The Quatermass Sourcebook - SECOND EDITION 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!


EDIT: The download link has been updated for the Second Edition of this sourcebook.

[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

[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

The Quatermass Sourcebook - Second Edition is now available! Each of the chapters on the four TV serials has been expanded, and appendices added to cover the Hammer Films, The Quatermass Memoirs radio series, the 2005 live episode, the non-Quatermass film X the Unknown, and adventure seeds.

It can be downloaded for free from here.

[thewarchief]

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.

Who knows, he might have been the driving force behind UNIT's formation. The Doctor did encounter the British Rocket Group in Remembrance of the Daleks, set in the 1950s. Then he encounters Col. Lethbridge Stewart in the London Underground during the Yeti incident. It's quite possible that Quatermass was aware of these incidents and pushed for the creation of some sort of specialized unit to deal with alien inclusions, leading to the creation of UNIT.

[misterharry]

May 22, 2024 23:02:50 GMT thewarchief said:

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.

Who knows, he might have been the driving force behind UNIT's formation. The Doctor did encounter the British Rocket Group in Remembrance of the Daleks, set in the 1950s. Then he encounters Col. Lethbridge Stewart in the London Underground during the Yeti incident. It's quite possible that Quatermass was aware of these incidents and pushed for the creation of some sort of specialized unit to deal with alien inclusions, leading to the creation of UNIT.

Quatermass wasn't a fan of the military, particularly after how he was treated in Quatermass and the Pit and his experience of Colonel Breen. He may have suggested something, but I doubt it would have been anything like UNIT. Perhaps the BRG is intended to fill that role by 1963 - after all, his original Rocket Group was taken over by the Ministry of Defence in 1959 and Quatermass himself was removed from it.

Incidentally, the British Rocket Group only got a mention in Remembrance. It was the Intrusions Counter Measures Group that the Doctor actually encountered (in 1963).

[thewarchief]

May 23, 2024 6:53:03 GMT misterharry said:

Quatermass wasn't a fan of the military, particularly after how he was treated in Quatermass and the Pit and his experience of Colonel Breen.

Much like the Doctor, especially during Series 7 when his relationship with the Brig was strained.

May 23, 2024 6:53:03 GMT misterharry said:

He may have suggested something, but I doubt it would have been anything like UNIT.

Yeah, and if you think of what UNIT stands for, United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (and to hell with the UN for not wanting to be associated with defending the Earth; whose side are they on?)and what they were like in their first appearance (Benton in plainclothes) it quite possible that it was suppose to be more like MI5 but against aliens rather than a military force, and much more covert.

That might be true in the real world as well. Remember, UNIT was the brainchild of the Second Doctor's protection team, but got forced upon and implemented by the Third Doctor's production team, who felt that all they had left for story options were alien invasions and ad scientists. A military force would at least let them liven thing up with some action scenes, and they did hire HAVOC to do the stuntwork.


The original concept for UNIT might have been a more Jame Bondish. Bond's popularity was at it's height, and a espionage organization Intelligence Taskforce probably would haven been cheaper to tape. Even the idea of UNIT being international fits in more with the spy franchises on the time than with a military organization. Especially a secret organization (which probably wouldn't have had special insignia sewn onto their clothing or big signs out front giving them away). I'm assuming that in universe the powers that be decided to reveal the existence of UNIT to the public after they stopped the Auton invasion as a way to reassure the public that they were on top of things. They might not have told the public the whole truth but probably told them something to reassure them (and keep from being ousted in the next election for failing to protect the population).

May 23, 2024 6:53:03 GMT misterharry said:

Perhaps the BRG is intended to fill that role by 1963 - after all, his original Rocket Group was taken over by the Ministry of Defence in 1959 and Quatermass himself was removed from it.

Yeah, or as you point out below the Intrusions Counter Measures Group (ICMG). So maybe Quatermass cam up with the idea, got the ball rolling, and the the higher ups took over, started marking "improvements", and pretty much ruined it. I think we can assume that UNIT would have been a total failure (and a short lived one at that) if Lethbridge-Stewart hadn't grab a hold of the Doctor and got him on staff. It makes sense too.

The last person UNIT probably wants to let walk around the place would be a inquisitive, ambitious, journalist, who got it by masquerading as someone else (Sarah Jane Smith), but I think the Brig would have rubber stamped a pass to Leonid Brezhnev in a miniskirt if it kept the Doctor around longer.

May 23, 2024 6:53:03 GMT misterharry said:

Incidentally, the British Rocket Group only got a mention in Remembrance. It was the Intrusions Counter Measures Group that the Doctor actually encountered (in 1963).

Thanks, long time since I last watched that one. The ICMG could have been the original concept, which got merged into what became UNIT. The 7th Doctor exasperatedly calling Captain Gilmore  "Brigadier" might have been even more of a call back to UNIT that we thought.

