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Introduction His name is the Doctor. He is the last of a powerful and noble race who once held the very laws of Time within their own biomatrix, but now, after a devastating war with their arch-enemies, the Daleks, the Time Lords are extinct, and the Doctor is all that is left of his proud people. He travels through time and space, sometimes alone but often with friends and companions, righting wrongs, thwarting evil, facing death every step of the way...and loving every minute of it. He never asks for thanks or recognition. He is a myth, a legend, a shadow out of time, and where he goes death seems to follow. But so, it should be said, does life.
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space is the latest in a long line of licensed role playing games by various companies over the past decade or so. It is preceeded by two earlier efforts: the FASA Doctor Who game in the 80's, and the Time Lord rpg, also from the 80's. However, it rehashes neither. Published by Cubicle Seven, this attractive $60 boxed set includes a Player's Guide, Gamemaster's Guide, Adventure Book, Quick-start pamphlet, a TON of character sheets, dice, gadget cards, and story point tokens. Designed by David Chapman, the gent responsible for Eden Studios' popular Conspiracy X 2.0 RPG, it seeks to reproduce the mood, themes, and feel of the legendary Doctor Who television series for play. Does it succeed? Let's find out.
The Good This game is positively packed full of stuff. While the $59.99 price tag may seem very steep, especially in this economy, it must be said that boxed sets these days are not cheap to produce, nor are full-color works, and this is both. In addition, both of the full books inside could easily go for $30 individually, and you get far more in this box than just those two books. So while it may bite your wallet, the price is not unreasonable for what you get.
The Player's Guide contains everything a player needs to know, not just for creating a character, but for actually playing the game. Unlike some games, where the PHB contains char gen rules and some sketchy combat systems, this book contains the complete system rules. It holds nothing back that might be needed for play. The Gamemaster's Guide reprints much of the rules in the Player's Guide (which I'll talk a bit more about later) but also includes a wealth of advice on how to run a good game, and extra options that will only be available to players at the GM's discretion (such as gadgets and certain special traits). In addition, it has a section on the mechanics of Time Travel in the Whoniverse, which I have yet to heavily dig into, but seems at a cursory read to cover all the important bases.
The rules themselves are simple and quite reminiscent of the Cinematic Unisystem--roll 2d6, adding Attribute and Skill, and attempt to get a target number (generally 12 or better). There are levels of success, and in a neat twist, levels of failure. Rather than having a flat score representing a level of success (the aforementioned Unisystem, for example, has 9-11 being one success, 12-15 two, etc.), this game bases levels of success as a range above or below the target number (which can slide up or down from 12 based on difficulty.
If it sounds complicated, it's not. Let's say Rose is trying to leap over a pit. It's a long pit, longer than a normal person could pull off. But she was a Gymnastics champion, so she'll give it a shot. The GM decides that while a normal difficulty would be 12, this is a tricky task--that sets the difficulty at 15 (there is a table with difficulty guidelines in the book). Rose rolls 2d6 and aces a twelve! Adding her athletics skill and coordination attribute to it gives her more than enough to make the leap. Depending on how high above the difficulty she makes it, she could just barely succeed, meaning perhaps she just hits the edge, her foot slips, and she finds her self not falling, but hanging from the ledge and must try to pull herself up. Or she could pull it off just perfect, or she could hit the ground, roll into a somersault, and come up running before her pursuers have a chance to react.
The nice thing about this is that everything you do in this game works off of exactly the same principle. There are no subsystems, no efforts to cram obscure possibilities into the rules, no painstaking effort to "take power from the GM" and put it into the rulebook. Indeed, the game implicitly says not to let the rules get in the way of the game.
Finally, you have the Story Point mechanic. This is a mechanic that over the past decade or so has become wildly popular (with good reason) in many games. It allows you to spend points to mold scenes to your liking, as a player:
"Whew! Good thing the bolt on that ladder was rusted, or else I may not have been able to kick it away from the building!"
