I have something in mind for why Kyle has lost his memory of some of his past, including his time with the Doctor. It is connected to an episode, making a minor change to what was shown in the episode (inserted Kyle near the end).
I haven’t decided anything, so I’m game for anything!
Which Doctor am I most likely to have known?
It won't be the same Doctor that Joe met, so that could be disorienting. How long has Kyle been dealing with the memory loss? I'm thinking that he was left in the hands of Unit at some point or else some kind of a hospital.
He hasn’t known he’s had memory loss. It’s been seamless (right up until he gets picked up in the TARDIS.j if he was left with unit, he’s forgotten that too and slotted back into normal life. Maybe he thought he was in hospital for something else? Regardless, he’s never noticed he’s missing time.
There is an option for him to learn all at once what happened (although this won't resolve the problems). Or he could gradually piece it together from flashes of memory. Either way, the flashbacks will pop up and have the incapacitating effect as described in the trait. The trait allows for it to be effectively bought off over time.
This might be a good point to review what Story Points can do for you. There is a summary at the back of the Core Rule Book. Briefly, they allow for a hint when you are stumped for what to do, 2 or more extra dice to roll before a roll that has to succeed, bump up a result of a roll by 1 success level or more, reduce damage after being injured, avoid the penalty for using a skill you don't have if someone is present who has the skill and can instruct you, help with gadget creation or use, or make a minor change to the plot.
There are some special cases that require GM approval, but generally don't be shy about using Story Points. Your supply will generally reset after each major adventure and you can gain Story Points for good role playing, particularly when doing something that is not to your advantage because it is in line with a Bad Trait or in character in some way.
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I don't have an issue with it and no one else has posted anything, so feel free to keep the present level of accent.
I did want to mention advice I've read and try to follow, which is that with accents, a little can go a long way, particularly one the basic accent has been established. We all know that Joe uses Cockney slang and has a strong accent, so going forward, I'd say you don't need to do it full on. You can drop a leading H, drop the g off the end of words ending with ing and our inner ear will do the rest. Same with slang terms. Throw one in for effect, but don't use one for just about everything.
That said, I know of two cases where comic book writers have used such strong accents that it becomes a kind of fun game to puzzle out what they are saying, essentially by sounding it out. The best example would be Girl Genius and the Jagermeisters, who speak in a very strong German accent. Here is an example.
Another example was in the graphic novel Starstruck when a character fights a bunch of brutes who talk in a very thick southern (American) accent. Here is an example.
I'm playing a Starfinder character who I'm giving an accent that emphasizes that he is from a particular planet, so I have replaced the leading th in places with a z and a leading wwith a v to create something of a mix of French and German. But most words are normal. I think it reads well and the occasional change reminds the reader of the accent without making it a challenge to decode the words. Just some advise to consider.
It may have been one of my posts that prompted Joe's question. That was a comment by K 9, made by the player with a tongue in cheek.
As an Australian, I say "No worries sheila, she'll be bonzer."
FYI, the Doctor that Joe would be familiar with would have been Tennant's 10th Doctor. Her encounter would have been at the beginning of the period where he was traveling without a companion after Donna.
I'm going to have to delay my post to this afternoon to get some grading done. This term, a big class means more time grading and less time during the week for posting. Sorry for the delay.
I thought I had guessed or deduced approximately what the Einstein book related to,the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paper from 1935 which concerns wormholes in space, entanglement and associated paradoxes. I have not peeked, scouts honour.
Then I looked up the paper and... am not sure. It could well be related.
Is it possible to assist another when making a check in this game?
K 9 could try to assist Joe in making the gadget she is trying to make. That is if he can figure out what bodge up means.
Is it possible to assist another when making a check in this game?
K 9 could try to assist Joe in making the gadget she is trying to make. That is if he can figure out what bodge up means.
Chapter 3 has a section on Cooperation, which says if more than one PC wants to help with a difficult task that might be accomplished with more than one person cooperating, one PC makes the roll and everyone who has the appropriate skill may aid, adding a +2 to the result. You don't have to roll anything, just state you are helping. This, of course, assumes the task is something that is amenable to such cooperation. Certainly more than one person with the Boffin trait and engineering skill can help when making a gadget.
