Time Lord: The "Lost" Doctor Who RPG

In the 90s, back in the dark ages of Doctor Who fandom when the show itself was on a razor-thin path that lead eventually to the cancellation of the program, Virgin Books was doing licensed Doctor Who novels. I am not really a huge fan of licensed tie-in novels, I think that (at best) you have to consider them to be in some sort of weird parallel universe where the characters are almost but not quite the characters that you are used to in your movies or TV programs. With Doctor Who, I think this is an easier pill to swallow because there's already parallel universes that are part of the setting.

The Virgin Books period is marked by quirky and inventive storylines that advanced the story of the (then current) Seventh Doctor. Not as quirky as the BBC Books fiction that would follow (the Eighth Doctor Adventures in particular fleshed out a character that only received one appearance on our TV screens).

But during this period, the people at Virgin Books decided to try their hand at a role-playing game set in the Doctor Who universe that they could sell side-by-side with their novels. It was a great idea that, unfortunately, fell short in a few ways. They didn't really market the book as being an RPG, and since it looked like the novels in their trade dress, some bought this and didn't really know what to do with it, since it wasn't actually a novel. The game also wasn't distributed to hobby stores, so gaming fans of the show weren't really exposed to it either. I picked up my copy one year at Origins. I've run it a few times, in the distant past, and while it has some quirky features it was a fun game to play and run.

Intended as an entry level game, the rules do a very good job of explaining themselves and introducing the concepts of role-playing to those who might not know what it is. The rules themselves are fairly simple, with resolution being based around a 2d6 roll (where the lower of the two dice is subtracted from the higher to get a result that is compared to the difficulty). In the original rules, character creation was minimal preferring an approach where the players play the characters from the show. Seeing as how this was intended primarily for fan of the show I can understand this approach. This is not to say that there was no character creation rules in the game, just that they were perfunctory and not very good. In the free PDF release (linked below) the authors tried to make this option more robust, having learned from talk with players of the game that no one liked the character generation rules.

The game does have an extensive list of writeups of Doctors, Companions, aliens and varies nemesis of the Doctor from the first seven regenerations. It does have the advantage of being written during the period when Doctor Who was off the air, so their writeups weren't going to be contradicted by the show. It is an interesting snapshot of the Classic Doctor Who show in this regard.

After Virgin Books lost their Doctor Who license, the game went out of print. No supplements were every published (and as far as I can tell none were ever actually planned). Outside of the current (at the time of this post) Doctor Who game put out by Cubicle 7, this is my only real experience with Doctor Who role-playing, and probably my favorite of these two. While the current Doctor Who game definitely reflects the New Who era, I think that Time Lord is an accurate reflection of Classic era in RPG form. The original authors (with permission of the BBC) put the Time Lord game out on the internet as a free PDF, back in the mid-90s, and it still floats around out there today. Below I've included links to the PDF of the game, along with two fan-produced supplements that expanded and explained some of the rules a bit better. Check these out, and I hope that you enjoy them.

Time Lord: This is the basic game, as originally published by Virgin Books. The PDF is a no art version, since the authors didn't have permission to reproduce the art from the game.

Time Lord Companion: Originally produced as a text file (yeah, welcome to the old days of the internet), this was eventually turned into a PDF. This has some expanded character creation options, and some character writeups and rule expansions.

Time Lord Journies: (Yeah, I know but that's how it was spelled.) This supplement built on the Time Lord Companion and added a number of new character creation options as well. There are also a number of rules clarifications and expansions, from the viewpoint of the author of this fan supplement.

All three of these files are saved up on my Google Drive, so hopefully there shouldn't be any downloading issues. If there are, all that I can say is wait and try again in a bit. It is a free service, so there are bound to be bandwidth limitations at times.

If this post causes you to run games with Time Lord, let me know.leave a comment here or say something about it to me on Twitter or Google+. I want to hear more about your Time Lord games.

DriveThruRPG's OSR Promotion

From Monday, May 13 - Sunday, May 19, DriveThruRPG is going to be running an OSR-related promotion. For this week 10 of the site's best selling old school games will be eligible for an additional 15% savings with the coupon OSRF711F2. This coupon is only good for one week and only on the products listed here. There are some good games to be found on that list. I can recommend Crypts & Things (a Swords & Wizardry variant) and Spellcraft & Swordplay (an excellent old school styled game from Jason Vey. If you don't have either of these games on your gaming pile, you really should. I don't think that I have to suggest picking up the original D&D Basic Rules to anyone.

