The Quatermass Sourcebook - available now!

[misterharry]

Here's something I've been working on for a little while. I wanted to get it out there in 2023 as it's not just the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, but also the 70th anniversary of Quatermass - it's seventy years since the broadcast of the first serial, The Quatermass Experiment, by the BBC!



The Quatermass Sourcebook covers the three BBC serials of the 1950s plus the 1979 mini-series broadcast on ITV. As well as stats and background information for Professor Quatermass himself, it includes suggestions for devising your own advantures in the same vein as the TV serials, plus a chapter on each of the stories - The Quatermass Experiment, Quatermass II, Quatermass and the Pit and Quatermass (a.k.a. The Quatemrmass Conclusion) - in a format similar to the official Doctors sourcebooks, including stats and game rules for the key characters and concepts from each.

The Quatermass Sourcebook is free to download from here. I hope you enjoy it, and if you're not already familiar with the world of Quatermass, that it inspires you to seek it out!

[Catsmate]

Excellent!

[misterharry]

Annoyingly - and as happens so often - I spotted a couple of typos after posting the above. These have been corrected and the version in the link above is the updated one (I haven't changed the version number as the changes are so minor).

[Catsmate]

Oct 7, 2023 15:18:21 GMT misterharry said:

Annoyingly - and as happens so often - I spotted a couple of typos after posting the above. These have been corrected and the version in the link above is the updated one (I haven't changed the version number as the changes are so minor).

 Yeah, that is always the way. 

If you need a proof-reader in future feel free to ask, I've done quite a bit of it. 

[Escher]

Great work Misterharry -love it!

[tampahawke]

No idea who Quartermass is...but looking forward to finding out!! thank you for doing this Mr harry!

So, after a quick perrusal (sp) of the material ,,,we now have a very good/valid reason for regular earth humans posessing  the "psychic" traits and other traits that tend to accompany it....Nice!

[misterharry]

Oct 7, 2023 15:59:44 GMT Catsmate said:

Oct 7, 2023 15:18:21 GMT misterharry said:

Annoyingly - and as happens so often - I spotted a couple of typos after posting the above. These have been corrected and the version in the link above is the updated one (I haven't changed the version number as the changes are so minor).

 Yeah, that is always the way. 

If you need a proof-reader in future feel free to ask, I've done quite a bit of it. 

Thanks, I'll try to remember to take you up on that. I've done a fair bit of proofreading myself, but it's so much more difficult proofreading your own writing.

[misterharry]

Oct 8, 2023 0:42:13 GMT tampahawke said:

No idea who Quartermass is...but looking forward to finding out!! thank you for doing this Mr harry!

If you're outside the UK, the Hammer film versions are probably easier to locate than the three BBC serials (under the names The Creeping Unknown, Enemy from Space and Five Million Years to Earth in the US). The plots are very similar, though shortened and with slightly different endings for the first two (and Brian Donlevy's Quatermass is a much more brash character - I don't dislike him, it's just a different take on it).

If you do go for the BBC versions, be aware that for the first serial only the first two episodes exist (the BBC didn't record the others during their live broadcast). There's the 2005 version, also broadcast live, which could be substituted, though I'm not a particular fan of it.

[misterharry]

Oct 8, 2023 7:36:45 GMT misterharry said:

If you're outside the UK, the Hammer film versions are probably easier to locate than the three BBC serials (under the names The Creeping Unknown, Enemy from Space and Five Million Years to Earth in the US).

I've updated the filmography at the back to include the alternative titles.

[grinch]

A truly fantastic supplement! I know he'd be quite old by this point, but I do wonder what Quatermass would make of UNIT (circa 1970s) and the seemingly constant alien incursions.

In any case, I could easily see Professor Quatermass matching wits with the likes of The Great Intelligence.

[misterharry]

Oct 9, 2023 12:47:07 GMT grinch said:

A truly fantastic supplement! I know he'd be quite old by this point, but I do wonder what Quatermass would make of UNIT (circa 1970s) and the seemingly constant alien incursions.

In any case, I could easily see Professor Quatermass matching wits with the likes of The Great Intelligence.

The Great Intelligence is an excllent fit for Quatermass! As for UNIT, I'd probably keep their involvement a bit more low-key, maybe have them compromised in some way, to maintain Quatermass's outsider status. His relationship with the military is a little rocky, and I wouldn't want to give him too many allies with official connections. Having said that, pretty much all of Season 7 is pure Quatermass material - just cut out the parallel Earth strand from Inferno and you're good to go.

Further afield, The War Machines makes for a great adventure without any extraterrestrial element, and The Faceless Ones could be reworked to have a more Invasion of the Bodysnatchers vibe. I also like the idea of updating Horror of Fang Rock to the 1950s. The Curse of Fenric could be adapted either as a prequel with its original WW2 setting, or moved to the 1950s, in either case with Fenric interfering with Quatermass's rocketry experiments rather than the Ultima machine. In fact, Fenric is another excellent enemy for Quatermass, as is the Mara - though they're both probably a bit too similar to each other and to the Great Intelligence to throw all three into the mix (being enigmatic, formless entities with a penchant for controlling human minds).

[Catsmate]

I quite agree with you grinch, misterharry, Quatermass has a lot of potential for a number of campaigns, two come specifically to mind;

1. a prelude to UNIT/ICMG set in the 1950s of a Whoniverse with rather more advanced technology. This fits in well with the Whoniverse history, given the more-or-less canon British Mars missions of the 1970s and the mission to Jupiter in 1980.

