This is for DOCTOR WHO fans. Which as far as this TVWriter™ minion is concerned means the following article is for…EVERYBODY.
by Siskoid
On the occasion of completing reviews on Doctor Who’s 11th series, I should like to re-imagine it as a role-playing game campaign using Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who RPG. (Go back one, to Series 10.)
The GM [Chris Chibnall, Showrunner]
Chris landed the job of new GameMaster, but he’s got a history with the Doctor Who role-playing club. He ran a couple of seasons of the Torchwood campaign, and often shared ideas with the Doctor’s GMs during and after that time. Recently, he’d paired up with one of the Doctor’s players, David, for a police/mystery game, but that had wrapped. With no surviving players/PCs, he really got to start from scratch. He recruited his own players (one of them from his previous game). He drew up new designs for the TARDIS. He vowed not to use any old enemies, or even follow previous GMs’ game notes. Instead of teasing a big arc, he wanted to push players to explore their personal drama. He would also turn out to be a more serious-minded GM, rarely playing anything for humor, and interested in exploring topical issues in his plots.
The Players
-Jodie will play a new version of the Doctor. Not only is this the first time the Doctor would be played by a female player, but the GM totally let her turn the Doctor into a woman. Jodie wants to highlight the character’s kindness and make her a very empathetic hero that gives the other PCs a chance to shine and sees the group as a team more than a set of companions. She also boosts the character’s Technology Skill as she quite likes the Boffin angle.
-Tosin makes a decision that affects the other players. His character, Ryan, is a blue collar worker in the blue collar town of Sheffield. The rest of the group agrees to make this their pied-à-terre instead of a more cosmopolitan city like London. Ryan Sinclair lost his mom, his dad ran off, he’s being raised by his nan, and he struggles with dyspraxia (in game terms: the Clumsy Trait). But he’s also Internet-savvy and a good soul.
-Bradley, a much older player than the rest of his group, doesn’t want to take the lead too much, so he funnels that part of the group dynamic into making his character, Graham O’Brien, an unwanted father figure to Ryan. Graham is a cancer survivor who fell in love and married his nurse, Ryan’s nan, but Ryan never really took to him. This retired bus driver would be motivated by living his second chance at life to its fullest, but also keeping Ryan safe.
-Mandip creates Yasmin Khan, a contemporary of Ryan’s of Pakistani descent who became a police officer, but is impatient with the service which has relegated her to a status not much above that of meter maid. She wants to bring policing skills to the team, and maybe Yaz sees the Doctor as a mentor who will unlock her potential.