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Post by Kit on Jan 2, 2010 22:32:21 GMT
I'm thinking of a series of adventures set primarily in Victorian England. These would be one-shots or holiday episodes rather than a proper series. I'm looking at using pre-gens rather than new characters.
The characters I have in mind currently are:
Captain Jack Harkness in the period in which he is trapped in Earth's past, discovered his immortality, and is freelancing for Torchwood.
Jackson Lake, twenty or thirty years after the events of 'The Next Doctor.' Yes, he would be elderly, but his experience and the information alongside the Doctor make him a valuable ally
Dr George Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago after the events of 'The Talons of Weng Chiang'
Anyone have any other good canonical characters that would be good fits?
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Post by kaemaril on Jan 2, 2010 22:48:44 GMT
I'm thinking of a series of adventures set primarily in Victorian England. These would be one-shots or holiday episodes rather than a proper series. I'm looking at using pre-gens rather than new characters. The characters I have in mind currently are: Captain Jack Harkness in the period in which he is trapped in Earth's past, discovered his immortality, and is freelancing for Torchwood. Jackson Lake, twenty or thirty years after the events of 'The Next Doctor.' Yes, he would be elderly, but his experience and the information alongside the Doctor make him a valuable ally Dr George Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago after the events of 'The Talons of Weng Chiang' Anyone have any other good canonical characters that would be good fits? Hmm. Wikipedia has The Next Doctor set in 1851, and the Talons of Weng Chiang set in the 1890s, so we're looking at a gap of 40+ years here. Jackson Lake's age was, iirc, never specified but David Morrissey was, at the time, circa 44 years old. If we assume the same for Jackson, then you're looking at a Jackson Lake of 84-88 years old. Possible, I guess ... Personally, I'd make JL a bit younger (34?) and set TOWC in, say, 1895. That would make JL 77-78. Sprightly seventies instead of eighties sounds more reasonable, somehow ...  Does anyone have an exact date for Talons? |
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 2, 2010 22:59:51 GMT
I'm thinking of a series of adventures set primarily in Victorian England. These would be one-shots or holiday episodes rather than a proper series. I'm looking at using pre-gens rather than new characters. The characters I have in mind currently are: Captain Jack Harkness in the period in which he is trapped in Earth's past, discovered his immortality, and is freelancing for Torchwood. Jackson Lake, twenty or thirty years after the events of 'The Next Doctor.' Yes, he would be elderly, but his experience and the information alongside the Doctor make him a valuable ally Dr George Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago after the events of 'The Talons of Weng Chiang' Anyone have any other good canonical characters that would be good fits? Hmm. Wikipedia has The Next Doctor set in 1851, and the Talons of Weng Chiang set in the 1890s, so we're looking at a gap of 40+ years here. Jackson Lake's age was, iirc, never specified but David Morrissey was, at the time, circa 44 years old. If we assume the same for Jackson, then you're looking at a Jackson Lake of 84-88 years old. Possible, I guess ... Personally, I'd make JL a bit younger (34?) and set TOWC in, say, 1895. That would make JL 77-78. Sprightly seventies instead of eighties sounds more reasonable, somehow ... Does anyone have an exact date for Talons? Lance Parkin puts Talons c.1889 I could throw in H.G. Wells, who appeared in Timelash, and if you want to add in some of the books, All-Consuming Fire included Holmes and Watson... or at least characters that would inspire them (they were only referred to as Holmes and Watson though) |
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Post by kaemaril on Jan 2, 2010 23:17:16 GMT
Lance Parkin puts Talons c.1889 So that's a 38 year difference. Jackson Lake, if the same age as Morrisey, would be 82 (44 in 1851). Interesting that the BBC classics webpage has it later. edit: fixed ropey maths  |
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Post by Rel Fexive on Jan 2, 2010 23:36:40 GMT
He could be the mentor/brains-at-home character rather than a 'field agent', so his age wouldn't matter so much.
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Post by Curufea on Jan 3, 2010 0:23:56 GMT
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Post by Null and Void on Jan 3, 2010 0:27:52 GMT
The problem with those is that not many people actually survived those adventures. I believe he's looking for people who could be included in adventures dure those eras rather than adventures actually IN those times. |
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Post by Curufea on Jan 3, 2010 0:37:48 GMT
Yeah, they mostly didn't - but they may have been interesting prior to the Doctor encountering them.
