Reviewing Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time No. 1

Fifty years of Doctor Who, Who (no pun intended) would have thought that it would have lasted this long and had such a lasting impact on science fiction and entertainment.

IDW Publishing is part of the celebration for this 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who with their twelve part mini-series Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time. Each incarnation of the Doctor will be featured in a story and then (hopefully) we will get the "team up" that Who fans cannot get in real life: a meeting of all eleven incarnations of the Doctor.

This first issue starts at the "beginning," with the First Doctor (as played by William Hartnell from 1963-66) getting involved in an altercation with a classic Doctor Who monster. The Doctor and his companions (Barbara, Ian and Vicki...I am a bit disappointed that this story didn't feature his granddaughter Susan instead) travel back to London in 1868 to hear a lecture from Thomas Huxley. This is an excellent nod by the writers (Scott and David Tipton) to Doctor Who's start as an educational program geared towards teaching about history.

In typical Doctor Who fashion, things quickly go wrong and aliens get involved. I know, reducing it down to one sentence like that makes the comic sound more cliched than it actually was to me. This was my first time reading one of IDW's current Doctor Who comics, in the past I just picked up some of the reprint collections. The Tiptons definitely know their way around a Doctor Who story, quickly immersing the story in the tropes of an early Doctor Who story. The handling of the characters is spot on. Vicki is her typically condescending self, making sure to point out how much better educated she is than the people of the time period they are visiting. Ian is square-jawed and heroic, providing the muscle needed at times in these early adventures. Barbara is, well, Barbara...and being the Doctor's general sense of empathy. The villain of this story is a direct followup to a Doctor Who serial from 1965. I would tell you the identity of the alien but I want to leave something for the readers.

The story is fast paced, probably much faster paced than the First Doctor serials were, but that is not a bad thing. People do expect faster paced stories these days, particularly fans of the newer version of Doctor Who where the stories are in and out in a single episode, rather than the multipart serials of the classic show.

Is this comic worth getting? Definitely yes. If you are a fan of Doctor Who and your exposure to the earlier incarnations of the character has been limited, this comic is a good way to learn more about the earlier incarnations of the character (so far at least). The characterizations in this story are in line with the characters that I remember from the old serials. The story is reminiscent and the aliens are taken directly from a Doctor Who serial. The portrayal of the First Doctor is spot on with my remembrances of how William Hartnell played the character. This Doctor is just as crotchety and willful as Hartnell's character was.

There is an overarching story, with a shadowy villain manipulating things from behind the scenes, someone with a vendetta against the Doctor. Nothing much is revealed of the villain, but I am hoping for a classic bad "guy" like the Master, the Valeyard, or even the Rani. I am really hoping for the Valeyard, but I can understand that might be just a wee bit too obscure of a character. Time will tell.

Go out and get this comic.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Dorkland! Roundtable With Tim Kirk

I talked with +Tim Kirk, creator of the super-hero RPG Hearts & Souls about his game, his history as a gamer, comics and what lead him to create his game. If you don't know about Tim or his game (particularly if you are a fan of comic book super-heroics), you definitely need to check it out.

Let's Talk About Atlas Games' WaRP: The Wanton Role-Playing System

Let's talk about the WaRP system from Atlas Games. For those who may not know, these are the rules, now released under the OGL, that powered Atlas' groundbreaking game Over The Edge. For me, Over The Edge was really one of the first freeform and rules light games that really clicked for me. Over The Edge came out in 1992, designed by +Jonathan Tweet and then revised by +Robin Laws. Over The Edge was a weird game, with a setting that is strange even for RPGs, and the light approach to the rules for the game really benefited that weirdness. By focusing on a stripped down approach to the system it meant that players (and game masters) could come up with strange concepts for characters (I once ran an Over The Edge game at a convention where the characters were all different media incarnations of the author Hunter S. Thompson, racing against time to solve a murder on the streets of Al Amarja, the default setting of the game) without having to worry about having to rationalize their ideas within the framework of the game's systems. It is like Hassan I Sabban's famous quote "Nothing is true, everything is permitted."

Many game systems have the mindset of "If it is not covered by rules, it is not permitted." With a system like WaRP, that is turned on its head with the idea that the rules are there to help and to guide, but not to limit. That's a sensibility that was once much more prevalent in the design of RPGs that I think people have lost over the years. For some, the idea that rules have to cover every distinct possibility that could ever arise during a gaming session means that they are protected from unfairness, either from the rules themselves or by those who run the games. Sadly, no matter how explicit rules may be, or how many of them that there are in a game, ultimately they will not be able to stop someone who wants to make their fun more important than the others at the table.

