misterharry
Dominus Tempus
Dalek Caan's Lovechild
Posts: 3,236
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 May 28, 2013 9:31:46 GMT
Also, I don't want to step on anyone's toes here but the early posts here said that this is collaborative so even though I have not read the existing sourcebook exhaustively I have looked at a few entries. The Venus entry states, "Unable to leave the planet, the Venusians inevitably succumbed, baked by the inexorable sun and starved as their food sources disappeared." IIRC this is conjectuve on the Doctor's part. He knows that Venus itself will get hotter and he assumes that at their current technological level that the Venusians will die off. However, the end of the story gives Venus a 30,000 year respite as the Volcanic erruptions cause global cooling. This is enough time for the Venusians to potentially develop the necessary technology to leave their world or a truly benign race to show up to take them to another planet. I would like to suggest that the sentences above be removed from the Venus entry and instead be replaced with: Adventure Seed: The Final End? The TARDISeers arrive on Venus 30,000 years after Venusian Lullaby. They have overcome their technical limitations but now every ship they fire into orbit is shot down by an unknown alien race. Your time travellers will need to find out what the aliens want and/or how to get around them if they are to save the Venusians from extinction. Although you're right, it is largely conjecture on the part of the Doctor, I believe that it is the intent of the author that the Venusians are a doomed race and we have no evidence that they survived. The Venusians do appear in a much more recent spin-off, the Senor 105 novella By the Time I Get to Venus. Precise timescales are unknown, but this story is set a long time after Venusian Lullaby, the planet is now a barren desert and the Venusians are still resigned to their fate. However, in cases like these, I'm happy for Siskoid to be the arbiter as to what to include.
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Post by Siskoid on May 28, 2013 12:31:59 GMT
I think there's a possible compromise. I can lay some doubt into the sentence indicated AND in the Adventure Seed. That way, GMs can decide if they want to change the Venusians' fate. Leave it to me (update tonight).
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Post by Siskoid on May 28, 2013 14:28:09 GMT
Oh, and on that other point, the Maskmasters are mentioned in The Quantum Archangel by virtue of their involvement in the Millennium War, which will be a very cool concept to write up in the 6th book. I've come to the conclusion that the story of these god-like entities is best told through the entries for New Bastille and Minski. Gods are difficult to stat up since they basically work by GM fiat most of the time, and such entries are correspondingly less useful to gamers. (Count me as one of those 5 fans, by the way.)
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Post by dastari on May 28, 2013 18:07:14 GMT
I seem to recall differently although I read the book 15 years ago (god I am old). I thought the ending was fairly positive that with a new lease on life anything might be possible for the Venusians. Still I like Siskoid's compromise. Maybe reword the Adventure Seed to:
History does not record what happened to the Venusian race, but most believe that they died out millions of years ago. Your TARDISeers arrive thousands of years after the events of Venusian Lullaby. A new faction of Venusian's have overcome their technical problems and are planning to leave for a new world but their ships are being shot down by an unknown alien race. The time travellers must determine if they should get involved in an uncertain history and if so what the aliens want and how they can try to save the Venusian people.
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Post by dastari on May 28, 2013 20:41:48 GMT
Btw, I'd like to throw my hat in the ring to cover The Alchemists and the Dark Planet when those come out.
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misterharry
Dominus Tempus
Dalek Caan's Lovechild
Posts: 3,236
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 May 29, 2013 13:08:37 GMT
I think there's a possible compromise. I can lay some doubt into the sentence indicated AND in the Adventure Seed. That way, GMs can decide if they want to change the Venusians' fate. Leave it to me (update tonight). I'm happy with the changes - it leaves it more open, which is better from a gamers point of view. Just a couple of suggestions for the adventure seed though. I think the reference to 30,000 years probably needs to be changed - in the book it is estimated that the volcanic eruptions have extended the life of the planet by 100 (Venusian) generations and each generation is approx. 33 years apart. So 3,000 years rather than 30,000 would fit better. Also, the second sentence would be clearer if it started "The Venusians..." Oh, and I love the illustration for Venus!
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Post by Siskoid on May 29, 2013 14:41:02 GMT
It's the cover of Harry Harrison's West of Eden!
