Translating the 12th Doctor's Era into Adventures

[misterharry]

With the 12th Doctor's era coming to an end, I was wondering what you all think are the styles and motifs that typify his stories? Along the lines of the sourcebooks, what advice would you give to somebody who wants to run a game in the style of his TV adventures (not just recreating his stories in game form)? What gimmicks and arcs are required in order to get the right "feel"?

For me, his first season was all over the place - it felt like each story was trying a new style, from the SJA-esque feel of The Caretaker to the creepy and surreal Flatline. After that, it seemed to settle down, but there seems to have been a constant thread of referring back to old stories, often just in throwaway lines, but sometimes resulting in entire stories such as the finale of the last series with the return of the Mondasian Cybermen, John Simms' Master and the 1st Doctor.

[Stormcrow]

Always talk about what "the question" is.

[Marnal]

Most of the stories in Capaldi's first season had an internal physiological component to them. A point of breakthrough in the Doctor or Clara's understanding of themselves or the true nature of their relationship, with each revelation serving as something of a thematic summary of the story. It was a much more introverted season that's about as close to Character based drama as Doctor Who's Plot based drama has ever gotten.
More "Stargate Universe" then "Stargate SG1" if that makes any sense.

Unfortunately this tone was largely dropped for subsequent Capaldi seasons.

[misterharry]

Dec 5, 2017 20:32:59 GMT Marnal said:

Most of the stories in Capaldi's first season had an internal physiological component to them. A point of breakthrough in the Doctor or Clara's understanding of themselves or the true nature of their relationship, with each revelation serving as something of a thematic summary of the story. It was a much more introverted season that's about as close to Character based drama as Doctor Who's Plot based drama has ever gotten.
More "Stargate Universe" then "Stargate SG1" if that makes any sense.

Unfortunately this tone was largely dropped for subsequent Capaldi seasons.

It wasn't totally dropped though. There was a return to "what makes the Doctor tick" throughout, from "Am I a good man" in Into the Dalek, to his persistence over billions of years in Heaven Sent, to the "Who I am is where I stand" speech in The Doctor Falls.

Also, themes of characters trying to hold on to who they are - the corrupting influence of Ashildr's immortality, and the Cyber-conversion of Danny Pink and Bill. And related to that, themes of redemption - Ashildr again, and most obviously Missy.