I'll try to get a post up this afternoon. It's the busy end of the term time for me, so might not have much time until the end of the week.
We haven't had a post from Joe in a few weeks. Are you still with us?
If RL is interfering with posting, let us know what to expect. If not, please try to post every day or every other day.
Even if you don't want your character to say or do anything in the moment, it helps to post and give your character's thoughts or reactions to things. Hope all is well.
I think only one player said he/she/they knew anything about the lost episode Shada. I wanted to let the players know that as far as the universe of this adventure, the events described in the episode did not happen as written. I mention it because in the unaired episode, K-9 played a role along with Romana (II). Also, the grad student Chris Parsons played an important role in that adventure. As will be revealed shortly, events similar to but different from Shada have (had/will have had) taken place. The main thing is no PC had anything to do with these events.
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FWIW, the BBC plans to release a 2-disc "remake" (using the original actors speaking the lines, and animation to fill in the unfilmed parts) of Shada in the U.S. and Canada on September 4 2018.
I had hoped to post last night, but I had things come up. I'll try again this afternoon. Sorry for the delay.
I commend The Doctor GM on his portrayal of academics as represented by Professor Chronotis. He is exactly like those present at the University of Queensland Law School where I was exposed to this strange species.
They typically look and act like creatures from other worlds, relics from other times, or both. The sounds they make are strange, disconcerting and usually incomprehensible. They claim this is due to their brilliance and this is sometimes the case, though the cause is more often alcoholism or lunacy.
I looked at some of the aliases of Joe and her player has only made a few posts since May, the last being in June, so I suspect she will be out for a while. I sent her a PM inviting her to re-join when she can and wishing luck if she cannot.
A little meta-game information about this collection of adventures. The adventures are from the source book for the Eighth Doctor. The other source books provide episode by episode suggestions for adventures that might take place in the same set of events or ideas for similar adventures, stats for various characters/villains, etc. Since there was only one episode with the Eighth Doctor (a movie, but still, not much material), the book fills the space with the adventure modules from which I am drawing for the upcoming sequences. These don't necessarily involve the Eighth Doctor or any particular Doctor and can be run as we will with limited Doctor presence.
The skeleton of the adventure is as I have already presented it: a weapon has been employed to begin to erase the Doctor's entire timeline. The players use the temporal trace locator to hone in on the location of the weapon and when ready, the adventure closes with the players going to try to destroy the weapon and save the Doctor.
There are about a dozen sub-adventures, each set in a time/place related to each of the Doctor's regenerations. They only involve the setting and some of the characters from a particular episode, but they don't actually involve the specific events depicted in the episode and the Doctor is not directly involved. I think the idea is that with the Doctor's timeline altered, the players are exploring a slightly different set of events/characters. Once they have gotten past some obstacles and done some effective role playing to deal with the threats and figure out where the trace is, then they collect the data to the temporal locator, return to the TARDIS, and move on to the next location/time.
My question to the players is, do you have any preferences for which Doctor Who regeneration incarnation to start with and any preferred order for playing them? We could, for example, start with Doctor #1, then go to #2, etc. Or we could start with #11 and work backwards, start with #4 and work forward. It makes no real difference to the outcome, but you might prefer to play in sections that are derived from episode arcs you have watched and are familiar with.
Even if we are in a section related to the Doctor with whom your character adventured, no character will ever enter a situation he/she has been in before, so don't worry about crossing timelines or creating paradoxes.
If there are no strong preferences, I'm thinking of staring with #3 or #4 and working forward, but I'm willing to do what you think you'd enjoy the most. We also have the option of just doing one or two sections before jumping to the ultimate conclusion, so if the adventures aren't grabbing you, let me know and we can wrap up and I'll try to come up with something new.
I've watched all the Doctors, and don't have any strong favorites (but I really dislike #6, he was always being critical of his companions - and his main companion always whined, in a bad American accent).
Do we have to go in chronological order? Could we do #4, then #1, then #10, etc.? Or does the nature of the attack and the device we built dictate serial order?
Any order is possible.
A random order would be fun, not knowing what's coming next. But I'm also fine with going chronologically.
