How closely do you hew to canon in your game?

[thornburgmp]

Hello Everyone. I'm really happy to find this forum online and hope to become a member of this community.

I've run a couple scenarios I wrote myself and played a number of times as a PC at cons and with friends. I'd like to run more but I'm hesitant because I'm very much a casual Doctor Who fan and don't know the canon minutiae well. I realize that's a weird thing to be hesitant about since Doctor Who often seems to contradict its own canon.

My general RPG philosophy as a GM is that if the players are having fun and you are telling a fun, engaging story together then that should be all that matters. However, I don't want to run a game and have a player freak out because their own knowledge of Doctor Who is disregarded by my scenario.

As an example, I wrote a scenario about earth's first war with the Cybermen. In my version of events, Earth won because an ordinary person united humanity with a speech on social media and allowed them to face the threat together. In my scenario, the Cybermen and a human collaborator went back in time to that person's youth and destroyed his confidence growing up (changing the person he became), then, as insurance, destroyed the social media platform when the speech was to be given. It's up to the PCs to figure this out and right the wrongs.

Absolutely none of this is canon but the players who played the scenario loved it. (Yes, it's heavily inspired by Back to the Future!)

I'd like to recruit players online and just want to make sure what I do is within reasonable norms.

TIA.

[misterharry]

Welcome to the forum!

If you're worried about players spotting changes to established continuity (which can be fairly fluid anyway), I'd suggest making clear at the outset that your game is set in a universe very similar to the one from the series, but not exctly the same - so there may be differences. This has the added bonus that you can keep even the most knowledgeable fan guessing.

[grinch]

I second misterharry’s approach. Just pick and choose what you like from Doctor Who canon. The Alternate Timeline or Universe works wonders I find.

[spydalek]

The same amount as Doctor Who itself adhews to canon (stares at the three different reasons for Atlantis' sinking), A.K.A. whatever matters to the adventure in hand.

[Catsmate]

Welcome thornburgmp . To answer your specific question, we maintain our own canon. Frankly some of the Who 'canon' is just plain stupid (ugh, 'Kill The Moon') and much of it contradicts itself. So we've developed our own, using whatever bits seem most plot useful, interesting or amusing. From this we have a reasonably consistent timeline.

[Marnal]

I recommend being as strict and the show's writers are: Pay a bit of attention to last season that was released and EVERYTHING before that is optional.

[Curufea]

As previously mentioned but I will add a couple of modern indie game design recommendations- Session Zero and setting expectations. Whatever you do, at the start of a one-off or a campaign - or whenever a new player is introduced or if you just get forgetful - set expectations so that everyone knows what kind of game everyone expects, so they will play to the correct tropes and not be disappointed that the game progresses the way everyone intends it to.

The easiest way I've seen this implemented is with CATS - Concept, Aim, Tone and Subject matter. This does include canon when running games in franchise IPs (Intellectual Properties).
bit.ly/RPG-CATS-cs-3x5

[spydalek]

Jul 2, 2023 23:54:51 GMT Marnal said:

I recommend being as strict and the show's writers are: Pay a bit of attention to last season that was released and EVERYTHING before that is optional.

To add to this, rather than just "Last Season", it's more "Pay attention to your Era and maybe reference things from before it as a treat for fans" in terms of what the show's writers do.  

Time can be rewritten, with only those who have travelled in a TARDIS, or had prolonged exposure to the Doctor, seeming to remember.

[Escher]

Basically what Misterharry said. For us, our play diverges from TV canon as soon as we start. 'Alternate Timelines' and all that. This gives the players a blank page to do anything.

[Stormcrow]

When I run the game, I don't run adventures that rehash old Doctor Who stories, so I'm neither adhering to canon nor diverging from it.

[lupercal]

I sort of maintain that what happened in the TV-show happened ("Kill the Moon" happened to another world, not Earth & "In the Forest of the Night" didn't happen at all). As for the 13th Doctor, I use broad strokes for her adventures (& the Timeless Child storyline was just BS made up by the Master in my campaigns). As for EU material, anything goes.

To clarify: I like the 13th Doctor. I'm NOT fond of how the stories were written/handled.

[Catsmate]

Jul 6, 2023 23:02:24 GMT lupercal said:

I sort of maintain that what happened in the TV-show happened ("Kill the Moon" happened to another world, not Earth & "In the Forest of the Night" didn't happen at all). As for the 13th Doctor, I use broad strokes for her adventures (& the Timeless Child storyline was just BS made up by the Master in my campaigns). As for EU material, anything goes.

To clarify: I like the 13th Doctor. I'm NOT fond of how the stories were written/handled.

I agree. Some of the broadcast stories are contradictory or just plan idiotic, I have no compunction about dropping them.

[thornburgmp]

Thanks everyone. As I get my ducks in a row to run my own campaign, I'm reading the Gamemaster's Companion and very impressed with it. On page 10 they address just this issue in a way similar to you all: communication and setting expectations out of the gate.