Which Doctor is best for the group to meet?

[knasser]

So I've been running the game and it's gone down fairly well and it looks like I might get a campaign out of this.

I started the game off with everyone (more or less) as ordinary people who got mixed up in alien plots. Soon enough, I shall want to introduce the group to the Doctor. Now I've no idea whether they'll get on with the Doctor or whether they might even end up on the opposite side to him (which will be fun). But I am unable to decide which Doctor to use. I'm familiar with all of them from One to Eleven. They're all quite different. I'm totally open to consequences of picking any of them.

Suggestions, please? Which Doctor would you introduce and what do they bring to the game as an NPC or enemy? I need help on this one as I can't make my mind up at all.

[misterharry]

I would tend towards one of the less dominating personalities, so the players aren't too overwhelmed and left in his shadow. Either the 2nd or 5th spring to mind. The former is deceptive though, as his jovial exterior conceals a manipulative side (see Evil of the Daleks and Tomb of the Cybermen). So if you're not sure whether the Doctor will be ally or enemy, then I think the 2nd could carry off either roles.

Having said that, the 9th Doctor tended to empower others to resolve an adventure, rather than take the limelight himself. So he'd also be a possibility.

I think the danger of using many of the other Doctors as an NPC is that unless you water them down (and therefore they're not true to their screen personas), the players could feel sidelined.

[knasser]

Aug 20, 2010 18:00:17 GMT misterharry said:

I would tend towards one of the less dominating personalities, so the players aren't too overwhelmed and left in his shadow. Either the 2nd or 5th spring to mind. The former is deceptive though, as his jovial exterior conceals a manipulative side (see Evil of the Daleks and Tomb of the Cybermen). So if you're not sure whether the Doctor will be ally or enemy, then I think the 2nd could carry off either roles.

Having said that, the 9th Doctor tended to empower others to resolve an adventure, rather than take the limelight himself. So he'd also be a possibility.

I think the danger of using many of the other Doctors as an NPC is that unless you water them down (and therefore they're not true to their screen personas), the players could feel sidelined.

Good advice. I think I would not choose Five because although he's very nice, there aren't many obvious characteristics I could hang some role-playing off.

I've decided that at least initially, I would like to have the players come up against the Doctor as an adversary, due to their being unwittingly used as pawns by the bad guys. So in that case, the Doctor overshadowing them need not be a large problem.

Two is probably my favourite Doctor so for that reason he's a good start. Four is great, but a lot of his personality comes through in his physical interactions with people and that might be hard to convey in a role-playing game. I wont rule him out though as he's an excellent character and would make a good foil for the PCs....

Argh - difficult.

[Kit]

I love Two and Seven for potential adversarial roles. Both encourage others to underestimate them, but are manipulative as hell. My go to doctor is Eight as I can do almost anything with him.

[themyth]

Unless the group has read a lot of the novels, Eight might be a good choice because you can make him whatever you want him to be.

[Craig Oxbrow]

Or you could cheat and bring in the Twelfth Doctor. ;D

[zebaroth]

you could use #6

[knasser]

Aug 20, 2010 23:47:04 GMT themyth said:

Unless the group has read a lot of the novels, Eight might be a good choice because you can make him whatever you want him to be.

Just to be clear, this is the absolute exact opposite of what I want to achieve.

The aim of introducing the Doctor is that the players (and I) should get a kick out of meeting him. Yes, I'd like to sneak him in so they don't recognize him at first, but I still want to get that buzz. Using Eight would undermine that. It's also a problem with Two as I don't think the players are very familiar with him, even though I think Two is great myself.

I think Three would give them a surprise as he's quite action-orientated. I could imagine him venusian karateing his way through everything before they really got a good look at him and twigged. I'm slightly leaning toward Nine or Ten now, however.

[danceswithdaleks]

It all depends on how you want him to be portrayed to the group.

[Siskoid]

Depends on what you're doing with him, really. Or even which you're best at "playing".

We did a "look, the Time War" episode, and so I had the 8th Doctor appear. Not the easiest the "play", I must say, even if I have read a lot of the books and heard even more of the audios. 10 and 11 are probably easy to do because we're living with them now. Most Doctor have nice exaggerated personalities/voices the GM can do.

[animorph]

If you want the players to get excited about the Doctor turning up it may be easier to use one they are most familiar with.

To be honest its hard to choose. 5 could be a good idea because of his more passive nature it can help you avoid him stealing the spotlight from the players. 2 and 6 also seem like fun options as with 2 you can really play up his buffoonish nature before you show his manipulative side and with 6 you have the option of doing almost the opposite with 5 and letting him draw attention while letting the players do things with more subtlety .

[buccaneer]

Personally, i'd bring in either 7 or 8.
7 is very serious and dark, probably alone, and he is very good at manipulating others.
"Excuse me, but who are you?"
"Questions... Always questions...I am the Doctor. I'm looking into the unfortunate matter wth Corporal Redshirt. Do you know anything about the incident?"

