|
Post by Acrobatic Flea on Mar 11, 2022 10:18:40 GMT
As I mentioned in another thread, I'm starting work on a new campaign, which will focus on a new Time Lord in a Doctorless reality. While I won't be picking the name of the character, I was wondering if there were any prompts I could give the player chosen to initially run that character? Do we go for a Doctorish descriptor or a Gallifreyan name, instance? heropresstwo.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-magic-haddock-whats-in-name.html
|
|
|
Post by Stormcrow on Mar 12, 2022 14:32:28 GMT
In the early episodes of Doctor Who, NO Time Lords had names. I think the first Time Lord name wasn't uttered until Planet of the Spiders, and I suspect that those names (K'anpo, Cho Je) were borrowed from the Earth culture he had steeped himself in. "Doctor," "Monk," "Master," "War Chief," and so on weren't names; they were titles. There was no hint in the dialogue that their names were hidden; they were just never mentioned, and at times when it would seem likely that they would be named, the story side-stepped the issue. (For instance, when the Doctor returns to Gallifrey and meets Runcible, the latter recognizes him (with a facelift) and just calls him "you" because it's an awkward meeting and he doesn't really want to talk to him. The awkwardness was written in precisely so that it would seem natural that Runcible doesn't mention his name.
Originally, the Doctor didn't go around announcing "I am the DOCTOR!" as if that was supposed to mean something. He was called the Doctor because Ian and Barbara had heard he was a doctor, so they called him Doctor. But he never gets around to mentioning his name. It was wonderfully adept of the writers, never acknowledging that Time Lords were avoiding saying their names. For all we know, if someone sat the early Doctor down in a quiet off-screen room when nothing was pressing and demanded to know his name, he'd say it. But as soon as the camera was on that person, something would happen to distract that person from ever repeating the Doctor's name.
Ideally, this is what I would do in a campaign featuring Time Lords. Not only do we not know their names, we don't even know if their names are secret or something. For SOME reason, we never hear their names, and we never quite stay on the topic of their names long enough for them to be mentioned. If you meet a Time Lord who is, say, Keeper of the Matrix, you start out by calling him the Keeper, and you just never happen to get around to finding out his name.
Of course, this requires that the players understand and buy into this idea. It gives you a meta-reason to have nameless Time Lords without having to come up with a reason why all these Time Lords' names are secret or missing, and a meta-reason never to question it.
|
|
Catsmate
13th Incarnation
No longer living in a bad adaption of "A Journal of the Plague Year".
Posts: 3,730
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Twelve, Nine, One, Eleven..
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
|
Post by Catsmate on Mar 14, 2022 8:58:29 GMT
Ah yes, Runcible, a bit of an oddity.
Personally, other than 'Hex' which is definitely a nickname (due to his, problems....), I go with 'Title Noun' names for the very rare Time Lords who need such when interacting with others. Something of the form 'Magister Joy'. I freely admit I borrowed this from Chris Halliday's 'Time Wars Omniverse' RPG notes, with the Chronarchs of Ramatheya as Time Lord expys. ('Omnitope' is far better than TARDIS in my opinion).
But then I try and keep Time Lords (including the Doctor) off-stage.
|
|
Catsmate
13th Incarnation
No longer living in a bad adaption of "A Journal of the Plague Year".
Posts: 3,730
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Twelve, Nine, One, Eleven..
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
|
Post by Catsmate on Mar 17, 2022 19:01:38 GMT
By the way, one of my SOs has suggested 'Magistrix Joy' as the name for a Time Lord.
|
|
|
Post by grinch on Mar 17, 2022 19:23:16 GMT
Ah yes, Runcible, a bit of an oddity.
Personally, other than 'Hex' which is definitely a nickname (due to his, problems....), I go with 'Title Noun' names for the very rare Time Lords who need such when interacting with others. Something of the form 'Magister Joy'. I freely admit I borrowed this from Chris Halliday's 'Time Wars Omniverse' RPG notes, with the Chronarchs of Ramatheya as Time Lord expys. ('Omnitope' is far better than TARDIS in my opinion).
But then I try and keep Time Lords (including the Doctor) off-stage.
I’m much the same to be honest. Although it does help that my campaign is explicitly set post Time War so it’s not like there are many Time Lords knocking about anymore. Even with Mortimus, that’s merely just another name he’s adopted in order to better blend in on Earth. Can’t exactly call him The Meddling Monk considering he gave up the habit (Hah!) of changing history a few lifetimes ago. Even then, it’s a hardly conspicuous appellation and has caused a few of his colleagues to remark on whether he’s a foreigner from some distant place in Europe.
|
|
|
Post by spydalek on Mar 17, 2022 20:51:58 GMT
I have one called Professor Jane Jones, but that's a name she took after running at the start of the Time War and hiding on Earth with a Chameleon Arch. She did go by "The Professor" before that, and it was her android companion (Katy Jones, who looks like a sixteen year old) who named her that after they landed on Earth.
She teaches History at Park Vale Comprehensive with her companion, and has done since the late 1990s. Her "daughter" Katy also goes to the school, and she hasn't been Chameleon Arched since the early 2010s after an encounter with the Sarah Jane Smith and her 'team'. But she continues to work at the school, occasionally taking a class to some area of history that can't be messed up too badly.
EDIT: And I just realised that that was not what the question was. Sorry. As for preferences on names, I *usually* go with the moniker ones, because they're easier to come up if I'm being honest.
|
|
|
Post by Acrobatic Flea on Mar 18, 2022 11:40:31 GMT
I have one called Professor Jane Jones, but that's a name she took after running at the start of the Time War and hiding on Earth with a Chameleon Arch. She did go by "The Professor" before that, and it was her android companion (Katy Jones, who looks like a sixteen year old) who named her that after they landed on Earth. She teaches History at Park Vale Comprehensive with her companion, and has done since the late 1990s. Her "daughter" Katy also goes to the school, and she hasn't been Chameleon Arched since the early 2010s after an encounter with the Sarah Jane Smith and her 'team'. But she continues to work at the school, occasionally taking a class to some area of history that can't be messed up too badly. EDIT: And I just realised that that was not what the question was. Sorry. As for preferences on names, I *usually* go with the moniker ones, because they're easier to come up if I'm being honest. No need to apologise. Personally I enjoy these short anecdotes about games as it helps me get a handle on how other people use the game to tell interesting stories (and having the right name for your protagonist is a key part of that).
|
|