Because not everybody has traveled through time and space, most people will not know how to use technology they’ve never seen before or know the history of planets they’ve ever visited. When people start time-traveling they are at a disadvantage in using alien tech or tech from the future or distant past. Same goes with the familiarity of the ways of people. For characters using the skills Alien Data, Computers, Knowledge, Mr. Fix-It, Piloting, and Science, the GM may decide that a modifier should be applied to represent the character’s unfamiliarity with the particulars of this point in time and/or space.
For each century of difference in time for the character, subtract 1 from the roll.
For difference in space, consult the chart below.
DISTANCE IN SPACE____________MODIFIER
Same culture No modifier
Alien culture but share same space -1 to -2
Neighboring alien culture -3 to -5
Have heard of this culture but not engaged them before -6 to – 9
First contact / wholly unfamiliar -10 or worse
Most characters can have whatever it is they want just by asking for it unless it is something that will obviously effect the outcome of most scenarios, such as weapons, armor, or gadgets. For these things, the character must spend Quality Points.
Use the Alien (formerly “Demon” in the Angel core rulebook) Qualities, such as Supernatural Attack or Natural Toughness to create Qualities with similar effects to the desired weapons or armor. This then determines the appropriate amount of Quality points that need to be spent.
However, Alien Qualities cannot be used to create gadgets. Instead, they need to be acquired from a gadgetmaster.
In The Doctor Who Role-Playing Game, the ability to create and use gadgets falls within the sphere of the Gadgetmaster Quality which can be found in the Pulp Zombies supplement for All Flesh Must Be Eaten.
For Doctor Who, this is more likely to be used for dodges and other defenses than for punching out a bad guy.
Setting aside one Gadget Slot that never gets filled for the creation of other gadgets, you can have a device which does nothing besides act as a focus for the expenditure of Drama Points for a Plot Twist, ala the sonic screwdriver. In other words, whenever you need a Plot Twist, you can use your little one-Gadget-Slot Wonder Tool as an excuse for the cause of the twist. Need to unlock a door? Wonder Tool! Need to destroy an electronic lock mechanism fast? Wonder Tool! Need to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow? Wonder Tool! Of course the GM has final say on whether a specific usage will work, just like with all uses of Plot Twist.
Also, using a Plot Twist to acquire a clue about the setting, an NPC, or adversary, can occur like a sudden revelation to the character. For most Companions and non-Time Lord Experts this can be played as if the character observed something the others didn’t because of an expertise or interest they have that the other characters do not.
For Time Lords this can occur like preternatural insight. They know because they are slightly psychic, or they sensed it in the time stream, or merely because they do. Time Lords can also gain insights through a Plot Twist because of their experiences through time travel. Sometimes they know things because they have met famous experts on the subject (“I know this painting is a fake because I was there when Leonardo painted the original”), or because they have first-hand experience with the setting that they forgot to mention (or forgot about) until now (“I know the passwords because I was here 300 years ago and was the one who programmed the computer in the first place”).
This is how you emulate Time Lord Regeneration. All characters have the ability to spend points in this manner, but only Time Lords have the excuse of regeneration. If the character doesn’t have enough Drama Points to return to action immediately, the player and GM can decide that it is the result of the regeneration going wrong and the Time Lord just needs to rest for awhile and heal. If it’s for a long time, then maybe the Time Lord’s companions have to find away to heal the Time Lord until he can return, making their search for the TARDIS healing facilities, or some special element, a scenario in itself.
The GM may also allow the player to change the Drawbacks, and maybe even some Qualities, to represent the new personality of his or her Time Lord, just as long as all the points match up at the end of all the shifting around.
This works like Heroic Feat, but only for gadgets and instruments. Once per session, the character may spend one Drama Point for a +10 bonus after the roll has been made to repair or use a technological device. This represents thwacking the device (either with hand, foot, wrench, hammer, or whatever’s useful or merely brandishing a hammer or fist in a threatening manner in the device’s general direction) to get it to work after all the repair, tuning, setting of coordinates, or what-have-you has been done.
Just doesn’t fit with the general themes of Doctor Who. People don’t regularly get to the end of their rope and then suddenly kick ass on the Daleks.
Experts & Geniuses: 2 experience points for each Drama Point.
Companions : 1 experience points for each Drama Point
In addition to the usual ways of earning a Drama Point through Heroic Acts, the GM might award points for imaginative and non-violent solutions for dealing with dangerous situations.
(The Agony That is Life - Becomes Character Development)
This is not the tragic, but instead the character focused aspect of When Bad Things Happen to Good People. When a character becomes engaged in a subplot that sheds light on one of his or her Drawbacks he or she should be awarded one to three Drama Points every game session where the subplot comes into play. The subplot may reveal something about why this Drawback (or set of Drawbacks) exists for the character (for example, giving insight into the motivations of an adversary or origin of a phobia), but more likely it will be a challenge for the character and test his or her mettle in the face of the Drawback (for example, can they stay in the relationship if they have a Fear of Commitment or will they trust The Doctor if Paranoid?). They should get one point just for the Drawback effecting the character to the point of interfering or effecting the plot of the game. Two points should be awarded if the player works to roleplay the struggle with the Drawback. Three points may be awarded for exceptional “everyone-is-in-tears-and/or-moved” roleplaying (i.e. Rose breaking up with Mickey in “Boomtown”, or The Doctor confronting his adversary at the end of “Bad Wolf”).
