Time Travel Time Travel excerpt The mechanics of time travel in Doctor Who are discussed in two papers of PDE's. The most important elements, from the point of view of creating new stories, are these: * Time Lords can create separate universes, of which a TARDIS is a type that can materialise a physical gateway into our universe. * A TARDIS is an artificial intelligence of mind-boggling power. * Its nanocircuits are built into the pocket universe in which it exists; the physical structures within which a TARDIS's occupants live and work are created and maintained by the TARDIS's intelligence. * The controls and components that the Time Lord uses and repairs are merely physical analogues, scaled up for ease of handling by a Gallifreyan, of the microscopically; small or even trans-dimensional workings of the TARDIS (but physical damage to these analogues does, of course, cause damage to the TARDIS). * It is impossible and/or dangerous to travel into the past - in other words into Gallifrey's past, the past as seen from the viewpoint of the Time Lord in question - because the past has happened, and it has caused the present. If the past is altered, the present will inevitably change, with potentially catastrophic results including the immediate cessation of the existence of the Time Lord himself. Luckily, however, Gallifrey is by a long way the earliest civilisation, and therefore virtually all of the history of the universe, including the entire story of the human race, is in the future of any particular Time Lord. There are risks in tampering with the future, too, but unlike the past the future is to some extent malleable - after all, it hasn't happened yet. Timeline Get it from: ftp://frontios.niagara.edu/pub/Doctor_Who/matrix/timeline --------------------------------------- Characters Depending on the campaign, you may play the Doctor, or his companions, or soneone else. This section deals with making up those someone elses. Note that references will be made herein not only to *GURPS Basic Set* (referred herein as B) but also *GURPS Ultra-Tech* (referred herein as UT), *GURPS Time Travel* (referred herein as TT), and *GURPS Supers* (referred herein as S). For reference purposes, short explanations will be given concerning some material used from these books, but it is recommended that for a deeper understanding of these points that one refer directly to those books. Concept You first need to come up with a concept for your character. You may chose any time, any place on Earth or the stars. Ask your Game Master which races are available in your campaign. Make note of what planet the character is from and what it's like there. You might want to look at the list of visited and mentioned in the series. Another good resource for Time Lords is Virgin Publishing's . Virgin Publishing picked up the ball when the BBC stopped making new Doctor Who adventures. Point Level GURPS assumes that everyone starts out with the same number of points. This may or may not be true in your campaign. See the Time Lords vs. Companions discussion, in Campaigns. Depending on your campaign, about 400-700 points would be good for a young Time Lord out on his first trip. Companion characters that are true to the series would be worth around 100 points. Level Campaign Point Level. To equal out things between a Time Lord/Companion combo, you could shave some points off a Time Lord's abilities and also introduce a string of Enemies disadvantages (each -30 or so each: Sontarans, Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors), and bring a Time Lord out of the clouds. In a 150-200 point campaign, the Time Lord(s) will have a limited number of points for skills and abilities, and thus need the help of their companions to get through an adventure. In a 250-300 point campaign, the Time Lord(s) have more options, although the companions are by no means helpless. Higher totals puts very experienced Time Lords alongside near-super powered beings, which if your campaign consists of squads of Daleks at every turn might be appropriate... The above assumes the characters want to play normal people that the Time Lord(s) picked up along the way. Players wishing to use more unusual characters, perhaps psis or cyborgs, might have to have an Unusual Background (see below) charge assessed to their characters to maintain some balance. Note that by its very nature, a GURPS Doctor Who campaign is of somewhat higher cost than a normal GURPS game. As GURPS can be a somewhat messy game when combat breaks out, GMs might wish to consider a "cinematic" style of gaming in order to keep the tone light. Unless, of course, you're trying to recreate the Colin Baker