8. is a friendly presence who would probably be seen rummaging through details in the background of the scenario and would probably approach the PCs.
"Excuse me, but who are you?"
"I'm Doctor John Smith. I've been inquiring into the recent events here- you wouldn't anything about that, would you?"

Goes across the spectrum or darkness away from 7, you could put in 4.
"Excuse me, but who are y-"
"HALLO. Would you like a jelly baby?"

[Curufea]

I'm leaning towards 8th for my game - mostly because he's the least televised (although possibly the most written about) and has the most potential for things to happen during his regeneration - he's not as bound by existing stories and timelines.

[themyth]

Oct 22, 2010 3:26:13 GMT Curufea said:

I'm leaning towards 8th for my game - mostly because he's the least televised (although possibly the most written about) and has the most potential for things to happen during his regeneration - he's not as bound by existing stories and timelines.

I suggested this a few posts above too.

You obviously missed the post above where the OP said this was NOT what he wanted.

Of course, he never really stated WHAT he wanted until later in the thread....

I'm curious as to which Doctor he eventually chose.

[knasser]

Oct 22, 2010 18:41:33 GMT themyth said:

I'm curious as to which Doctor he eventually chose.

I'm cheating and using more than one of them. In the end, I honestly found it just too difficult to decide. They all have so much to offer and there was much good advice given in this thread on how to use them all. On reflection, whichever Doctor I like most or which has advantages in different scenarios, I have to use Ten as one of the Doctors. The players love Ten. For most people, he is their Doctor. The sheer wave of delighted recognition you can get from a group of players just by grinning and going 'Allons-y' cannot be denied. No amount of "Three would work well here" can equal that.

But like I say, I can't bring myself to not have at least one of the other Doctors in the game. I'm not sure it works perfectly for the campaign to have more than one, but I'll make it work somehow. So which others? Well I personally like Eleven a lot, and I think he could be role-played effectively with many a "ah, well, no, you see". He also can sit in the background when it suits him too, which is a plus in a game. However, I think it would be nice to have Ten as the second Doctor they encounter and so have the other be a younger one. Two I don't think I could role-play effectively and One is too different to the more recent Doctors with regard to heroism that I don't think it would work. Three I do like quite a lot and it let's me run a more physical Doctor. Four... well he has a lot of charm in his way but like Two, there's too much of the visual and the physicality of his character to role-play well. Also, he'd overwhelm the PCs terribly. Five is a bit too similar to Ten. There are differences, but it would be hard to convey them just through voice and narration. Six, ah now there's a fun one. I like Six. I like Six a lot. He has a significant plus over most of the other Doctors which is that the players may not get on with him well enough to ally well with him. Also, I'm very familiar with him so I can role-play him well. Another plus from the game point of view is that he's dangerously incompetent sometimes. Other than One, I don't think there's any Doctor more likely to need the PCs help than Six. And I don't mean in terms of plot-shenanigans. I mean in terms of actually making good decisions!

Seven I personally like but my campaign isn't quite machiavellian enough for him. I need more action-y work, so the long-suffering Seven is out. Eight, though charming, is out for reasons several times stated in this thread. Nine is too close to Ten in time. If I'm going to have more than one Doctor, I want there to be a bit of space between the two for the sake of contrast. Also, I never really got enough from Nine to work with - his run was too short.

So I'm using Ten for the final adventures of the campaign arc where he'll be an integral, but not ever-present part of events. Prior to that, the players will be meeting Three in a very action-oriented romp (taking place on a planet filled with Racnoss titled "Two Legs Bad") where they get to play alongside him in one adventure, possibly two if the first is particularly enjoyable and they warm to him. Six will make an appearance some adventures down the line and will no doubt be a big shock to them. I haven't worked out the details of this yet, but it will be at least two adventures in which he's involved and they'll be more complex than Three's ones. He wont be alongside them for the whole adventures, whereas with Three they'll be able to adventure alongside him for most of the sessions. The resolution with Six is also going to put them slightly in opposition to him so that when they encounter Ten toward the end, there's some potential for conflict between the two. Finally, in the last few adventures, they'll be meeting Ten, although for various convoluted reasons, they wont be meeting him in person until very near the end.

Non-Doctor characters from the series that are scheduled to make an appearance are Ace (now in her forties) and Captain Jack Harkness, both of who are in the next adventure line-up. I'm looking forward to playing both of them.

[eldath]

I ran one game of doctor who where the party ended up on the surface of earth during the events of the 2nd episode of the new Dr Who; episode The End of the World starring Christopher Ecclestone. They had been sent to that time by individuals whose plans had been interfered with by the Pc's or their descendants and so were to be killed when the world was consumed. The eleventh doctor had found out what was happening but couldn't get there to help as he was already in that time line as his ninth incarnation in the space station above with rose. As a result he placed recording devices in the place ahead of time along with a Dvd he had recorded using the pc's responses as his cues. In this way he was able to have a two way conversation using a Dvd player (a.l.a. the Episode Blink). He also left a couple of gadgets for their use. Using this the party met the eleventh doctor but were not sidelined in any way by the doctor. He gave advise and a couple of toys but nothing more.

E