Well UNIT is a better acronym that ICMG, which just looks exactly like one of my typos for ICBM.



But back to my original point, it's possible that the is some connection between UNIT and Quartermass. It's just that it's also possible (and quite likely) that some bureaucrat or other stepped in and altered the original concept beyond recognition. I also think that Quatermass would have wanted to keep the Doctor around as badly as the Bridadier, if not more. 

[misterharry]

May 23, 2024 15:25:35 GMT thewarchief said:

But back to my original point, it's possible that the is some connection between UNIT and Quartermass. It's just that it's also possible (and quite likely) that some bureaucrat or other stepped in and altered the original concept beyond recognition. I also think that Quatermass would have wanted to keep the Doctor around as badly as the Bridadier, if not more. 

Perhaps it goes something like this. After being removed from the British Rocket Group by the MoD (as happened in Quatermss and the Pit), Bernard came up with some proposals for a science-based team to deal with alien threats ("science leads" after all). But the MoD again put their boots in and commandeered the project, again sidelining Quatermass and making it a military outfit - though it's actually set up by the UN, probably due to funding. Quatermass goes off in an understandable sulk and establishes a new, independent (privately funded?) British Rocket Group, the one mentioned in Remembrance. Well, it makes sense to me!

[thewarchief]

May 23, 2024 17:06:47 GMT misterharry said:

Perhaps it goes something like this. After being removed from the British Rocket Group by the MoD (as happened in Quatermss and the Pit), Bernard came up with some proposals for a science-based team to deal with alien threats ("science leads" after all). But the MoD again put their boots in and commandeered the project, again sidelining Quatermass and making it a military outfit - though it's actually set up by the UN, probably due to funding. Quatermass goes off in an understandable sulk and establishes a new, independent (privately funded?) British Rocket Group, the one mentioned in Remembrance. Well, it makes sense to me!
[/quote]

Sounds good, although I suggest that what might have happened was that the MoD didn't really step in until after the Web of Fear. That's why UNIT doesn't show up until The Invasion.
Yeti taking over the underground would turn the project from a proactive, "just in case" thing to keep Quatermass out of the way to a national emergency that required immediate and decisive action, , and one that wasn't quite so easy to sweep under the rug, as it show down . I haven't see all of the Quatermass stuff, but what I have seen was stuff that the knowledge of which could be contained, and most of it kept from the general public. The threat being some alien being or artifact that might prove dangerous but isn't necessarily planning to invade and take over. Web of Fear give you a threat that is actually trying to invade and take over.


How is this for a timeline?

- Quatermass gets sidelined, starts up BRG and ICMG gets started as a reponse team just in case some hostile threat appears.
- Remembrance of the Daleks happens, and the MOD takes some notice of things, but mostly brush it off as the aliens were (apparently) hostile to each other rather than Great Britain, and it all sort of self corrected, the humans not knowing half of what was really going on.
- The Web of Fear happens and suddenly alien invaders are real, hostile, and driving people out of London! The MoD takes notice of the threat and decides that they can't leave the safety of the country to "amateurs" (including Torchwood), and take charge. The new force is probably given some sort of MI designation like MI13 or MI18 (neither were used "officially").
-Quatermass is probably brought into to Geneva and questioned about his experiences and as to the most effective structure for such an organization. HE stresses the need for scientific knowledge over brute force, and surprisingly get supported by Lethbrdige-Stewart, who also stresses the need for scientists, but the higher up think they know better.
-Lethbridge-Stewart is recruited for this new organization since he is the highest ranking man with actual field experience of the alien menace.
-The rest of the world, after seeing what happened to London, and noticing that the UK is forming some sort of special force to handle such situations, decide that they want protection too, and MI18 evolves into UNIT.
-UNIT is originally a clandestine organization so as to keep the public from panicking about the alien threat.
-The Invasion happens and UNIT is successful against it first alien threat- in no small part thanks to the reappearance of the Doctor.
-UNIT gets a major increase in funding and support following The Invasion and Lethrbridge-Stewart pushes for, and gets a Scientific Advisor. Quatermass is probably approached but declines. He probably is still helping with the British space program (which continues on in the Doctor Who universe, see Ambassadors of Death). Considering his age and the timeline, he might be only semi-active by the Third Doctor's time. He might be some sort of consultant too. After all, a Quatermass-Third Doctor crossover story should be a given. But let's say he retires to Scotland and becomes guardian of a teenage granddaughter- he wouldn't be the first.
-The Invasion also puts UNIT into the spotlight, and it existence is revealed, although not it true purpose. It's probably considered to by some sort of Intelligence agency that specialized in the odd, unexplained, paranormal, remote viewing, that sort of stuff.

-Spearhead from Space, The Silurians, and then Terror of the Autons happen, and UNIT become increasingly less clandestine.


Well, that's one way it might go down. Something to play with anyway.

[Escher]

Bravo on the 2nd edition Misterharry! Absolutely wonderful!