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Post by grinch on Aug 28, 2022 18:53:06 GMT
Evening all, this is less of a story/adventure seed but more a place for GM discussion.
So, when it comes to your campaigns what secrets and Easter eggs have you got in your campaign for your PCs to discover? It doesn’t even have to be elements which will come into active play but rather hidden details which serve as a part of the campaign worldbuilding.
For instance, here’s a few from mine:
* There is an Afterlife in the DW Universe. Not so much the traditional Heaven or Hell but rather a state of existence that comes after the cessation of human life. And from which no mortal can recall should they return from beyond the Veil. However, when journeying to said plane, in places where the gaps in reality are thin, souls can find themselves being preyed on by other creatures from the various shadow and pocket dimensions which exist alongside ours. Such was the case with Owen Harper’s resurrection where Duroc attempted to claim him and several others.
* Bilis Manger is in fact a splinter of Adam Eterno. Created when the errant time traveller accidentally found himself flung back into his own past. It appears that neither Manger nor Eterno are aware of the fact.
* A Floof is currently loose within Mortimus’s’ TARDIS. It’s unknown where and how it got into his TARDIS but it’s believed to have entered during his sojourn on Earth. Thankfully, it’s not much of a threat considering it quickly found itself getting lost within the labyrinthian interior of the ship. The only evidence of its existence is the odd item going missing or the occasional sighting of it from the corner of the eye.
* The Tin Vagabond is actually a teaching droid who found its circuits scrambled due to a sudden and unexpected solar flare. It’s eclectic and bizarre ramblings were interpreted as religious doctrine by a primitive race leading to the birth of a whole new religion!
* Much like how famed comic actor Tony Hancock travelled with Mortimus for a while, at the same time Kenneth Williams was briefly the travelling companion of Iris Wildthyme.
* One of Iris’s’ more acerbic and acidic future incarnations is played by Fanny Cradock.
* In a post Dalek invasion Earth, a few Silurian hibernation chambers were activated and surprisingly many of them assisted in the rebuilding of civilisation.
* In an alternate universe, a more morally unscrupulous Captain Jack Harkness was recruited by The Forge. He found himself in our universe where he quickly made himself an enemy of UNIT and a revamped PROBE.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753 
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Aug 28, 2022 20:22:23 GMT
Interesting grinch.
For my own games, we still have two ongoing, I've made a choice to alter the Who 'mythos' a bit.
- The Doctor, the Master, the Time Lords in general and the Daleks do not appear on-'stage'. In fact the only Time Lord to appear at all was Stan in the 'pilot' for The Archronic Omnibus. They are out there, just not here.
- On Earth the Masquerade continues. It's almost an open secret within the "point one percent" that aliens not only exist but visit Earth, but most people don't know. This means that there are groups (several of which I've described here) who either make use of alien technology, consult about strange problems or provide 'support services' to aliens.
- The possible futures can influence the present; Audra and the time travellers known as the Storm Riders are linked to a future where a Great Time War happened.
- I have a pretty thoroughly worked-out model of time travel, which I've mentioned here previously; Obscurity,the Observer Effect, the Limelight effect, Clockhammering, Fating, Time Twists, Ace in the Clock, Causal Substitution, the
Jonbar Hinge, Ontological artefacts, Saving Appearances. Many time travellers know of them, few understand them well.
- The Higher Powers exist, quirky and dangerous. Not quite gods, more Godlike Entities. They have favourites, caprices and play games.
- Time travel is surprisingly simple. Safe time travel is not.
- There have been organisations dealing with alien and similar incursions for as long as humans have had organised societies.
- There are plenty of recurring time travellers; in fact between the two games there have been more than twenty NPCs, most of them independent 'Freetimers' connected by a complicated web of friendships, enmities, rivalries and owed favours.
- I've lifted a lot of Lovecraft; Arkham and Miskatonic are real, there are parallels the Outer Gods and Great Old Ones, though anyone who relies on Lovecraft is in for a few unpleasant surprises.
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awfullotofrunning
2nd Incarnation
Posts: 19
Favourite Doctors: Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant
Traits: Boffin
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Post by awfullotofrunning on Aug 28, 2022 20:29:40 GMT
Interesting grinch .
For my own games, we still have two ongoing, I've made a choice to alter the Who 'mythos' a bit.
- I have a pretty thoroughly worked-out model of time travel, which I've mentioned here previously; Obscurity,the Observer Effect, the Limelight effect, Clockhammering, Fating, Time Twists, Ace in the Clock, Causal Substitution, the
Jonbar Hinge, Ontological artefacts, Saving Appearances. Many time travellers know of them, few understand them well.
- Time travel is surprisingly simple. Safe time travel is not.
