with the ramifications of time travel, is for the Doctor and companions to show up in the middle of one of his previous, televised adventures, preferably in a different incarnation, and see how much damage the players can do to the original storyline and how they manage to repair it (or not).

[starkllr]

Another idea, for those who like to play with the ramifications of time travel, is for the Doctor and companions to show up in the middle of one of his previous, televised adventures, preferably in a different incarnation, and see how much damage the players can do to the original storyline and how they manage to repair it (or not).

Ah, the Back to the Future 2 approach!

[Catsmate]

Jan 28, 2016 17:11:58 GMT starkllr said:

Another idea, for those who like to play with the ramifications of time travel, is for the Doctor and companions to show up in the middle of one of his previous, televised adventures, preferably in a different incarnation, and see how much damage the players can do to the original storyline and how they manage to repair it (or not).

Ah, the Back to the Future 2 approach!

Or Trials and Tribble-ations.

[Catsmate]

On the subject of City of Death what about a prequel? Given Scaroth's interest in time travel it'd be possible that he'd be interested in previous occurrences. Maybe he attempted to gain access to TOMITT, or steal the TARDIS on some occasion. Would he be interested in an alliance with the Master perhaps?

A few other possible sequels.
The Time Meddler. Did the Meddler leave any bits and pieces in eleventh century Northumbria? I'm thinking especially that rocket launcher and the nuclear shells, but did he have a few history books around for reference, with details of the battle and it's aftermath. Who finds them? And what do they do with them? Curry favour with the new regime perhaps.The

The Evil of the Daleks. What happened to Waterfield and Maxtable's notes and experiments on time travel? Did they end up in the hands of Torchwood/UNIT? Did one of those groups try experimenting with time travel? That might be the origin of the UNIT device used in Turn Left. Was there anything odd left in Waterfield's shop in 1966, besides not-quite antiques? Which by themselves could be quite valuable, who inherited?

The Tomb of the Cybermen. So the tombs were sealed, finally and forever. Yeah right. Some bloody archaeologist is going to come along and unseal them, you just know it'll happen. So it's Return to the Tombs of the Cybermen time. Maybe during the late Earth Empire period, when they're desperately searching for new weapons and technology. Or a private sector expedition, something like IPX from Babylon 5. Maybe it's not set on Telos but after the expedition returns and Strange Things start happening.

The Ribos Operation. The return of Garron and Unstoffe! They could be another Glitz and Dibbler and turn up trying another confidence trick. Or how about Return to Ribos set during Suntime. Time to re-watch Game of Thrones, Icetime is coming...

Curse of Fenric. What happened to all that poison the British were extracting from the caverns? Is the source still there? Is the site still a secure military installation, or has it been downsized? That'd be a nasty surprise to the new owner...
And where did it come from in the first place? It hardly seems natural; was it being secreted by something, oozing through a dimensional rift or the residue of something alien decaying under the ground for millennia.

[Catsmate]

Some more.

Resurrection of the Daleks.
A very poor ending but lots of threads left hanging for possible sequels. Firstly, what happened to all the Dalek duplicates that'd been infiltrated onto Earth? The Doctor (rather blasé) seemed to think they'd be no problem, but is this correct? Could someone else (and Lytton is the obvious person) try and use them for some sinister purpose?

• Though a bunch of alien duplicates of world leaders could explain a lot about the eighties. Was Abel Archer 83 part of the Dalek plot?
  

What happened to Tegan? While she's no favourite Companion of mine, what was her life post-Doctor? Was she recruited by UNIT? Or just one of those humans left to cope on her own (The Gathering uses this).
There's also all that Dalek equipment, including a Time Corridor Generator, left in a warehouse in the Docklands. What happened to it? Was it cleaned up safely by UNIT/C19, stolen by someone (homeless squatters perhaps?) or forgotten about until the redevelopment of the Docklands area. That'd be an interesting find for a developer to stumble over.
Lytton did reappear in Attack of the Cybermen but there's potential for scenarios set between those stories.
I've used a few of these ideas in a game we ran last year, And So It Begins.

Remembrance of the Daleks.
Another Dalek story that left London littered with their remains, not to mention the Time Controller and the proto-UNIT ICMG. Plus fascists who are aware of aliens, and may have a few items of their own squirreled away. Given the 1963 setting it'd lead well into a sequel set during the Troughton or Pertwee eras, with an earlier Doctor running into trouble caused indirectly by his future incarnation. Perhaps one of Ratcliffe's men ends up working for UNIT/C19 and 'remembers' the Doctor (or at least the TARDIS). Or simply encounters him years later, a recipe for an obsessed stalker. Was this Clive's father, and the source of his obsession with the Doctor.
Then there's Rachel Jensen, who's explored rather well in the novelisation. Does she work on reverse engineering Dalek technology? Or bury herself in Cambridge and try to forget? Did the Brigadier try and recruit her for UNIT?

