Recomended Sourcebooks?

[awfullotofrunning]

Hi there, just wanted to ask a question regarding all the official sourcebooks how often they come into play and which ones are the most worth investing in for general play, disregarding their price tags. I know that in 5th edition the Player's Handbook is used the most along with the dungeon master's guide, with the monster manual typically being semi-redunant as far as pre-written adventures go. But how does this stack up to the Sourcebooks of Doctor Who?

[misterharry]

Aug 28, 2022 15:01:50 GMT awfullotofrunning said:

Hi there, just wanted to ask a question regarding all the official sourcebooks how often they come into play and which ones are the most worth investing in for general play, disregarding their price tags. I know that in 5th edition the Player's Handbook is used the most along with the dungeon master's guide, with the monster manual typically being semi-redunant as far as pre-written adventures go. But how does this stack up to the Sourcebooks of Doctor Who?

My view is that you really only need the core rulebook - it contains everything you need to run or play the game, including a number of stats for key characters and monsters (which vary depending on which edition of the rulebook you buy). As for the sourcebooks and supplements, be aware that most were written for the first edition of the game, with only a few available for 2e at the moment. However, the official line is the two editions are compatible with each other, and that's pretty much true. The main difference is that character and monster stats in 1e have Traits, each of which are very specific in what they do, while 2e has replaced these with Distinctions, which are much broader. There are a few other differences between editons.

If you're intending to run a game which focuses on Gallifrey or the Time Lords, then The Time Traveller's Companion would be very useful and is highly recommended. If your game will have a focus on UNIT, then Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook would be useful but not vital. Other than that, everything else really depends on whether the subject matter or era of the show is of interest to you.

[awfullotofrunning]

Well, I'm looking at something in the realms of pulp fiction for my campaign, like the sherlock homes novels. It'll be very self contained and quite varied in setting and subject matter. I think the best way to put it would to be like the original pitch for doctor who back in 1963 "The series is neither fantasy nor space travel nor science fiction... Our central characters because of their 'ship' may find themselves on the shores of britain when caesar and his legionaries landed in 44 bc; may find themselves in their own school laboritries but reduced the size of a pinhead; or on mars ect ect ect"
Lot of variety.

[misterharry]

Well, The Gamemaster's Companion provides a lot of helpful advice on designing and running adventures across different settings, but is probably less useful if you're an experienced GM.

If you want stats and info for a wider range of monsters to throw at your players than the dozen or so provided in whichever core rulebook you have (or will buy), then there's Aliens and Creatures, which provides this for almost all new series aliens up to around 2010. Or All the Strange, Strange Creatures takes a deeper look at a couple of dozen aliens, including some of the most iconic, with advice on their motives and guidance on how to design adventures to feature them.

[misterharry]

Oh, and if you're interested in pulp settings or styles, then you might want to look at Pulp Fantastic, which is a separate game but uses the same Vortex System so is fully compatible with the first edition rules. Its focus is on 1930s pulp adventures, as the title suggests.

[awfullotofrunning]

Does Aliens and Creatures include recommended traits for players wanting to build a character that's a specific race, like a slitheen? (I know that one doesn't have a stat block in All the Strange, Strange Creatures to base off.)

[awfullotofrunning]

Aug 28, 2022 16:15:32 GMT misterharry said:

Oh, and if you're interested in pulp settings or styles, then you might want to look at Pulp Fantastic, which is a separate game but uses the same Vortex System so is fully compatible with the first edition rules. Its focus is on 1930s pulp adventures, as the title suggests.

Ninja'd!

Well thanks for that suggestion! I'll look into that and get back to ya.

[misterharry]

Aug 28, 2022 16:17:19 GMT awfullotofrunning said:

Does Aliens and Creatures include recommended traits for players wanting to build a character that's a specific race, like a slitheen? (I know that one doesn't have a stat block in All the Strange, Strange Creatures to base off.)

Aliens and Creatures introduced something called Race Packages, each of which is a list of modifiers to Attributes and the Traits needed to build a monster as a character, together with the cost of doing so. It's only a short chapter but it describes how you go about designing these packages and includes examples for Hath, Judoon, Forest of Cheem, Catkind, Human-Dalek (from Daleks in Manhattan), Malmooth (Chantho's people), Ood, Plasmavore, Sontaran, Tritovore and Werewolf.

[Catsmate]

Aug 28, 2022 15:01:50 GMT awfullotofrunning said:

Hi there, just wanted to ask a question regarding all the official sourcebooks how often they come into play and which ones are the most worth investing in for general play, disregarding their price tags. I know that in 5th edition the Player's Handbook is used the most along with the dungeon master's guide, with the monster manual typically being semi-redunant as far as pre-written adventures go. But how does this stack up to the Sourcebooks of Doctor Who?

