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Post by lordsoth on Apr 28, 2010 2:25:02 GMT
Hey all,
I had a pretty cool idea for a campaign I want to run. It's basically a standard Who game but without the Doctor so that all the PCs would be balanced. But they also need information on planets and history. So my idea was that at some point in the future, he knows when he's on his last regeneration and he build a holocron. Anyone familiar with the Star Wars Expanded Universe knows what I'm talking about. for those that don't, it's basically an interactive hologram projector with someone's complete memories and personality intact.
Basically, the PCs will find the doctor's holocron and he'll show them how to work the TARDIS and be an information source.
My question is, how do you stat up a holocron? Is it a Gadget? Is it a PC with no physical attributes or skills but mental attributes and skills are intact. Just looking for some input so I can figure out where to start.
Thanks!
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misterharry
Dominus Tempus
Dalek Caan's Lovechild
Posts: 3,246
Favourite Doctors: Second, Third, Fourth, Eleventh, Thirteenth
Traits: Empathic, Face in the Crowd, Insatiable Curiosity, Stubborn, Phobia (Heights), Unadventurous
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Post by misterharry on Apr 28, 2010 8:56:11 GMT
Interesting question. I'm not familiar with a holocron - sounds a bit like the Doctor from one of the Star Trek series, can't remember which one though...
From my perspective, it would depend on whether it would just be an interactive TARDIS manual - in which case a Gadget with the Vortex trait and/or Transport (AoE TARDIS) skill, but little else - or an actual character in its own right. Sounds more like the latter, so I'd design it using character generation rules, but with a few specific traits to cover the hologram - Immunity and Dependency (on the hologram generator) spring to mind. And maybe a Major Bad Trait: cannot leave the TARDIS?
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Post by da professor on Apr 28, 2010 9:31:44 GMT
If it can do nothing but talk to the characters, I'd go with a gadget with Knowledge, Science, Technology and Transport skills, the Vortex trait and some restrictions to prevent it from helping too much and reflect the Doctor's personal code.
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Post by renegadetimelord on Apr 28, 2010 12:04:28 GMT
Interesting question. I'm not familiar with a holocron - sounds a bit like the Doctor from one of the Star Trek series, can't remember which one though... A holocron is a Jedi (or Sith) teaching tool from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, an educational device from bygone ages intended to impart a volume of knowledge and support through a virtually projected mentor. You're thinking of something like the holographic doctor from ST: Voyager, I suspect.
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Post by Craig Oxbrow on Apr 28, 2010 16:19:15 GMT
Welcome aboard.
It's a viable setup, although there seems to be a trend of killing or otherwise sidelining the Doctor in game ideas...
Anyway, I'd be tempted to have him flicker between his last life and his previous incarnations depending on the subject, the way the question is put to him and his general whim, with different Doctors interrupting each other as they answer the travellers.
I'd also think that something as smart as a virtual Doctor would have his own agenda. Maybe he's getting the group ready to stop some opposing threat... or to bring him back...
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Post by da professor on Apr 28, 2010 17:00:36 GMT
I'd also think that something as smart as a virtual Doctor would have his own agenda. Maybe he's getting the group ready to stop some opposing threat... or to bring him back... Perhaps just to take over where the real Doctor was forced to leave off...defeating evil, saving civilisations etc
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Post by lordsoth on Apr 30, 2010 13:14:54 GMT
Hey everyone,
Thanks for all the input. I decided to build the holocron as an NPC with only an Ingenuity score and skills that aren't hands on like Science, Knowledge, and etc.
I think the Doctor tends to get sidelined because players want to make original characters and if you throw the Doctor into the mix (as an NPC or PC) he overshadows them too easily. Players need an even playing field so they don't feel like they're getting the short end of the stick. That's my 2 cents anyway.
Thanks again. Once my campaign starts up, maybe I'll post adventure recaps here on the forums.
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Post by Craig Oxbrow on Apr 30, 2010 13:48:00 GMT
There's not featuring him in the premise of the game, and then there's killing him off in-game. I'm not singling you out, there just seems to be quite a bit of the latter around here...
(And some players are happy enough to have a rough balance of spotlight time rather than equal character ability - I've seen some great games with massive power disparities, including Doctor Who games with a Doctor aboard - but if the players are concerned about character balance it should obviously be a factor.)
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