Interesting Ideas For Characters

[boxer01]

I'm interested in ideas for characters that aren't Time Lords or human companions that are distinctive and/or unique. Vastra and Strax are good examples. I'm really just trying to get my imagination jumpstarted.

[misterharry]

Oct 12, 2017 14:41:04 GMT boxer01 said:

I'm interested in ideas for characters that aren't Time Lords or human companions that are distinctive and/or unique. Vastra and Strax are good examples. I'm really just trying to get my imagination jumpstarted.

If Vastra and Strax are the sort of characters you're after, then it may be as simple as taking an alien species and coming up with a reason to make one of their number a little different from the norm.

So...

A Draconian noblewoman - outcast because she has campaigned for female rights in the repressive male Draconian society.
An Ogron shaman - a priest of the Ogron-eater cult, the sole-surviving member of a tribe which was enslaved by the Daleks.
A reformed Foamasi gangster - on the run in a series of artificial skin-suits after turning supergrass.
A disgraced Judoon - dismissed from the Shadow Proclamation's service after a mission ended in compete disaster.

[Hedgewick]

Oct 15, 2017 12:06:44 GMT misterharry said:

A disgraced Judoon - dismissed from the Shadow Proclamation's service after a mission ended in compete disaster.

These are excellent suggestions. One of the Cubicle 7 modules--"Judoom!"--provides a setup similar to this last one. The character, Flo, has become a regular companion to the Lost Doctor in our campaign, and his personality has made him a real favorite!

[Jacobin]

Part of me would love to throw Sally Sparrow into something, but it would take a macguffin which I don't have.

[misterharry]

Nov 4, 2017 3:01:41 GMT Jacobin said:

Part of me would love to throw Sally Sparrow into something

As a PC or NPC?

[jay042]

I was toying with an idea about a trio of rogue Alpha Centauri scientists who were on the run from galactic authorities and the Raxacoricofallapatorian crime family they double crossed.

[misterharry]

Nov 4, 2017 21:25:43 GMT jay042 said:

I was toying with an idea about a trio of rogue Alpha Centauri scientists who were on the run from galactic authorities and the Raxacoricofallapatorian crime family they double crossed.

There's something very appealing about a gang of villainous Alpha Centauri!

[jay042]

My idea was basically your typical 60's Beach Party movie. This trio of renegade scientists crash their ship into the bay near a popular surfer hangout. One of the Centauri use a Compression Field to disguise itself as human and abduct some of the local surfers and use the ship's transmat and some genetic know-how to turn the surfers into amphibious shark-men that can make repairs on the exterior of the submerged ship.

[misterharry]

Sounds fun!

I've remembered a DWM comic-strip from a few years ago. It was set on an alien world with a pulp noir vibe, and one of the characters was an Alpha Centauran lawyer in a trenchcoat, who worked for a crime syndicate. It was a great example of giving a familiar alien a quirky twist and doing something fresh with it.

[boxer01]

I guess one could always play a Hooloovoo (sp?).

[Catsmate]

Nov 6, 2017 13:48:33 GMT boxer01 said:

I guess one could always play a Hooloovoo (sp?).

They'd probably have some problems interacting with others.

[misterharry]

Depends if you're going with Hooloovoo as being just the super-intelligent shade of the colour blue. The one we glimpsed in The Rings of Akhaten seemed to be humanoid. Perhaps it was wearing an artificial environment suit which allows the Hooloovoo to interact with physical beings.

[boxer01]

Nov 8, 2017 9:38:43 GMT misterharry said:

Depends if you're going with Hooloovoo as being just the super-intelligent shade of the colour blue. The one we glimpsed in The Rings of Akhaten seemed to be humanoid. Perhaps it was wearing an artificial environment suit which allows the Hooloovoo to interact with physical beings.

My take was it was wearing some kind of suit.

I've been meaning to put together a list of guest characters from the show to use as potential models. Psi and Saibra from Time Heist are two examples of characters who've caught my attention. (And we've got stats for them from the latest rule book). Still, I'm trying to kickstart my imagination and come up with something original.

[NurseRani]

We have a Movellan companion. And a sort of "guest star"; a 1910s inventor modeled after Doctor Poison from the Wonder Woman film (because I'me very fond of the actress).

[Jacobin]

Nov 4, 2017 14:27:52 GMT misterharry said:

Nov 4, 2017 3:01:41 GMT Jacobin said:

Part of me would love to throw Sally Sparrow into something

As a PC or NPC?

Honestly either would satisfy me.

I have thought of trying to run Blink for players who have never been acquainted with Who, but worry I would get super railroady.

[boxer01]

I used the Weeping Angels in a non-Doctor Who game and found them to be challenging to do well. PCs don't behave like characters in a scripted show so it can be difficult to achieve the same impact in a scene.

[serok42]

I made a character for one of my players that was an alien that looked like a golden retriever. His back story was that he was part of a recon team that was scouting out Earth.

If I remember correctly I gave him the tiny trait, alien senses, natural weapons.

He wears a service dog harness and the Time lord character leads him around when needed.

I pulled up the character sheet. Here is the background...

"Bart comes from the planet Xylanthia in the Serius System. He arrive on Earth as the head of a scouting mission. His compatriots were all captured and adopted out to loving families. He figured that posing as an Earth dog was a good way to be able to observe the planet."

[Null and Void]

If I remember correctly, back in the days of the FASA Doctor Who RPG, I had an NPC companion who was a disgraced Ice Lord, who acted as a bodyguard to the Time Lord as a way to regain his honor.

Didn't get a lot of play, but I always thought the concept was fairly sound and had some interesting possibilities.

[Deleted]

I once had a player play an old war time music hall comedian who actually turned out to be a Slitheen in disguise. Before the Judoon player of the group could arrest him, he explained he came from centuries in the future where the Slitheen had been pardoned for their crimes and grew specially designed skin suits to blend in. It turns out the only reason he came to Earth was to make people laugh. Strange concept I know, but he quickly became a firm favourite and had one of our players weeping when he came to an end protecting a small group of children from a Dalek attack.

[Deleted]

Using Knasser's wonderful 'Monsters and Other Favourites' resource document, I did once toy with the idea of having an Adipose character. An Adult Adipose who having been abducted from his parents at birth has grown up fighting in an alien arena as a gladiator. He is rather stern and stubborn, and is constantly looking for his next fight. He also has a short temper which doesn't help the fact that he is one of the most adorable creatures in the Universe. Just whatever you do, don't call him 'cute'... The last one who did was found scattered from one end of the planet to another.