These two sound interesting. Would you care to elaborate? |
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Aug 28, 2022 20:51:14 GMT
Interesting grinch .
For my own games, we still have two ongoing, I've made a choice to alter the Who 'mythos' a bit.
- I have a pretty thoroughly worked-out model of time travel, which I've mentioned here previously; Obscurity,the Observer Effect, the Limelight effect, Clockhammering, Fating, Time Twists, Ace in the Clock, Causal Substitution, the
Jonbar Hinge, Ontological artefacts, Saving Appearances. Many time travellers know of them, few understand them well.
- Time travel is surprisingly simple. Safe time travel is not.
These two sound interesting. Would you care to elaborate?
ETA: Quantum Effects in Time Travel
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Post by grinch on Sept 1, 2022 16:58:13 GMT
One aspect of my campaign I forgot to mention:
• Within the universe of my campaign, The Edge from the fantasy series The Edge Chronicles is a contained setting. It is largely unchanged from its literary depiction aside from the fact that due to its unique flora and fauna, The Shadow Proclamation and Galactic Heritage have decided to seal the planet off from the rest of the universe to avoid potential contamination.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped potential slavers and traders from offworld (usually using perception filters) making trips there to pick up potential specimens.
I’ve already seeded hints of this with Gidgit the Lemkin pet of Countess Kallos and the fact that a Waif assassin is a member of Obedi Bk’lash’s newly formed Assassin’s Guild.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Sept 1, 2022 17:18:36 GMT
One aspect of my campaign I forgot to mention: • Within the universe of my campaign, The Edge from the fantasy series The Edge Chronicles is a contained setting. It is largely unchanged from its literary depiction aside from the fact that due to its unique flora and fauna, The Shadow Proclamation and Galactic Heritage have decided to seal the planet off from the rest of the universe to avoid potential contamination. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped potential slavers and traders from offworld (usually using perception filters) making trips there to pick up potential specimens. I’ve already seeded hints of this with Gidgit the Lemkin pet of Countess Kallos and the fact that a Waif assassin is a member of Obedi Bk’lash’s newly formed Assassin’s Guild.
An interesting addition to the Whoniverse.
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Post by grinch on Sept 1, 2022 19:35:27 GMT
One aspect of my campaign I forgot to mention: • Within the universe of my campaign, The Edge from the fantasy series The Edge Chronicles is a contained setting. It is largely unchanged from its literary depiction aside from the fact that due to its unique flora and fauna, The Shadow Proclamation and Galactic Heritage have decided to seal the planet off from the rest of the universe to avoid potential contamination. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped potential slavers and traders from offworld (usually using perception filters) making trips there to pick up potential specimens. I’ve already seeded hints of this with Gidgit the Lemkin pet of Countess Kallos and the fact that a Waif assassin is a member of Obedi Bk’lash’s newly formed Assassin’s Guild.
An interesting addition to the Whoniverse.
It’s a great series which I’m always surprised has never received the RPG treatment. I find it actually works well within the Whoniverse especially when it comes to the varied creatures and enemies you can encounter. Although should your PCs journey there and accidentally leave said technology behind, they could change the whole fate of the Edge going forwards... |
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Sept 1, 2022 20:44:54 GMT
I loved the Edge Chronicles! Great stuff. I notice that I'm a dozen or so books behind though.
An interesting addition to the Whoniverse.
It’s a great series which I’m always surprised has never received the RPG treatment. I find it actually works well within the Whoniverse especially when it comes to the varied creatures and enemies you can encounter. Although should your PCs journey there and accidentally leave said technology behind, they could change the whole fate of the Edge going forwards...
It fits well into the Whoniverse, a weird location sandwiched between dimensions perhaps. Surrounded by a self-sustaining time storm that connects it to various places, like a town at the eye of a storm.
Rummaging in my notes I find an account from the old Arcane magazine (Issue 4, available from the Annarchive) describing a somewhat similar place, Stormburg:
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Post by grinch on Oct 23, 2022 19:18:42 GMT
Seems quite relevant considering Robbie Coltrane’s unfortunate passing, but I suddenly remembered that Mortimus’s’ player in an adventure once made reference to passing on information to a certain “criminal psychologist in Manchester” he was familiar with.
Yeah, so I don’t plan on having him make a physical appearance in an adventure but I guess that means Fitz exists in the Whoniverse somewhere. Be a right pain to incorporate anyhow.
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Oct 24, 2022 8:21:11 GMT
Seems quite relevant considering Robbie Coltrane’s unfortunate passing, but I suddenly remembered that Mortimus’s’ player in an adventure once made reference to passing on information to a certain “criminal psychologist in Manchester” he was familiar with. Yeah, so I don’t plan on having him make a physical appearance in an adventure but I guess that means Fitz exists in the Whoniverse somewhere. Be a right pain to incorporate anyhow.