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Post by dastari on May 29, 2013 22:09:17 GMT
Just a couple of suggestions for the adventure seed though. I think the reference to 30,000 years probably needs to be changed - in the book it is estimated that the volcanic eruptions have extended the life of the planet by 100 (Venusian) generations and each generation is approx. 33 years apart. So 3,000 years rather than 30,000 would fit better. Also, the second sentence would be clearer if it started "The Venusians..." I already suggested a modified version in the post above to take out any mention of a specific date. I didn't reread Venusian Lullaby since I've been busy with Sorcerer's Apprentice but there's my fault memory on the factor of 10 error. I think its works better without any year reference though.
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Post by dastari on May 29, 2013 22:52:28 GMT
By the way, I noticed that several locations still need to be done. If you save the Time Museum for last then I may be able to get to that before you (I'll finish my other content first of course). Just e-mail me if you start it or I'll e-mail you when I start it. That way it may save you on some work and it's one of my favorite stories from BF.
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Post by dastari on May 30, 2013 17:58:51 GMT
One further item. Under the Rocket Men the section ends talking about when the Doctor first encountered the Rocket Men. I suggest since there's room at the end of the column to just include:
"The Doctor encountered the rocket men a second time with Steven and Dodo. This time the Rocket Men were raiding a frontier colony and it was up to Steven to put a stop to it."
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misterharry
Dominus Tempus
Dalek Caan's Lovechild
Posts: 3,236
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 May 30, 2013 20:35:49 GMT
Actually, I've just realised that Return of the Rocket Men is missing from the Adventure Seeds chapter.
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Post by Siskoid on May 30, 2013 20:40:01 GMT
The blurb is just so Steven-specific, it couldn't be adapted in the same style. It's not the only omission, thus the text mentioning it way at the top.
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Post by dastari on May 30, 2013 20:50:31 GMT
One of your TARDISeers has faced the Rocket Men before. They were attacked by the villainous Van Cleef. They barely escaped with their life. And now they're going to have to go through that again. But this time round, they know what is going to happen. And they know there's no way out. they have to make a choice. A choice where either way...they lose.
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Post by Siskoid on May 30, 2013 20:57:21 GMT
Well, that assumes quite a lot about your player characters.
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Post by dastari on May 30, 2013 20:57:55 GMT
But if you work it out with your player ahead of time it's a great opportunity for a cool paradox story. :-)
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misterharry
Dominus Tempus
Dalek Caan's Lovechild
Posts: 3,236
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 May 30, 2013 21:03:12 GMT
I've just been looking at the new entries in the latest version of the pdf. I've never read The Sorcerer's Apprentice so I don't know much about the Celphies - but I take it they're still sentient even though their civilisation has disappeared? If so, should the thumbnail stats for them in the entry on Avalon have the full range of Attributes, rather than just those used for fauna?
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Post by dastari on May 30, 2013 21:08:09 GMT
I definitely supplied them to Siskoid.
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misterharry
Dominus Tempus
Dalek Caan's Lovechild
Posts: 3,236
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 May 30, 2013 21:09:22 GMT
The blurb is just so Steven-specific, it couldn't be adapted in the same style. It's not the only omission, thus the text mentioning it way at the top. You know, I've a feeling of deja vu about this! Did I already ask you the same question?
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Post by dastari on May 30, 2013 21:17:12 GMT
Just looked at the doc. Yeah I think that maybe some of the Celphie stats got accidentally copied from the dragon. A strength of 10 is definitely to high.
Oh and Mr Harry you really should. It's the best of the Hartnell novels although The Witch Hunters comes close.
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Post by Siskoid on May 30, 2013 21:23:03 GMT
Cut and paste error. A new version is uploading now.
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Post by dastari on May 31, 2013 4:05:56 GMT
Just to make it official I'll take on The Suffering, The Ranger, and send some notes on the Time Museum. Also I noticed that Rasputin is listed on the content in the first post of this thread but there is no space for him in the book. I can certainly put together a Rasputin write up if you want it.
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Post by dastari on May 31, 2013 5:09:06 GMT
I have a feeling that at the end of this project we'll all be feeling like Light in Ghost Light. But no sooner had we finished then it began changing. :-)
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Post by Siskoid on May 31, 2013 10:57:45 GMT
Rasputin shows up later in the extra-canon as himself (as opposed to his pre-Rasputin days). That's when I decided to cut him from the First Doctor sourcebook.