era... Unusual Background Suggested Unusual Backgrounds Psionic character 10 Points Bionic character (not major) 30 Points Robotic character 50 Points Alien character var Gallefreyan 20 points + High Tech Unusual Background High tech homeworld: 5 per Tech Level above campaign Tech Level Races There are alien races out there that are friendly yet inhuman looking, you just don't see them much in the TV series. I noted a few friendly species below. * The Thals (Skarosians) Native to the same planet where the Daleks came from (from the first history) * The Pels (residents of Peladon) * Alpha Centaurians (big one eyed catepillars with high pitched voice) * The Kaleds (Skarosians) Native to the same planet where the Daleks come from (From the second history) * The Alzarians (Terradonians/Marshmen/Spiders) (Adric) He's from a race of creatures that were originally swamp creatures, but took over a cashlanded space ship and evolved into a human like form. His race heals quickly and can physically adapt to new environments with incredible speed. * The Tharils E-space man-lions enslaved by other E-spacers. * The Trakenites (Nyssa) var High Tech Level world: TL 12 * Trionites (Vislor Turlough) var High Tech Level world: TL 10? 9? * The Vulpanans * Vulpanan Werewolves (like Mags) Maybe not exactly like these werewolves - but the idea of a werewolf on a TARDIS could work well. Reactions What is the character's purpose in life? Why does (will) the character choose to break from ordinary(?) life and venture into time and space? You're probably soon be facing terrifying monsters, different worlds, and even worse - the Doctor himself! How will your character react to these freaks- er, strange people? Wealth & Status Characters from the series traditionally haven't had much in the way of material things other than a few useful items (Ace's bat and nitro-9, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, Leela's Janus thorn). One notable item should be mentioned here - the TARDIS itself! An item beyond wealth, this powerful object shouldn't be considered part of any one adventurer's gear (or even a patron, although it is more of a person than object). The TARDIS is, well, what GURPS TARDIS Adventures is all about! If it affects anyone, as far as points go, it affects all characters and therefore it is taken for granted that the TARDIS is part of the group. A different campaign, one with an empty TARDIS, or with a wholly different time travel device, would allow for wealth & poverty. In a campaign with a TARDIS simmular to the Doctor's, however, would be very different! In such a campaign, wealth would not be allowed. With the storage capabilities of a TARDIS, and how much time the Doctor has had to build up a collection, the companions could have access to a universe of expensive items. What if you want to still have Wealth or Poverty? Don't have a TARDIS chock full of easily accessable high tech goodies. Note the "easily accessable" part. The moment your PCs start in on a quest to get an inventory of the TARDIS, they've begun on a whole new adventure. Getting lost all the time would be a major deterrent. Innocent looking yet dangerous items could get the characters incapacitated or killed if they aren't careful! Never SAY you're trying to stop them from accessing the vast resources deep in the TARDIS - just make it a real pain for them to get any of it. Attributes Converting from Time Lord GURPS Time Lord GURPS damage 6 1 d-3 8 2 d 10 3 d+2 12 4 2d 15 5 3d 20 6 5d 30 7 10d Converting from FASA's Doctor Who game Any suggestions? Advantages The universe of Doctor Who has no magic in it. Advantages and disadvantages dealing with magic are not appropriate in a Doctor Who game. Hard To Kill B.236 With all the scrapes the doctor and his companions have gone through, the Whoniverse definitely needs this advantage. Danger Sense B.20 This is the Time Lord RPG's Intuition ability. Legal Enforcement Powers B.21 This advantage requires a campaign to have legal enforcement agencies that regularaly affect the characters. The Time Lords would be an option, if they actually had time police men. Enter the Celestial Intelligence Agency (CIA). Patron B.24 You may opt to have the Doctor be an NPC patron. However, everyone in the group would also have this advantage, therefore making it the norm for the campaign and unnecessecary to record on everyone's character sheet. I shouldn't have even written this down. Reputation B. 23, B. 17 This advantage is variable, depending on how frequently the reputation would come into play. With the vast traveling across time and space that one would do in a Doctor Who campaign, it would be difficult indeed to build up