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Post by Eryx on Dec 17, 2009 11:35:07 GMT
SPOILER WARNING. You have been warned.
Last night I grabbed the two guys who I knew would be most interested in playing Dr Who, and they made up their characters. My game is set pre-Time War (5th Doctor era).
Characters:
Professor Phillius Fogg, Time Lord. Sir Ian McKellan with red/ginger hair and dressed in Edwardian style frock coat and top hat.
Jackie McIntyre, companion. Robert Carlyle in jeans and a gaming t-shirt.
Ran them through Arrowdown from the box set. The scenario worked well but it did stump them for a while as although they detected the chronon radiation around the shop they couldn't work out where it came from. They also trusted Theresa even though she had a SA-80 and was the only person in town. Much running ensued, plus some talking to the Nestene (which promptly turned on them when the device was turned off).
In a nicely thought out ending, Professor Fogg turned the rift machine on the Nestene and sent it off to who (pun intended) knows where, before dismantling the machine.
As a bit of fun I made note of the some of the in character quotes that made it in.
Fogg: "It's not a wand, it's a screwdriver!"
Fogg: "There's nothing wrong with pineapple ice cream. I LIKE pineapple ice cream."
Theresa: "I've never had to run away from anything plastic before."
Fogg: "Never have I, but there's a first time for everything."
Fogg: "We need a way to track the signel from the Nestene Conciousness."
Jackie pulls out his iPhone.
Jackie: "Is there an app for that?"
Fogg then temporaily modifiers the iPhone to trace the signal.
Fogg: "There is now."
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Post by allenshock on Dec 17, 2009 13:27:55 GMT
great stuff  Allen |
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Post by CharlieBananas on Dec 17, 2009 13:45:57 GMT
The iphone quote is a classic, great stuff! ;D
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Post by imajica on Dec 17, 2009 15:58:06 GMT
I shall be stealing the iPhone line and turning it into a running joke. I may even have to have a Sonic Screwdriver constructed to look like an iPhone...
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Post by Kit on Dec 17, 2009 16:08:01 GMT
Fun stuff. I'm looking forward to reading the adventure and running it.
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Post by giftedmunchkin on Dec 17, 2009 18:28:27 GMT
Oh, man… that iPhone joke. Hilarious.
I'm curious, I noticed that there are a lot of places in the adventure as written would allow the Doctor-equivalent to shine. Would you say there's a problem with balancing the two character's presences?
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ste1bro
2nd Incarnation
Chap With Wings
Posts: 34
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Post by ste1bro on Dec 17, 2009 19:36:50 GMT
The iPhone gag was genius. Utter genius.
I, too, am now tempted to have a Time Lord character with a modified iPhone full of absurd apps!
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THE \/ince
2nd Incarnation
THE OTHER
Cloister this!
Posts: 66
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Post by THE \/ince on Dec 17, 2009 21:04:57 GMT
Sounds good. I'm trying to get some players together to run this adventure, but am so far not having much luck.
THE \/ince
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Post by Eryx on Dec 17, 2009 22:56:07 GMT
I am glad you guys like it. Sometimes the best lines just come to the players and it works fantasticaly.
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Post by Kit on Dec 22, 2009 0:20:15 GMT
I've been reading Arrowdown and liking it. However, I think the backstory follows an inaccuracy. I dont believe the average Dalek has time travel capability. The Dalek in "Dalek" did not have time travel capability. It was simply washed up on Earth as a result of the Time War. The only Daleks I recall seeing with time travel are the Cult of Skaro. The write-up in the GM's book even states that only special villain Daleks have this ability. Its a minor point and one that shouldn't alter the adventure, but it stuck out to me.
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rsaintjohn
2nd Incarnation
The Threefold Man
Posts: 77
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Post by rsaintjohn on Dec 22, 2009 1:49:11 GMT
The Daleks in the 1965 story "The Chase" had time travel, and there is the Last Great Time War (whatever that is). Plus, Dalek Caan could travel back to the Time War (not to mention Manhattan), it indicates they had some sort of temporal technology. The explanation seems consistent with the inconsistency of the show. |
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Post by Corone on Dec 22, 2009 2:25:39 GMT
Yeah, 'The Chase' is really annoying as I'd thought Daleks only had Time Corridor technology. Pain that they effectivly had TARDISes in the Hartnell era and for some reason stopped using them!
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Post by kaemaril on Dec 22, 2009 2:34:27 GMT
Yeah, 'The Chase' is really annoying as I'd thought Daleks only had Time Corridor technology. Pain that they effectivly had TARDISes in the Hartnell era and for some reason stopped using them! I believe dimensional transcendence is uniquely Gallifreyan technology. They may have had rudimentary time capsules (TL 9) but I doubt they ever developed a TARDIS. |
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rsaintjohn
2nd Incarnation
The Threefold Man
Posts: 77
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Post by rsaintjohn on Dec 22, 2009 3:33:27 GMT
Just remembered more:
Day of the Daleks - It's been over 20 years since I last watched it, but I think the Daleks had some sort of time corridor technology there. I can't remember how it related to the rebels in the story.
