Questions about airlock mode and chameleon circuits in a TAR

[senko]

Two questions I have a theory on but would like a second opinion.

1) In the airlock mode the TARDIS has two sets of doors and an atrium area between them. However on many occasions we see the inner doors close after the characters leave the TARDIS. So my theory is there's a switch/key hole/something in the atrium area itself we never see that allows the inner doors to be opened from there when they are shut. Does this sound reasonable?

2) The chameleon circuit can create pretty much anything desired as an outer shell spaceships, plants, doors etc but can it create multiple objects as part of its disguise. That is could it materialise in the article and make a polar exploration base with multiple buildings or in a desert and create an oasis with water and palm trees? I think it could create them but they couldn't be seperate objects e.g. the Arctic base has multiple buildings but under the snow there's a concrete pad linking them all together or for the Oasis the sand around all the palm trees would also be part of the disguise. Is this sounding right or are there cases in the books/comics/audio episodes where a TARDIS creates two seperate objects with nothing linking them or stated that say two buildings with a concrete sidewalk linking them was impossible?

[Catsmate]

Jul 10, 2016 8:03:45 GMT senko said:

Two questions I have a theory on but would like a second opinion.

1) In the airlock mode the TARDIS has two sets of doors and an atrium area between them. However on many occasions we see the inner doors close after the characters leave the TARDIS. So my theory is there's a switch/key hole/something in the atrium area itself we never see that allows the inner doors to be opened from there when they are shut. Does this sound reasonable?

2) The chameleon circuit can create pretty much anything desired as an outer shell spaceships, plants, doors etc but can it create multiple objects as part of its disguise. That is could it materialise in the article and make a polar exploration base with multiple buildings or in a desert and create an oasis with water and palm trees? I think it could create them but they couldn't be seperate objects e.g. the Arctic base has multiple buildings but under the snow there's a concrete pad linking them all together or for the Oasis the sand around all the palm trees would also be part of the disguise. Is this sounding right or are there cases in the books/comics/audio episodes where a TARDIS creates two seperate objects with nothing linking them or stated that say two buildings with a concrete sidewalk linking them was impossible?

1. I assumed it was automatic, perhaps with some sort of environment sensor?
2. Hmm, a good question. My take would be no, for a standard model TARDIS, without reprogramming. Though one fitted with an Atrium Circuit, or perhaps a more advanced model, might be able to do so.

[senko]

1) The problem with automatic is that like you said it'd need some way of detecting whether it was safe to open if its to function as an airlock so you can lower the shields to exit without flooding the whole tardis. For that matter you'd need some way to get rid of the poisonous/watery/X in that atrium as well.

2) My personal inclination is to allow it providing (a) the disguise is physically linked all the way through e.g. you can have 2 skyscrapers joined by a walkway either at ground level or higher up but not 2 seperate ones and (b) it needs the scout capsule upgrade from the timetravel companion that upgrades the chameleon circuit. It allows multiple actions to happen as one action so it seems reasonable to allow it to create multiple linked structures as well.

[Marnal]

senko said
"1) In the airlock mode the TARDIS has two sets of doors and an atrium area between them. However on many occasions we see the inner doors close after the characters leave the TARDIS. So my theory is there's a switch/key hole/something in the atrium area itself we never see that allows the inner doors to be opened from there when they are shut. Does this sound reasonable?"

I'd assumed it was automatic [with a motion sensor or some such] as many people have blundered in, in such a way, as to make a switch unlikely. But there could be a manual switch for use when environmental contamination is an issue.

"2) The chameleon circuit can create pretty much anything desired as an outer shell spaceships, plants, doors etc but can it create multiple objects as part of its disguise. That is could it materialise in the article and make a polar exploration base with multiple buildings or in a desert and create an oasis with water and palm trees?"

Seems perfectly possible to me, but would probably require a manual override of the Chameleon Circuit's automatic systems and possibly some sort of story point fee.

[senko]

So how does this revised trait sound?

SCOUT CAPSULE (SPECIAL, TYPE 60+ ONLY)
This TARDIS was equipped with improved Perception Filters and Chameleon Circuits, either to aid Time Lord anthropologists in closely studying an alien species, cloak clandestine activities or to function as a recon unit in the Time War

Effects
The TARDIS adds +2 to its Subterfuge skill and has an advanced Chameleon Circuit that can . . .