a reputation, unless you're a character like the Doctor or the Master. If your campaign is stationary, this advantage can easily come into play. Unusual Background: From a future time 5/TL Depending on what your GM decides about the Tech Level of your campaign, this advantage could come into play. This advantage is worth 5 points per Tech Level above the campaign's. Although advanced knowledge is useful, it brings with it a penalty to all the character's Tech Level dependant skills when working in a lower Tech Level, as reflected on B. 185. New Advantages Lucky Mechanic 50 Points This is a cinematic advantage. A Lucky Mechanic is a tinkerer who knows his own tech level of mechanics pretty well, and just lucks out at all other tech levels. Although the Lucky Mechanic wonšt really understand it, he can repair or (fate willing) construct a device from any other tech level or MacGuffin his way out of a techno trap. The mechanic must have a skill directly related to the task at hand - but he doesn't need to learn it at any other tech level if it is a TL dependant skill. MacGuffin 30 Points This is a cinematic advantage. This is the ability to build gadgets out of available parts to be able to defeat an enemy or get out of a sticky situation. To be able to use MacGuffin, the character must know about the technology hešs trying to create. For instance, if you wanted to make a bomb out of the chemicals lying around in the storeroom youšre locked in, you need to know chemistry and demolitions. To make an electronic detinator out of some radio parts, youšd need demolitions and electronics. Massive Scientific Knowledge 300 Points This is a cinematic advantage. An alternate, and more realistic, approach would be to have renegade Time Lords learn tech level dependant skills at lower tech levels. The character with this advantage knows everything from TL 16 down. Not only does the character have no penalties when working with a high tech skill in a low tech environment, but he also, by default, knows a little of every scientific skill in the Basic, and then some. In game terms, he has at least 1 point in any scientific skill (technical, medical, mechanical). To keep bookkeeping down, on the character sheet place the following: 1 point in any scientific skill M/E: M/A: M/H: M/VH: And fill in the appropriate numbers. Then, in the skills column, place any appropriate skill specializations the Time Lord has taken. You may allow a non-Time Lord character to have this advantage. One way to rationalize it would be to have the knowledge be linked to the character via the TARDIS. The character would have the Telepathic Link With TARDIS advantage for free, but also could not be separated from the TARDIS by more than a solar system or 50 years of time travel. Psionic Mechanic 45 Points This is a cinematic advantage. A character with this advantage can examine mechanical devices for psychic impressions on how to repair it. This advantage gives a +4 to any repair skill, plus a 6 or lower always succeeds. Recovery 10 Points S44 - Recovery from being unconscious is in minutes not hours (or seconds, not minutes, if applicable) Regeneration, Fast 50 Points S44 - Recover one HT per minute. This is not the Time Lord's Regeneration, but the ability to heal really fast. If used in conjunction with Resurrection (see below), note that GURPS Regeneration should only occur during Time Lord Regeneration. Regenerations, 12 150 points Note: in creating this new advantage, the following information from the series has been taken into account: Regeneration... 1. can overcome old age (Doc 1 to Doc 2) 2. can be forced (Doc 2 to 3 : via the Time Lords) 3. can overcome radiation (doc 3 to 4 : via Metabelius 3's crystal spider rad) 4. can overcome a great fall (Doc 4 to doc 5) 5. can overcome Poison ( Doc 5 to Doc 6) 6. can overcome being hit in the head really(?) hard (doc 6 to doc 7) 7. can overcome malpractice on the operating table (doc 7 to doc 8) 8. has occured with the Doctor only when his body has been whole 9. can't overcome disintegration. 10. can't overcome the blast of a Gallefreyan Staser 11. can be controlled by some Time Lords (Romana 1 to Romana 2) 12. is limited to 12 times. 13. might be able to be "rebooted" via the Time Lords on Gallefrey. 14. isn't what the Master used when he overcame death past his 12th regen. 