#AtoZChallenge2023: Doctor Who Gallifrey

"Ah, you should have seen it, that old planet. The second sun would rise in the south, the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver. When they caught the light every morning, they lit the forest on fire." 

- The Tenth Doctor, Gridlock

Next to the Earth, the planet that gets the most mention in Doctor Who lore, is his home world of Gallifrey.

It has been called many things during the run of Doctor Who, most just "The Home World" in the earliest episodes. Among other names, it is known as "Jewel" and "the Shining World of the Seven Systems." It wasn't even named Gallifrey until the time of the Third Doctor in the episode "The Time Warrior" (December 1973) so a full decade went by before we ever learned its proper name.

What do we know about the Doctor's home planet? Well, it s mostly orange in color. Has two suns. It is much larger than the Earth, but humans seem to be fine on it. Likely this is due to Time Lord science. We learn it is in the constellation of Kasterborous at galactic coordinates 10-0-11-0-0/0-2 from Galactic Zero Centre.  It also seems to be part of our galaxy as opposed to a "galaxy far, far away."

Gallifreyians look human, and not all of them are Time Lords. The Time Lords appear to be an elite ruling class and the rest are just regular folk. I am fairly sure though all of them have the same two hearts and ability to regenerate. 

Gallifrey is also special because it is the home of the Untempered Schism, a rip in the fabric of Time and Space that all Time Students of the Academy are taken too. Some Time Lords are driven mad by it, like the Doctor's arch rival The Master. Others, like the Doctor, see it and want to run.  

In addition to this (and likely related to it in some way) is the Eye of Harmony, a stable black hole that is near Gallifrey and in the heart of every TARDIS. This is what gives the Time Lords mastery over time and space. 

We see very little of Gallifrey in the series, even after 60 years. There is the Citadel, the primary city of the Time Lords, and Arcadia, Gallifrey's "Second City."  So like a Time Lord Chicago, I am thinking.

And we know that in the Time War The Doctor (thought) he had burned all of Gallifrey to stop the war. Turns out he (and all his other selves) figured out how to tuck it away in a pocket Universe. Though the Master may have destroyed yet again. Hard to say about an ancient planet where the rules of time and space no longer apply.

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 8

 Taking the left tunnel, the air is cooler and more damp. Entering the cave the characters will see the same stream from Room 4 emptying into this room.  It forms a large dark pool which then continues on to drain at the far wall.

Inside the pool is a Giant Octopus. It pulls it's massive bulk out of the pool to attack the characters.  Due to the size of the room it can only bring out six of it's eight tentacles to attack.

It seems likely that this octopus swam into here ages ago and has grown too large, or too complacent, to swim back out.

While the Octopus has no treasure it keeps there are the remains of several past victims at the bottom of it's 20's deep pool. There are 1d6+3 former adventures at the bottom of this pool. They had Treasure Types of U and V each.

This room is a dead end.

Kickstart Your Weekend: The Celts

This is very much a Peanut Butter and Chocolate moment for me.  I have always been a fan of Brian Young's work on the Castles & Crusades Codex series and in particular his Codex Celtarum. I have also been really enjoying my re-introduction to Chivalry & Sorcery.  So when I see there is a C&S book about Celts, written by Brian Young?  Yeah, I have to have that!

The Celts

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cns5/the-celts?ref=theotherside

I have been dying to do more with this RPG, and this might just be the perfect book for me. I really can't think of single reason why I would not want to back this. One fo my favorite topics, by an author who is an academic and RPG expert on this this topic, for a game system I really want to learn.

Win. Win. Win.

While the faux leatherette looks really nice, I also like the one pictured above since it will go with all my other books.

So yes. Let's get this thing funded!

#AtoZChallenge2023: Doctor Who Fendahl

Today's is a bit different. I am going to talk about a single serial, the four-part "Image of the Fendahl."  This one struck a chord with me for a lot of reasons.

The story deals with the discovery of a human skull dated 12 million years old. Modern humans did not appear on the scene until about 300,000 years ago. So this has the various scientists in a stir.  At the same time the Fourth Doctor and his companions Leela and K-9 (both get their own days!) discover a "hole in time" and follow it to it's source which is of course on Earth.

 The skull has some odd psychic powers and it attracts the attention of one of scientists, Thea Ransome, and begins to take her over.