1) scan, copy and materialize over an object as one action,
2) Adapt the guise of multiple objects so long as they are physically linked e.g. 2 skyscrapers linked by a walkway or an oasis with palm tree's linked by sand by spending a story point from the TARDIS'S pool,
3) Embed the time lord in the local culture e.g. making everyone believe they are a local exchange student by spending 5 story points or 15 from the TARDIS'S pool if the time lord wishes to define what they're embeded as note this makes convincing them you are something else such as a time traveller rather difficult and such an attempt requires a presence + convince roll TN 24. This decision has to be made during materilization in a time zone the first time.

This Trait reduces the TARDIS’ Story Point total by 3.

So lets say the TARDIS has 20 story points you reduce it to 17 by buying the scout capsule upgrade. Then you gain access to those 3 options, so you land on a planet and the TARDIS spends an action to decide it'd be appropriate to masqerade as a sand dune. You decide you don't want that so you spend another storypoint giving you a current pool of 15 (1 spent to travel there, 1 to manually reconfigure the chameleon circuit) to transform it into an oasis. Alterantivley when your first arriving you can spend 5 story points to get the TARDIS (GM) to give you an identity in the local culture leaving you with 11 story points remaining for that adventure (1 to travel, 5 to get an identity). On the other hand you can give yourself a specific one e.g. TARDIS materilizes and disguises itself as a castle with you as a local lord. Of course this would only leave you 1 story points for the TARDIS to spend over the rest of the adventure (1 to travel there, 15 to assume a local identity as a minor lord). If you had to reconfigure the TARDIS to the castle you'd have no energy (story points) left till they recharged after the adventure so you couldn't use it to go anywhwere else, or do anything requiring story points.

Likewise if you appeared and the TARDIS placed you as a local military offical you couldn't then change it to make yourself part of the religious cast if you needed access to the certain records because so far as that time period is concerned you are centurion Maximumus Aurelius.

[Marnal]

I like it!

[senko]

Thanks personally I don't think the power requirements would be that high in "reality" but game balance has its own demands. Think I'll make use of this for any games I run.

[Catsmate]

Jul 11, 2016 23:52:22 GMT senko said:

So how does this revised trait sound?

SCOUT CAPSULE (SPECIAL, TYPE 60+ ONLY)
This TARDIS was equipped with improved Perception Filters and Chameleon Circuits, either to aid Time Lord anthropologists in closely studying an alien species, cloak clandestine activities or to function as a recon unit in the Time War

Effects
The TARDIS adds +2 to its Subterfuge skill and has an advanced Chameleon Circuit that can . . .

1) scan, copy and materialize over an object as one action,
2) Adapt the guise of multiple objects so long as they are physically linked e.g. 2 skyscrapers linked by a walkway or an oasis with palm tree's linked by sand by spending a story point from the TARDIS'S pool,
3) Embed the time lord in the local culture e.g. making everyone believe they are a local exchange student by spending 5 story points or 15 from the TARDIS'S pool if the time lord wishes to define what they're embeded as note this makes convincing them you are something else such as a time traveller rather difficult and such an attempt requires a presence + convince roll TN 24. This decision has to be made during materilization in a time zone the first time.

This Trait reduces the TARDIS’ Story Point total by 3.

So lets say the TARDIS has 20 story points you reduce it to 17 by buying the scout capsule upgrade. Then you gain access to those 3 options, so you land on a planet and the TARDIS spends an action to decide it'd be appropriate to masqerade as a sand dune. You decide you don't want that so you spend another storypoint giving you a current pool of 15 (1 spent to travel there, 1 to manually reconfigure the chameleon circuit) to transform it into an oasis. Alterantivley when your first arriving you can spend 5 story points to get the TARDIS (GM) to give you an identity in the local culture leaving you with 11 story points remaining for that adventure (1 to travel, 5 to get an identity). On the other hand you can give yourself a specific one e.g. TARDIS materilizes and disguises itself as a castle with you as a local lord. Of course this would only leave you 1 story points for the TARDIS to spend over the rest of the adventure (1 to travel there, 15 to assume a local identity as a minor lord). If you had to reconfigure the TARDIS to the castle you'd have no energy (story points) left till they recharged after the adventure so you couldn't use it to go anywhwere else, or do anything requiring story points.