I think the writers of the official game are already feeling like Light with the crazy new stuff the show's doing with the TARDIS interior, etc.
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Post by Siskoid on May 31, 2013 19:20:57 GMT
Current update features The Endeavour as well as the New Traits Index and Credits.
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Post by dastari on May 31, 2013 21:37:49 GMT
Just curious but what's up with the picture for the Sou(ou)shi. I seem to recall them as being described as wolflike.
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Post by Siskoid on May 31, 2013 22:00:18 GMT
There are three descriptions for these shape-shifters. My choice of pic is based on the first and on the book's aesthetic as presented on the cover.
Been trying to actively find something closer though.
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Post by dastari on May 31, 2013 22:09:24 GMT
Mr Harry, I just read the Guy Fawkes writeup. While I realize its historically accurate, kind of the point of the Plotters was that Guy Fawkes was nothing like that. The guy who everyone thought was Guy Fawkes and who those things happened to was someone called "Hay". Do you mind if I make a few proposed changes to the page and run them by you? Looks like there's a little room for a few extra sentences. I feel like the version of Fawkes depicted in that novel deserves some mention other than that he died.
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misterharry
Dominus Tempus
Dalek Caan's Lovechild
Posts: 3,236
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 Jun 1, 2013 7:25:35 GMT
Mr Harry, I just read the Guy Fawkes writeup. While I realize its historically accurate, kind of the point of the Plotters was that Guy Fawkes was nothing like that. The guy who everyone thought was Guy Fawkes and who those things happened to was someone called "Hay". Do you mind if I make a few proposed changes to the page and run them by you? Looks like there's a little room for a few extra sentences. I feel like the version of Fawkes depicted in that novel deserves some mention other than that he died. With Guy Fawkes, I deliberately decided to concentrate on the historical figure rather than restrict it too much to the events of the book, as I wanted the entry to be as useful as possible to GMs who may not have read the novel. For similar reasons, I wanted to avoid the write-up being dominated by what is to my mind a key spoiler for the novel, bearing in mind that many people reading these sourcebooks may not have read the books or listened to the audios. Having said that, I'm happy to hear your suggestions - maybe replacing the current "spoilerphobe" section with something a bit more comprehensive covering the ersatz Guy Fawkes and/or the players' effects on history? Probably best to PM me with your ideas.
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Post by Siskoid on Jun 1, 2013 16:03:57 GMT
I changed the pic for Sou(ou)shi, hopefully to something more appropriate. Also finished the Great Clock entry.
What's left? For me: -Minski's Maggots -Rebellious China -New Bastille -Time Museum (additional material and art) -Revising page references and final touches to layout
The other missing entries are coming from other contributors.
Just keeping you updated!
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Post by dastari on Jun 3, 2013 7:10:43 GMT
Mr Harry, I just read the Guy Fawkes writeup. While I realize its historically accurate, kind of the point of the Plotters was that Guy Fawkes was nothing like that. The guy who everyone thought was Guy Fawkes and who those things happened to was someone called "Hay". Do you mind if I make a few proposed changes to the page and run them by you? Looks like there's a little room for a few extra sentences. I feel like the version of Fawkes depicted in that novel deserves some mention other than that he died. With Guy Fawkes, I deliberately decided to concentrate on the historical figure rather than restrict it too much to the events of the book, as I wanted the entry to be as useful as possible to GMs who may not have read the novel. For similar reasons, I wanted to avoid the write-up being dominated by what is to my mind a key spoiler for the novel, bearing in mind that many people reading these sourcebooks may not have read the books or listened to the audios. Having said that, I'm happy to hear your suggestions - maybe replacing the current "spoilerphobe" section with something a bit more comprehensive covering the ersatz Guy Fawkes and/or the players' effects on history? Probably best to PM me with your ideas. I understand your point of view and my perusal of the material tells me that my memories are a little at odds. Guy is not described as quite as different from the historical record as I'd remembered. However, I do think that the story deserves more than two sentences in the whole book about the events of the actual novel itself. Besides, details of the Gunpowder Plot will likely be elaborated upon in the Extracannonical Smith book for the Gunpowder Plot story. PM coming.
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