WaRP uses an idea of defining characters with fairly freeform, and player-defined, traits. Fans of more contemporary games like PDQ or Fate will recognize the DNA of these ideas within those games. Each character is defined by four traits, one of them a disadvantage of some sort or another. Each of these traits has a physical "sign" or tell that helps to define the character's physicality. This way, the interior life of the character informs the exterior. It is an elegant way to cover many steps in a streamlined fashion. Physical traits (like Tough, Former Soldier, Boxer, and the like) also help to define the hit points of a character. Traits can also determine if a character has special or exceptional powers and abilities (called Fringe Powers in the game). Fringe Powers can cover anything and everything from psychic abilities to magic to the powers of super-heroes to the extraordinary abilities of aliens and extradimensional beings. And WaRP does all of this in 28 pages (which includes the OGL as well).

Developed for a surrealistic game of conspiracies and strangeness, this basic engine can be used to cover a lot of different sorts of games. It can be used for playing super-heroes. Author +trey causey has been using it to run online games set in his excellent Weird Adventures setting. By the way, I cannot recommend Weird Adventures highly enough if you are a fan of the heroic pulps and the fantasy literature that informed the creation of D&D. WaRP is a flexible gaming system that has a lot of juice in it. If you haven't checked it out before, I suggest doing that now and maybe checking out Over The Edge, or the supplements for the game that Atlas Games has produced over the years. If you're looking for a simple and streamlined game that's different from all of the D&D-inspired games available and yet has had a huge influence on lighter, more story-oriented styles of gaming, you really should check this game out.

From The Fevered Imaginings of Rafael Chandler Comes The Teratic Tome!

Looking for cool monsters for your old school games? Look no further than Evolved Grottoes & Griffons: Teratic Tome from +Rafael Chandler. This volume of new and original monsters was created for use with OSRIC, but as we all know it can easily be adapted to any old school game, with a little bit of effort.

Demon Knights 16

Even though Paul Cornell (of Doctor Who and a multitude of comics from both Marvel and DC Comics), has moved on from the book he created for DC Comics' New 52, the Demon Knights continues under the writing of Robert Venditti (of X-O Manowar and the indie comic Surrogates, which was made into that Bruce Willis movie that you may have seen).

Demon Knights #16 kicks off a new story and a new creative team. Decades have passed since the action of Cornell's run on the book, and the Demon Knights (at least in the beginning of the issue) are no more. Once again, with Demon Knights we have a fantasy book woven into the tapestry of the new DC Universe. Familiar characters of Horsewoman, The Shining Knight and Exoristos all reappear early in the book.

The menace of the story comes from the recently cancelled I...Vampire book, with Cain, the first vampire of the new DC Universe, crossing Europe with a growing army of vampires. They are moving across the world, searching for Themyscira (the name of the island probably best known as Wonder Woman's Paradise Island), so that he can add the Amazons to his undead army of vampires and conquer the world. Obviously the Demon Knights will have to band together again and stop him.

The one flaw to doing a fantasy story in a fictional world's past, rather than in some alternate dimension like with the Amethyst stories, is that you know that the heroes stopped things because of the fact that the current world isn't being run by vampires. That does take away a bit of the drama of the story, for me at least. However, Venditti does an excellent job of working with the tools that he has in this comic. Cornell's initial run on Demon Knights was one of the high points of the New 52 from DC Comics for me, and Venditti does not disappoint with his follow up. He has big shoes to fill but he steps right into them with a story arc that looks to be every bit as epic as those done under the previous writing team.

Bernard Chang's art is very good in this book, as well. His characters are well drawn and their faces are expressive and emotive. His action imparts a feeling of action and movement onto the page. Weirdly, when I picked up this issue I thought that Chang's cover had a certain Kevin O'Neil (of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Marshall Law fame) quality to it. That didn't extend to the interior art.

Is this comic worth picking up? I say yes. Robert Venditti and Bernard Chang have created a compelling and engaging second act to a comic book that was one of the best of DC Comics' relaunch. It is a comic that I want to keep reading and buying. I hope, with the continued success of fantasy-oriented books from DC Comics like Demon Knights and Sword of Sorcery that we will get to see the return of further fantasy characters from the DC catalog like Travis Morgan, Warlord.

Deities and Demigods Returns

As I blogged earlier today (while still asleep I might add), Wizards of the Coast and OneBookShelf/RPGNow/DriveThruRPG unleashed upon the gaming world a new site: dndclassics.com. Using a customized interface for D&D fans, WotC has begun the rollout of classic D&D materials for every edition in PDF form. These are brand new scans: with bookmarks and internal hyperlinking. Of the batch that was in the free reviewer downloads, one PDF stood out for me: Deities & Demigods for AD&D. This book was my one gamer's regret. I had a copy of the first printing (with the Cthulhu Mythos and Elric stuff), but I had to sell it during my college years to help offset the ridiculous price of textbooks.

I've missed that book and it is one of the treasures of gaming, which of course means that it is horribly expensive to try to recover (if someone has a copy that they want to let go of).

DnDClassics.com Is Real!

