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Or should it be called Dr. Who: The Tennant Doctor Roleplaying Game?

A confession. As a gamer as old as a Time Lord, my own favorite Doctor was Jon Pertwee, the Third Doctor. I pretty much dropped out of watching the series after it was cancelled, and haven't gotten to watching it again. But I've always wanted a Dr. Who RPG, and didn't particularly like the FASA version. I didn't know of later Dr. Who RPG, but apparantly didn't miss anything. So, when I received a copy of the Dr. Who: Adventures in Time and Space (I'll just refer to it as the Dr. Who RPG in this review), I tore off the shrinkwrap, opened the box, and hoped for a system that treated well its license.

The Read this First booklet (finally found at the bottom of a lovely stack of premade character sheets) showed off a skill check system with Story Points. Everything was in glorious color. Pictures of the non-Tennant Doctors were suspiciously absent. Marketed as an RPG for both the new and experienced gamer, would this incarnation of the Dr. Who RPG satisfy neither or both?

Presentation: Let's just call this the Deluxe Edition

But first, the contents! The Dr. Who: Adventures in Time Roleplaying Game comes as a boxed set with separate Player's Guide, Game Master's Guide, Adventures Book, Read this First sheet, character sheets, dice, Story Point tokens, all in snugly fitting cardboard box. The graphics are simply gorgeous. Liberally sprinkled with photos from the Tennant series, the components share an eye-catching orange and blue futuristic design. Our friendly Police Box nestles on the lower left corner of each two-page spread and even the character sheets. The components are printed on quality sturdy stock. You can purchase the game and the Player's Guide as a PDF from DriveThruRPG.com, but you will want the printed version (especially to save the cost of ink for all those photos...).

The layout and photos do a good job of presentation. The layout of the books uses blue boxes (more like futuristic pulldown menus) to highlight text and tables. If there's a complaint, the photos and stills are mostly irrelevant to the game itself. They're certainly useful for breaking up game text and making it easier to read. Certainly, the full-page photo starting each chapter makes an impression. And, realistically, not every RPG item purchased is often played. The photos help make this RPG as browseworthy as any Dr. Who memorabilia. (The fun "timey-wimey" explanation of time in the Whoniverse is enjoyable reading as well. More on that later.)

As said, the boxed set comes with a separate Player's Guide (86 pages) and Gamemaster's Guide (140 pages). Personally, I like this format, since I dislike passing a single heavy book around the table during the game. The Guides overlap in content to the extent that the game master does not need to read the Player's Guide. Neither Guides use an index, but the Table of Contents is handily on the back cover of the books.

The Read This First has enough information for new players to understand the character sheets and skill. It may be buried at the bottom of the box, and you may want to skim it before leafing through the guides. You'll also want to use it to store and organize the 15+ character sheets! The Adventures booklet (32 pages) is separate from the Gamemaster's guide.

The character sheets include premade Tennant-era characters, archetypes (ie. professions) for new characters, blank character sheets, and punch-out Gadget cards. Tennant-era characters (The Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, K-9, Rose Tyler, Donna Noble, Captain Jack Harness, Mickey Smith) are on firm paper. Traits are convenientlhy explained on the back, saving thumbing through the Player's Guide for this information. Six blank character sheets and several arechetypes (Medical Doctor, Musician, Journalist, Student, UNIT Soldier, Torchwood Operative, Scientist / Inventor) are on less firm glossy page stock. Punch-out Gadget cards come six to a page (ten Gadgets from the Tennant-era, and eight blank Gadget cars) on firm paper. Missing are character sheets for the other Doctors and companions from other eras.

With this set also targeting new players, the game comes with dice and Story Point tokens. The dice are six beautiful, clear dice with TARDIS-blue pips. Each person only needs two dice to make skill checks so players won't have to hand dice around the table during the game. The game system uses Story Points and the set comes with a thick cardstock sheet of 168 glossy punchout cardstock Story Point tokens. Unfortunately, the box is too snug a fit to put a baggie of tokens into. The tokens are functional, but tell the CGG player to bring his glass counters. Finishing up the box, there's still room for a few pencils, though supplements and the Gamemaster's Screen won't fit in there.

Well, enough with the inventory list. What about the system?