I won't go into the details of everything here. There are plenty of places to read about that. I do want to talk about what this one means to me.

So as I will mention on P day, in the 1980s, Doctor Who was shown on my local (St. Louis) PBS station. It was also on late on Sunday night, so to watch it I had to sneak it. So I never saw the Image of Fendahl in order. I would catch it here and there, and I of course people at school would talk about it. So the story of the episode was in my mind very different than what was on the screen.  I have also talked about how I would spend my paper route money on D&D books and Doctor Who books. So when I could I bought the Terrance Dicks novelization long before I ever saw it. But by then the ideas I had of it became deeply routed.

Also, this episode played into my keen interest into astronomy with the destruction (by the Time Lords no less) of a 5th planet between Mars and Jupiter, where the asteroid belt is now.

Occult Overtones

In the episode, there are various occult overtones. It was made in the later half of the 1970s so this is no surprise really.  The Fendahl skull had a pentagram in it. There was a pentagram involved in the ritual to recreate the gestalt creature.  Also there were in my young mind overtones of Jungian psychology here. Now I was already reading all this sort of stuff in the 80s so it blended in a heady brew of half-remembered, half-concocted ideas.  

Personally, I would not be surprised if there are ideas I generated then due to this that appear in my various witch books today.  Not a lot I am sure, but if I chased the right thread I bet it would lead me here. 

I have really been meaning to re-watch this one for some time. I know have seen it in the last 10 years or so. I recall watching it one winter while taking down our Geek-themed Christmas tree. But I really need to see it again.

That Wholock Crossover

Spend any time at all in Doctor Who fandom and you will run into people that want a Sherlock/Doctor Who crossover. Makes sense, both shows have similar sensibilities, a super-smart main character, and their companion, and both shows were (at the time) headed by Steven Moffat.  I even got on board with it after my own fashion. 

The Image of Fendahl has the best link to a Wholock crossover (besides the multiple appearances of Mark Gatiss).  Wanda Ventham who plays Thea Ransome is none other than Benedict "Sherlock" Cumberbatch's mother. He was just about 1 year old when this was filmed.

I'll need to see if I can find this anywhere to re-watch, I just checked my DVD collection and oddly enough I don't have it. 

ETA: Ok, I just grabbed on DVD (not BluRay) to go with my others here.

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 7

The passageway beyond the cave leads to another cave. There is more diffused light here and more of the strange plants.  But that is not all.

Inside this cave are three (3) Carcass Crawlers. They are currently scuttling around and will attack when the party enters.

They have stashed here and there standard treasure type B and an additional 2d6 rubies of 1d6x10 gp value each.

There are two exits on the far side of the cave, one to the right and one to the left.

--

Note about the plants.  These plants were made by the necromancers to feed on the magical energies of these caves and to provide oxygen and food to the various creature here they needed for experiments. Casting a "sunlight" spell or other bright light (Continual Light, but not Light) will cause them to wither and die.

New Playtest...What is Elf Lair Games Doing?

 No game this weekend. Which is fine, but I have new play-test material to read up on.  So what is new from Elf-Lair Games?

This is going to be a blast.

#AtoZChallenge2023: Doctor Who Earth

When you go back to the stars and tell others of this planet—when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential— when you talk of the Earth. Then make sure that you tell them this: “It. Is. Defended.” 

- The Tenth Doctor, The Christmas Invasion

More than any other planet in all of time and space it is the Earth that is the Doctor's favorite. It was where The First Doctor and his granddaughter hid when they left Gallifrey. It was The Third Doctor's home in exile during the 1970s when he worked for U.N.I.T. It was the Earth he returned to time and time again.

The Ninth Doctor took Rose to the end of the Earth to watch the sun consume it. The Tenth Doctor took Donna to see the Earth form from rocks in space. The Eleventh Doctor then took Clara to see the Earth from formation to its end to get a picture of a slow-moving time traveler. 

Of course, there are a lot of practical reasons for this. The writers are most familiar with the Earth over all the other planets.  All the filming of Doctor Who is done on Earth, so the sets are already here. 

In-universe there are a lot of reasons are given. I have seen that Gallifrey has the same length of day and year as the Earth. And, of course, the people of the Earth look like Time Lords. A fact the Time Lords always found curious. That was never mentioned on the show, but in a few of the books and audio dramas do.

