Post by Null and Void on Feb 15, 2010 16:31:53 GMT
I was glancing over my notes for my campaign, and realized I had something added in that I've not seen anyone else do, so I thought I'd throw the idea out there for people's perusal/edification/entertainment/mockery. 
I've always thought of the TARDIS as a genuine character in the Doctor Who series. Its been given moods, personality, even a temper on the odd occassion. I don't see why it should be any different in the game. While you can develop the ideas of the TARDIS' personality over many games, I thought it would be interesting to explore the backstory of the TARDIS in my game.
Consequently, I'm throwing in some 'one off' games in my seasons. Each one will have pre-made characters for the players for that episode only. Each episode will be centered on some part of the TARDIS' history. Its birth, its shakedown flight, its early missions, its participation in the Time War... all leading up to where it was found at the beginning of the Campaign, and perhaps explaining a bit about the consciousness that is now trapped inside its telepathic circuits.
This will also allow me to explore a few things that don't necessarily fit into the campaign itself. Plus, hopefully, it will satify the players interest in Time Lords, Gallifrey, and the Time War. It will give them a chance to participate without disrupting the main campaign.
The first will be called, obviously enough, Birth. In it, a Time Lord engineer will be set to oversee the growth of the TARDIS and will get caught up in a set of intrigues by the High Council and the CIA, and the earliest stages of the Time War. Each group will vie for influence over the construction based on their own agenda.
The Second will be called, also obviously, Shakedown. In it, an experienced Time Lord and a group of technicians will be sent out on a simple temporal tour, working out the glitches in the TARDIS. They will, of course, run into trouble on the fringes as they stumble on a Dalek plot.
The Third I don't have a name for, but it will involve a diplomatic mission, attempting to gain allies for Gallifrey as war becomes inevitable. Perhaps the Eternals, possibly even some 'enemy' that hates the Daleks more than the Time Lords. Sontarans or Vardans might be ideal for this.
The Fourth will be a wartime mission... insertion of a Time Lord Strike team behind enemy lines.
The Fifth will be a routine wartime mission that gets complicated by the arrival of another wartime faction... haven't decided yet whether this will be Faction Paradox, The Celestis, The Remote, or some set of Dalek allies. Perhaps, if I'm feeling *really* ambitious, and *really* want to tie in the BBC books and the Faction, I can introduce Compassion as the antogonist\protagonist. Or, all of the above, just to show how messy it all gets.
The Sixth will be the another intrigue/espionage mission... details are still TBD. This one MAY end up being a sort of betrayal one, where the Time Lords deliberately send the TARDIS and its crew to be a distraction for another, more important action, fully intending the crew and TARDIS to be lost in the execution. This will show the depths to which the Time Lords have fallen to. Perhaps they will be used to unwittingly bring the Could-Have-Been-King into the fray.
The Seventh and Eighth will be the Defense of Gallifrey against the final Dalek assault, and the eventual crash of the TARDIS.
The details aren't fully fleshed out, obviously, but I have time. I'm also open to suggestions about some of the stories\antagonists\etc. The main thing here is that the TARDIS will be central in all of them, even if only an observer. Its the arc of its own history, so the players can see where their vehicle came from and what its experienced.
I've always thought of the TARDIS as a genuine character in the Doctor Who series. Its been given moods, personality, even a temper on the odd occassion. I don't see why it should be any different in the game. While you can develop the ideas of the TARDIS' personality over many games, I thought it would be interesting to explore the backstory of the TARDIS in my game.
Consequently, I'm throwing in some 'one off' games in my seasons. Each one will have pre-made characters for the players for that episode only. Each episode will be centered on some part of the TARDIS' history. Its birth, its shakedown flight, its early missions, its participation in the Time War... all leading up to where it was found at the beginning of the Campaign, and perhaps explaining a bit about the consciousness that is now trapped inside its telepathic circuits.
This will also allow me to explore a few things that don't necessarily fit into the campaign itself. Plus, hopefully, it will satify the players interest in Time Lords, Gallifrey, and the Time War. It will give them a chance to participate without disrupting the main campaign.
The first will be called, obviously enough, Birth. In it, a Time Lord engineer will be set to oversee the growth of the TARDIS and will get caught up in a set of intrigues by the High Council and the CIA, and the earliest stages of the Time War. Each group will vie for influence over the construction based on their own agenda.
The Second will be called, also obviously, Shakedown. In it, an experienced Time Lord and a group of technicians will be sent out on a simple temporal tour, working out the glitches in the TARDIS. They will, of course, run into trouble on the fringes as they stumble on a Dalek plot.
The Third I don't have a name for, but it will involve a diplomatic mission, attempting to gain allies for Gallifrey as war becomes inevitable. Perhaps the Eternals, possibly even some 'enemy' that hates the Daleks more than the Time Lords. Sontarans or Vardans might be ideal for this.
The Fourth will be a wartime mission... insertion of a Time Lord Strike team behind enemy lines.
The Fifth will be a routine wartime mission that gets complicated by the arrival of another wartime faction... haven't decided yet whether this will be Faction Paradox, The Celestis, The Remote, or some set of Dalek allies. Perhaps, if I'm feeling *really* ambitious, and *really* want to tie in the BBC books and the Faction, I can introduce Compassion as the antogonist\protagonist. Or, all of the above, just to show how messy it all gets.
The Sixth will be the another intrigue/espionage mission... details are still TBD. This one MAY end up being a sort of betrayal one, where the Time Lords deliberately send the TARDIS and its crew to be a distraction for another, more important action, fully intending the crew and TARDIS to be lost in the execution. This will show the depths to which the Time Lords have fallen to. Perhaps they will be used to unwittingly bring the Could-Have-Been-King into the fray.
The Seventh and Eighth will be the Defense of Gallifrey against the final Dalek assault, and the eventual crash of the TARDIS.
The details aren't fully fleshed out, obviously, but I have time. I'm also open to suggestions about some of the stories\antagonists\etc. The main thing here is that the TARDIS will be central in all of them, even if only an observer. Its the arc of its own history, so the players can see where their vehicle came from and what its experienced.