Resurrection of the Daleks - another time corridor
Remembrance of the Daleks - can't remember the details... they had some sort of time device, yes? Didn't the Doctor let them follow him to 1963 as part of his trap?
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Post by Kit on Dec 22, 2009 4:35:49 GMT
The issue isn't whether the Daleks have access to time travel technology-they did going back all the way to "The Chase". Mostly they used crappy time corridors.
In the new era [and in the game description] only major villain Daleks such as the Cult of Skaro and personal time travel capability built into their casing. The average Dalek does not have the ability to perform an emergency temporal shift.
In the adventure, IIRC, the Dalek is in town due to it performing an emergency temporal shift.
It doesn't break the adventure by any means, but it is interesting.
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Post by Eryx on Dec 22, 2009 9:34:09 GMT
This is a show about time travel. The Doctor isn't meeting up with the daleks in chronological order. Over the centuries dalek technology has improved. To start with they were confined to Skaro, and then they achieved space travel, then basic time travel, and then flight... etc.
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Post by Corone on Dec 22, 2009 17:05:36 GMT
Yeah, 'The Chase' is really annoying as I'd thought Daleks only had Time Corridor technology. Pain that they effectivly had TARDISes in the Hartnell era and for some reason stopped using them! I believe dimensional transcendence is uniquely Gallifreyan technology. They may have had rudimentary time capsules (TL 9) but I doubt they ever developed a TARDIS. Sadly not. I was having a look at 'The Chase' and their timeship is a silvery cube only slightly bigger than the blue box. All the interior shots are set in a large space with lots of Daleks. Damn Who continuity! You might suggest they have captured an early time lord ship, after all, they did steal the genesis arch. Possibly they were more advanced, but the Doctor's actions in Genesis knocked their technology back when he changed their timeline. One of only many nightmares we're going to have putting a logical background together! :-) |
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Post by JohnK on Dec 22, 2009 19:30:36 GMT
Hullo, Kit, Just an observation here... The issue isn't whether the Daleks have access to time travel technology-they did going back all the way to "The Chase". Mostly they used crappy time corridors. Frankly, I was always annoyed that the Daleks lost the use of the Hartnell-era TARDISes, sort of a reasonable thing given the latter revelations about the Time Lords, the energy source for the TARDISes, and that sort of thing. I still have fond memories of "The Chase"! The time corridors that eventually came up were kind of neat, and I rather liked their operation from what we saw of them. In the new era [and in the game description] only major villain Daleks such as the Cult of Skaro and personal time travel capability built into their casing. The average Dalek does not have the ability to perform an emergency temporal shift. That whole element that RTD introduced into New Who really annoyed me and bothered me. Even Time Lords can't time travel without a vehicle. And now Daleks can...they are their own time travelling machine. Shades of the CONTINUUM: ROLEPLAYING IN THE YET time travel rpg! |
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Post by JohnK on Dec 22, 2009 19:53:27 GMT
Hullo, Corone,
To heck with the logical background and all, I just want to be a fly on the wall when you guys are putting the Dalek sourcebook together, and doing a timeline of their technology! ;D
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Post by Kit on Dec 22, 2009 22:17:39 GMT
Hullo, Kit, Just an observation here... The issue isn't whether the Daleks have access to time travel technology-they did going back all the way to "The Chase". Mostly they used crappy time corridors. Frankly, I was always annoyed that the Daleks lost the use of the Hartnell-era TARDISes, sort of a reasonable thing given the latter revelations about the Time Lords, the energy source for the TARDISes, and that sort of thing. I still have fond memories of "The Chase"! The time corridors that eventually came up were kind of neat, and I rather liked their operation from what we saw of them. In the new era [and in the game description] only major villain Daleks such as the Cult of Skaro and personal time travel capability built into their casing. The average Dalek does not have the ability to perform an emergency temporal shift. That whole element that RTD introduced into New Who really annoyed me and bothered me. Even Time Lords can't time travel without a vehicle. And now Daleks can...they are their own time travelling machine. Shades of the CONTINUUM: ROLEPLAYING IN THE YET time travel rpg! I'm right there with you sir. I dont want individual unnamed Daleks having time travel capability in their casings. It makes them ridiculously powerful. I also miss the DARDISes. |
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Post by Null and Void on Dec 22, 2009 23:03:29 GMT
Hullo, Kit, Just an observation here... Frankly, I was always annoyed that the Daleks lost the use of the Hartnell-era TARDISes, sort of a reasonable thing given the latter revelations about the Time Lords, the energy source for the TARDISes, and that sort of thing. I still have fond memories of "The Chase"! The time corridors that eventually came up were kind of neat, and I rather liked their operation from what we saw of them. That whole element that RTD introduced into New Who really annoyed me and bothered me. Even Time Lords can't time travel without a vehicle. And now Daleks can...they are their own time travelling machine. Shades of the CONTINUUM: ROLEPLAYING IN THE YET time travel rpg! I'm right there with you sir. I dont want individual unnamed Daleks having time travel capability in their casings. It makes them ridiculously powerful. I also miss the DARDISes. I always wondered about that. I noticed though that after Genesis of the Daleks, the Daleks no longer had the DARDISes. I guess I always figured that the change at their beginning changed things just enough that they didn't develop them. As far as built in Time Machines, we've seen compact ones before... Day of the Daleks had relatively small ones... wouldn't be a stretch to see one built into a casing. |
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Post by Curufea on Dec 22, 2009 23:23:40 GMT
The whole "Time Agent" thing of the new series allows travel in time without a vehicle. However I think it probably has side effects and isn't as advanced in what it can do as a TARDIS. Probably similar to a Time Ring as show in the books (Eigth Doctor Adventures/ Bernice Summerfield). Daleks themselves are already in vehicles - they spend their entire lives in them |
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Post by Kit on Dec 23, 2009 5:29:51 GMT
The whole "Time Agent" thing of the new series allows travel in time without a vehicle. However I think it probably has side effects and isn't as advanced in what it can do as a TARDIS. Probably similar to a Time Ring as show in the books (Eigth Doctor Adventures/ Bernice Summerfield). A Time Ring is used in Genesis of the Daleks as well. |
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THE \/ince
2nd Incarnation
THE OTHER
Cloister this!