In some cases they were dealing with aliens for a while before the Doctor turned up.
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Post by Kit on Jan 3, 2010 1:03:52 GMT
re: elderly Jackson Lake's feasibility in a game, we should probably consider that Bernard Cribbins is 81 and I consider Wilf a feasible companion
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Post by Kit on Jan 3, 2010 1:05:30 GMT
Hm. Its too bad that Victoria Wakefield was left in the 1960s rather than her home era.
I'd forgotten about Wells. He would be a fun addition.
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Post by kaemaril on Jan 3, 2010 2:57:01 GMT
re: elderly Jackson Lake's feasibility in a game, we should probably consider that Bernard Cribbins is 81 and I consider Wilf a feasible companion Yes, but consider advances in medicine between the Victorian era and now. Consider, also, average life expectancies. That's not to say there's any reason you couldn't have a sprightly 80+ year old, of course. It's just less likely than it would be today. |
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Post by allivingstone on Jan 3, 2010 6:34:16 GMT
How about a character who had a minor role in their canonical appearance(s)? For instance, one of the children rescued by Jackson Lake and the 10th Doctor.
Now grown to adulthood, they could have been mentored and trained by Jackson Lake.
EDIT: Expansion/clarification added.
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Post by Kit on Jan 3, 2010 9:29:55 GMT
How about a character who had a minor role in their canonical appearance(s)? For instance, one of the children rescued by Jackson Lake and the 10th Doctor. Now grown to adulthood, they could have been mentored and trained by Jackson Lake. EDIT: Expansion/clarification added. For that matter, you could use Lake's son. |
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misterharry
Dominus Tempus 
Dalek Caan's Lovechild
Posts: 3,246
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 Jan 4, 2010 18:34:42 GMT
There was a fun little story in Shelf Life, the tribute fanthology for Craig Hinton, called The League of Extraterrestrial Gentlemen. From memory, it featured a team comprised of Jago and Litefoot, a stranded Sontaran, an Auton made of Bakelite (an early form of plastic) and Li-H'sen Chang (who had somehow survived the events of Talons). [Chang's daughter also features in the Virgin Missing Adventures novel, The Shadow of Weng-Chiang, set in the 1920's IIRC - so a little late for your purposes.] Whether this team is canonical or not depends on your view of canon, of course.
There is also Queen Victoria herself - if the campaign is set around a Torchwood team shortly after its founding in Tooth and Claw, Victoria would likely be keeping a close eye on it. She probably wouldn't be an active PC, but would make an interesting NPC from time to time.
There are also a few Victorian Torchwood members who featured in the Torchwood episodes, Fragments and Exit Wounds - Alice Guppy, Emily Holroyd and Charles Gaskell.
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misterharry
Dominus Tempus
Dalek Caan's Lovechild
Posts: 3,246
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 Jan 5, 2010 8:58:47 GMT
You could also use the explorer Redvers Fenn-Cooper from Ghost Light. At the end of the story, he disappears into space with Control and Nimrod on Light's ship. But maybe he's returned to Earth?
I've also been thinking about The Unquiet Dead - unfortunately, all the major characters end up dead, with the exception of Charles Dickens (who, according to history and the 9th Doctor, wil die within the following year). But how about a relative of Gwynneth? It's strongly implied by the 10th Doctor in The Stolen Earth that Torchwood's Gwen Cooper is a probable descendent - not a direct descendent as Gwynneth was unmarried and she wasn't the sort of Victorian girl to have a child out of wedlock! So she must have had at least one sister, brother, nephew/niece, cousin, etc who continues the family line down to Gwen. And maybe that relative also has the second sight (Clairvoyance Trait?), courtesy of the Rift?
And again, if you include novels in your personal canon, then All-Consuming Fire sets out Holmes and Watson as real characters in the Doctor's universe.
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Post by Siskoid on Jan 6, 2010 0:15:57 GMT
What if Jackson Lake's absorption of Doctorishness has slowed down his aging and/or given him more vitality? You could use him with that conceit in the later era.
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