What about a Dalek war campaign?

[elbarre]

Just bought the old FASA daleks sourcebook and it got me wondering about doing a campaign solely based on soldiers fighting a growing Dalek menace, anybody got any good ideas? It would be without a timelord or a tardis and would be kind of space opera like.

[Kit]

The Dalek Empire series from Big Finish might serve as great inspiration for such a game as could the Absalom Daak, Dalek Killer comics

[misterharry]

The Dalek Empire audios are highly recommended, particularly the first two series. They'd be a great setting for a campaign.

Also, Mission to the Unknown/The Daleks' Master Plan - which may be set around the same period. In fact, how about having the campaign based around the activities of the Space Security Service that Sara Kingdom and Bret Vyon were members of? That would form a perfect backdrop for a campaign, with plenty of opportunities for espionage and subterfuge as well as direct action against the Daleks.

One thing you might want to think about though is using stats for pre-Time War Daleks - there were some posted in the Write-Ups section, ooh ages ago. The main difference is that they don't have the Forcefield or Flight* traits that the new series Daleks have, so they're slightly less invulnerable.

* Though Dalek patrols using hoverbouts (or whatever they were called) were a common sight in the old TV21 comic strips and would be well suited to this sort of setting.

[Kit]

The Space Security service agents idea is a good one.

A game like this may require a reordering of initiative order.

[Craig Oxbrow]

If the PCs were expected to fight the Daleks directly, I'd probably use another game system, one where this is less suicidal.

Doctor Who has room for other swashbuckling space opera adventures, and as Kit notes could be hacked to be less imminently lethal (make Dalek actions follow the PCs even when they go for Fighting) but the instant death weapons and general lack of resistance to damage aren't very conducive to long-running gun battles. A bit of future tech armour might help, but I can imagine a pretty high attrition rate - accurate to the source material but might not be much fun to play.

[Curufea]

Having just started in a Starblazer campaign - that's my recommendation for a more combat oriented space opera system.

[knasser]

Check out the comic book The Only Good Dalek which is set during the war between the Daleks and the First Human Empire.

Also, check out Mechmaster's Second Empire for inspiration. Starts slow, but I can't begin to tell you how good (and funny) it actually gets.

[elbarre]

Great ideas all of them, I think the key is to really not having them always fighting Daleks every adventure but having that in the backdrop of the campaign maybe? Even dumbing down the Daleks a bit would be good. I see the group sort of like Blakes 7. Maybe bringing in some Ogrons and other Dalek minions into the game. The characters will be spinoffs from our normal timelord game and Id like to bring in some old villians from that as well.

[elbarre]

Oh and there will be a chainsaw sword

[misterharry]

Nov 13, 2010 5:05:20 GMT elbarre said:

Oh and there will be a chainsaw sword

Something like this one, maybe?

dwaitas.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=writeups&thread=782&page=1

[elbarre]

Ha yes!

[Kit]

Nov 13, 2010 5:04:23 GMT elbarre said:

Great ideas all of them, I think the key is to really not having them always fighting Daleks every adventure but having that in the backdrop of the campaign maybe? Even dumbing down the Daleks a bit would be good. I see the group sort of like Blakes 7. Maybe bringing in some Ogrons and other Dalek minions into the game. The characters will be spinoffs from our normal timelord game and Id like to bring in some old villians from that as well.

I think these are good ideas. It might be interesting to have your players deal with the Movellans. sure they dislike Daleks, but are they any better?

[elbarre]

Exactly Kit! I liken it to a star wars campaign where the daleks are the empire, yes they are the major menace, and yes the objective is to overthrow the daleks, but not every adventure has to be about the empire and stormtroopers. There is the fringe element and defianatley other baddies out ther to throw into the mix. Man I suggest buying fasas dalek supplement. even though fasa could be a bit inaccurate the book gives some great ideas on how to handle the daleks and how they invade other cultures!

[Doctor Toc]

For a little while now I've been thinking of a Dalek War campaign, in the style of Inglorious Basterds and The Dirty Dozen.

With the disruption to Dalek forces caused by the Dalek Killer program, the Anti-Dalek Force and Space Security Service propose a further guerilla offensive. Recruiting directly from the scum of human space, they pack them onto a sophisticated experimental starship equipped with stealth technology, point them at the Dalek lines and tell them "each one of you owes me one hundred Dalek eyestalks! And I want my eyestalks!" (or something similar).

The PCs are fitted with restraint collars that prevent them turning on each other, and the ship has a sapient AI that will detonate the collars if it thinks anyone is trying to escape. Furthermore, the ship has no ID beacon or markings, and will be assumed hostile if seen by Earth forces (allowing plausible deniability if action needs to be taken against supposed allies who may actually be working with the Daleks).

While the ship is fast, well-equipped and tricky, it's not indestructible, so the campaign would involve a lot of sneaking into Dalek bases and blowing them up rather than strafing them from space. There's also the tension of knowing that Earth considers them expendable, being behind enemy lines with limited support (having to raid Dalek fuel dumps etc). There's also the added tension of having to trust comrades who are all killers, thieves and other assorted scum, and as a bonus the possibility that there may be a traitor on board leaking their location to the Daleks...

A variant on this idea that I was considering used Mongoose's Starship Troopers game, with the PCs gradually uncovering evidence that the so-called "Arachnid Empire" is in fact a biological weapon, aimed at human space by something far worse that is waiting for mankind's resources and willpower to be exhausted before gliding in and exterminating the lot of us...

[ugavine]

I've had my own ideas for a Dalek War campaign for a while now.

It would feature a Time Lord and a TARDIS. The idea is that somehow the TARDIS is stuck within the time constraints of the Dalek War, though this should not be immediately apparent until at least 3rd/4th adventure.

My idea was to have the Dalek vs Federation War more of a background story. So there are other monsters and aliens, but occasionally they cross paths with Daleks or Federation forces.

The idea is to have the group also encounter the Dalek War in different Time Zones. So maybe at one point the Daleks are near victory, another time it is a lingering battle with the galaxy in ruin with both sides taking heavy losses. You could also have the different styles of Daleks in different time zones.

All sorts of ideas and questions;
Is it a single Dalek force or rival Daleks?
How does the Dalek Emperor affect the war?
How does Davros affect the War?
Are the Time Lords intervening?
What of the other great armies such as Cybermen and Sontarans doing?

[jennysfan]

The Daleks apparently reconiclled their differences (Imperial Faction, Renegades/Davros Loyalists) by the Time War...
Not that I can see them doing that unless the faced a huge threat (say the Time Lords?), one that they would need to work together against in order to survive. Even then I could see them use the other 'infeiror Daleks' as canon fodder against this threat, like two rival nations being forced into it. Naturally this makes for some interesting sistuations.

The Imperial Daleks would follow the Emperor without question. But the Renegades wouldn't. they'd be more inclined to follow Davros...

If your going with the Federation vs Dalek conflict, then there would be two Dalek forces that would be fighting each other, barring Time Lord interferance (or any other Old Ones, Erternals, etc. for that matter).

I'm not sure about the Cybermen, but I think they were destroyed in the Cyber-Wars...Depending on the point in time....

Likewise about the Sontarans, though they'd be willing to fight the Daleks. After all, it would be such a great challenge! But they could be too exhuatsed from the war with the Rutans...