Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Promotions/Press
The First Doctor Sourcebook: Cubicle 7 Brings WHO of the 60s To Your Tabletop!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 7652286" data-attributes="member: 3586"><p>[ATTACH]58413[/ATTACH]I write a lot about D&D, but that game is actually a fairly late love in my life; I didn't get bitten by the bug until 1982. Well, obviously - given that I was born in 1972 - that's still pretty early on. However, there's one thing that I've been following for even longer. That thing is Doctor Who. As far as I can gather, I've been addicted to the show since about 1978, and I would not be surprised if I started even earlier. It's been part of my life for a very long time. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]</p><p><span style="font-size: 10px"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Cubicle 7's "Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space" RPG is a game that I own but have never played. It's a game I really want to play, as the design looks very solid and - not surprisingly - I really like the subject matter. I just need to find time for it amongst all the other long-running campaigns I play. The game had something of a rocky start, with the initial release being the only product in the line for an awfully long time. I wouldn't have been surprised if it ended up being and orphaned RPG, but the flow of products finally started up again, and in this year, the 50th anniversary of the show, they've started on a major project: providing sourcebooks for each Doctor. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">William Hartnell stopped playing the Doctor six years before I was born. In his tenure, the character of the Doctor was a lot different to how it is now, and even the way stories were told and constructed was significantly different to later on. While today, the Doctor gleefully throws himself into whatever situation he finds himself in. Hartnell's Doctor would often only reluctantly enter an adventure. A common start would be the travellers being cut off from the Ship. This is not lost on Darren Pearce, author of the sourcebook; he pays careful attention to how stories differed in this era, and presents us with a lot of advice on how to run an adventure in the style of the First Doctor. Elements such as the extremely unreliable TARDIS, the greater set-up time for adventures, and the greater focus on cultural matters are discussed in the first chapter of this sourcebook. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">The bulk of the book is devoted to examinations of the individual serials of the Hartnell era. These are grouped into chapters, with each chapter detailing three or four stories. It's rather hard to work out why the book is divided into chapters at all; the serials are listed chronologically and there's no real reason for the grouping into sets of three. It seems even odder to my eyes as the three season breaks are all mid-chapter! </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">This oddity aside, each serial is handled in a similar manner: there's a synopsis of the serial, followed by notes on the various elements in the story, with stats for the major monsters or NPCs. There is no critical commentary on the stories, instead the particular elements that are notable in a role-playing context are raised and discussed. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">This is well done. Really well done. It would be really easy to just list stats for everything and call it a day, but Pearce instead really brings out what is special and unusual about each serial and brings it into focus for a role-playing game, and then uses them as a basis for suggesting several more adventure ideas in the vein of these classic serials. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Thus we get discussions of strange malfunctions of the TARDIS, how telepathy could work, and the differences between the first Doctor's take on Earth History (things are fixed and can't be changed) and those of later Doctors. There's a lot of discussion of story structure and particular elements of the story; enough so that even game-masters who don't plan to run a Doctor Who adventure may still find significant inspiration here. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">The book ends with character sheets for the Doctor and all his companions. People more familiar with the game than I can probably speak to how well the statistics model the characters; my chief interest in the book is the adventure-building elements rather than the rules. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">Physically, the book is printed in black and white as befits the era (the books will be in colour from the Third Doctor onwards). There are a good number of illustrations, all photos from the series. I personally find the choice of photograph for Dodo to very puzzling - I think it's at an odd angle and extremely unflattering - but otherwise the choice of photographs are excellent. The book is 160 pages long. </span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 10px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 10px">I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book. How would Cubicle 7 handle a sourcebook on the First Doctor? The answer turned out to be with great style and accomplishment. By showing how elements of the stories can serve other adventures, Darren Pearce has created a book that makes me excited about not only its use in this game, but in its applicability to other games as well.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 7652286, member: 3586"] [attach=RIGHT]58413[/attach]I write a lot about D&D, but that game is actually a fairly late love in my life; I didn't get bitten by the bug until 1982. Well, obviously - given that I was born in 1972 - that's still pretty early on. However, there's one thing that I've been following for even longer. That thing is Doctor Who. As far as I can gather, I've been addicted to the show since about 1978, and I would not be surprised if I started even earlier. It's been part of my life for a very long time. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] [SIZE=2] Cubicle 7's "Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space" RPG is a game that I own but have never played. It's a game I really want to play, as the design looks very solid and - not surprisingly - I really like the subject matter. I just need to find time for it amongst all the other long-running campaigns I play. The game had something of a rocky start, with the initial release being the only product in the line for an awfully long time. I wouldn't have been surprised if it ended up being and orphaned RPG, but the flow of products finally started up again, and in this year, the 50th anniversary of the show, they've started on a major project: providing sourcebooks for each Doctor. William Hartnell stopped playing the Doctor six years before I was born. In his tenure, the character of the Doctor was a lot different to how it is now, and even the way stories were told and constructed was significantly different to later on. While today, the Doctor gleefully throws himself into whatever situation he finds himself in. Hartnell's Doctor would often only reluctantly enter an adventure. A common start would be the travellers being cut off from the Ship. This is not lost on Darren Pearce, author of the sourcebook; he pays careful attention to how stories differed in this era, and presents us with a lot of advice on how to run an adventure in the style of the First Doctor. Elements such as the extremely unreliable TARDIS, the greater set-up time for adventures, and the greater focus on cultural matters are discussed in the first chapter of this sourcebook. The bulk of the book is devoted to examinations of the individual serials of the Hartnell era. These are grouped into chapters, with each chapter detailing three or four stories. It's rather hard to work out why the book is divided into chapters at all; the serials are listed chronologically and there's no real reason for the grouping into sets of three. It seems even odder to my eyes as the three season breaks are all mid-chapter! This oddity aside, each serial is handled in a similar manner: there's a synopsis of the serial, followed by notes on the various elements in the story, with stats for the major monsters or NPCs. There is no critical commentary on the stories, instead the particular elements that are notable in a role-playing context are raised and discussed. This is well done. Really well done. It would be really easy to just list stats for everything and call it a day, but Pearce instead really brings out what is special and unusual about each serial and brings it into focus for a role-playing game, and then uses them as a basis for suggesting several more adventure ideas in the vein of these classic serials. Thus we get discussions of strange malfunctions of the TARDIS, how telepathy could work, and the differences between the first Doctor's take on Earth History (things are fixed and can't be changed) and those of later Doctors. There's a lot of discussion of story structure and particular elements of the story; enough so that even game-masters who don't plan to run a Doctor Who adventure may still find significant inspiration here. The book ends with character sheets for the Doctor and all his companions. People more familiar with the game than I can probably speak to how well the statistics model the characters; my chief interest in the book is the adventure-building elements rather than the rules. Physically, the book is printed in black and white as befits the era (the books will be in colour from the Third Doctor onwards). There are a good number of illustrations, all photos from the series. I personally find the choice of photograph for Dodo to very puzzling - I think it's at an odd angle and extremely unflattering - but otherwise the choice of photographs are excellent. The book is 160 pages long. I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book. How would Cubicle 7 handle a sourcebook on the First Doctor? The answer turned out to be with great style and accomplishment. By showing how elements of the stories can serve other adventures, Darren Pearce has created a book that makes me excited about not only its use in this game, but in its applicability to other games as well.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Promotions/Press
The First Doctor Sourcebook: Cubicle 7 Brings WHO of the 60s To Your Tabletop!
Top