"You think it'll last forever, the people and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day it's all gone, even the sky."

- The Ninth Doctor, The End of the World

The Doctor mentioned time and time again how much he loves the Earth and humans. Even going as far as the Tenth Doctor falling in love with a human and the Eleventh Doctor marrying the (mostly) human daughter of Rory and Amy. 

Atraxi: You are not of this world.
The Doctor: No, but I’ve put a lot of work into it.

- The Eleventh Doctor, The Eleventh Hour

Good thing for us that he does!

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 6

 Following the light, it enters another cave system. This one is a smaller cave with an exit to the right.

Entering the cave the smell is horrible.

Inside are 4 Troglodytes. 

They are gathered around an old corpse of one of their own sitting in a throne like seat. They appear to worship it. When the party enters they will scream in rage and attack.

The troglodytes all have their standard treasure here, at the foot of the corpse. Additionally, there is an extra 1,000 gp here in assorted gems and jewels. 

The dead troglodyte is exactly just that. 

#AtoZChallenge2023: Doctor Who Daleks

"Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek homeworld? 'The Oncoming Storm'. You may have removed all your emotions, but I bet that deep down in your DNA there's one spark left, and that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me?"

- The Ninth Doctor

More than any other creature the Doctor has faced, none have struck fear into the characters and the audiences quite like that of the Daleks.

The appeared in the very second Doctor Who story "The Daleks" a group of war mongering aliens on the planet Skaro. When the Doctor first encountered them they were still wagging a battle with their ancient enemies the Thals; two species that shared the same planet. We later learn in "Genesis of the Daleks" that the Thals and Kaleds had been fighting for a 1,000 years using every weapon they could from knives to atomic weapons. Here we see their creation as the Kaled leading scientist Davros, himself a victim of a nuclear blast, takes the Kaleds to their ultimate form, something they were already mutating into, and builds a shell for them to survive.  This shell is armed with sensors and advanced weapons, all to kill more Thals. 

From here the genetically and cyber-enhanced Kaleds, now known as Daleks, spread out to the cosmos to destroy all life that is not Dalek. 

While the Daleks of the old series never looked frightening, they were portrayed as such. So much so "that hiding behind the sofa when the Daleks came on" entered into the English cultural consciousness. And they have been voted the greatest monster of all time. This is even considering that the earliest Daleks rolled everywhere. There is a long-running joke that goes like "Daleks don't need to use stairs. They just level the building."

The revised new series brought back the Daleks and added the new concept of the Time War. This was a war the Daleks were in against the Time Lords. Over the course of the years we learned more and more. Like how the Time Lords and the Daleks wiped each other out. The Doctor played a major role in this War and finally how it was the Doctor that used the last weapon (The Moment) to end the war for good destroying both sides. The Time War became a focus of the new series and really made the Daleks feel more menacing. 

The old series used to equate the Daleks and the Cybermen. Both evil races, both cybernetically enhanced humanoids. But it was the new series that finally brought them together and erased all notions they were on equal footing.

The Daleks are so popular they have also been the subject of two non-canon Doctor Who films (called Dr. Who here): Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD. These starred Peter Cushing as "Dr. Who" and were based on the television serials The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth, respectively.

I would argue that is was the Daleks that made Doctor Who so popular. The first story, An Unearthly Child, was good, but it wasn't great. The next story, The Daleks, while quaint by our standards today, was a real attention-getter. I will also claim that the serials The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Chase from the First Doctor helped cement them as worthy adversaries of the Doctor. And the 4th Doctor series, Genesis of the Daleks, the one that introduces Davros, is one of the best Doctor Who stories ever.

All incarnations of the Doctor have had to battle the Daleks. Well. We never see the 8th Doctor do it, he likely did, but he also tried to stay out of the Time War. His successor, The War Doctor, battled them extensively.

If your enemy has to rise to the level of the hero then it is no surprise then that the Daleks are as powerful, and as popular as the Doctor themself.

ETA: Elena Square Eyes is also doing Doctor Who for her A to Z, but she is focusing on the new series. Today she did the Christopher Eccleston episode "Dalek."  Pop over there and see what she has to say!

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 5

Once again, returning to Room #2 and taking the tunnel that was on the right.  

This opens into a large cave system similar to what was seen in Room #5. There is a diffuse glow ahead. 