This could be a multi-faction campaign, with Torchwood operating in the background and trying to use the BERG for it's own purposes. Then there's the military, in the form of our old friend Victor Goddard, who nominally retired in '51 but could well be using his extensive range of contacts to deal with various outré threats, warned by his own experiences. Quite likely he'd be supportive of the BERG experiments, especially after they pull-off the first crewed orbital flight in 1953.


2. a parallel UNIT capaign set in some period from the late '60s to the early '80s. There could be a degree of cross-over with UNIT, given Quatermass's personality he's unlikely to be happy working with the military full time but could be there to assist, or berate, them on occasion. Meanwhile the space-lights continue i the bckground, building perhaps to a different, and earlier, lunar landing. By 1980 there re several orbitl and Lagrangian stations, a couple of small lunar bases, a mission to Jupiter and large probes visiting the outer planets, with plans for a Stanford Torus.

One other resource that could be blended into such a campaign is the unjustifiably obscure BBC series Doomwatch.

[misterharry]

I've updated the sourcebook to version 2.0 (the link in the first post now goes to this). There are a number of minor changes, but the main thing is that I realised that I'd missed out an important aspect in the sidebar on The Martian Inheritance in the chapter on Quatermass and the Pit.

[grinch]

Although I think you’d seriously struggle to make the Daleks work I do think you could do a very good Cyberman Quatermass story.

Rather than the silver giants they would later become I’d present them as more half formed things akin to how they were depicted in The Tenth Planet. There’s just a trace amount of humanity left beneath the plastic and metal. But not enough to be considered human. Hell, I’d take inspiration from that wonderful line in what was probably the last good Cyberman story.

“:This won't stop you feeling pain, but it will stop you caring about it.”

You could even tie them in with WOTAN. With both threats representing what awaits humanity should they follow this path of survival above all else.

[misterharry]

Oct 12, 2023 16:48:41 GMT grinch said:

Although I think you’d seriously struggle to make the Daleks work I do think you could do a very good Cyberman Quatermass story.

Rather than the silver giants they would later become I’d present them as more half formed things akin to how they were depicted in The Tenth Planet. There’s just a trace amount of humanity left beneath the plastic and metal. But not enough to be considered human. Hell, I’d take inspiration from that wonderful line in what was probably the last good Cyberman story.

“:This won't stop you feeling pain, but it will stop you caring about it.”

You could even tie them in with WOTAN. With both threats representing what awaits humanity should they follow this path of survival above all else.

I like the idea of primitive Cybermen in a Quatermass story. I'm reminded of the Big Finish story The Harvest (Hex's debut story). Although it has a 21st Century setting, it features creatures which are humans' attempts to copy Tenth Planet style Cybermen. So they're bulky, primitive things, though still being dangerous - they're described as something like 8 feet tall and can run much faster than a human, giving chase to a motorbike in one scene. I can see something like that in a 1950s setting working very well.

[olegrand]

This is FANTASTIC! Kudos & thanks!

[grinch]

Oct 12, 2023 17:11:52 GMT misterharry said:

Oct 12, 2023 16:48:41 GMT grinch said:

Although I think you’d seriously struggle to make the Daleks work I do think you could do a very good Cyberman Quatermass story.

Rather than the silver giants they would later become I’d present them as more half formed things akin to how they were depicted in The Tenth Planet. There’s just a trace amount of humanity left beneath the plastic and metal. But not enough to be considered human. Hell, I’d take inspiration from that wonderful line in what was probably the last good Cyberman story.

“:This won't stop you feeling pain, but it will stop you caring about it.”

You could even tie them in with WOTAN. With both threats representing what awaits humanity should they follow this path of survival above all else.

I like the idea of primitive Cybermen in a Quatermass story. I'm reminded of the Big Finish story The Harvest (Hex's debut story). Although it has a 21st Century setting, it features creatures which are humans' attempts to copy Tenth Planet style Cybermen. So they're bulky, primitive things, though still being dangerous - they're described as something like 8 feet tall and can run much faster than a human, giving chase to a motorbike in one scene. I can see something like that in a 1950s setting working very well.

Oh absolutely! You can practically hear the black and white in such a description. Be like a more serious take of the Cybernauts from The Avengers. 

[dam]

Love this thank you, I actually suggested a Quatermass book in another post. One question and it feels a little cheeky 🙂 but is there any plans to add a section on the remake from 2005...please

[misterharry]

Nov 6, 2023 23:21:13 GMT dam said:

Love this thank you, I actually suggested a Quatermass book in another post. One question and it feels a little cheeky 🙂 but is there any plans to add a section on the remake from 2005...please

Glad you like it - yes, I did spot your previous post.

It's been a while since I watched the 2005 version to be honest. My memory of it is that it's a fairly straightforward remake of the original. What are you thinking a section on it would cover - new stats for Quatermass and friends perhaps? If I did this, I'd be very tempted to do the same for the Hammer films too!

[dam]

Pretty much yes Id be curious to see how you stated a modern Quatermass verses one from the 50s, id also be okay with you doing ones for the Hammer films in a style of an off cannon section, plus its a cheeky way of bringing it closer to Dr who since David Tennant was in the 2005 version

[misterharry]

Nov 8, 2023 20:45:13 GMT dam said:

Pretty much yes Id be curious to see how you stated a modern Quatermass verses one from the 50s, id also be okay with you doing ones for the Hammer films in a style of an off cannon section, plus its a cheeky way of bringing it closer to Dr who since David Tennant was in the 2005 version

I've a couple of projects I need to finish off first, but I'll have a look at it in the New Year. I might even throw in a chapter on X the Unknown, the Hammer film that was written for Quatermass before Nigel Kneale refused permission for use of the character - it still has a Quatermass vibe and is useful for ideas.

[dam]

Brilliant thank you I look forward to seeing it

[stahlman]

Wonderful stuff,thanks so much for this