The Master as a Player Character

[misterharry]

I had an idle thought about the potential of the Master as a PC, perhaps teamed up with the likes of the Rani or the Monk. Would it even be feasible to run an evil team like this in DWAITAS? What would the GM have to do to make it work?

I have to say this is largely an academic exercise - I have no plans to actually run a game like this. But I'd be interested in people's thoughts. Is something like this only appropriate for a one-off game, such as a demo or at a con?

[Stormcrow]

I see no practical reason why it wouldn't work. It would be quite entertaining to try to take over Earth, or Gallifrey, or the universe. If you don't railroad the players into ultimate failure at the hands of the Doctor, you may have to explain why the bad guys have finally won.

Players might get frustrated at the order of events in an extended conflict. They'll want to destroy people, but they'll constantly have to wait while their targets scream, run, and fiddle before getting to the fighting. Don't change this, though: it's the price to be paid for being the bad guy.

It would probably be more fun if each major villain were on his or her own and had to compete. The Master, for instance, might have to fight the Rani over control of a particular planet. He might have to fight the Daleks when they come blundering into one of his schemes.

You could turn this into a campaign by running the game separately for each player of a villain, but giving them similar and contrary goals. The game becomes a contest to see which player can out-maneuver the others to achieve their goals.

[Catsmate]

Well as some of my posts here may suggest I'm rather fond of the "Evil Party" idea.

However I'm not sure of the Master as a PC (too much of a power imbalance) but you could make an interesting campaign around the henchpeople/minions of an Evil Genius such as the Master, Monk or Rani.

[Stormcrow]

I wouldn't worry about the Master being too powerful. He's really not—or else the Doctor wouldn't have beaten him umpteen times. He's just got a huge ego. He's diabolical, yes, but not super-powerful.

Anyway, stat him up or use a sourcebook write-up, and figure out how many Story Points he's due. That'll take care of any imbalance.

[misterharry]

I'm not sure about an ongoing campaign. But the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a group of villains working towards a common goal, but each with their own agenda and objectives to provide some conflict. I think that would be a fun basis for a one-off game or maybe a short series of adventures.

I'm tempted to have a go at writing something around this if I can find the time, but I'd need to come up with a decent premise. I'm thinking the Master (or Missy), the Rani, the War Chief and the Monk would provide enough variety in terms of motivations and personality. But what would bring them together in the first place? And what would keep them together or prevent them from just killing each other at the first opportunity? Would the Time Lords have recruited/resurrected them all during the Time War, forming a Who equivalent of the Suicide Squad? Or would a pre-Time War escapade work better? Perhaps a more evil version of a heist movie. Hmmm...

[Corone]

I have run a convention adventure set in the Time War
where the party included the War Doctor and the Master.

Obviously there was little trust there,
but the Master wanted to see Gallifrey survive,
and like the Doctor was sure as hell he wasn't going to follow the orders of the Time Lords.
So they had formed a tentative alliance.

[jennysfan]

I wrote a convention scenario with an amnesiac female Master as a PC. Never got to run it. Mind you, he was the only 'evil' person among the players. Sleeper agent games work so much better at cons, with pre-gens...less chance that the players will react badly.

Coincidently the party's goal? Saving the Doctor.

What's weirder is that BBC cast a female Master after I wrote it.
So now I'd tweak it to be Missy. Still works though. Should check to see if I've still got the visual aids, might be able to type up the notes & make a pdf. I only wrote two adventures for that con, (back-up gm only) and both were inspired by the latest episode at that point..."The Name of the Doctor".

[Catsmate]

Apr 4, 2015 17:27:07 GMT jennysfan said:

I wrote a convention scenario with an amnesiac female Master as a PC. Never got to run it. Mind you, he was the only 'evil' person among the players. Sleeper agent games work so much better at cons, with pre-gens...less chance that the players will react badly.

Coincidently the party's goal? Saving the Doctor.

What's weirder is that BBC cast a female Master after I wrote it.
So now I'd tweak it to be Missy. Still works though. Should check to see if I've still got the visual aids, might be able to type up the notes & make a pdf. I only wrote two adventures for that con, (back-up gm only) and both were inspired by the latest episode at that point..."The Name of the Doctor".

That sounds excellent, please do write them up.
A I think about it there does seem to be a tendency to use amnesiac characters at con games

[misterharry]

Apr 4, 2015 17:27:07 GMT jennysfan said:

Should check to see if I've still got the visual aids, might be able to type up the notes & make a pdf.

Oh, I would love it if you would!

[jennysfan]

Ok, I'll get to it asap. I'm moving house soon which means it will take a while.

And yes, there is a tendency for amnesiac characters at con games but I did include several ways to restore 'Missy"s memory before the climax. It was meant to be an interesting subplot. Remember it was supposed to eat up a 3 hour block.