Dorkland! Roundtable with Patrick Kapera

I spoke with +Patrick Kapera of Crafy Games about many things on the Dorkland! Roundtable. We discussed the history of the development of Spycraft, how that lead to Fantasy Craft and how designers who'd made a book as big as Spycraft 2.0 could then do something as small as the Mistborn Adventure Game. It was a good talk, and it gave some interesting insights into Patrick's and Crafty's processes, as well as looking at how they approach the development of a new RPG.

We had a slight technical glitch at one point, so just bear with us at that point.

The Mini Manor In Review

I received a copy of the zine-formated module The Mini Manor from +Tim Shorts of GM Games, and promptly forgot that I had intended to blog about it. The picture to the right is one that I took of the cover of the 20 page long, 5.5" x 4.23" inch booklet.

Don't let the size fool you because there is a lot packed into the small package.

Written for Swords & Wizardry, as part of the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day festivities, Tim has crafted a fairly standard dungeon crawl into something with a bit more bite by using the modern sensibilities of the DIY zine culture. And I think that's a very good thing. We need to advance fantasy games beyond what they were like 30 years ago and make them into something that is recognizable by us now. In a way, that is what the dungeon and adventure designers of the 70s and 80s were doing with things like the Judges Guild books, or many of the Mayfair Games materials. It is good to see people making their own, rather than just trying to emulate what has gone on before.

The Mini Manor lives up to its name, this dungeon has only eight rooms to it, but they are filled with an interesting take on monsters and situations. The characters wake up, naked, in a room after a night of partying and the action goes from there. There is a bit of a grindhouse feel to this module, so it isn't for the faint of heart (or the young). This is clearly labeled as a "mature audiences" module, and I think that it lives up to that label. This isn't a tee-hee 13-year old sniggering at naked breasts sort of mature, but the real deal.

I won't spoil the module, because I think people should track it down and experience it for themselves. I may have to spring it on my Demon Codex players in a few levels (it says that the adventure works best with 5th level characters). In addition to the module itself, The Mini Manor has a number of new creatures (stated for Swords & Wizardry but easily adapted to any of the old school games), a handful of new magic items, a new spell and a new race. All definitely worth the price of admission. The best part is that you can get the PDF of this for free, however if you can track Tim down and get a physical copy it is worth the effort.

The Eternal Warrior Is Coming From Valiant Comics

 

I know that people have been asking when this was going to happen (I've had a lot of people asking about it in my social media streams). The Eternal Warrior is coming this summer from Valiant Comics, Greg Pak and Trevor Hairsine. You likely know Pak from his longtime work with Marvel Comic, and Hairsine is a great up and coming artist. Greg Pak gave an exclusive interview to Comic Book Resources about the upcoming book.

Dorkland! Roundtable with Sean Fannon

I talked with long time game designer and industry insider Sean Fannon on the Dorkland! Roundtable. He has worn a lot of hats in the gaming business and we tried to talk about as many of those hats as possible in the time that we had.

We also spent some time talking about his upcoming game Shaintar (he even gave us an advanced preview of the cover art sans tradedress):

It was a good talk and we managed to squeeze a lot of Sean's history and current doings into the interview.

Why I Won't Be Seeing Ender's Game

These are all unvarnished or unaltered quotes from Orson Scott Card:

How dangerous is this, politically? Please remember that for the mildest of comments critical of the political agenda of homosexual activists, I have been called a "homophobe" for years.

This is a term that was invented to describe people with a pathological fear of homosexuals — the kind of people who engage in acts of violence against gays. But the term was immediately extended to apply to anyone who opposed the homosexual activist agenda in any way.

A term that has mental-health implications (homophobe) is now routinely applied to anyone who deviates from the politically correct line. How long before opposing gay marriage, or refusing to recognize it, gets you officially classified as "mentally ill"?

 or

And you can guess how long it will now take before any group that speaks against "gay marriage" being identical to marriage will be attacked using the same tools that have been used against anti-abortion groups — RICO laws, for instance.

 or

No matter how sexually attracted a man might be toward other men, or a woman toward other women, and no matter how close the bonds of affection and friendship might be within same-sex couples, there is no act of court or Congress that can make these relationships the same as the coupling between a man and a woman.