This cave is inhabited by a group of 10 Cave Locusts. They are bit tougher than the typical ones encountered because they have been eating the strange plants in this room. They all have maximum hp. 

There is one larger than normal Cave Locusts as well that is their leader. This monster has 4 HD and AC 2 [17]. Saves are the same, and its bite does 1d4 and its jump does 1d6.

There is no treasure here. The cave exit is towards the glow. 

#AtoZChallenge2023: Doctor Who Companions

 "When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it'll never end. But however hard you try you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever for one moment, accepts it."

- River Song

More than time and space, more than aliens, more than maybe even the TARDIS and the Sonic Screwdriver, it is the Companions that define the Doctor.

The role of the companion is dramatically a simple one. They are the eyes and the ears of the audience in the Doctor's world. They stand in for us. 

Historically the job of the Companion was to scream, to get captured, and ask "What is it, Doctor?"  Certainly, we saw a lot of that in the early years and even later on. But in 60 years the companions have changed with the times. Susan knew popular music, Jo Grant was very fashionable, Sarah Jane was a go-get-them reporter, and Leela...well I have to get back to her.  There is no way I can go through all the companions here, even all the ones I liked the most, but I will do some.

Susan - Susan is the Doctor's first companion and his granddaughter. Like the Doctor she is a Time Lord, though we don't see her doing much other than having knowledge of the future. She doesn't regenerate, as far as we have seen, but the actress Carol Anne Ford is still alive and could return.

Jamie McCrimmon - A companion of the Second Doctor Jaime breaks the stereotype of companions. First off he is male. Though he is still showing off some leg, since as a Highlander he wears a kilt. He has no problem talking back to the Doctor and has been a fan favorite for years. How much of a favorite? Well this is going to get it's own post later! He also has appeared in more episodes than any other companion. 

Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart - The Brig is another stereotype-breaking companion. First seen with the Second Doctor, he was there for all the Third's Doctor exile on Earth when they both worked for U.N.I.T. (yes, you guessed it, more on that later!) The Brig was no nonsense, by the book and was already tired of the Doctor's shenanigans. They butt heads all the time but there was obvious great respect and even love between them.  As he got older (and encountered the Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Doctors) he showed his respect more. The Seventh and Twelfth Doctors in particular expressed their respect for the Brig.  Sadly the actor, Nicholas Courtney, passed in 2011. But the Brigadier's daughter, Kate Stewart, continues her father's (and the Doctor's) work as U.N.I.T.'s scientific advisor. 

Sarah Jane Smith - Sarah Jane. She started out as a companion to the Third Doctor and then the Fourth Doctor where she became one of the most favorited companions of all time. She was a reporter looking for a story about U.N.I.T.'s mysterious scientific advisor. She was so popular that she came back in the new series with the 10th Doctor and then again in her series with the 11th Doctor.  Sarah also was the only companion to get not just one, but two spin-off shows.

Honestly, seeing her come back with the 10th Doctor is one of the highlights of the new series. 

Leela - Leela was so different as a companion to what had come before she also gets her own post.

Romana I and II - I always like Romana. She was a Time Lord sent to help the Doctor recover the Key to Time.  She was smart, funny and was more than a match for the Doctor. At the end of her first season, she regenerated and Mary Tamm became Lalla Ward. I always had huge crush on Lalla Ward. I was not alone, since she and Fourth Doctor Tom Baker got married. Though they got divorced soon after. 

Adric - Ok. Now to be fair, I never liked Adric. I thought he was whiny and a jerk. I was also not alone in this. There is a rumor that when Tom Baker was filming his last scene where he regenerates into the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davidson) he turned to Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) and said "Adric, you're a cunt and always will be."  Ok. maybe harsh.  Adric is here though for his exit. Adric was killed off. The first time I ever saw that and I was in shock! Just killed and there was nothing the Doctor could do about it. 

Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown - Peri was a new companion for the Fifth Doctor and was unique in that she an American. I always thought it might be due to Doctor Who's growing popularity in America. She is also the only companion to call the Doctor (the Sixth Doctor now) an "asshole" I was shocked. But I also admit I had a bit of a crush on Nicola Bryant (she is not American at all I learned). 

When we last see Peri her mind and body are taken over by the villainous Kiv. King Yrcanos (played by the amazing and always over the top Brian Blessed) had fallen in love with Peri and ended killing her, Kiv and Sil, and everyone else.  I understand that this ending was her idea.  We later see Peri in 2022. She married Yrcanos and became known as the Warrior Queen.