Posts: 66
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Post by THE \/ince on Dec 23, 2009 8:14:07 GMT
It's not an important thing though, the Dalek, in the adventure. It's a means to an end.
Without spoiling too much, it doesn't actually do anything other than have been there to start the whole thing off.
What actually happened to Daleks Thay and Jast? Could it not have been one of those two badly damaged from the blast of the Dalek-Human hybrids and ETSing out of there before actual destruction?
THE \/ince
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Post by Eryx on Dec 23, 2009 10:49:04 GMT
There is also the possibility that the dalek was thrown through time by the final event of the Time War rather than traveling through time under it's own power.
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Post by Kit on Dec 23, 2009 17:51:01 GMT
There is also the possibility that the dalek was thrown through time by the final event of the Time War rather than traveling through time under it's own power. That's how I'd handle it. IIRC, that's essentially what happened to the one in "Dalek." |
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Post by JohnK on Dec 23, 2009 20:02:51 GMT
Hullo, Kit, I'm right there with you sir. I dont want individual unnamed Daleks having time travel capability in their casings. It makes them ridiculously powerful. I also miss the DARDISes. hehe DARDISes. Always liked that acronym for the Dalek version! That said, I have to wonder why RTD came up with the idea of individual Daleks having time travel capability in their casings. If this is true, how many Daleks potentially escaped the devastation of the Time War? |
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Post by Kit on Dec 23, 2009 21:59:58 GMT
Hullo, Kit, I'm right there with you sir. I dont want individual unnamed Daleks having time travel capability in their casings. It makes them ridiculously powerful. I also miss the DARDISes. hehe DARDISes. Always liked that acronym for the Dalek version! That said, I have to wonder why RTD came up with the idea of individual Daleks having time travel capability in their casings. If this is true, how many Daleks potentially escaped the devastation of the Time War? If ALL Daleks have emergency temporal shift capability-and i think its clear that they do not-then the Time Lords never had a chance. I'm suddenly wondering what became of the DARDIS. Didnt Ian and Barbara use it to return to their own time? Did the Doctor set it to self-destruct or something? |
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Post by JohnK on Dec 23, 2009 23:04:32 GMT
Hullo, Kit, Hullo, Kit, hehe DARDISes. Always liked that acronym for the Dalek version! That said, I have to wonder why RTD came up with the idea of individual Daleks having time travel capability in their casings. If this is true, how many Daleks potentially escaped the devastation of the Time War? If ALL Daleks have emergency temporal shift capability-and i think its clear that they do not-then the Time Lords never had a chance. Given the tremendous advantage that a Dalek capable of time travel without a TARDIS, time corridor, or DARDIS has over a Time Lord, it seems to me that making Daleks into self-contained time travellers (even in a limited number) would cause huge problems for the Time Lords. Makes one wonder how the Time War *really* ended... I'm suddenly wondering what became of the DARDIS. Didnt Ian and Barbara use it to return to their own time? Did the Doctor set it to self-destruct or something? Yes, as I recall Ian and Barbara did use it to return to their own time. I don't remember the Doctor setting it to self-destruct, but that's another matter entirely (especially where Hartnell's Doctor was concerned), and it's not like we can watch that final episode. We need the Who Guru! |
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Post by Kit on Dec 23, 2009 23:18:49 GMT
Hello JohnK I'm suddenly wondering what became of the DARDIS. Didnt Ian and Barbara use it to return to their own time? Did the Doctor set it to self-destruct or something? Yes, as I recall Ian and Barbara did use it to return to their own time. I don't remember the Doctor setting it to self-destruct, but that's another matter entirely (especially where Hartnell's Doctor was concerned), and it's not like we can watch that final episode. We need the Who Guru! I can check The Chase on VHS. A search of DW wikis says the Doctor set it to self-destruct. I suddenly want to see if it is destroyed on-screen. If not, I have a new plot idea.. Another DARDIS was used in The Dalek's Master Plan, so there were at least two of them. |
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