15. sometimes goes "wrong" and you need a stabalization of some sort to get through. The Time Lord Regeneration is a type of bodily renewal, during which the character gains a completely new form, and often undergoes a personality change. Regeneration is full body. As if there is someone inside you, and then he comes out, shattering the shell of your old body. When the Doctor first regenerated, Jamie asked the new Doctor to put on the first Doctor's ring, and it didn't fit. Jamie said that that proves the new Doctor is a fake, to which the second Doctor said, "I'ld like to see a butterfly fit into a chrysalis case after it's spread its wings." Regeneration takes about a minute to complete. Sometimes a regeneration goes astray, and some sort of recooperation must occur. This could be when massive damage has been taken (see below), or when a particular type of damage has occurred. Subject to GM interpretaion and implementation. Whenever the character takes enough damage to cause him to make a HT roll to avoid death, and he MISSES that roll, he uses up a regeneration. Damage that causes automatic death can also trigger regeneration, as long as the head isn't cut off, the brain isn't terribly damaged, and as long as the character hasn't taken too much damage to the body. When you've used up a regeneration, treat it as an advantage that was picked up, in that the -2% (of the original advantage) per regeneration used is not only subtracted from the point cost of the advantage, it is also subtracted from the character's point total. Options assumed: Regeneration is not under the direct control of the character although the character subconciously controlls some of it. Mentally, the character is changed. Physically, when life functionings are about to cease, the character acquires an almost entirely new body. Lost body parts (recent or long healed) are replaced. In fact, the entire body is replaced, with the excetpion of the "soul". Regeneration CAN NOT occur if the head has been lopped off, the brain has taken more than HTX2 damage, or if the body has taken more than HTX6 total damage. As far as the game goes, one suggestion concerning the personality change would be to have the character that regenerated change players. However, you'd have to deal with the suddenly "playerless" companion, and somehow get a new character in the group. Discuss this option with your players before implementing it. ENHANCEMENTS: *When not under stress, a Time Lord can choose to regenerate - and have total control over the new body and personality. +10% *Multiple regenerations can be used to recover from MASSIVE physical damage. One regeneration is used per 2XHT points of damage past -HTX6 damage. +10% *A Time Lord has complete control over new regenerations at all times. +20% *Regeneration happens no matter what injuries (save disintigration) are sustained by the Time Lord. +40% *When a regneration occurs, some exteraneous abilities are taken away and put into the Uncertain Background advantage (see below) at 2 normal points to 1 Uncertain Background point. This enhancement reflects the varying abilities and limitations presented by each Doctor. Requires the use of the cinematic Uncertain Background advantage with the Shrinking Points option. +40% LIMITATIONS: *Regenerations used: -2% per. If all regenerations are used up, take this advantage off the character sheet and the remaining points in the advantage off the character's point total. *Body parts don't regenerate. -10% *Regeneration is triggered by the will of the Time Lord. At the time of death, the character makes a will roll to trigger the regeneration. Ignore the effects of shock and injury for this roll. Failure means a screwed up regeneration. -10% ** failure on the will roll means death. -10% more **shock and injury effects apply. -30% more Resourceful Pockets 20 Points You can find a convenient thing or two in your pocket at the right time. You might use this ability to produce a cricket ball from a pocket to throw at a control panel beyond some laser bars, or to bring out some nitro-9 or a baseball bat from your pack. Respiratory Bypass 10 Points This advantage allows the character to enter a trance-like state in which the need for oxygen is greatly reduced. This allows temporary immunity to harmful gasses that need to be breathed in. The character can stay under this trance up to a day, but he must remain still during that time. Resurrection 150 Points S44-45 - After death, the character will come back to life, regaining health at a normal rate (unless aided by Regeneration), at a cost of 25 character points. Resurrection will not work against old age, but can normally bring one back from even disintegration. While the character does not die, he does not instantly come back to life. The character keeps the amount of damage inflicted on the character and slowly heals damage normally over time. As a reflection of the Time Lord Regeneration, Resurrection would need to be coupled with GURPS Regeneration (see