This is a permanent fact of nature.

(In another column I will talk seriously and candidly about the state of scientific research on the causes of homosexuality, and the reasons why homosexuality persists even though it does not provide a reproductive advantage.)

There is no natural method by which two males or two females can create offspring in which both partners contribute genetically. This is not subject to legislation, let alone fashionable opinion.

Human beings are part of a long mammalian tradition of heterosexuality. No parthenogenic test tube procedure can alter what we, by nature, are. No surgery, no hormone injections, can change X to Y or make the distinction nonexistent.

That a few individuals suffer from tragic genetic mixups does not affect the differences between genetically distinct males and females.

or

Married people are doing something that is very, very hard — to combine the lives of a male and female, with all their physical and personality differences, into a stable relationship that persists across time.

When they are able to create children together, married people then provide the role models for those children to learn how to become a man or a woman, and what to expect of their spouse when they themselves marry.

When a heterosexual couple cannot have children, their faithful marriage still affirms, in the eyes of other people's children, the universality of the pattern of marriage.

When a heterosexual couple adopts children who are not their genetic offspring, they affirm the pattern of marriage and generously confer its blessings on children who might otherwise have been deprived of its benefits.

And yet if a homosexual couple does these same things it perverts and demeans the sanctity of marriage in the eyes of some. Because:

With "gay marriage," the last shreds of meaning will be stripped away from marriage, with homosexuals finishing what faithless, selfish heterosexuals have begun.

And the ultimate extension of this is that governments who support gay marriage should be brought down through insurrection:

If America becomes a place where our children are taken from us by law and forced to attend schools where they are taught that cohabitation is as good as marriage, that motherhood doesn't require a husband or father, and that homosexuality is as valid a choice as heterosexuality for their future lives, then why in the world should married people continue to accept the authority of such a government?

What these dictator-judges do not seem to understand is that their authority extends only as far as people choose to obey them.

How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn.

One last particularly vile quote from Card (to be found here):

The dark secret of homosexual society -- the one that dares not speak its name -- is how many homosexuals first entered into that world through a disturbing seduction or rape or molestation or abuse, and how many of them yearn to get out of the homosexual community and live normally.

This is where your money goes when you buy one of his novel, support a movie or comic book made from his books, or any other project that has his name on it. Pure and simple, your money goes to support hate. I don't care what the reasons are, that money supports hate. In my book that makes you just as much of a bad person as Card himself. I don't care if you don't like this, but then the opinions of people who promote or support hate of others because of their gender, ethnicity, sexual preference or pretty much anything mean nothing to me.

I don't want to see Ender's Game and I don't want to hear about your rationalizations.

If you're looking for other articles about this, here's a good one.

Dorkland! Roundtable with Ross Watson

I spoke with designer (and soon to be publisher) Ross Watson about a number of things from his time working with companies like Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games on their licensed properties. There is a lot of wisdom in his answers about dealing with licensed properties.

We also spent a lot of time talking about miniatures. It is a pretty well-known fact that I am not a miniatures person, but like the time spent with +Eddy Webb talking about LARPing, I did find it interesting to find out more about an aspect of gaming that I have never engaged with. One of the things that I like about these talks is that I am getting to talk about, and learn about, parts of the overall "stream" of what we all consider to be gaming that I've never dealt with before. Even if it isn't something that I would use in my gaming personally, it is still good to look behind the curtains and see the though processes of others and how they approach their styles of play.

Hopefully this talk will be informative to someone who is an unknowledgeable about miniatures, and I hope that I asked just the right stupid questions.

Whitebox Classes: The Timelord

Every culture on every world throughout time and space have their own myths and legends about the Timelords. Many of these stories hold truths, but as often as not the myths do not tell the whole story. The first species to become "time active" (i.e. be able to move through time and understand its workings) were the people of the planet Gallifrey. Those who use the powers of time, and space, are known as Timelords.

This optional class for your Swords & Wizardry Whitebox games allow you to bring a bit of science fiction (often using the word science loosely) into your games. Don't expect to play the Doctor or the Master, or even many of the other named Timelords of the Who EU, right out of the box. This class assumes someone who has only just recently stolen their own TARDIS, likely inspired by the adventures of the Doctor, and wanted to see the universe as well.