Dorothy "Ace" Gale McShane - was a chemistry student bored with her life on Earth. She managed to whip up a Time Storm and was transported in time and space where she encounters the Seventh Doctor. Her story becomes central to the Seventh Doctor's as he investigates her past. She is more akin to modern companions really. Plus she liked to blow things up.

Rose Tyler - Rose was the first new companion of the rebooted series in 2005/6 and she was the perfect point of view character for new viewers. They can discover the Doctor's universe as she does. She was quite popular and I have to say I was very, very pleased she was not killed off. I talk more about her in my Bad Wolf post.

Capt. Jack Harkness - Capt. Jack almost got his own post. He brought many firsts to Doctor Who. He was an American played by an American (ok American-Scottish), he was openly pan-sexual, he may not have been all he seemed and was certainly not a "good guy" when he started. But he was changed (in a lot of ways) with his time with the Doctor and Rose and became a well loved character. So well loved he got his own spin-off Torchwood.

River Song - Ah. River. So much to say about her. So much, in fact, she is getting her own post.

Amy and Rory - The first married couple on the TARDIS and the best friends of the Doctor.  The chemistry between the three actors was amazing. Amy and Rory would leave the Doctor in a tragic way (no, they did not die). But their legacy lives on in the form of River Song and Rory "The Last Centurion" Williams.  Rory made every other husband in the universe look second-rate.

Clara Oswald - The Impossible Girl. She met the Doctor on the Dalek homeworld, where she died. Then she met him again in Victorian England...where she died.  And then again in London in modern times where...she didn't die, and traveled with the Doctor. When the Doctor was forced to go to his own grave and see the rip in time his death caused. Clara jumped in to save him but got lost in his own timestream. It was here we find the Doctor's darkest secret. That in between his 8th and 9th regeneration there was another Doctor...the War Doctor and it was he that destroyed the Daleks and Galifrey.

Bill Potts - Bill didn't walk the Earth, or absorb the heart of the TARDIS, she was just a girl that kept the Doctor grounded. She was also the first openly lesbian companion.  In the end, she was converted to a cyberman thanks to the Master, but she was rescued by a girl she had fallen in love with who had merged with a synthetic living fuel. She rescued Bill and then they traveled the universe together.  To give you an idea of the respect the writers gave these characters they were named Bill and Heather, named after William Hartnell (the First Doctor) and his wife Heather.

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 4

 Going back to Room #2, and taking the tunnel on the left (now on the character's right) takes them down another tunnel.

This tunnel is long and makes a lot of turns.  It opens into a very large cave. There is a glowing portal near the far wall near the ceiling.  Out of the portal a bunch of flying figures.

These are tiny Dragonettes (2+2 HD, attacks #3, (claw, claw, bite) 1d3+!/1d3+1/1d6+1 + Breath Weapon.  Their breath weapon is a puff of hot smoke that is mildly irritating causing 1d4 hp of damage or half on a save. 

They fly in and eat a pile of Rot Grubs feasting on the corpse of a goblin.

If the characters ignore the Dragonettes they will eat the grubs and fly off.  If the characters approach the grubs they will be attacked and there is a chance the rot grubs will also attack.

There is a small stream that runs through this cave. It comes from a waterfall and flows into a hole in the ground. The water is dark, cold and has a sulfury taste, but it is otherwise fine.  There are blind fish in the stream the characters can try to catch. If they are using spears to get fish then the fish have AC 4.

It will take the PCs a couple of hours to fully investigate this cave, party due to its size and complexity of the terrain.  They cant reach the portal, there are no rocks near enough and the stream is not deep enough.

Note: Tonight's visual was created using Stable Diffusion XL from NightCafe.

#AtoZChallenge2023: Doctor Who Bad Wolf

"No, no, in this form, I'm called...Bad Wolf. Are you afraid of the big bad wolf, Doctor?"

- The Moment in the form of Rose Tyler/Bad Wolf.

Bad Wolf was an "easter egg" / recurring theme/motif in the first season of the Doctor Who revival in 2005/2006.  The ninth Doctor (in his only season) and his companion, Rose Tyler, kept running into the words "Bad Wolf" wherever they went in Time and Space.

