Post by CountClockwise on Dec 24, 2016 11:55:58 GMT
I was thinking of what to post next and after asking too many questions about GM advice I thought I should share some experiences in my game (and ask yet more questions of you all). Considering the vast array of aliens and locations in the Whoniverse it's no wonder many of these go underdeveloped. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in and off itself but it can be interesting to flesh out minor or one shot aliens into having a richer and more complete picture of the race's or setting's culture
To share a couple of examples from my own game both big and small. Although it didn't feature much in the story proper I did include some more setting titbits about the Adipose from the episode Partners in Crime. I had a couple of prominent NPCs be a pair of adult adipose brothers (about 8ft tall), who were competing in a space ship race on the Nestine homeworld (the race and the social parties around it were an elaborate trap but hey that's villains for you). During the after-party they mentioned in conversation that their species evolved from small parasitic organisms that infected the water of other species (which would make sense considering what we see in the episode). The only properly new things I added were the concept of a religion established in the future that they alluded to where off-worlders offered themselves up as ideal breeding stock for the adipose who saw as offering up their bodies for what they saw as a race close to perfection. The average Adipose 'on the street' viewed these people as a bit weird and a bit creepy but ultimately necessary for the race's survival.
I also casually introduced the Grand Patriarch of the Adipose of the 41st Century who had a lovely time rambling about all the Giraffes he saw on his diplomatic mission to Earth. They all played ring of fire together until they were kindly swept up by the Autons along with the broken bottles and puddles of sick.
Another more sinister example of worldbuilding was creating a new from of Dalek, the Clairvoyant Dalek. This was a unique major villain Dalek that resembled had a larger casing but instead of a dome on top there was a clear fish tank sphere where 3 large Dalek Mutants were swimming in a synchronised pattern. Despite being technically 3 Daleks it has essentially become a single entity and as a result this hive mind started to develop a small array of psychic powers. Chief among this was Clairvoyance, allowing it to see other locations far away with but a thought. This villain particularly liked using Dalek puppets for it's operations, which typically involved Obfuscating Dalek activity so they could be left to their experiments undisturbed.
Being 3 Daleks forced to share a single mind it kind of went a bit crazy and started to develop a new ideology that utilized Dalek concepts to its own ends. It still believed that Daleks were the master race but instead of just exterminating other life force it wanted to offer them a chance to 'purge their cancerous flesh' and become 'pure and blessed Dalek'. It's first scheme involved going behind Dalek High Command's back to use a link to the universal Morphogenetic field to not destroy all other life like originally planned but instead convert all other sentient lifeforms into Daleks. The Supreme Dalek was not happy about this and decided to exterminate the Clairvoyant and it's supporters.
The Clairvoyant later turned up after an emergency temporal shift hoping to convert human children into Daleks and to also integrate a child psychic into it's unity to increase it's power. It was since destroyed by the Time rift it was experimenting upon under the orphanage it was based in
That covers basically everything new I did with aliens form the Whoniverse. I did use other aliens from the Whoniverse but didn't really expand on the source material. I'd love to hear the pre-existing species and locations you've used or seen used and the world building that resulted from it.
In any event I wish you all Happy Holidays!