I don't really know why, but I don't want to go DR 1, Dr 2, Dr 3 or Dr 11, Dr 10, Dr 9.
But any other order is fine by me. Or you can just ignore my irrational urges. :(
I'm reviewing all adventures in case there are any which I might prefer to leave out. I will choose one or make a random choice.
In RL, I'm starting a new teaching term this week. Also, one of our cats is in the vet hospital with a non-life-threatening health problem, so these issues may slow down my posting for the next few days.
It might be a day or two before I can get things rolling. There is a lot going on in RL the next day or two and I'll need some time to prep once I decide where to start. Hang tight.
Sorry for the delay. It look longer than I thought to go through the book, plus things in RL took a lot of attention and energy. I hope things will go on without delays.
On the plus side, I found a really good way to explain Kyle's mind wipe that will eventually link in to characters you'll encounter near the end of the story arc. I'll give hints and clues as he has episodes.
I'll send Kyle a PM with some ideas for what has happened in the recent past and how the Doctor connects.
So, after long delays, I think I should be able to make daily posts and I hope that after this weekend, everyone can do the same or else post a quick message to alert the rest of something that will delay posting more than 24-48 hours.
To speed things along, I'll try to provide some spoilers with rolls and difficulty levels so players can attempt things and get immediate information from the spoilers rather than waiting for the GM to reply with the outcome, although I might add details beyond what's in the spoiler as appropriate.
Please attempt to provide descriptive posts that allow others to not only see the rolls made but which give everyone some visual and auditory sense of what the characters are doing, saying, and some level of narration. It doesn't have to be expert prose that would be worthy of a best selling novel, but here are a few tips of what I try to put into my posts.
Some players provide not just the things others see and hear, but give some kind of internal thought process to their actions. This is okay, although I think a better approach is to convey those things with physical descriptions suggestive of the character's thoughts. We don't normally know what other people are thinking, but we often can get a good idea from body language.
Example: Instead of saying, "Sam thinks, 'That's a stupid idea,'" say, "Sam rolls his eyes and shakes his head slightly side to side."
The same goes for emotional states. Instead of saying "Sam is really angry,' say "Sam's face turns slightly red, he clenches his fists and glares at his superior officer."
K-9 has a unique challenge, since his robotic body typically does not provide much to work with as body language. But try to come up with ways to let people know when he is thinking or when he is afraid or sad or feeling the need to take urgent action.
Dice rolls will be less important than descriptive role playing in this game system. Lots of things that will advance the plot will require no roll, just thoughtful role playing that has the characters take a line of action that will achieve something.
Remember also that you can use Story points not just when you need to soften the effects of a bad roll, but also to make some creative input to the plot. A story point might make it such at that some object is in reach that could be used as a weapon, something not planned by the writer of the adventure or the characterization of the GM, but which is plausible and will give players an option that might help them succeed.
I'd like to suggest a change to the way the TTL works. As is, there's no way to get a "beam" on where the temporal trace is relative to us. You mentioned that we could point the device in different directions, but then said that the change in tone gives no indication of what direction the trace is in. That confuses me.
So, what tells us that we are getting closer? A louder hum the next time we activate it?
That means that we will end up just walking all over the place at random, hoping for a successful roll to tell us that we are now closer than we were before. The best we can do is go in a direction that isn't back the way we came.
If the device changes tone significantly as we move it around on a successful roll, indicating even just the general direction of the temporal trace, that would allow us to find the trace faster.
If you don't allow this change, then I'm ok with K-9 using the device, because his inability to point the device up or down won't matter at all.
You haven't yet seen how the locater behaves, but there won't be a problem in identifying the general direction the group goes when necessary. The module describes what the TTL indicates. The stuff with the sound is just my way of dressing it up in typical Doctor Who fashion.
I won't get a post up until Tuesday afternoon. I'm out of time for tonight.
So, if we *can* get a sense of direction by waving the thing around, I'd say K-9's not the best option because he can't move it up or down.
Can anyone beat an Ingenuity+Technology of 9?
