D&D 5E Doctors & Daleks - Cubicle 7 Brings Doctor Who to D&D 5E

Cubicle 7 -- makers of the official Doctor Who roleplaying game -- has announced that the Doctor will officially be coming to 5E soon under the name Doctors and Daleks. There are no dates or details yet, over than that the Doctors and Daleks Player's Guide will launch 'soon'.

A NEW COMPANION FOR YOUR ADVENTURES THROUGH ALL OF SPACE AND TIME!

The wild adventures of everyone’s favourite Time Lord comes to the world’s most popular roleplaying game in Doctors and Daleks. Take your gaming group into the TARDIS and travel anywhere, anywhen. Want to meet Leornado da Vinci? Or see what life is like in the year 3,000? What about another planet entirely? All of space and time is your Venusian macro-oyster, but keep your wits about you — there’s a lot of danger in the vastness of eternity.

We are delighted to announce that we are working on Doctors and Daleks – a new line of products that brings Doctor Who adventures to your table using 5th Edition rules! The first release – The Doctors and Daleks Player’s Guide will launch soon.

The wild adventures of everyone’s favourite Time Lord comes to the world’s most popular roleplaying game in Doctors and Daleks. Take your gaming group into the TARDIS and travel anywhere, anywhen.

We’ll also continue to support the new Second Edition of our award winning Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game, with a host of new products on the way soon!

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Yep.

This exists purely as a cynical cash grab to try and get some of those sweet Dollarydoos from that big 5e bucket.

Clearly, 5e isn't anything close to the optimal system for a Doctor Who game.

It would be better served by a purpose built system to serve its specific needs.

If only such a game existed.

I have neither the time nor the desire to learn any new systems, so the more settings that can be done with the same core system, the better.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I feel curiosity about the PC races. There are lots of aliens.

There is a good reason, and most of new players would rather to use the d20 system because this is the first they learnt. It is a good hook for the market of players who start almost from zero.

Other target is the collector fandom. This sounds like a limited edition in their hears.

The parallel universes are canon in the Dr. Who fiction.

 

[Von Ether]

I'm also questioning the fit, but in theory as a business perspective it's a smart move since you have part of the writing done and the art is already selected and approved. It's not like playing with lego bricks, but it does cut down on production time.

I admit, I've mostly seen this done as a Kickstarter afterthought once a parent boardgame was kickstarted and delviered. (Hellboy and Batman. in particular.)

 

[overgeeked]

I guess you have never looked at Wild Beyond the Witchlight, because that includes rules for completing the adventure with zero fighting.

Really? What page?

I have neither the time nor the desire to learn any new systems, so the more settings that can be done with the same core system, the better.

Why assume that other systems will require as much time to learn as D&D? The actual Doctor Who game is rules light by comparison and takes maybe 30 minutes to grok.

I feel curiosity about the PC races. There are lots of aliens.

Yeah. They'll need to do something like pick and choose traits to build aliens or stick with something like player-created keywords giving advantage or some bonus otherwise there will be books of nothing but alien races.

There is a good reason, and most of new players would rather to use the d20 system because this is the first they learnt. It is a good hook for the market of players who start almost from zero.

It just goes to show that D&D is the RPG industry and everything else is a hobby.

Other target is the collector fandom. This sounds like a limited edition in their hears.

The parallel universes are canon in the Dr. Who fiction.

Cubicle 7 doesn't have the license for anything besides the TV show. None of the novels, none of the audio dramas, only the TV show.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I'm assuming this is essentially a business decision... out of the properties they have, Dr. Who is probably Cubicle 7's less-profitable. WFRP easily the most, likely Wrath and Glory next, but no way GW is going to let 5E versions of those exist.

 

[CleverNickName]

This exists purely as a cynical cash grab to try and get some of those sweet Dollarydoos from that big 5e bucket.

To be fair, most creators want a dip in that bucket.

I don't think cynicism has anything to do with it. D&D is the industry standard: it's not the only game in town, it's not the best game in town, but it's the game that's been in town the longest and it's the game that everyone in town is familiar with. It's the lowest-risk avenue to the largest customer base. That's not cynicism, that's sensibility.

(Side note, I'd probably play an RPG called "Cynicism & Sensibility.")

 

[Jer]

I'm assuming this is essentially a business decision... out of the properties they have, Dr. Who is probably Cubicle 7's less-profitable. WFRP easily the most, likely Wrath and Glory next, but no way GW is going to let 5E versions of those exist.

Losing the Middle Earth license probably hurt a lot. They might be trying to recapture what they had with One Ring/Adventures in Middle Earth with another property but Doctor Who just seems like a bizarre fit.

Although honestly - Doctor Who is a tough license to create a role playing game around. Even attempts to create an "expanded universe" around Doctor Who tend to flounder, and what is a licensed RPG but an expanded universe around a property?

 

[eyeheartawk]

That's not cynicism, that's sensibility.

I mean, I guess?

It's sensible in the way, that say, a 9th Fast & Furious movie is.

 

[Dausuul]

I guess you have never looked at Wild Beyond the Witchlight, because that includes rules for completing the adventure with zero fighting.

The fact that the adventure required special rules to support this option proves the point.

 

[darjr]

I'm looking forward to what they'll do. The knee jerk negativity of using D&D for other games kept me away from D20 Call of Cthulu thinking it was a super heroic fantasy game mushed to look like CoC and I wished I'd ignored all that and gave it at least a look earlier.