Warriors’ Gate.
Or The Further Adventures of Romana and K-9 in the mold of Adventures in a Pocket Universe. What did they get up to after leaving the Doctor? Did she find a way to fix K9? What happens to the Tharils? Does Romana help them form a new society, or do they revert to their old slaving ways? Is there a time ship out there pillaging the timelines with Romana wired to it's systems, used as a navigator, and screaming silently?


The Mark of the Rani.
Another pseudo-historical that left Earth's past littered with potential twonkies. Imagine arriving in 1841 to find the the First Opium War is over because of British use of chemical weapons, reverse engineered by Ravensworth's geniuses from the Rani's mustard gas. Ooops.

• And I'd like to nitpick and point out that the gas that appeared resembled dichlorethyl sulphide in no way.
  

Then there's the possibity of more subtle consequences; what if Stevenson and Ravensworth start speculating about their mysterious visitor (they did witness the TARDIS's dematerialisation and saw other oddities) and are diverted from their work on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and Stevenson's skew bridge? Could the men form (or become associated with) an organisation investigating strange mysteries and odd occurrences?

[Catsmate]

And a few more.

Delta and the Bannermen.
Lots of threads left hanging.
Do the captured Bannermen make it to the 'intergalactic war crimes tribunal'? I've always wondered if Delta was as nice as she seemed, or sufficiently ruthless to dump them in space.
What happens with Delta and Billy? Do they re-create the Chimeron species and live happily ever after? Or are they utterly incompatible and split soon afterwards leaving the not-quite-human Billy to wander the stars, perhaps returning to Earth?

• Heinlein's Glory Road comes to mind for a loosely similar problem. As does the EU novel Bad Therapy.
• A returned Billy could crop up in the UNIT era as a part-time advisor, independent wildcard element, superhero analogue or villain.
  

Did the two US agents, Hawk and Weismuller, acquire any bits of alien technology in all that running around? How do the events in Wales effect US attitudes towards aliens? Is the Shadow Bureau still operational? Does this incident cause more covert funding of such efforts?
In the UK, was the Shangri-La Incident part of the reason for the Intrusion Countermeasures Group's foundation? Did they pick up any bits and pieces, like a Bannerman ship or two?

• Hmm, proto-UNIT meets British Rocket Group and tries to win the Space Race for the Empire with a couple of ships they can't operate properly while maintaining the cover of human science. Cue intrigue, both Terrestrial and extra.
  
• This might well explain some of the advanced space technology and exploration in the Whoniverse like the British Mars missions in the '70s and Crayford's mission to Jupiter in the (probably) 1980s.
  
• Or do a motley group of humans get trapped on a recovered ship and have to work together with some aliens to get home again?
  

Finally there's the almost-Ace, Ray. What happens when she rides off into the damp Welsh sunset on Billy's bike? Did she pick up a few gadgets? Or maybe she sampled the Chimeron Royal Jelly too and developed weird powers. What does she get up to on her road trip? She's now aware of things beyond Earth, is she likely to get embroiled in further weird occurrences? Does the British government recruit her a few year later for their experimental launch of a recovered Bannerman ship?


The Sontaran Experiment.
Not a great story IMO but I've always been curious how the solar flares era, the resettlement of Earth, the Icelandic/Supreme Alliances and World War VI fit together. How do the unfrozen humans cope with the remains of Earth? Are they helped by other human settled planets, or ignored? What about other aliens? By this time most of Earth's exploitable resources would have been used, potentially leading to conflict over them, and perhaps a reliance on asteroid mining or other space-based sources of supply. Then there's Greel and similar mad scientists potentially meddling with Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. I've mentioned my take on this era in the Who Manchu thread.
Lots of possibilities, perhaps a series of brief adventures as the party bounces along the timeline? This would allow some continuity, with the PCs interacting with the same ephemerals (or their descendants) again and again and watching humanity rebuild Earth, only for it to fall apart in the mess of WW-VI.


The Seeds of Death
OK for this one I'm going a bit deuterocanonical.
The EU, especially Aaronovitch's excellent novel Transit (and Hinton's GodEngine which I've previously pillaged for ideas) have covered the T-Mat era and the Martian War well. Lots of possibilities here given the numerous allusions and references. There's the war itself (the assault on Olympus Mons for example), corporate intrigue, commando operations, diplomacy and more. Is someone tampering with history, trying to save Paris, for example.
After the war there could be more problems with the tunnel network, Martial stay-behind units, economic problems (the collapse of Australia for example), more corporate duplicity, early human dealings with aliens, social unrest and the effects of the Ubersoldaten veterans of the war. Not to forget Kadiatu time travel experiments (did she purge all the backups?).

And, for the time traveller in the know, the spectre of the Dalek invasion in the future.

Of course all that's outside the scope of the on-screen canon; plenty of potential for a different take on the conflict between Mars and Earth. Was the attempted aeroforming the plan of a Martian faction that's been disavowed by the others? How will relations between the species develop? Will Earth embrace space travel and continue "expanding through the gloom"?


Pyramid of Mars.

• Don't mention the enormous plot hole of having to rush back to Earth to beat a radio signal when you've got a time machine.

