[UNIT] Campaign Idea - Why would...

[philibusted]

(Note - spoilers for the fourth season of Doctor Who w/David Tennant below)

I've posted this around the net a few places, but am still a bit lost of my slowly developing idea; unfortunately, I'm a bit stuck.

I'm using the same basic background idea to run two different games. One is your (slightly darker but likely) bog standard Doctor Who, Time lords, Aliens, Companions and adventures, built around a theme.

The other is about a team of UNIT investigators.

Taking place just before the last two episodes of Tennant's run, Rassilon had a group of time lords working on the whole transcendence bit; however, they had a fit of conscience and absconded with pocketwatch-that-accesses-vortex macguffin. (Aka - the PCs of game one; or at least one of them.)

After sending a time lord 'bounty hunter' that I'm tentatively calling 'The Spartan' after those who would disobey him, Rassilon commissioned another group of time lords to pick up where the now-rogue-timelords left off.

Well, something went horribly wrong and instead of transcending time, these time lords grew to subsist on it. So, basically, they are time lord time vampires. (They drink 'moments of time' instead of blood. Please, if this is lame, tell me now!)

So, for different reasons (either revenge for what was done to them, or just a gluttonous desire to feast on the vortex itself via the macguffin), these time lord time vampires are hunting the rogue time lords.

I've decided that the UNIT game will be about them discovering, and (hopefully) defeating one of these time lord time vampires.

My problem right now is trying to figure out why a time lord time vampire would even bother with going to earth; or staying there. I kind of want to do the likely cliche bit where this time lord time vampire has corrupted their boss, too.

Oh great sages of Who! Help me!

(Also - Is it Timelord? Time lord? Time-lord? Thanks!)

[Craig Oxbrow]

Welcome aboard. (And it's Time Lord, by the by.)

It could certainly work...

The Thieves Of Time (Time Vampires) might have developed strange abilities, to freeze time enabling them to appear and disappear at will. Their leader could age something (or someone) to dust with a touch. And perhaps they can restore youth as well, or like the Trickster's insect let people revisit past events in order to feed off their potential - and this could explain the temptation of the UNIT officer, as he's offered a chance to save the life of a loved one who died years ago...

Earth is a point of temporal importance - the Doctor knows this, as do Rassilon and his forces and others like the Master, so sending the Thieves there is quite natural. And what a feast the Doctor would be.

[philibusted]

Craig Oxbrow, you are the man.

Not the one people rebel against; rather, the one they celebrate!

Okay, so, maybe knowing the time significance and what nots, he stumbles upon a 'time rift,' thinking, a) it makes for a good appetizer, b) the TARDIS has to refuel sometime!

Maybe part of his cover was to be the local surveillance person? And... mind blank.

[rev503]

Good Start, expanding a little as a suggestion....
Time Vampires know that theres only a few places to recharge a TARDIS on Earth and so stake them out, preferring temporal rifts because they also allow for snacking without any obvious deaths among the neighbors . UNIT, with it's big files on Time Lords and such (now encompassing 2 warehouses in Cricklewood) knows theres a rift there ans so have a long term surveillance operation going, who notice the Time Vampires.

- Head Time Vampires, wanting to keep things quiet, goes into "lets make a deal" mode and essentially corrupts the 3-4 man UNIT team (promises of restoring dead loves, or transport through time or restoring youth...easy stuff for them but major temptations to the soldiers)

- UNIT team do something to get attention to themselves (member fails a polygraph test, a phone voice stress analyzer is accidentally left on when they phone in a report at UNIT HQ, one of the soldiers commits suicide - actually killed by the Time Vampires because he asked for too much or by the other soldiers for not going along with it)

- Second UNIT team (the players) are sent to investigate and are dropped into the middle of the situation.

- Just when it looks like the players are getting no-where but have evidence that the original team is compromised, they get trapped and are about to be killed (aged, time-locked, paradoxed, dropped 200years in the future) WHEN.....

Original Timelord rebels show up to recharge TARDIS and all hell breaks loose.
theres now a 4 way conflict (bad UNIT team, Time Vamps, Time Rebels, Players) that should involve all sorts of surrealities and an awful lot of running (it is Dr Who after all)