At first, it seemed it was all the places where the Doctor was going, but in the end, it was revealed to be Rose. During the final episode of the season, the Doctor has to face off alone against the enemy he thought he had destroyed, the Daleks. So to protect Rose, he sent her to the TARDIS and had it take her home to 2006. 

Rose, not wanting to leave the Doctor behind and not knowing how to operate the Doctor's TARDIS (his time machine, come back on T-day for that!) forces the console open and accidentally absorbs the heart of the TARDIS. Which is essentially, a contained black hole.  She takes the TARDIS back to the future where the Doctor is about to be killed by the Daleks (again, come back on D-day for those guys) and... well it is spoilery if you have not seen it, but it is a great scene.

What is significant here is Bad Wolf/Rose's line "the Time War ends."  When we next see the Bad Wolf in the 50th Anniversary episode it/she is the interface for a weapon known as The Moment. A weapon that the War Doctor (the one before the Ninth) was going to use to end the Time War.

Time travel, especially in Doctor Who, is never a straight line. It is, as the Tenth Doctor would say a "big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."

What is great about Bad Wolf is how the Companions of Doctor Who would come to be viewed by the Doctor in this new refresh of the series. This would give us such companions as Martha (the girl who walked the Earth), Donna (the most important woman in the universe), Amy (the girl who waited) and Clara (the Impossible Girl). And, of course, River Song. But she gets her own day.  And in 2006 after dealing with the toxic way Whedon treated his characters and actors this was a breath of fresh air. EVERYONE thought Russel T. Davies was going to kill off Rose, but no. He did the opposite. 

The Bad Wolf would make other appearances, but never like that first season. Likely good too, the times she has shown up again have usually meant the end of the Universe. 

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 3

 Taking the center opening leads down a rough-hewn passage. There is a light ahead, but it is diffuse.

It looks like there is a room beyond, but this is an illusion. The Gelatinous Cube uses this illusion to trap victims. Even its simple brain has learned that it can trap the most food here.

There is only a 1 in 6 chance that anyone will notice the gelatinous cube here unless they are specifically searching for something strange or out of the ordinary. Beyond the cube is a collection of treasures from years of victims.

There is 1,000 gp, 1500 sp, 3000 cp, and about 50 gems worth 5,000 gp total.  There is a dagger +1 and a mace +1.  

#AtoZChallenge2023: Doctor Who The 3 Doctors

Sunday is not a normal posting day for the A to Z Challenge, but I always use Sundays as "Special Topics." This challenge will be no different.  Plus Sundays were the day Doctor Who was on for me in the 1980s, so it has always been "Doctor Who day" for me.

For my Sundays, I am going to talk about the various Multi-Doctor episodes, ones that have more than one Doctor in them. Since this is our first Sunday, I am going to start with the first multi-Doctor story, the 10th Anniversary "The Three Doctors."

The Three Doctors aired from December 1972 to January 1973 during the time of Jon Pertwee's run as the Third Doctor.

The story involves a lost member of the Time Lords, Omega, the engineer who figured out how to harness the power of a black hole to give the Time Lords enough power to be able to travel in time and space. Believed lost he existed in an "anti-matter" universe created by his own force of will. He began draining all the power from Gallifrey (the Doctor's home world) and leaving the Time Lords helpless. The only one not affected was The Doctor who was on Earth in exile.

The Time Lords realized that only the Doctor had a chance of stopping Omega, but not a great one, so they figured if one Doctor had a chance, then two Doctors had double the chance, even if it meant breaking the First Law of Time. Something even a renegade like the Doctor was unwilling to do himself.

The story was a great one to be honest and I recently had the chance to rewatch it.  William Hartnell even got to reprise his role of the First Doctor, despite being in very ill health. The rapport between Patrick Troughton (the Second Doctor) and Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor) was just so much fun it made me wish we could have seen more of them together. 

It also set the stage for more multi-Doctor shows to occur for the anniversaries of the show, though not always.  

Complaining about the special effects from the time feels like a cheap shot, so I will not do it, instead, I want to focus on the story and the acting. Nicholas Courtney was at his very best as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. He played the role with such convincing annoyance at the Doctor (all of them) and confusion he stole every scene he was in. Katy Manning was wonderful as always as Jo, and John Levene gave us his typical strong turn as Sergeant Benton.  Though I understand Frazer Hines was due to return as the Second Doctor's companion Jaime and that would have been fun. Thankfully Frazer, and Jaime, get to come back later, and he has some lasting appeal even today.