Another example of bits of advanced alien technology left to litter the countryside. Did the explosion destroy the rocket completely? And how extensive was the priory fire, did the sarcophagus survive to be examined by Torchwood, or someone else? Surely Osiran technology was more resilient than that. Some bits could have survived.
Then there were the urns that projected the force field isolating the estate; did they continue to operate? Was there power source destroyed in the fire, leaving then as oddities, or did someone stumble over an invisible wall, triggering the involvement of the authorities, Torchwood and more.

When humanity reaches Mars, what will they make of the Osiran base? Are there useful bits of technology there still? Was this one of the causes of strife with the Ice Warriors?

• This would be an interesting motivation for a private mission to Mars in the near future, hidden under the public reasons. Did Van Statten or someone like him learn of the facility?
• Or has it happened already, did the UK government recover it during those missions to the red planet in the 1970s?

[Catsmate]

And some more.

The Horns of Nimon
A story that's surprisingly full of possibilities...
Were all the Nimons really destroyed? Or did some of them survive on a slightly different path of the Great Journey of Life? Are they seeking revenge, or just continuing to obliterate planets? And does anyone else want their wormhole technology?

What about Skonnos? How will they cope with the pitiful remnants of their militaristic past destroyed? Does a peaceful future await them (as with the Chelonians) or will they return to their path of conquest (like pretty much everyone else in the Whoniverse).
Or a prequel, set in the glory days of the Skonnan Empire with factions vying for control and the seeds for their civil war sown. Game of Thrones in space. With less nudity.

Then there’s Aneth; this is possibily the most interesting location for a sequel (to me anyway). How did the return of Seth and Teka, and the seeming removal of the threat of Skonnos, effect their society? Did Seth and Teka marry?

• And for the irredeemably cynical, how long did that marriage last. Anyone for a romantic comedy withe the PCs trying to get the couple back together?
  

Did Aneth continue as a planet of yellow suited pacifists? Or did a militant faction emerge, perhaps led or sponsored by Seth, eager to bring peace to the remains of the Skonnon Empire. For the good of everyone of course...
Do the PCs arrive a century later and have to save the repressed Skonnons from the iron heel of the Aneth Union's Peace Enforcers?

Finally, what exactly is Hymetusite? Is it merely a valuable transuranic element, a naturally stable form of anti-matter or something more interesting like Zeiton⁷. Is it useful for more than a power source? Cue Kartz-Reimer style experiments with time travel, and some interested attention.
 

The Dominators.
I may be one of the few, but I liked The Dominators.
They're an under-used race of antagonists, though the TV appearance is expanded on in the Lethbridge-Stewart novel Mutually Assured Domination.
Again, lots of possibilities. Just replace the Daleks or Cybermen (or any of the usual ‘villain races’) with the shoulder-padded Dominators, with the Quarks as muscle.
How powerful are they? Can they be played off against, for example, the Sontarans or Daleks? MAD suggests they were far less significant a player that their boasts implied. Are there female Dominators? What's their place in society, subservient baby factories (surely they can manage cloning or uterine replicators?) or a matriarchal ruling class?


The Chase.
A direct sequel is difficult but there are plenty of ideas to steal. Re-stage the story with a better plot is one.
Then there’s the return of Ian and Barbara to London; how did they cope? How did they explain their abrupt disappearance and return? It’s the sort of thing that people ask about...

• Another possibility is having then arrive two years before they left and having to cope. How long was a UK tax disc valid for?
  

Of course there's the notion that the DARDIS didn't in fact self-destruct and is still in the gargage in which it materialised. Or maybe the "self destruct" merely sent it out of phase with normal time, ready to re-appear whenever a plot device is needed or someone with access to suitable technology (and a degree of desperation) to recover it.

• That's an idea for a UNIT era adventure with the Doctor or Master (or both!) trying to recover the DARDIS to escape Earth. 
• Or, a few decades later, Lytton. Or Ashildr.
  

Or might the Daleks come looking for their property.


Dragonfire.
Nice ideas, pity about the execution.
One obvious thread is Glitz and Mel, do they stay together? Can she reform him? Personally I’d say no to both, so what happens next? Is Mel left stranded in the far future, or does a later incarnation of the Doctor drop her home? Or does she meet another time traveller? This is explored in the EU, specially Head Games.

• Perhaps Mel teams up with Jenny (the Doctor’s daughter); that's be an interesting team.

What happens to Iceworld? Does Glitz keep control of it, and what does he do with it? He's a petty criminal...

[grinch]

Reminds me of an idea I once had for an antagonist. A time traveller (possibly another Time Lord) who appears in the wake of The Doctor’s adventures and persuades those “Could Have Been Companions” to join them as part of some grand plan.

For some reason, I imagined someone such Ray from “Delta and the Bannermen” would be a good fit for one of those individuals dazzled by this strange traveller.

[soultaker666212]

The Armageddon Factor and The Pirate Planet have good locations to return to though

[grinch]

I think you could do an adventure set before the events of ‘The Savages’ which explores just who the alien race was that visited Jano and the other Elders long before the Doctor and co made an appearance.