Welcome awfullotofrunning.
As misterharry said, the core book (whichever version) is sufficient to start playing, especially if you're familiar with the Whoniverse. The sourcebooks for the individual Doctors are useful if you're trying to emulate the feel of a particular era. From what you've said the first and second Doctor books might be useful to capture the feel of the early days.
The Time Travellers's Companion is useful for non-TARDIS methods of time travel, Gallifrey and some other ideas about time travel.
The Expanded Univserse fan sourcebooks are free and loaded with ideas from the novels, comics, audios et cetera.

You mentioned a 'Pulp' feel to your game, if that the setting (i.e. classic 1920s-30s), the style (action, rapid change and generally lighter themes) or morality?
If you're interested I once speculated wildly about The Untold Cases of Sherlock Holmes and their potential connections to the Whoniverse.
The Time Tunnel also might be a source of inspiration.

Hope this helps.

[awfullotofrunning]

Aug 28, 2022 18:31:26 GMT Catsmate said:

As misterharry said, the core book (whichever version) is sufficient to start playing, especially if you're familiar with the Whoniverse. The sourcebooks for the individual Doctors are useful if you're trying to emulate the feel of a particular era. From what you've said the first and second Doctor books might be useful to capture the feel of the early days.
The Time Travellers's Companion is useful for non-TARDIS methods of time travel, Gallifrey and some other ideas about time travel.
The Expanded Univserse fan sourcebooks are free and loaded with ideas from the novels, comics, audios et cetera.

You mentioned a 'Pulp' feel to your game, if that the setting (i.e. classic 1920s-30s), the style (action, rapid change and generally lighter themes) or morality?
If you're interested I once speculated wildly about The Untold Cases of Sherlock Holmes and their potential connections to the Whoniverse.
The Time Tunnel also might be a source of inspiration.

Hope this helps.

I meant pulp as in episodic or self containted. (Guess the actual definition of pulp is different to what I thought it was, but still maybe something I should look at.) The idea is to create a string of loosely connected oneshots that don't require everyone to show up to enjoy, you don't need all the context of previous sessions to enjoy this campaign

[awfullotofrunning]

misterharry wait, there's a book called All the Strange, Strange Creatures and a chapter in the core book called All the Strange, Strange Creatures. Which one are you talking about?

[misterharry]

Aug 28, 2022 20:06:40 GMT awfullotofrunning said:

misterharry wait, there's a book called All the Strange, Strange Creatures and a chapter in the core book called All the Strange, Strange Creatures. Which one are you talking about?

There's a separate sourcebook called All the Strange, Strange Creatures - that's the one I mean.

[awfullotofrunning]

I also can't seem to find Aliens and Creatures on the website. Are they the same book?

[soultaker666212]

Aug 28, 2022 20:15:13 GMT awfullotofrunning said:

I also can't seem to find Aliens and Creatures on the website. Are they the same book?

Aliens and Creatures is an older book one of the first books so they wouldn't be selling it on their website.

[awfullotofrunning]

Ah. If its going to be a pain to track down then I probably just get strange strange creatures

[misterharry]

Aug 28, 2022 20:22:14 GMT awfullotofrunning said:

Ah. If its going to be a pain to track down then I probably just get strange strange creatures

The pdf version is still available from Drivethrurpg: Aliens and Creatures.

[Catsmate]

Aug 28, 2022 19:03:49 GMT awfullotofrunning said:

Aug 28, 2022 18:31:26 GMT Catsmate said:

As misterharry said, the core book (whichever version) is sufficient to start playing, especially if you're familiar with the Whoniverse. The sourcebooks for the individual Doctors are useful if you're trying to emulate the feel of a particular era. From what you've said the first and second Doctor books might be useful to capture the feel of the early days.
The Time Travellers's Companion is useful for non-TARDIS methods of time travel, Gallifrey and some other ideas about time travel.
The Expanded Univserse fan sourcebooks are free and loaded with ideas from the novels, comics, audios et cetera.

You mentioned a 'Pulp' feel to your game, if that the setting (i.e. classic 1920s-30s), the style (action, rapid change and generally lighter themes) or morality?
If you're interested I once speculated wildly about The Untold Cases of Sherlock Holmes and their potential connections to the Whoniverse.
The Time Tunnel also might be a source of inspiration.

Hope this helps.

I meant pulp as in episodic or self containted. (Guess the actual definition of pulp is different to what I thought it was, but still maybe something I should look at.) The idea is to create a string of loosely connected oneshots that don't require everyone to show up to enjoy, you don't need all the context of previous sessions to enjoy this campaign

Ah, episodic with few recurrences, long term antagonists or plot arcs. Very like the early years of Who then, or The Time Tunnel.

[awfullotofrunning]

Aug 28, 2022 20:27:11 GMT Catsmate said:

Ah, episodic with few recurrences, long term antagonists or plot arcs. Very like the early years of Who then, or The Time Tunnel.

Ya got it!