When it comes to technological challenges, K-9 has the best ingenuity + technology base, Bryce is a close second, Kyle has the technology skill at a lower level, and Ted has a 0 score for technology. I might suggest Bryce manage the detector until you get a general sense of direction. If it is down or up, he can keep it until such time as the direction starts to point in a horizontal direction, at which time, K-9 could take over.
But keep in mind, the ingenuity + technology roll is mainly role playing your learning how to interpret the device. Each time you get a success, the difficulty level for the next one is reduced one level until success is automatic unless a double 1 result is rolled. So it should not be long before you get to the point where you can check the device without rolling (I'll make the roll behind the screen, but that'll just be to be sure a double 1 result is avoid).
Kyle: I sent you a couple of PMs a week or so ago. I never got a reply. Did you read them? If so, let me know what you think. I'm not sure how much you want to know about your character's forgotten past. It depends on how you like to role play the character.
How will K 9 get on trying to climb on this structure we are on in game?
It sounds like if K 9 has to use his normal movement it is going to be difficult if possible at all.
There was talk of K 9 having hovering or very limited flight in character creation. I can't recall offhand what was decided exactly, but I am fairly sure he had something like that.
It's up to you. I would think that with help from Bryce and technology centuries advanced from that of the 1970s, something more versatile than pictured in the series would be introduced. You can describe it as you choose. I suggested something like what was described in Snowcrash, telescoping spokes that provide a smooth ride over rough surfaces. Or it could be more conventional, more like real dog legs. Hovering could be an option, so long as it remains close to the surface and can't be out and out flight.
It's up to you. I can understand wanting to keep to the image you have seen in the series. But practically, it will have to change some to accommodate the plot.
In the coming week, I'd like to challenge everyone to post once every day. Even if you don't feel like you have anything to offer to the issue at hand, describe what your character says, does, thinks, whatever you want. This will make it feel more like the TV show.
Explore how your characters relate. We have a diverse cast: an older man, a robot, a 1930s detective, and someone with an unknown past. Together they've got to save the Doctor, and by extension, all those the Doctor has saved in his very long life.
I think hovering is cool. Looking just like K 9 seems indicated. Do I need to make the roll to cross the surface?
Should be able to post each day w/o trouble.
I'd say you still need to roll but, as with everyone else, you have a choice of which roll to use: Strength + Athletics or Resolve + Survival
Consider that he still needs to control his movements and he is moving on something that is in a funny situation regarding gravity. Lots could be different than he is used to.
Let's consider the following general assumptions: Newton's Third Law is still in play, so however he is managing it, he's exerting a force down on whatever is below him and it therefore pushes back up. This will make it difficult, but not impossible, to move across water but not possible to simply fly through the air.
To move laterally requires directing this force at an angle, so traction can be an issue in cases of gravel, ice, etc. This way, whatever movement limitations exist for bi-pedal types, also applies to K-9.
Just a word about rolls and difficulty levels. The standard difficulty level for most things is 12. If no difficulty level is indicated when a roll option is offered, it either means standard difficulty of 12 or else the situation does not offer any clues that would suggest to the players that the task is either more challenging than normal or easier than normal. For example, in the current situation, you don't know anything about the computer system except that it appears fairly primitive. Probably a little trial and error should be enough to coax some information out. But until you interact with the system you won't know if maybe there is a command that would do exactly what you are wanting the system to do (easier than 12) or the system is a disguise for a much more sophisticated system (harder than 12).
In some cases, such as when you face a physical challenge such climbing a wall, you'll know that this will be harder than just typical rock climbing, so you could be told the climb roll is difficulty 15 instead of 12.
Paizo has been down a lot, so I haven't had a chance to post yet. I'll get something up this afternoon.
I understand. The site has been down a lot recently. :(
Testing. Limited success posting. Might still be hit and miss.
And we're back...
So it seems. I hope the gremlins are gone for, if not good, at least a long while. All my other games came to a screeching halt too. :(
Kyle's player has made a few posts recently but nothing for a few weeks before that, so I assume there may be something demanding his or her attention in RL. I'll try to 'bot Kyle if need be in the short term.
Hi! Sorry! I’ve been suffering from an inability to access the site on mobile. I’ll be back to a computer later this week and I can resume playing.
Glad you're okay and still with us.