This is also an interesting one for me. In the 1980s I read all the Doctor Who books I could get my hands on and this was one of the ones I read long before I ever saw it. My mental image of everything was different than what we got on screen, but I was not disappointed.

Sadly this was William Hartnell's last acting role and his health was so poor that his role here was only in cameos. He later died in 1975.

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 2

 This is a large cavern. The ceiling of the cave is 20' high (about the about they went down the stairs). There are three tunnels extending out from the far wall. One to the left, one to the center, and another to the left. 

In this cavern are 4 Carrion Crawlers (or Carcass Crawlers). 

They will attack as soon as the characters are nearby. They have a small treasure horde nearby.

#AtoZChallenge2023: Doctor Who Aliens

Starting the A to Z challenge off easy with one that always comes to mind when talking about Doctor Who; Aliens.

The Doctor (an alien from the Planet Gallifrey) has encountered numerous aliens in the 60 years since the show began. While the very first episode, "An Earthly Child" didn't encounter any aliens (they went back in time) the Doctor (in his first incarnation) and his granddaughter Susan were the aliens, though we did not know that yet at the time. We knew the Doctor and Susan were from the far future. 

Honestly, I could do an A to Z of just the aliens. Starting with Autons all the way to Zygons.

But instead, I want to talk about the aliens in a more general sense.

Steven Moffat (writer 2005 to 2008, executive producer 2009 to 2017) once commented that the Doctor does not have superpowers, he has two hearts. He does not have a gun, he has a screwdriver to fix things. So the notion that aliens are not always some galactic threat, like we see in the Christmas Invasion (2005), but are here to help. 

ADRIC: The Earth people use it to beam messages to the stars. The Doctor calls it reiterated invitation to alien intelligences in deep space.
NYSSA: And that's us.
ADRIC: So they'll be very pleased to see us.

- "Logopolis," Season 18, Serial 7, March 1981.

While I will call out some of the more prominent alien species through out this month I'll mention a couple here.

Autons. An alien species that can live in and bring to life plastic. They are connected via a linked consciousness, the Nestene. 

Cybermen. Actually a race of humans from a planet much like Earth. The humans there depleted all their natural resources and had to replace their bodies with cybernetics. One of the Doctor's oldest foes.

Daemons. Not demons, but they do look like them. A group of transdimensional scientists.

Draconians. If Doctor Who had a race closest to the Klingons of Star Trek, then it is these guys. They are a species of war-like reptile/humanoids who value honor above all else. They are a space faring species that often run into conflict with humans in the future. The masks and make-up used for them was a significant step up in terms of effects, allowing the actors a full range of facial features.

Judoon. These creatures look like bipedal rhinoceroses. They are not very bright but follow orders and are often used as police, peacekeepers, or mercenaries. Though they are smarter than the Ogrons below. 

Ogron. Largely space Orcs. These guys are mercenaries willing to work for whoever had the most coin or credits. They are brutal and not very bright. The make-up and masks come from the same time as the Draconians, so a large step up from previous creatures.

Ood. These guys look like monsters. Indeed they have more than just a passing similarity to the Mind Flayers of D&D; they are one of the most peaceful species in all of Doctor Who.  They are highly telepathic and empathic. Of course, humans use them as slave labor by lobotomizing them.  The message here is clear, in the future, humanity is still pretty much shit.

Silurian. Along with the Sea Devils. This is a race of reptile humanoids that evolved on Earth millions of years before humanity. When their scientists predicted the asteroid that would wipe out the dinosaurs they retreated far below the surface and went into suspended animation. Their computer would wake them when the Earth began to warm up enough for them.  Even in the 70s Doctor Who had a keen idea on what was going on.  There are three varieties. The Homo Reptilia which is split into two castes the warrior (female) and the scientists (male). There are the psychic Silurians (which I tend to think of as a third gender) and the Sea Devils a race of purely aquatic reptiles.

Slitheen. Pictured above. These aliens are bad. But they are also quite fun since the poke fun at the cheap rubbery suits that were a feature of Doctor Who aliens for years.  They look human until they unzip their human suits to reveal the alien inside. They come from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius, which is just fun to say.

There are so many more. I hope this little taste is enough to prepare us for the month ahead.