I have a few ideas for crossovers/cameos from other series.
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Post by olegrand on Oct 24, 2022 12:14:47 GMT
In my long-running DW campaign ( Lady Penelope's Odyssey), I've made some significant adjustments to the official Whoniverse continuity - choosing right from the start the easy solution, that of a divergent universe / parallel reality. So, in Lady's Penelope prime space-time continuum... - The Silurians never inhabited Earth (but they've appeared in their usual role in some episodes set on alternate Earths)... - ... but Humanity's ancient history was deeply influenced by two enemy alien species that both attempted to harness the planet's formidable telluric energy potential (you know -ley lines, megaliths etc.): the Daneans aka the Tanu (loosely based on Julian May's alien race of the same name from her Many Coloured Land book series) and the Lloigor (loosely based on their Cthulhu Mythos counterpart) - The Doctor's regenerations follow a different path after the 10th one (we had Paterson Joseph, Paul McGann as a recurrent re-regeneration, Bill Nighy, Hugo Weaving... not to mention some alternate Doctors from parallel continuums). - Gallifrey was indeed destroyed in the Time War - it was brought back later but in a very different manner as the one shown in the TV show. - The Doctor no longer travels; his TARDIS has turned into the Manor of Lungbarrow on the block-transfer-computation-cum-telluric-energy engineered world of Avalon, a safe haven for neo-Time Lords, temporal refugees and other space-time castaways. - The nexus point of the paradigm / eye of the storm has shifted from the Doctor to Lady Penelope, who is now the One Main Time Travelling Wild Card / Trouble Magnet / Impossible Hero. This also means that Daleks and other recurring foes of the Doctor tend to appear far less often in Lady Penelope's adventures than her "own" arch-enemies like the aforementioned Lloigor. - Torchwood didn't fall after the Battle of Canary Wharf and is, in fact, one of the powers-behind-the-throne of the current UK government. (since we've been playing for a dozen years or so, I'm probably forgetting a few things...) |
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Post by grinch on Oct 24, 2022 19:02:02 GMT
Seems quite relevant considering Robbie Coltrane’s unfortunate passing, but I suddenly remembered that Mortimus’s’ player in an adventure once made reference to passing on information to a certain “criminal psychologist in Manchester” he was familiar with. Yeah, so I don’t plan on having him make a physical appearance in an adventure but I guess that means Fitz exists in the Whoniverse somewhere. Be a right pain to incorporate anyhow.
I have a few ideas for crossovers/cameos from other series.
Alright, now I have to know what happened in that encounter. For some reason, detective series seem to work so well in the Whoniverse. I already have plans to incorporate DI Chandler and the rest of the Whitechapel Metropolitan Branch at some point. And as we already established, the likes of Campion work well. Who knows? Maybe I could find a way to work Fitz into an adventure. |
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Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
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Post by Catsmate on Oct 24, 2022 20:13:31 GMT
We had a DCI E. Morse make a cameo once....
I have a few ideas for crossovers/cameos from other series.
Alright, now I have to know what happened in that encounter. For some reason, detective series seem to work so well in the Whoniverse. I already have plans to incorporate DI Chandler and the rest of the Whitechapel Metropolitan Branch at some point. And as we already established, the likes of Campion work well. Who knows? Maybe I could find a way to work Fitz into an adventure.
I agree about detective series, many possibilities for cross-overs. I rather like the idea of Midsomer Murders personally, a version appeared in one of the Iris Wildthyme stories.
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Post by grinch on Oct 24, 2022 20:29:19 GMT
Alright, now I have to know what happened in that encounter. For some reason, detective series seem to work so well in the Whoniverse. I already have plans to incorporate DI Chandler and the rest of the Whitechapel Metropolitan Branch at some point. And as we already established, the likes of Campion work well. Who knows? Maybe I could find a way to work Fitz into an adventure.
I agree about detective series, many possibilities for cross-overs. I rather like the idea of Midsomer Murders personally, a version appeared in one of the Iris Wildthyme stories.
Nicely done, I like it. You could actually do a Midsummer Murders style adventure where the PCs land in a strange village where they discover all the inhabitants are detectives/sleuths taken from their natural point in Time and Space and brainwashed to forget who they are. All they need is a murder to wake them up and remember who they are. |
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Post by grinch on Nov 8, 2022 19:03:06 GMT
One thing I have noticed with my campaign is that although it does still focus on the Who Mythos with the usual Time Lord/Companion dynamic, due to the reference of or implied existence of certain characters from outside sources (Adam Eterno, Albert Campion, Fantomas etc) it has shades of “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” about it.
Which is both a good and bad thing which I think about it.
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