Likewise if you appeared and the TARDIS placed you as a local military offical you couldn't then change it to make yourself part of the religious cast if you needed access to the certain records because so far as that time period is concerned you are centurion Maximumus Aurelius.

I like it too. The effect is rather like an Atrium Circuit (The Suns of Caresh or the Third Doctor Expanded Universe Sourcebook), it might be a precursor technology. I wonder if, like with an AC, exterior shell created could be 'cast loose' and remain behind, even after the TARDIS leaves?

[senko]

Hmmm looking at that entry (just downloaded the pdf, will be grabbing the others too) I'd be inclined to combine the two since it merely say's its a sort of default major system not a trait however it fits very nicely with the idea of improved perception filters and chameleon circuits. So that would add something like this to revised trait . . .

If using the 3rd doctor unofficial source book these modifications are the installation of an Atrium circuit see page G3 of the 3rd doctor unnofficial source book.

and for me I'd make a few modifications to how the atrium circuit worked.

At full settings, the atrium circuit can also manipulate real space to further enhance its disguise embedding the timelord in local culture. For example, if the atrium is disguised as a room in a hotel, the circuit will modify all references to that room for the hotel’s register to indicate its occupied indefinately, in reception any key hook will be emptied, and the staff will not only remember its occupied but the relevant person will even confirm they booked the timelord in.

Mechanically I'd say using the atrium circuit's advanced perception filters at high power to make people ignore something wrong e.g. a garden shed in the middle of a busy street (well on the side of not in the middle) costs 1 story point from the TARDIS'S pool and using the atrium circuit to manipulate real space (paragraph above) is the embedding in local culture for 5 story points. You are a guest of the hotel.

Essentially the atrium circuit is the scout capsule installed on Type 60+ (modern and advanced TARDIS'S) if you take the trait it can . . .

1) scan, copy and materialize over an object as one action,
2) Adapt the guise of multiple objects so long as they are physically linked e.g. 2 skyscrapers linked by a walkway or an oasis with palm tree's linked by sand or enhance the perception filters to make people ignore something out of place like a blue police box in the middle of heathrow airport by spending a story point from the TARDIS'S pool or 2 points for both effects. However the perception filters can be resisted by a resolve + convince against the parent TARDIS
3) Embed the time lord in the local culture by spending 5 story points from the story point pool if GM decides (minimal temporal disruption) or by spending 15 for the player to decide (risk of greater disruption to fit in properly). Attempting to convince someone you don't match these identities requires a presence + convince roll TN 24. This decision has to be made during materilization in a time zone the first time otherwise you are part of that history and altering what has happened is bad (Nom, nom, nom go the reapers).

External atrium chambers can be jetisoned when the TARDIS leaves.

Everything else remains the same as outlined in that book i.e. what type of system it is and rules for using it. I'd also put it under the Architectural Configuration System for placing on the console along with the architectural configuration circuit and chameleon circuit.

[Catsmate]

I particularly like the idea of jettisoned parts of the disguise remaining. Lots of potential there for problems. Does the perception filter effect remain? Or do people start to wonder where that building came from? How about utility connections? The paper trail?

[senko]

Jul 12, 2016 11:48:28 GMT Catsmate said:

I particularly like the idea of jettisoned parts of the disguise remaining. Lots of potential there for problems. Does the perception filter effect remain? Or do people start to wonder where that building came from? How about utility connections? The paper trail?

Me I'd remove the perception filter with the main TARDIS. If you embedded yourself in history or its a remote location no problem they remember it or just assume it happened since someone was last there . . . hmmm I just had the mental image of Roanoke and the Mary Celeste being objects jetisoned by a TARDIS using the atrium circuit after embedding itself in history. Everyone remembers the colony of Roanoke with 200 settlers, of course till The Scholar stopped off to study an interesting local tribe for his first trip and made a mess of his chameleon circuit there never was a colony or settlers headed towards it and since he left before those actual settler's arrived there was just a jetisoned shell for them to find rather than one panicky time lord.