"Wow, that was a near-miss, but it's only a scratch."
"I'm not sure where to go next. If only I could have a flash of insight..."
You get the idea. Given the audience here at RPGNet, there's no heavy need to go into how Story Points work. Pretty much just cross their implementation between the Cinematic Unisystem, and the Cortex system (Serenity and Battlestar Galactica), and you've got how they work in Doctor Who.
I'd love to break the system down more, but there's not much more to say about it--it really is as deceptively simple as it looks, and it's an exceptionally solid core. This system is very rules-light and leaves room for interpretation of events, but that's what makes it dramatic for play. As an example of genre emulation, it works great. As an entry-level game for new players, it's excellent. For people who like rules that get the Hell out of the way and fade into the background so you can concentrate on the game, it's fantastic. I think many old-school gamers will really enjoy this game, as it allows for the kinds of interpretation and freeform play that older games assumed, while it uses a modern design sensibility (no classes or levels, point-based buy, player story control mechanics) to be attractive to experienced, modern gamers as well. I think it hits an all-too-often missed "sweet spot" in gaming, and people will enjoy it thoroughly. If this is your hobby, there are far worse games to spend your sixty bucks on.
Oh, and a quick note: while the game (obviously) focuses on the current series, and with Tennant's departure may even be a tad dated by March, there is PLENTY of info here to play in any era you like. If you're familiar with Classic Who, get a handle on the system, design your favorite Doctor, and go. In addition, future releases show that C7 is going to be putting out Classic supplements in the near future while also keeping up with the current, so this stands to be the most complete Who game yet, if they can maintain the license.
The Bad I don't have too much bad to say about this game. If you like heavy, crunchy systems with lots of fiddly bits, this isn't for you (but that's not bad for me, because I dislike those games). But if the Hero System is your thing, you may not dig this game.
I am not a major fan of how injury is handled. I prefer wound level or life point systems (or, ideally, a combination of the two). Doctor Who has damage inflicted directly to attributes. A gunshot (rare in Who, I know) might deduct damage right from your Strength and Coordination. I've never been sold on this, but I must admit, its implementation does work in the context of this game. Some players may not like the idea that energy weapons are just flat-out lethal. They don't do damage; they kill you outright. I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth now, but let's face it, folks: if a Dalek zaps you, you're disintegrated.
The physical quality of the books is excellent, but the box itself could be sturdier. Mine creased on the bottom the first time I picked it up after re-packing. It's not flimsy, but it's not rock-solid, either. It is of the "tuck box" variety, the lid folding over and into the box and all one-piece. There's room for everything inside, which is good, though it may be a pain to spread out all those story point tokens into a thin layer so that the box doesn't bulge. I put mine into a ziplock bag and flattened them neatly enough that way.
The addition of blank character sheets and blank gadget cards was neat, but I expect many people will just scan them so as not to ruin the ones in the box--C7 may or may not have these online for download. If not, I'd recommend they put them up there.
The Ugly The Ugly doesn't mean "ugly." In my reviews it's just a catch-all for layout and design, which in this case is beautiful. the text is easy to read, there seem to be few if any editorial errors, sidebars are well designed and offset, and the use of imagery from the series is outstanding. Can't wait to see the graphics from the classic series when they get those books out! Lee, Debra, and Dom are to be commended. The books seem sturdy, as I said, and are printed on nice, thick paper, and in full color. The only downside is that box, which again isn't horrible, it could just be a bit sturdier.
Conclusion There's really no such thing as a perfect game. There are just outstanding efforts. And Doctor Who is an outstanding effort. It hits all the right notes for genre emulation, and provides a good, solid and easy rules system that won't fall apart under the strain of a complex story. I'd rather have seen a more traditional wound-level system, but overall what is there works, and works great. This game is well worth the cost of the product. four out of five in both style and substance.
Now what are you waiting for! The TARDIS calls..."There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea's asleep and the rivers dream, people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea is getting cold. Come on, Ace...we've got work to do!"
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