This just in from the people at OneBookShelf/DriveThruRPG and Wizards of the Coast. In light of the leaks and reveals of last week, I am sure that people will find this interesting.

Greetings,

At our Gen Con 2012 keynote address, Wizards of the Coast was pleased to announce that in early 2013 we would be releasing the first wave of D&D backlist products in electronic format.

Today, Wizards of the Coast together with DriveThruRPG, is thrilled to announce the official launch of Dungeons & Dragons Classics, a new online PDF store containing classic content from every edition of D&D, including fan-favorite supplement materials and iconic adventures. A one-stop-shop for classic D&D content, DnDClassics.com offers an easy way to access and download favorite titles electronically by computer, mobile phone, or tablet (including iPads).

How does it work? It’s easy! Simply create an account* and instantly gain access to a wealth of D&D titles. There are 80 titles available at launch, with smaller batches of additional titles being released on a rolling basis starting in early February.  Favorite titles can be downloaded to an online Library or saved to a “Wish List” for purchase later. Most titles can also be printed. Settings can also be customized and users can opt to get email alerts whenever favorite publishers or topics get new items (*Users can also sign-in using their DriveThruRPG.com or RPGNow.com login).

We encourage you to share this exciting news with your readers. For more information, check-out DnDClassics.com or visit Wizards.com.

Thanks,

Sheila Tayebi
For Wizards of the Coast

More as things develop, but it will be good to see the classics of D&D back in "print" again. More on this as it develops.

Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game

I don't point to other sites and say "Download this!" very often, but a recent post made by +Erik Tenkar over at his blog made me realize that I should post about Basic Fantasy here at the blog, and talk about it more. I think part of the reason that I don't push things more is that I'm not really an OSR person, so I don't feel the need to talk about games unless it is during play.

When I made my recent return to fantasy role-playing this year, one of the things that I really wanted to look for were games that were simple and streamlined. Not to knock those who like rules heavy games with a lot of crunch to them, that approach just doesn't appeal to me. Because of this, I starting looking more closely at a lot of retroclones. For my online game, I eventually ended up settling on Swords & Wizardry, but Basic Fantasy was a close second. A very close second.

This game is a retroclone, in a strict sense, but the game (and the community of fan developers that have sprung up around it) doesn't shy away from "newer" ideas, like skills, classes beyond the ones from old school games and the pages of old Dragon magazines. The people take the game into the directions that they want to go, and I respect that. If there were flaws to Basic Fantasy and its community, I would say that it would probably be that there hasn't been the branching into other genres for the game (like Goblinoid Games has done with Mutant Future). It isn't like that cannot be done with Basic Fantasy, but it is interesting that it hasn't been done yet. Maybe I just haven't seen it. I will admit that I don't spend a lot of time around forums, so I could have missed something on the site's forums.

What is amazing about Basic Fantasy and the fan community around it is the sheer volume of material that is available for free, in PDF and in the OpenDocument format used by LibreOffice. It has embraced open gaming and run with it. There are so many campaigns, modules and rules supplements that are available on the Basic Fantasy downloads page that you could easily run a game for years, and not have to pay for a single thing. You can buy print versions of the core rules, and some of the modules on Lulu.com, and if you like what you see on their site I really recommend throwing some monetary support their way. I've been thinking of picking up a print copy of Basic Fantasy as a birthday gift for myself. I really should get around to doing that.

Sort of like with my post about Warrior & Wizard, this is one of those retroclones that sort of slips through the cracks in discussions about these things. With Basic Fantasy, I think a lot of that is because the creator doesn't have all of his stuff up on RPGNow/DriveThruRPG, like some of the other retroclone/OSR publishers. I like the attitude of doing it themselves, it hits that DIY mentality that I like so much, but I thought that it would be nice to also give them a little bit of a mention outside of their circles. If you want a well-done free RPG that is every bit as good as any of the other OSR/retroclone stuff being sold (or offered for free) out there, and you haven't checked out the +Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, you really should check it out now. You're missing out.

Dorkland! Roundtable with Steven Kenson

I don't think that +Steve Kenson requires much of an introduction from me, not to fan of role-playing games at least. He is personally responsible for two popular super-hero role-playing games (Mutants & Masterminds and Icons), as well as having designed supplements for Shadowrun, GURPS, d20 and other systems. He's also written novels and blogs. He is a one man RPG industry. Kidding aside, Steve is a really nice guy, very engaging to speak with, and probably one of the friendlier people that I know in the gaming business.

He has recently, in addition to his work with Green Ronin, reclaimed the rights to streamlined and almost old school super-hero RPG Icons and entered into the realms of being a publisher. His first Kickstarter for his first self-published Icons supplement. I managed to convince Steve to take some time out of his busy schedule to speak with me on the Dorkland! Roundtable, and although YouTube did try to eat the resulting video...it has survived for you to watch it now.

I hope that you enjoy. Also, don't forget to compliment Steve on his "dress" hoodie.