The more extreme version of this, which involves action penalties for extreme grief and wallowing in despair, is probably not appropriate for Doctor Who, which can be dark, but doesn’t get very angsty.
This is a more structured and extreme version of Heroic Acts. It requires two parts.
1. The characters (or at least the Time Lord) devise the end-game, the conflict-ending solution that vanquishes the bad guys and/or saves the day whether it is the altering of existing technology, the creation of a new Gadget, or some other creative solution. However…
2. There is one final gambit that the characters (or at least one of them) must face in order accomplish this heroic deed.
Examples: All someone needs to do is flip the switch for the Trans-Mat device and the alien menace will be teleported to another world. But the two mind-controlled guards won’t easily let you near the Trans-Mat control panel. An invading alien force has a hive mind that can be disrupted by a radio wave emitter. However the emitter must be within 5 feet of the Queen Alien and she is guarded by over a hundred of her most lethal warriors. A fissure in space-time is altering and distorting reality. A device has been constructed to amplify the Time Lord’s psychic ability and ability to perceive time flux. This will allow her to close the fissure by the force of her will, but she must enter the fissure to activate the device, which could destroy her mind as well as trap her outside normal space-time.
One to three Drama Points are awarded for coming up with and facing the dangerous task to be accomplished. The more dangerous the task, the more points awarded. Every character who puts him or herself in danger in order to accomplish the mission is given the award – although the number of points awarded may be different for different characters if the GM perceives that they faced different degrees of danger.
Player Characters can give their own Drama Points to NPCs for the NPC to use at some later time. This is to represent the influence the Player Characters have on people in the setting to become actors in history, motivating them to meet challenges or express their true and better selves. If the NPC who was given Drama Points acts and uses them, then the PC who invested those Drama Points is rewarded an equal number of Experience Points. In other words, the PC gets Experience Points if the character they invested in meets the challenge and uses the Drama Points. In order for this exchange of Drama Points to occur the PC must know the NPC’s name for one. The PC must also have a meaningful conversation with the NPC, not just asked the time or told the get out of the way. What “meaningful” means is ultimately up to the GM, however, the conversation can be supportive, sensitive, friendly, or it can be critical, belligerent, and hostile. In any event, the conversation should be sincere and one that gets the NPC thinking about their life, their environment, their morals, dreams, and what action they should be taking to better themselves and their world. The GM may decide an Influence roll is necessary if the PC is deliberately trying to get the NPC to act in a certain way. The PC can give 1 Drama Point per scene. Also, this conversation must happen in a scene other than the one the NPC needs to spend the points in. It’s too late to start up a meaningful conversation when the Cyberman platoon is blasting away at you anyway. Any points a Time Lord gives in this vein are doubled (that is, if the Time Lord gives 1 DP then the NPC gets 2 DPs) because he or she has a keen sense of who should be the actors in time and who shouldn’t be. The Time Lord still only receives one Experience Point for each Drama Point taken out of his or her Drama Point pool however.
Again, because Doctor Who is less angsty than Buffy, you don’t generally see the companions helping The Doctor get over his emotional problems. It’s just not part of the show, so it won’t be part of the game.
For the most part, there doesn't need to be any rolls for TARDIS travel, unless it happens to make the adventure more interesting to not know where the TARDIS is going to end up. But, honestly, the TARDIS is really just the device that gets the characters from one adventure to the next.
What follows, however, are some rules that treat the TARDIS, not as a plot device, but as a vehicle, because it might come up.
Armor Value: 50
Damage Capacity: 150
Handling: 0
Speed: ∞
Toughness: 4
To pilot the TARDIS requires a TARDIS or Piloting skill roll (it’s the player’s choice, although all Time and Space Modifiers apply to a Piloting roll). Whether the TARDIS successfully dematerializes and rematerializes depends on if the character succeeds the roll. If they succeed, the TARDIS moves through time and space just fine. If the roll is failed, then the GM determines exactly what happens and where the characters end up and if any damage was taken. If the GM decides the TARDIS just lands where the TARDIS pilot wished it to, despite the failed roll, the TARDIS takes 10 points of damage that bypass its armor.
MODIFIERS TO TARDIS PILOTING ROLL:
ACTION
MODIFIER
For Jump Type:
Movement through space -1
Movement through time -1
Interdimensional movement -2
Microjump* only -1
Jump pre-recorded and computer-controlled +2
For Destination:
Gallifrey +2
Other well-known destination +1
For Operator:
Distracted, rushed, or nervous -1 to -3
Impaired, ill, or injured -1 (otherwise apply injury modifiers)
Extra careful +1
*A micorjump is a very small change of position in space/time, requiring exceedingly fine control. Micorjumps are necessary to move the TARDIS a short distance in less than one kilometer in space, less than one year in time or both.