If you don't like the idea of a character who can travel through time and space in your games, then take inspiration from the plight of the Third Doctor and strand them on the game world with a TARDIS that has a burned out dematerialization circuit. The TARDIS can be used as a homebase, and occasionally as a source for tools, but never as a way to find weapons. A Timelord has a 1-6 chance of finding a tool or piece of equipment that they need from their TARDIS.

Level	XP	HD	ST
1	0	1	13
2	3,500	1	12
3	7,000	1+1	11
4	14,000	2	10
5	28,000	2	9
6	56,000	2+1	8
7	112,000	3	7
8	224,000	3	6
9	448,000	3+1	5
10	896,000	4	4

Timelords fight as Thieves.

Timelord Class Abilities

Regeneration: When a Timelord is killed (at zero HP or lower) they do not die, instead they regenerate into a new form. They keep the level they were at when they died, but all of the attribute scores are scrambled. All of the scores have to be changed to a different attribute, once scrambled. The Timelord’s XP is reset to the lowest possible for their level. Regeneration take 1-6 rounds, and interfering with the process will cause the Timelord to be rendered unconscious for 1-8 days.

Saving Throw: Timelords get a +2 to saving throws versus poison, paralysis, or death.

Experience Bonus: The prime attribute for a Timelord is Intelligence. An Intelligence of 15+ grants a bonus of +5% to experience gained.

Benchthumping: A Timelord has the ability to fix a device (technological or arcane) by hitting it, hard and fast, with the flat of their palm. This ability has a 1-6 chance of success. At 5th level, this ability increases to 2-6. On the roll of a 6, the device is broken.

Scientific Knowledge: The Timelord is a master of science and technology. To this end, they have a percentage chance equal to their level plus their Intelligence bonus multiplied by ten to figure out things of a scientific or technical matter. For example a first level Timelord with an Intelligence of 13 would have a 10% of puzzling out some strange scientific matter, while a second level Timelord with an Intelligence of 15 would have a 30% (2 + 1 = 3 x 10 = 30%) of figuring out the same thing. To the Timelord magic is nothing but an unexplained form of science.

TARDIS: All Timelords have access to a type of timeship known as a TARDIS. Those who have gone rogue, i.e. those who have embarked upon a life of adventure, typically have stolen, antique and often malfunctioning ships. In game terms it means that where the Timelord wants to take their TARDIS is rarely under their control, and most often the  referee gets to decide where it goes.

Steffan O'Sullivan's VG (Very Good) Fudge

I was looking for some source files on the Fudge RPG system and, as I usually do when I want to go to the source I checked out Steffan O'Sullivan's (mostly dead and infrequently updated) Fudge Page. While nosing around I found a page that I had never noticed before...a link to something called VG Fudge. It was a very simple variant that SOS came up with for the game, and all that it did was change the Adjective ladder. If you go to the linked page, SOS explains some of his reasoning for making this change...reasoning that I think makes a whole lot of sense.

It's easy to state the change - it's very minor in appearance, though fairly major in application. To put it briefly, in my GMing, I've changed the standard Fudge word ladder to:

• Superb
• Great
• Very Good
• Good
• Fair
• Mediocre
• Poor

That's it. No other major changes. Still seven levels, still easy to remember, still easy to know which is better or worse than any other level.

This was posted in 2011 (which shows how long it has been since I looked seriously at Steffan's website).

He added a level in between Good and Great (hence the "Very Good" name) and took out Terrible as a level. That may not seem like a lot but to someone who has played and GMed Fudge for a long time...that's a pretty big change. Personally, I think that removing Terrible is a much bigger change to the ladder than adding another "positive" level. taking away Terrible decreases, to me at least, the chances of a truly bad result during task resolution and coupled with the addition of the Very Good level (which I admit isn't the best of names) if really brings Fudge games to a whole new (pardon the pun) level. It adds a bit more granularity to the system, which I think is a welcome change to the game and its rules.

I will likely adopt this ladder in my Fudge-based games, although I think that I would probably rename Very Good into something that sounds better. Excellent, maybe? Play with it, and I think that you might find it interesting, too.