[Catsmate]

Jul 12, 2016 15:07:57 GMT senko said:

Jul 12, 2016 11:48:28 GMT Catsmate said:

.,I particularly like the idea of jettisoned parts of the disguise remaining. Lots of potential there for problems. Does the perception filter effect remain? Or do people start to wonder where that building came from? How about utility connections? The paper trail?

Me I'd remove the perception filter with the main TARDIS. If you embedded yourself in history or its a remote location no problem they remember it or just assume it happened since someone was last there . . . hmmm I just had the mental image of Roanoke and the Mary Celeste being objects jetisoned by a TARDIS using the atrium circuit after embedding itself in history. Everyone remembers the colony of Roanoke with 200 settlers, of course till The Scholar stopped off to study an interesting local tribe for his first trip and made a mess of his chameleon circuit there never was a colony or settlers headed towards it and since he left before those actual settler's arrived there was just a jetisoned shell for them to find rather than one panicky time lord.

There are a number of small islands that have disappeared...

[senko]

Hmmm and after a good night's sleep I remembered the Torchwood elevator and the perception filter shield that doctor's TARDIS left behind while refueling (seems to work a lot better on that than it ever has on the TARDIS) so it could well be both depending on which method the Time Lord used. Either once the filter's gone you've got something that may apparently have been abandoned or once the TARDIS is gone you've got an area people just subconciously ignore all over the universe. Alternatively if everything goes smoothly it gets all wraped up in a neat little package. "Oh that was Mr Chan's dojo he taught an odd form of Aikido but he left about 40 years ago on a journey to improve his skills."

Of course if your a sensible time traveller you don't go round dumping the atrium components willy nilly all over reality and make use of strucutures already there.

[Catsmate]

Jul 13, 2016 0:41:17 GMT senko said:

Hmmm and after a good night's sleep I remembered the Torchwood elevator and the perception filter shield that doctor's TARDIS left behind while refueling (seems to work a lot better on that than it ever has on the TARDIS) so it could well be both depending on which method the Time Lord used. Either once the filter's gone you've got something that may apparently have been abandoned or once the TARDIS is gone you've got an area people just subconciously ignore all over the universe. Alternatively if everything goes smoothly it gets all wraped up in a neat little package. "Oh that was Mr Chan's dojo he taught an odd form of Aikido but he left about 40 years ago on a journey to improve his skills."

The Cardiff effect could be linked to the Time Rift there, possibly a result of the TARDIS and Rift interacting when the Doctor used it to refuel.
Probably a fully functional TARDIS with properly working atrium/chameleon circuits would neatly eliminate traces of itself from the real world. However a renegade Time Lord with an old/worn/damaged TARDIS might not leave so cleanly.

Jul 13, 2016 0:41:17 GMT senko said:

Of course if your a sensible time traveller you don't go round dumping the atrium components willy nilly all over reality and make use of strucutures already there.

If all time travellers were sensible much of the Whoniverse wouldn't exist...


The more I think about Atrium jetsam the more it interests me; lots of potential for 'haunted' houses and similar effects. Places people instinctively avoid that might make good hideouts/bases for people with Sinister Plans, and the psychic ability to ignore the filter effect. Some of the strange islands or places with odd wildlife recorded by early travellers could be down to such jetsam.
Or even Ashildr's Trap Street; an odd place avoided by most of the populace.

[Catsmate]

I was just looking over the old FASA scenario The Lords Of Destiny and it mentions an interesting use of the chameleon circuit. A Time Lord (The Professor  ) materialised his TARDIS around a pyre being used to immolate a young woman and "through skillful use of the TARDIS chameleon circuit" rescued her.

Then he found she was Joan of Arc but that's another matter...

[senko]

Neat trick probably a few story points and a fantastic success. Happy I've prompted some story ideas for you.

Just revised the trait to neaten it up.

SCOUT CAPSULE (SPECIAL, TYPE 60+ ONLY)
This TARDIS was equipped with improved Perception Filters and Chameleon Circuits (If using the 3rd doctor unofficial source book these modifications are the installation of an Atrium circuit see page G3 of the 3rd doctor unnofficial source book and these features are marked by a *.), either to aid Time Lord anthropologists in closely studying an alien species, cloak clandestine activities or to function as a recon unit in the Time War

Effects
The TARDIS adds +2 to its Subterfuge skill and has an advanced Chameleon Circuit that can . . .