above). Limitation: -20% Reincarnation: subject comes back to life, but in another body with another personality. Limitation: -10% One rare type of attack (Disintigration) prevents Regenerating from occuring. This is the closest GURPS comes to the Time Lord's ability to regenerate 12 times. However, there are several notable differences, to be discussed later. Time Resistance 20 Points A Time Lord can exist in the Time Vortex, and Time Resistance is what allows him to do so. This may also be reflected in partial immunity to abnormal time manipulations. Telepathic Awareness of Time 10 Points This allows a character to sense sharp disturbances in the flow or fabric of time. Does not pick up on "kosher" time machines or time stop devices. Does pick up on dangerous experiments with time and abnormal manipulations of time Exactly how much information that is revealed by this awareness is subject to GM interpretation. Telepathic Link to TARDIS 5/20 Points This advantage links a character with a TARDIS's telepathic circuits to allow the character to know when the TARDIS is in danger, operation wise. Limited to what the TARDIS is currently doing. If it's taken away by crazy natives, the TARDIS probably won't alert the linked person unless it is in danger of being harmed or telepathically invaded. For a TARDIS, this is tough! Plus, whatever that does get through to a player is usually just a gut feeling, an odd halucination, or some other enigmatic mental message. The second, more powerful, version of this advantage allows a character to get future path impressions from the TARDIS's temporal telepatic circuits. This assumes that the TARDIS, telepathically, can sense future events before they occur. Temperature Tolerance 10 Points S47 - Allows the character to ignore extreme high and low temps, from 35-(HTx5) degrees F to 90+(HTx5) degrees F. Temperature Tolerance 10 points S47 - Allows the character to ignore extreme high and low temps, from 35-(HTx5) degrees F to 90+(HTx5) degrees F. Temporal Inertia 15 Points (from Time Travel) This allows the Time Lord to remember the "correct" history even when things get changed. Uncertain Background 300 Points This cinematic advantage reflects a long-lived characters's many undocumented travels. Over the years, we've seen the Doctor: say he can communicate with his eyebrows, become the master of a karate style normally used by 6-armed aliens, put himself in a coma, put a companion and himself into a death-like state, and produce incredibly useful pieces of technology at just the right time. This element of suprise can be kept in a Dr. Who campaign, but it is also quite useful. A Doctor might use this to say that he's visited a planet before and therefore knows some history from it. Uncertain Background can also be used by the Game Master to introduce new things about the Doctor's past (good or bad). All new things revealed with Uncertain Background must be checked with the GM first. Option: Shrinking Points: whenever something is made up that requires points to have been spent (like an obscure scientific skill), add that ability to the character's sheet, compelte with cost. As for points, double the point cost of the ability, then subtract that from Uncertain Background. Subtract the normal point cost of the ability from the character's point total. This would discourage use of this advantage somewhat, as you can eventually use up your Uncertain Background. Universial Translator 15 Points The Doctor once told Susan that, the reason she could understand anchient Aztec was because the Doctor had a telepathic link to all his companions that instantly transtlated any language into English. Translator doesn't apply to written languages. Option: this telepathic link is from the Tardis Option: everyone in the universe speaks English? Disadvantages Poverty B. 26, B. 16 With access to a TARDIS's resources, this disadvantage may be disallowed. See Wealth, above. Primitive B. 26 Definitely a must. A campaign in Doctor Who should have a Tech Level around 10, and so normal people from our time (TL 7) would have the Primitive disadvantage already! Reputation B. 27, B. 17 See Advantage, Reputation, above. New Disadvantages -30 Observed by Time Lords This would be viewed moreover as a Duty to Time Lords. A forced duty, not a Skills Hypnotism and Psionic Hypnotism see B.56 In GURPS, Hypnotism is a skill people use to hypnotize willing subjects to put suggestions in their brain. In Doctor Who, the Master and other bad guys "hypnotize" perfectly unwilling vicitims. What these bad guys are using, in GURPS terms, is their psionic Telecontrol skill, NOT the GURPS skill Hypnotism. Multiple Tech Level Skill