If the roll succeeds, the TARDIS still might not end up where the characters want it to. The Success Level of the TARDIS/Piloting roll determines the precision of the landing.
SUCCESS LEVEL
PRECISION OF LANDING
1 Somewhere in the system, century
2 Somewhere on the planet, within the decade
3 Somewhere on the continent, within the year
4 Somewhere in the city, within the day
5 Somewhere in the building, within the hour
6 Exact point in time/space to the meter/second
If the jump wasn’t precise enough, but it’s important that the TARDIS land right where the pilot needs it to, either for the sake of the story or because the players really want it to land where they want it to, the GM can determine that the TARDIS lands where the TARDIS pilot wants it to land. However, the TARDIS takes damage equal to the difference between the Success Level of the roll and the Success Level required for the precise landing. This damage bypasses armor. For example, The Doctor wants to land the TARDIS on Earth, London, 2005. He needs to make a TARDIS skill roll with 4 Success Levels. His TARDIS skill roll is successful, but he only gets 2 Success Levels. In order to get to London, and as long as he’s not fussy about where in London, the TARDIS has to take 2 points of damage.
Instead of damage, the GM can alternatively decide that one of the TARDIS systems has a temporary malfunction, which usually lasts for the extent of the game session. Consult the TARDIS Damage Chart to determine which system is kaput for the moment.
The TARDIS sensors can detect an enormous array of phenomena and can even extrapolate data to forensic detail. To use the sensors to scan or understand an environment for things that aren’t obvious, a character must make a TARDIS or Science roll (it’s the player’s choice, but all Time and Space Modifiers apply to the Science roll). The player must explain specifically what it is he or she is looking for, and, if pertinent, how. The Success Levels of the roll determine how much information the character is able to extrapolate from the sensors.
Treat using the TARDIS computers to gain information about an alien species, a star system, or what-have-you, in the same manner as Occult Research in the Buffy game and treat the TARDIS Computers as a Good Occult Library.
What can hurt the TARDIS? Well, supposedly it is “practically invulnerable”. However, it does have force fields and the Hostile Action Displacement System (HADS), which dematerialize the TARDIS when in the presence of imminent danger and rematerializes it at another location. So, the presumption is the some things can hurt the TARDIS. Specifically:
External Damage: Anything that causes real world structural damage can theoretically harm the TARDIS, such as guns, artillery, falls (see Armageddon pg 136), explosives (see Armageddon pgs 154-157). However they still need to get through an Armor Value of 50 to cause any damage and that won’t be easy.
In-Flight Damage: This is the damage caused by phenomena in space, hyperspace (which the TARDIS can enter, although rarely), the temporal vortex or by other accidents of travel. Such phenomena include catastrophic displacement (aka materializing inside solid objects), strong temporal forces and energy fields, radiation, resisting tractor beams, gravity wells, temporal interference. The amount of damage is determined by the GM. Sometimes such damage surpasses armor.
For every 10 points of damage done to the TARDIS (whether accumulated or all at once), roll on the TARDIS Damage Chart to see which systems are effected by the damage. Unless the chart indicates otherwise, whatever system is rolled on the chart completely fails until 10 points of damage are repaired.
MINOR SYSTEMS
1 – Weight/Mass Control
2 – Internal Architechture System
3 – Doors
4 – Sensors
5 – Internal Weapons Deactivation Systems
6 – Chameleon Circuit
7 – Communication systems/Media
8 – Cloister Bell / Alerts
9 – Computer System
10 – Roll on Major System
MAJOR SYSTEMS
1 – Main Power System (TARDIS dead)
2 – Time/Space Navigation Control (-1 to Piloting Rolls)
3 – Roll Twice for Minor Systems
4 – Time Rotor (Can’t materialize – Dematerialize)
5 – Force Field (No armor value reduction of damage)
6 - Roll Twice for Minor Systems
7 – Life Support
8 – HADS
9 - Time/Space Navigation Control (-1 to Piloting Rolls)
10 – No Damage
Repairs work just like the Doctor Skill. For every Success Level on a TARDIS or Mr. Fix It roll (it’s the player’s choice, but all Time and Space modifiers apply to the Mr. Fix It roll) a point of Damage Capacity is restored to the TARDIS. This roll can only be made once per day.
This is a new group way to spend Drama Points in order to get out of a jam. Basically, the group spends enough Drama Points to collectively total 30 and the TARDIS does something miraculous to save the characters. The heart of the TARDIS, its enigmatic and glowing power source, must be exposed, either during repair or damage. The telepathic “soul” of the TARDIS makes a decision in desperation, usually gaining inspiration for the act by reading the minds of the characters involved in the danger. In game terms, the GM determines the nature of this miracle, and just what the “God in the Machine” does.
The downside: the TARDIS takes 30 points of damage, which bypasses armor, since this is something it was never, ever designed to do. Oh, and the Deus Ex Machina may (read this as “most likely will”) cause the death of a character who was exposed to the power source, especially if the powers of the Deus Ex Machina operate through that character. The GM will have to judge the situation.
Dalek Time Travel devices
Human based Time Travel