System: Conventional Skill Checks plus Whovian Mechanics

Dr. Who: Adventures in Space and Time uses a nicely dramatic skill check mechanic and Story Points. (And, in case you were wondering, the "weaker" Companions receive more Story Points than Time Lords and Time Travellers.) Unfortunately, cases like combat and chases slip into conventional RPG realism that requires not-so-dramatic table lookups and die roll modifiers.

Skill Checks: Skill checks aren't called as such, but the Dr. Who RPG's Basic Rule should look pretty familiar:

Attribute + Skill + Trait + 2d6 = Result. Match or beat the Difficulty of the Task.

Attributes are the general abilities of a character: Awareness, Coordination, Ingenuity, Presence, Resolve, and Strength. Note the Whovian emphasis on non-combat abilities. Skills are learned abilities, and there are intentionally only twelve of them: Athletics, Convince, Craft, Fighting, Knowledge, Marksman, Medicine, Science, Subterfuge, Survival, Technology, and Transport. More specific skills are optional, as Areas of Expertise. Traits add roleplaying flavor, similar to GURPS advantages and disadvantages. Traits are divided into Good (eg. Charming, Time Lord (Experienced)), Bad (eg. Adversary), and Special (eg. Feel the Turn of the Universe). Traits usually give a +2 (or -2) die roll bonus.

The character sheets have all the Attributes and Skills listed on the character sheet. The rulebooks also give suggestions on how to determine which Attribute and/or Skill should be used in a situation when which Attribute and/or Skill to check isn't obvious. I don't think this is easy. But, with this being a dramatic RPG, I'd just have the players roleplay out the attributes and skills they would use to accomplish something, and give them the benefit.

Difficulty and How Well Have You Done: Difficulty works just like other RPGs using skill checks. The Gamemaster, assisted with a table, assigns a Difficulty number which the player must match or beat with his Result. But this is a dramatic series, isn't it? The "How Well Have You Done" table provides multiple levels of failure and success. This allows the gamemaster to add additional good or bad things to happen depending on the margin of success (or failure) of the die roll. Even missing the Difficulty by a few points can add excitement -- the players "gain something, but not what they'd expected"! Tweaks for multiple characters making an attempt, additional time to make an attempted are addressed, and Complications (eg. a dark room) typically using the +2 (or -2) modifier. Rules for Contested Rolls (two opponents making skill checks against each other) are there as well. (See Action Rounds and Getting Hurt for some problems I had with the mechanics, however.)

Story Points: If you've played a number of "new school" RPG's, you're familiar with the concept of Story Points: If you fail your roll, you may spend a point to turn it into a success. However, in the Dr. Who RPG, the Story Point mechanic is much more clever. You can spend Story Points to raise the level of your Result, so your Disasterous Result can become a Successful one. (Likewise, the villain can spend his Story Points so your Successful Result can become a Failure!) If you want a Fantastic Result rather than just a Successful one, you can spend a Story Point to add two dice to your roll before rolling the dice. Story Points can also be used to ask the Gamemaster for that clue you overlooked, reduce Damage from combat, allow devices to temporarily gain unusual abilities (like plugging the Sonic Screwdriver into a microwave oven to send a signal into space), allow characters to copy a skill from another player for a single skill check ("Like this, Doctor?"), and even introduce new plot elements (with Gamemaster consultation). Players can even give Story Points to other players.

Besides good roleplaying (such as heroism, playing out a Bad Trait, or the Whoism of being captured yet again), players can also gain Story Points by converting Successful Results into Failures! Players can even gain Story Points by suggesting plot complications that hinder their characters, but make the story more interesting. (Perhaps that explains why the Doctor had such difficulty navigating his TARDIS -- he kept converting his Successful Results into Failures to start off the adventure and bank Story Points!) And, yes, killing reduces a player's Story Points to zero. Between adventures, Story Points are reduced to the character's maximum -- spend them while you can!

Character Generation: Character generation in the Dr. Who RPG is quick and easy. Almost. Each player receives 24 points to spend on Attributes and Traits, and 18 points to spend on Skills. Attributes and Skills are purchased on a one-for-one basis, and all Attributes and Skills are shown on the character sheets. If a player or Gamemaster wishes to play an Archetype (eg. UNIT soldier or Journalist), the Attributes and Skills are pregenerated. Minor Good Traits cost one point, and Major Good Traits cost two points. The Minor Trait bonus is typically +2. (Bad Traits grant points and give negative modifiers.)

