Possible Historical figures for use in Who?

[lazarusking]

I've been thinking of adding a historical person to my game. I'd like this to fit in with their background somewhat, and was wondering if anyone had any ideas?

My big ones were Mary Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe, mostly due to the Toaster that visits his grave every year (or did). Just someone fairly recognizable with an aura of mystery to them. Also, and I'm not sure how accurate this is, I read somewhere many years ago that Shelley thought of Frankenstein in a particularly vivid dream, and it just occurred to me that there could be some erased memories leaking in from her deeper subconscious.

I also thought about the possibility of the Master being Rasputin.

Any ideas for me, internet?

[Craig Oxbrow]

Those would all work.

I dicussed Celebrity Historical plots here on my Who blog, with Mary Shelley as an example. Shelley's dream of Frankenstein comes from her own accounts. The Doctor has met her in the Eighth Doctor audio plays and one series of Tenth Doctor comics, both stories naturally involving a monster.

With Poe, there's the week-long disappearance before he died. I came up with an adventure hook concerning it, number 25 on this list.

Rasputin would fit the Master's MO, but is strange enough to be something else entirely.

Other ideas I've looked at: Yuri Gagarin, Jules Verne, Jane Austen, eleven other people...

Or going another way, Five People You've Never Heard Of Who Saved the World.

[olegrand]

Historical figures I've used in my games so far:

Christopher Marlowe and a bunch of contemporaries, including John Dee, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Shakespeare etc. Those Elizabethans really make fascinating NPCs.

Oliver Cromwell - whom I had almost no time to play. When the PC heroine realized she was to meet Oliver Cromwell, she just ran for her life back into the TARDIS (well, the adventure was far from over because there still was quite a few problems to solve, people to rescue etc but I did feel a bit frustrated )

Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, John Polidori & Claire Clairmont - in my own Who-esque version of "Gothic".

King Arthur (semi-historical

The Roman Emperor Nero (who the heroine HAD to save from an untimely death to preserve history)

Richard III and various members of his court

Robert James Lees, the victorian psychic

Princess Cassandra of Troy (more mythical than historical)

Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, E.W. Hornung and a bunch of other victorians (gathered at the same theatrical event)

[jay042]

There's a story about how Mohandas Ghandi and Winston Churchill were both at the Battle of Spears Hill during the second Boer War. In fact they were likely both at one of the hospitals near the battle (Churchill was writing dispatches back to England, and Ghandi was serving in the Ambulance Corp)

Say, some creature is stalking the hospital at night, and the TARDIS crew and their new allies must find out what is happening.

[zebaroth]

i would like to use aleister crowley in a doctor who game don't know if he is bad guy or good guy

[rynomite95]

I ran a story using the Beatles, where they get replaced by Nestene Duplicates. That one was a lot of fun.

[Escher]

Jul 14, 2013 21:05:29 GMT rynomite95 said:

I ran a story using the Beatles, where they get replaced by Nestene Duplicates. That one was a lot of fun.

Brings a whole new lethal meaning to the song 'I Want To Hold Your Hand'.

[Ordovician]

Sept 3, 2011 1:48:41 GMT zebaroth said:

i would like to use aleister crowley in a doctor who game don't know if he is bad guy or good guy

Crowley was an agent for British intelligence for a while. I'd actually consider making him a good guy, in art I admit just because everyone is expecting him to be a bad guy.

As to my historicals, I'm planning on using Egil Skallagrimsson from Egil's Saga in an adventure I'm writing, as well as, along the lines of Crowley, Jack Parsons. A Crowleyan rocket scientist?

[crisippo]

Jul 15, 2013 14:02:26 GMT Ordovician said:

(...)As to my historicals, I'm planning on using Egil Skallagrimsson from Egil's Saga in an adventure I'm writing, as well as, along the lines of Crowley, Jack Parsons. A Crowleyan rocket scientist?

I so agree! I would love to use Jack Parsons in a game. He is quite the character.

Right now i am reading Doctor Who and the Crusaders and thinking about using characters from that story in an adventure. King Richard and Saladin are sort of obvious choices (but they could work) and i think i would prefer someone like Richard's sister Joanna (Joan of Sicily) or Saladin's brother Saphadin (or Al-Adil I).

I prefer to use minor historical characters, because it gives me a bit more leeway in how i portray them because the player's don't have the same expectations. Would love to use Shakespeare sometime though... 

[zebaroth]

H.P Lovecraft would be a good one

[jay042]

Sir William Carey.

Why use him?

1.) He was a close confidant of King Henry VIII, member of the Privy Chamber, and was married to Ann Boleyn's sister Mary (who was also the King's mistress) making him a good person to contact to allow access to the King.

2.) He was a notable collector of art in Tudor England. There's plenty of possibilities with various object de arte or paintings in his collection turning out to be not quite what they seem.

3.) In the 2008 movie The Other Boleyn Girl William Carey was played by Benedict Cumberbatch, which could provide for some interesting "stunt casting" for your episode.

[Hedgewick]

I'm looking forward to running Mark Twain as a companion.

[Stormcrow]

Nov 28, 2013 23:46:31 GMT Hedgewick said:

I'm looking forward to running Mark Twain as a companion.

Before or after he visits the Enterprise?

[Hedgewick]

Nov 29, 2013 0:34:59 GMT Stormcrow said:

Before or after he visits the Enterprise?

Oh, definitely before. I don't want him to be an experienced time traveller just yet! 

[hobbitfan]

An alternate spin on things, especially if your group has an alien in it, is to use a historical figure from another planet's history. You could take someone, Alexander the Great for example, and "alien" them up.

The downside is that likely only the timelord player and and the alien player characters would know who the person is.
An earth historical figure has the benefit of being known to likely all the human playing.

So more work on the Game Master's part but its an option.

[Curufea]

There's always a disconnect issue when doing things away from Earth.

Mind you it also makes it easier to sacrifice local populations in martyrdom to overthrow tyrants and regimes. I haven't looked at the stats, but I highly suspect more non-humans are killed in the TV series than humans (especially modern ones).