Games for those who don't know Who?

[Kit]

I'm putting together a new gaming group tomorrow afternoon. the good news is that they are interested in playing DW:AiTaS. The "bad" is that they aren't really familiar with the series. Games with a player or even NPC Time Lord have been ruled out.

Any ideas for a game set up that doesnt require lots of series knowledge and hits the DW tropes?

[chickenpaddy]

I don't see why you can't have an NPC Time Lord. I'm playing a game for two different groups, both have minimal to no Who knowledge.

In one group, they are traveling alone in a TARDIS, separated from their Time Lord (whole idea of campaign is to find him). I gave them an NPC helper-bot (like a really talkative K-9) to be the PCs' Whovian info store.

The other group is traveling with the Doctor, so their adventures run just like the TV show. If they ever have questions I can tell them as a DM to the player stuff their character would know, or the Player Character can just ask the Doctor, just like the companions do in the series.

At the end of the day, though, it's your choice. Do what you feel is best for your players, but I see no reason why Time Lords can't be used for people unfamiliar with the series. It could even be a good introduction for them. But, your choice.

Hope that helps.

[Kit]

The group isn't keen on an NPC Time Lord [Doctor or not] as they see it as being like having Elminster along with your D&D group. The few in the group who do know DW feel that they would be standing around while the Time Lord NPC solves everything. I disagree with them, but think going against the group isnt a great idea.

[knasser]

Oct 23, 2010 7:13:55 GMT Kit said:

The group isn't keen on an NPC Time Lord [Doctor or not] as they see it as being like having Elminster along with your D&D group. The few in the group who do know DW feel that they would be standing around while the Time Lord NPC solves everything. I disagree with them, but think going against the group isnt a great idea.

I'm doing a Time Lord-less game. They haven't even found a TARDIS yet (that's coming up in a few adventures). They've been fine with it. They've battled a Sontaran invasion of Yorkshire and outed interstellar con-men and are currently trying to work out how to deal with a "stone angel" that can't die. All without the aid of a friendly Time Lord. It works fine. The only sticking point I find is getting them from place to place but if you're doing a TARDIS based game, even that isn't a problem.

They are wrong about a Time Lord over-shadowing them, though. Probably the pollution of the D&D mindset making them think that. The most effective character in my game has been a teenage girl with virtually no skills whatsoever whose character concept (and I quote the player) is: "she's just a bit useless, really".

[Curufea]

Ditto - running a lordless game (would that be Time Peasants?)

A TARDIS just enables an episodic campaign to radically change its settings from chapter to chapter

[starkllr]

I'm running a Time Lord-less game also. In mine, the players came across a "derelict" TARDIS, and once they were all aboard, it took off. It's been communicating with them in a limited way, just enough to make clear what the goal of the adventure is, and then leaving them to deal with it.

It's been going well so far...

[Kit]

I'm in agreement with pretty much everything said here. Alas, my players just aren't seeing it.

A Time lord less game with a scavenged TARDIS has occurred to me. I'm trying to find a fresh spin on the idea and havent found one so far.

A concern has been the potential lethality of combat in the game. Say you have a group with no Time Lord. They are investigators of the unknown. How would you deal with a "get bigger guns" attitude from players?

[Craig Oxbrow]

At that point, I'd run something else.

One advantage of a time-travelling game is the inability to stockpile equipment - unless they grab it before leaving they can't go back for it, and throwing them into the middle of a problem doesn't give them time to go shopping.

A straight investigator game could get around this by introducing bulletproof bad guys right away, like Cybermen without arm lasers so they're easy to run away from and need to be stopped inventively - let's say by having them lurking in a scrap yard and there being a handy electromagnet for the PCs to hijack.

I must say, though, in my experience licenced games work better with people who care about the licence.

[Rel Fexive]

There's no reason why a Time Lord PC has to be super-competent. If they don't take copious levels of Time Traveller or very high skills they end up like... the First Doctor. Travelling around, rarely knows when or where they are, doesn't know everything, still surprised by the unexpected. Perfect.

[The Artificer]

Oct 23, 2010 17:37:02 GMT Kit said:

I'm in agreement with pretty much everything said here. Alas, my players just aren't seeing it.

A Time lord less game with a scavenged TARDIS has occurred to me. I'm trying to find a fresh spin on the idea and havent found one so far.

A concern has been the potential lethality of combat in the game. Say you have a group with no Time Lord. They are investigators of the unknown. How would you deal with a "get bigger guns" attitude from players?

I realize I'm necro-posting a bit, but in this instance don't deal with it. It sounds like you have more of a Torchwood sort group than the Companion group. The best way to deal with this is to let the players handle it for you. Instead of telling or denying them bigger guns, showing them the consequences. Especially if you are using TARDIS of some sort.

After one of these situations, have the TARDIS bring the players back after a couple more adventures to correct the damage they have caused. Now instead of a minor conflict, they have to deal with a full scale war or a situation where the villain won as they proved to be the "better" man. Show them actions create ripples. A good example is the station in 1st series. The Doctor's actions actually caused things to be worse.

That's how you deal with it.