Unfortunately, the Traits aren't conveniently listed on a reference sheet or such. And there are over a hundred of them (thankfully divided into Good, Bad, and Special Traits (such as Alien and Immortal)). Perhaps it's best if the player writes down a character background, and the gamemaster assigns Traits...

Characters are balanced out with Story Points. Each player also receives 12 Story Points, but powerful Traits, such as Time Lord and Immortal, cost Story Points. Thus, The Doctor starts with only four Story Points, while most of his Companions have twelve.

Speaking of The Doctor, what if two or more players want to play the group's Time Lord? The game only goes as far as suggesting that the best roleplayer play the Time Lord, that players change roles between adventures, or that a new player plays the Time Lord after his regeneration. (Story Points, by the way, transfer with the player, not the character.)

Action Rounds: Conflict is handled rather Whoingly. Rather than an initiative system, the type of action determines who acts first, in this order: Talkers, Movers, Doers, then Fighters. Yes! The Doctor will be able to duck into the TARDIS before the Daleks fire! Attributes break ties, and a standard -2 modifier is used for special circumstances and attempts to perform multiple actions in a round. Breaking down actions into the Attributes and Skills necessary in a Contested Roll on the fly may be tricky, especially for new Gamemasters. (Particularly, the Attributes and Skills used by the "attacker" might not be the same as those used by the "defender".) The book only gives four actions as examples, and I would have preferred a reference sheet of common actions and which attributes and skills to use. (My advice, as said, is to let the players roleplay out whatever attributes and skills they want use to accomplish an action.)

Getting Hurt: Aliens (and humans) with nasty weapons are part of the Whoniverse, and the Dr. Who RPG has a clever way of taking damage: Each point of damage reduces the appropriate Attribute by one. No abstract hit points where characters can swing until they're dead! Unfortunately, for a genre that avoids combat, the combat modifiers and damage are as complex as any RPG: light modifiers, estimated range, mulitpliers, damage reduction for cover, etc. Ugh! I would have preferred a simplified system. Maybe the GM assigns a difficulty (eg. firing at a Cyberman with cover might be a Hard task), finds the numerical Difficulty number, adds a Technology level modifier, then the player makes his Basic Roll. If he hits, damage is equal to how much the roll beats the target difficulty by. Thankfully, lasers, Cyberman Particle Guns, and Dalek Rays are automatically Lethal, so damage effects for most space-baddies will be easy to calculate, so to speak. The rules also use a damage system in a non-physical conflict, such as Prescence damage against the Resolve Attribute. Another ugh. Why not use the Contested Roll result or roleplaying?

Chases: Chases are also more complicated than they should be, with the need to estimate how many Areas apart the two parties are, calculating Speed, vehicle rules, and whatnot. With running away a popular resolution to a conflict, I'd prefer, again, a Contested Roll (especially since we already have a Transport skill for any vehicle use). For example, a pursuit across flat, open terrain might use the Strength Attribute and Athletics skill, while dodging in busy city streets might use the Ingenuity Attribute and Subterfuge skill.

Equipment, Vehicles, and Gadgets: I overall like how Whovian the game mechanics are for these items. Equipment, of course, refers to normal items, so characters are just assumed to have them. The game uses technology levels, and players make simple die roll modifiers when using unfamiliar technology. Vehicles are mostly rather uncommon in Dr. Who stories, and I particularly like how the rules sort of just gloss over them (except for the previously mentioned combat and chase mechanics).

The Gadget rules are simple yet comprehensive. Gadgets are essentially items that provide Gadget Traits, and are purchased just like Traits in Character Generation. You can even add Gadget Bad Traits to a Gadget to purchase more Good Traits. Our favorite Sonic Screwdriver is a Major Gadget costing two Story Points. It has the Good Traits, Open/Close, Scan, Transmit, and Weld. It has the Bad Traits Restriction (Cannot open Deadlock Seals, Tricky Controls). And it also has its own prepunched card in the boxed set! Gadgets even have their own Story Points, if you need them to do something unusual yet dramatic. With the Boffin trait, your character can even cobble together a Gadget with the Jiggery-Pokery rules. Make your Ingenuity and Technology skill roll, spend the Story Points, and select the traits you need for that wonderful dramatic moment.