1) scan, copy and materialize over an object as one action.
2) Adapt the guise of multiple objects so long as they are physically linked e.g. 2 skyscrapers linked by a walkway or an oasis with palm tree's linked by sand by spending 1 story point.
3) Embed the time lord in the local culture by spending 5 story points from the story point pool if GM decides (minimal temporal disruption) or by spending 15 for the player to decide (risk of greater disruption to fit in properly). Attempting to convince someone you don't match these identities after created requires a presence + convince roll TN 24. This decision has to be made during materilization in a time zone the first time otherwise you are part of that history and altering what has happened is bad (Nom, nom, nom go the reapers).
*4) Enhance the perception filters to make people ignore something out of place like a blue police box in the middle of Heathrow airport rather than just ignore its presence unless looking for something odd or the TARDIS specifically (given my understanding of how the normal ones work) by spending a story point from the TARDIS'S pool. However even the enhanced perception filters can be resisted by a resolve + convince against the parent TARDIS.
*5) Grow an external structure surrounding the TARDIS itself for 1 story point e.g. an artictic research base with the TARDIS itself being a computer bank in the control room for 1 story point. External atrium chambers can be jetisoned when the TARDIS leaves if desired or reabsorbed for a second story point.

This Trait reduces the TARDIS’ Story Point total by 3, these advanced scout capsule/atrium circuits are under the Architectural Configuration System for placement on the console along with the other circuits such as the achitectural confguration and chameleon circuits.

[Marnal]

Its worth noting that in the novel "No Future" the Doctor stole a piece of paper from a TARDIS disguised as a desk [with the paper being part of the disguise] and was later able to turn that sheet of paper into a 'back door' to get inside that TARDIS. It was stated that this was only possible because the TARDIS has been configured in a non-standard way, still that's what we are talking about here.

[senko]

Hmmmm curious.

EDIT
Thinking about it there has to be more going on there than just the shape we've seen weirder TARDIS forms as part of the normal chameleon circuit operation and the early models had to be hand programmed for their disuguise because it was the only way to do it so simply programming in a specific shape can't be it either. Similarly it can't be part of the atrium circuits because those are external physical structures built by the TARDIS not part of the shell and even if they weren't I can't see Time Lords being happy to just leave potential back doors around the universe. No he had to be doing something very different to allow that beyond just having it look like a writing desk. I can see it potentially being my 2nd feature (multiple objects rather than just one) but that leaves the problem what if you have something like me/clara's TARDIS at the end of the last series that had actual physical rooms inside its chameleon shell? So what counts as multiple structures, shame it doesn't specifiy if it was the doctor taking the paper or being able to use it for a back door was what was due to the nonstandard use of the chameleon circuit nor more detail on what that non-standard use was.

[Marnal]

I don't remember the details. Its been about 20 years since I last read "No Future." The Monk had his TARDIS set up in some non-standard way to further his evil plot. And that made its systems wonky enough that the Doctor could use the stolen sheet of paper to break in [even though he was in a different planet and time than the TARDIS at the time!]

You could check the following sites and see if they have any details...
www.whoniverse.net/discontinuity/na23

www.drwhoguide.com/who_na23.htm

tardis.wikia.com/wiki/No_Future_(novel)

[senko]

Ok I think I've found an explanation although I can't be 100% sure without finding a copy of the book to buy. I've actually read 3 of the adventures in that series didn't realize they were linked and the excerpt and nature of the situation looks interesting. I'll have to check ebay. Anyway assuming the part posted is actually what's written in the book (I've no reason not to think its not although as its an excerpt there could be more involved) the doctor explains it as . . .

"The monk's TARDIS was unstable. Bits dropped off, but they were still connected to the whole. Shut off from external stimuli as I was , I could feel the presence of a TARDIS. A quick search of my pockets revealed the piece of the priory notepaper, one of the detached doors of the monks TARDIS."

So going by that, your description and the summary of the book it seems it wasn't so much a case of just pulling off part of the chameleon circuits disguise but an actual faulty TARDIS circuit that allowed it (probably because he had a chronovore on board). I suspect the doctor couldn't have gotten that notepaper off the desk in the first place regardless of appearance if the TARDIS door hadn't fallen off its hinges. For that matter he probably couldn't have used it to enter the monks TARDIS if it hadn't been a main door that fell off rather than say a generic wall. Good reason to keep up your TARDIS maintenance I guess.

