Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space

Role-playing games Whartson Hall
#1

In an ideal world I would probably use this version of the theme:

but then again, this is Whartson Hall, so probably this is more appropriate:

Yes, we’ve been playing Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, the third iteration of a Doctor Who RPG. And… actually I rather like it. And not only because I have appropriate dice for it. (Via The Dice Lab.)

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Session 00 - You Didn’t Actually Compare Yourself To Bogart?: Character generation, and our motley crue find themselves in a seaside village where things are just a bit strange.

Session 01 - A Creature Built Almost Entirely From Wood and Plastic: The funfair turns out to be neither, but the cafe owner has some suggestions.

Session 02 - A Solution That Will Blow You Away: You’d be surprised just what you can find under a funfair…

Session 3 - (Stormrise) Laying Hole: A return to this lightweight game with a couple of new players. What’s going on in the Kent village of Batterlee?

Session 4 - (Stormrise) Rosa Parks, Gundam Pilot: The storm is getting worse. Better head for the pub.

Session 5 - (Stormrise) We Seem To Be Surrounded: One problem down. How many to go?

Session 6 - (Stormrise) We Weren’t Forming A Gestalt Entity: Just how much trouble can you get into in one small kitchen?

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#2
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#3

Don’t make me post Doctor In Distress.

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#4

Don’t make me post SPLINK! :grin:

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#5

Session 01 - A Creature Built Almost Entirely From Wood and Plastic: The funfair turns out to be neither, but the cafe owner has some suggestions.

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#6

Maybe this variant:

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#7
#8

I have to say that repeatedly hearing John and Martin address me by name while I was listening was as disorienting as the semi-traditional surfeit of Johns.

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#9

4692631572_03f0dd0256-01

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#10

Right, time for the nuclear option.

[edited for available version, though this isn’t the original video]

If you don’t already know why this is so bad, here’s an explanation:

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#11

I thought the first six seconds were very promising.

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#12

Personally, I feel the song and video perfectly encapsulate my feeling for the show itself.

#13

I expect the same can be said for this DVD cover from the other Doctor in Distress:

SY445

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#14

Session 02 - A Solution That Will Blow You Away: You’d be surprised just what you can find under a funfair…

I’m definitely interested in running more of this system - it’s nice and lightweight, but doesn’t get in the way of me GMing pretty much the way I want to.

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#15

I’m not sure it’d work without having such a strong background, but definitely good fun to play :grinning:

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#16

I don’t know. Other than the conceit of who has the initiative I’m not sure it relies on Who’s setting very much, certainly not enough that it would work with that but not with something else.

#17

I would argue that the best of the new series can hold up to the best of the old series. “The Empty Child” and “Day of the Doctor” probably top my list of best NuWho. There have also been a few quite good episodes exploring the Doctor as an element of public consciousness, a type of story that they just didn’t do until late in the original run with “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.”

And I had a serious crush on Sophie Aldred in the 80s. Not really a reflection on either her character or her acting abilities, but it did (and does) enhance the watchability of McCoy’s last two seasons.

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#18

Purely personally I don’t think I view it quite as a quality issue of new vs old. Lots of original Who was painfully awful; some was sublime; much was entertaining nonsense. I prefer the slower pace of old and the multiple cliffhanger format, but I could also point to numerous stories that were padded out and grew tiresome. I do prefer the Doctor not to be the apparently omnipotent entity he has become though. Much more fun when there was a bit of mystery and he was bumbling about in a box.

Things moved on and I doubt that the pacing and approach of old Who would be relevant to kids discovering the show today; and ultimately it’s a kids’ show. I had my Who and loved it, so it’s only fair to let them have theirs.

#19

I get my players to roll double Awareness for the generic Notice roll. The one dice roll/stat Dr Who doesn’t have but feels as if it should is Luck. I guess the players are meant to spend story points instead of rolling Luck, but Luck roll as GM decision making was something I missed.

The edition of the game I’ve got says a Dodge roll lasts for the whole round. There’s an example of Mickey being shot at by 3 cybermen, and his dodge result counts against all of them. To make for less book keeping I have hit point trackers for several of the major monsters (daleks, cybermen, sontarans, etc) with the average result for their dodge written on them.

I can email folk the hit point tracker sheets if anyone wants them.

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#20

@MrTim - to me the old series was mostly the result of pros doing their jobs, then going on to the next thing. Towards the end, when it got into the hands of the fans (well, one fan in particular), it became too self-referential and impressed with its own premises. And the new series, which is made by people who regard themselves as fans of Doctor Who, suffers for the same reasons: it takes itself too seriously, because to a long-term Who fan it’s obvious that the programme is the Most Important Thing Ever. It’s part of their world-view. I don’t think the new show is entirely without merit but I haven’t been watching it for a few years and it would take a lot to bring me back.

But then, as @BigJackBrass says, they’re not making it for me.

@DrBob - I’d definitely be interested in those sheets. I do still find some of the fiddly details unclear, but on reflection I agree with you on dodges - if you have to defend against each attack separately, it’s easy for the larger party to stun-lock the smaller one simply by combining multiple attacks onto them so that their actual actions get a huge penalty.

This definitely looks like the best of the three official Doctor Who RPGs – though I admit I’ve never even tried to play the FASA one.