Background Material: Especially If You Don't Have Who-memerobilia

I particulary enjoyed reading the discussion of time, Time Lords, and the TARDIS. I would even recommend it to any Who-ophile who doesn't already have a Dr. Who book covering these sort of things. The RPG even gives advice on how to run a game with Time Travel, and the occasional game stat is conveniently separated in a blue box.

The fourteen alien races covered in this set only receive a page or so apiece. Even the classic Daleks and Cybermen receiving one and a half pages. Still, I find the number of races covered sufficient, since the Doctor rarely encountered more than one race in an adventure (and too many of them acted pretty similarly, anyway). Still, famous foes like Davros don't even have a stat block. The good news is that the RPG has rules for creating your own alien race (and advice when a player inevitably wants to play a Dalek). And, really, what player character is going to stand around to find out how much damage a Sontaran shock staff will do?

Gamemaster and Player Advice: Roleplaying is more than Six Goblins in a 20x30 Room

RPG's have come a long way from the linear dungeon crawl. Unfortunately, this also means that gamemasters have a greater burden with dramatic roleplaying games. The Dr. Who RPG has a rather nice philosophy that the players, including the gamemaster, are there to create a story together. It even encourages players to put their own player characters in peril if it helps the plot. I particularly liked the section of concrete suggestions to the players how to avoid resorting to guns! I also appreciated the player advice of steering the player away from power-gaming and towards exploration and adventure.

However, I found the gamemaster advice a little lacking. I have a copy of "Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering" (Steve Jackson Games, available as PDF), and found the latter advice to be more in-depth to run and develop adventures. The Dr. Who gamemaster advice certainly gives new gamemasters concrete tips and suggestions to start with, but "let's go kill things" dungeon masters may want something more to help them run a dramatic storytelling game.

Adventures: Spoilers ahead

Speaking of adventures, the boxed set comes with two ready-made adventures, and several adventure seeds. The first adventure, Arrowdown, builds up with the classic Who story elements of the Doctor suggesting a Earth holiday at a fair, some uneasy creepiness at said fair, an important NPC, the homicidal villain, and finally a Dr. Who time explanation. A lost romance and lava-like chase scene adds their own touches. The adventure incorporates Dr. Who trademark scenes: exploration, chasing, sneaking in, optional fighting, some destruction, and time for relaxation before jumping into the TARDIS for another trip. The adventure itself is well-designed, following something of a flowchart sequence.

If you have a Dr. Who adventure on Earth, you should have an adventure in outer space. Except that while a player should be expected to know what happens in a fairground ride, not every Dr. Who RPG player knows about the Judoon. The next adventure is Judoom, a shorter adventure taking place in outer space. It's up to the players to piece together the alien puzzle, as they need to explain odd behavior, even if it's for an alien species. If your players haven't seen the Tennant Dr. Who stories (or are on the uncreative side), they may need some help with this adventure.

The Adventures booklet ends with several adventure seeds, including a trilogy. Some are quite suitable for any science fiction adventure. The Aliens and Creatures and Defenders of the Earth: UNIT supplements each include an adventure and seeds, but, personally, I hope to see an Adventures supplement in the future.

Conclusion: Style: 5, Substance: 4

Style: The beautiful glossy deluxe treatment for Dr. Who: Adventures in Time and Space: The Roleplaying Game is definitely impressive. The boxed set doesn't skim on the components, and the game rivals any other Whomorabilia out there.

Substance: The skill check and Story Points system works fine, and I particularly liked how it was adapated to dramatic Dr. Who storytelling. I found the combat and chase rules too detailed, but a gamemaster can easily fix this. While I would have liked to see the gamemaster advice more developed, the player advice is top-notch. Of the two adventures, I found one of them to be not only both easily played by new players and gamemasters, but as fun and gripping as any Dr. Who adventure.

Overall: I definitely recommended this game to anyone running Dr. Who adventures, particulary during the Tennant years. The boxed set is also a wonderful piece of Whomorabilia.

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