Doctor Who RPG, Revisited
As I will soon by running not one, but two campaigns using Cubicle 7′s Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG, I figured it was a good time to go back over my previous cursory glance at the game and fill in some blanks as to what I like most about it.
Character Creation is Stupid-Simple
Nominally, this game is aimed at new roleplayers and kids. That means it has to be simpler. In addition to a variety of pre-generated characters (The Doctor, most companions from the new series, etc.) there are templates (student, musician, UNIT soldier, Torchwood operative, etc). The templates are on character sheets, so all you need to do is write in a name and some background info and you’re ready to go.
But even if you choose to start from scratch, it’s easy. Point-based character creation is one-for-one; if you buy an Attribute at a rating of 3, is costs 3. Buy it at 5, it costs 5. No wacky math. The point pools are small: 24 for Attributes and Traits, 18 for skills. This means building a character is fast, and the math remains easy. The skill list is small, each skill covering broad strokes. The Traits (equating to Feats, Edges, those types of things found in most modern game design) are probably the most complicated thing for new players, and even those lists are small, well-organized, and kind of obvious to pick from once you have a character concept in mind.
It’s Not Dumbed Down
Just because character creation is easy doesn’t mean it’s not flexible. Savvy players will tinker with Traits to maximize their character, and find ways to use the broad definitions of skills. It’s also Doctor Who; you can create a character from any time in history, anywhere in the universe. The rules cover how to create alien player characters, robots, you name it. If you can think of it, you can build it. There’s a lot of creative wiggle room for experienced roleplayers here.
The System is Elegant
Roll 2d6, add the appropriate Attribute and Skill, beat a target number. Attributes/Skill combinations aren’t permanently fused, so you can mix and match whatever seems to suit the situation. And those numbers are straight up, no factored bonuses. If your attribute is a 3, add 3. If it’s a 5, add 5. The more you beat the target number by, the better you do; the more you miss it by, the harder you fail. Novices and kids will keep it simple. Experienced roleplayers will seek to justify Attribute/Skill combinations and work out narrative explanations for the degree of success or failure.
Initiative Suits the Setting
You don’t roll initiative. it’s not based on numbers at all. It’s based on what you do. Talkers go first, then Runners, then Doers (any action other than fighting), then Fighters. Basically, since Doctor Who is pretty non-violent and preaches reason over killing and maiming, it’s likely the player characters won’t be combat types but the villains will. This gives everyone amply time to talk their way out of it, run, or do something tricky and pseudo-scientific before the bad guys get to shoot. In each of those phases, everyone’s assumed to be going simultaneously. I’ll let the players work cooperatively on not talking over each other, but if it really becomes an issue I’ll let them bid Story Points (which I’ll get to in a moment) to go first.
Story Points Give Players Narrative Control
Players start each adventure with a pool of Story Points — 12, in most cases. If you’ve got a nifty and unusual gadget (like, for instance, a TARDIS), your maximum Story Points are reduced. These automatically replenish between adventures, but within an adventure they get refreshed by meeting character goals and doing cool stuff. I know some people who will probably hate how Story Points work in Doctor Who, but it suits the setting. You can use them to improve rolls, each point spent bumping you up a degree of success. Pretty standard. You can use them fro dramatic editing, the number of points spent being relative to the degree of change or the size of the deus ex machina. The most expensive are 11 or more points. Yes, because characters start with 12 points, if they don’t spend them (or refresh them along the way with good roleplaying and such), the lowliest companion can go “all in”, spend all of their story points, and say “and then THIS happens”. There is potential for this to go horribly awry, of course, but I think it’s neat.
It’s not mentioned in the rules, but I think I’ll allow players to be competitive and cooperative with story points. Someone wants to spend points for something to happen, but you don’t like that? Outspend him. Or spend enough to neutralize him. Have a big plan, but not enough points? Other players who agree chip in to make it happen.
Character Advancement is Subjective
Once again, I know players who won’t like this, but I do because it suits the setting. There is no experience point system. An advancement, from increasing an Attribute to learning or improving a skill to gaining a good Trait or losing a bad one is entirely up to the gamemaster. Characters in Doctor Who tend to grow as people, not in terms of statistics. If you spend an adventure working on repairing a robot, the gamemaster might give you a point in that skill. If you’ve spent all your non-adventuring time working out to get buff, you might eventually get a point added to your Strength Attribute. It happens because the player roleplayed it, it was a big part of a story, and because the gamemaster felt it was appropriate.
TIME LORD
Even the Doctor could eventually run out of time. He was down to his last regeneration, his last life. Long ago, he’d made a decision on how he’d spend it, when it finally came around. A trip down memory lane can be a literal thing for a Time Lord. The Doctor would revisit places that held personal significance to him, drop in on old friends, spend his final days remenciscing, in peace.