However with regards to chameleon circuits and atrium circuits I'd say it indicates as long as you don't have a faulty TARDIS in general there's no need to worry about someone coming along and say grabbing some lemons off your lemon tree disugise or finding a discarded piece of the atrium construct and using them to access your TARDIS normally because the TARDIS itself isn't going to just have a door fall off (Evil gm plot contrivences asisde). Especially since the atrium contsructs are external to the main shell anyway, of course there is the flip side to this. If you jetison rooms for thrust make sure they don't contain a door that allows access to the TARDIS like the main doors or a secondary access point or someone might just find them and sneak in the back way.

[Marnal]

Eminently logical.

[Catsmate]

Jul 26, 2016 17:32:39 GMT Marnal said:

I don't remember the details. Its been about 20 years since I last read "No Future." The Monk had his TARDIS set up in some non-standard way to further his evil plot. And that made its systems wonky enough that the Doctor could use the stolen sheet of paper to break in [even though he was in a different planet and time than the TARDIS at the time!].

That makes sense.

[Catsmate]

Aug 1, 2016 6:53:55 GMT senko said:

Ok I think I've found an explanation although I can't be 100% sure without finding a copy of the book to buy. I've actually read 3 of the adventures in that series didn't realize they were linked and the excerpt and nature of the situation looks interesting. I'll have to check ebay. Anyway assuming the part posted is actually what's written in the book (I've no reason not to think its not although as its an excerpt there could be more involved) the doctor explains it as . . .

"The monk's TARDIS was unstable. Bits dropped off, but they were still connected to the whole. Shut off from external stimuli as I was , I could feel the presence of a TARDIS. A quick search of my pockets revealed the piece of the priory notepaper, one of the detached doors of the monks TARDIS."

So going by that, your description and the summary of the book it seems it wasn't so much a case of just pulling off part of the chameleon circuits disguise but an actual faulty TARDIS circuit that allowed it (probably because he had a chronovore on board). I suspect the doctor couldn't have gotten that notepaper off the desk in the first place regardless of appearance if the TARDIS door hadn't fallen off its hinges. For that matter he probably couldn't have used it to enter the monks TARDIS if it hadn't been a main door that fell off rather than say a generic wall. Good reason to keep up your TARDIS maintenance I guess.

However with regards to chameleon circuits and atrium circuits I'd say it indicates as long as you don't have a faulty TARDIS in general there's no need to worry about someone coming along and say grabbing some lemons off your lemon tree disugise or finding a discarded piece of the atrium construct and using them to access your TARDIS normally because the TARDIS itself isn't going to just have a door fall off (Evil gm plot contrivences asisde). Especially since the atrium contsructs are external to the main shell anyway, of course there is the flip side to this. If you jetison rooms for thrust make sure they don't contain a door that allows access to the TARDIS like the main doors or a secondary access point or someone might just find them and sneak in the back way.

No Future, pp200-1

The Doctor smiled. ‘And this is where you come in, Danny. You and your valuable autograph.’
‘Yeah?’ Danny grinned. ‘Go on.’
‘It was written on a bit of the Monk’s TARDIS, a bit of the desk –’
‘The desk!’ Mike Yates spilt a little of his pint. ‘Doctor, the desk vanished from the. . . I’m sorry, I was going to mention it, but –’
‘It’s all right, Mike. The Monk’s TARDIS was unstable. Bits dropped off, but they were still connected to the whole....'
‘Shut off from external stimuli as I was, I could feel the presence of a TARDIS. A quick search of my pockets revealed the piece of Priory notepaper, one of the detached doors of the Monk’s TARDIS. A bit of damp origami, a bit of wriggling, and I slipped straight through the paper and into one of the lower chambers of the main craft.’
‘I didn’t understand a word of that,’ Danny murmured. ‘But it sounded great.’

No Future is the final story in the Alternate Universe arc, preceded by Blood Heat, The Dimension Riders, The Left-Handed Hummingbird and Conundrum.
Interestingly in the book the Doctor disguises his TARDIS as Nelson's Column by materialising around the actual column.