learning technique This isn't as much an advantage as it is a method of learning. A character learns at periodic levels. For instance, a TL 9 soldier takes TL 9 weaponry and TL 5 weaponry. Space mercenaries would probably take multiple skills in a TL dependant skill. This way, no more than a -3 will be applied to your skill. It makes sense, it's accurate bookkeeping, and it's already covered in Basic. The problem with this is with the Doctor's vast knowledge. Many scientific skills have subcategories, like Electronics or Mechanics. If we note every skill the Doctor has shown on the series, we'd fill up pages of skills. New Skills Area Knowledge: Gallifrey (M/E) As usual, an Area Knowledge skill can only be taken by a character who's lived in the area for a certain amount of time. So, this skill applies almost exclusively to Gallifreyans and the Time Lords. This skill involves the understanding of Gallifreyan culture and locations on Gallifrey. Bench-Thumping (M/A) Prereq: some high tech skill Default: IQ-4 This skill is recommended only for cinematic adventures. Ever seen the doctor wap the console to get it working? You might have thought that it was just a bit of humor. No way! That's the Doctor's Bench-Thumping skill hard at work! A character with this skill can make one final last ditch effort to repair something that he's been working on for hours. When the thing should work, and doesn't, the character gives it a good old hit with the fist, and rolls his Bench-Thumping skill. If this succeeds, then the device is fixed/completed/back on line. Death trance (M/VH) This secret and very difficult skill should only be learned by first putting 10 points into Unusual Background. By using this skill, a player can enter a death-like trance, where you seem to be dead to all intents and purposes. Heartbeat slows to a crawl, breathing stops, and the body goes limp. The character can choose a predetermined time after which he/she will come out of the trance. The character does not hear while under, but can feel a little. So, if someone slaps the character, the character will know it and can choose to come out of the trance or not. Through psionic hypnosis, the character can put others under the same trance, but the character under the trance must be taken out of it by another character with this skill. History: Galactic/TL M/VH This skills comprises the complete social, historical, economics and political make-up of the Milky Way Galaxy or Mutter's Spiral. It should be relative to the time period in which the character is living in. Thus, a Earth character in the year 3000ad may have a much better understanding of the galaxy than someone in 1963. This skill for the most part should apply to Gallifreyans and Aliens. Human character can develop this skill very slowly over time through study and questioning. TARDIS Operation MA Default: Temporal Electronics-2 TARDIS Operation allows the user to perform any TARDIS movement function such as time travel, dimension shifting and spatial motion. This skill also allows for any other non-movement TARDIS functions such scanning, room creation/deletion and computer analysis. A non-time lord such as a companion can use this skill at no disadvantage. As to the practical application of this skill to the game, This will be further explained in the section dealing with the TARDIS. Technobabble (M/A) Default: Fast talk -4 This is the skill to come up with logical or confusing explanations for technical phenomena. Use it to confuse the enemy or doubletalk your way out of techno trouble. Temporal Electronics/TL (M/H) TT35 Default: Temporal Operation -6 or other Electronics -5 Prerequisite: Temporal Physics. This skill covers building and repairing time machines. Temporal Operation (M/A) TT35 Default: Temporal Electronics -2. This skill covers piloting and navigating time machines. (Note that while one could argue that the TARDIS could be moved under this skill, from what we have seen of the TARDIS in operation leaves enough debate for having a separate skill for that craft. As comparing the TARDIS to other time vehicles is rather like comparing the space shuttle to a ten-speed bicycle, a special skill was considered appropriate.) Temporal Physics (M/VH) TT35 Default:Temporal Electronics -6 or Physics/TL 9 or better -4 Prereq: Physics/TL9+ This skill covers the science of time travel. Transmat Mechanics (M/VH) This skill covers the knowledge of how transmats work and how they can be repaired. Transmats take some person or object in one place, breaks it down into its component parts, and transmits it over large distances to another recieving transmat. Range is usually limited to planet - to - planet.