All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 4, Room 1

 Level Four seems to be mostly rough-cut stone as if the entrance from Level Three was cut out of an existing cavern system.

When the PCs get to bottom of the very long stairs they find another door. It is locked but can be picked at a -10% to an Open Lock roll.

The door is trapped on the level Four side. So one the character pass through the doors will close, trying to open them will release 1d4+1 poison darts. They "attack" as normal-level human causing 1d4 points of damage. They are coated with poison so a save vs poison is needed. The poison was stronger ages ago so in stead of death it causes violent sickness on a failed save. The character is useless for 1 hour. A cure wounds spell or potion of any sort will cure them.

Notes about level 4. 

These are natural caves that the necromancers and wizards cut into for their magical research. There are gems here as well as monsters. There is a magical glow about the place, but torches are still recommended.  

There are noises coming from everywhere. GMs should roll for random monsters using the tables for a Level 4 dungeon. 

There is a natural sink hole that leads to Level 5 later on in this level.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised Rulebook

I think this one was funding mere seconds after going live.

Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised Rulebook

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adventuredesigntome/swords-and-wizardry-complete-revised-rulebook?ref=theotherside

What can I say here? If you read this blog you likely know what this is all about.

It looks great and the Kickstarter is doing well.  The BIG thing for me is to see what license it is released under and how that might change some of the rules. I am expecting little impact, but it will be interesting all the same. 

The covers are attractive as all hell, so I might get pulled in on that alone. 

Will this rival the ShadowDarkRPG in terms of sales? Hard to say, really. But it is a good time for all sorts of games out there.

April Blogging A to Z: Doctor Who (An Introduction)

Here we are at the end of March (can you believe that?), and April 1st is tomorrow.  So to get the ball rolling on my April A to Z Blogging Challenge, I thought I would introduce my topic here and now.

All month long, I am going to be talking about one of my favorite television shows of all time...and space. 

Doctor Who!

2023 is the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who, first premiering in England in November of 1963. Since then 14 actors have played the titular Doctor, a near-immortal Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, and a 15th is now waiting in the wings to take over. In that time the Doctor has appeared in books, audio dramas, movies, role-playing games, and more.

All month long I will be talking about Doctor Who. The show, the culture, and what it means to me in particular. There is no way I am going to cover everything.

In addition to the normal A to Z posts, Monday through Saturday, I will have special Sunday posts as well. 

Don't know much about Doctor Who? That's ok! I will guide you all through this wonderful universe. But here is a sneak peak, an "epic trailer" made by another fan on YouTube.  It is current up to the 13th Doctor played by Jodie Whitaker. 

I do want to thank the BBC's rights department, which gave me explicit permission to use images associated with Doctor Who for these posts.

Join me on this. And to quote the Ninth Doctor, "It's going to be fantastic!"

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 31

Beyond the door in Room 30 is a flight of stairs descending into darkness. 

Once every character is out of Room 30 the doors will slam shut behind them. They are locked and there is no keyhole or access to the lock from this side. Thieves can't pick the locks here. The doors are also solid. They were designed to keep out the creatures from Level 4 out of the labs on Level 3.

Only by using the word from Room 29 ("Jabrexi") will the doors open.

The stairs go down a very long way. The stairs are rough-hewn, and characters can only move at half-speed to keep from falling.

--

GMs should reward the characters if they remember the passphrase. Also, reward character for completing this level.

This Old Dragon: Issue #128

Time to reach down into the dusty old box under my desk and pull out another Dragon magazine.  Today's gem comes to us from December 1987. I was wrapping up my first semester at University, George Michael had the number #1 song in the land with Faith, and Three Men and a Baby was the number 1 movie. And no, there was no ghost on set.  TSR has seen some shake ups, so has Dragon, and soon we will begin talking about AD&D 2nd Edtion.  All of this and more in Issue #128 of This Old Dragon.

Once again, my Dragon is missing some pages. I have the theory that the collector I bought them all from was a HUGE Marvel Super Heroes fan since that is what seems to be missing from them all. Well, that and the collection also had a lot of MSH books, all in pretty terrible condition. So when I get to that section, I'll mention it, but as per my own rules, I won't review it much.

As typical, my cover is missing, so here it is from my Dragon CD-ROM.  I don't remember this one to be honest. College life was hitting me pretty hard at this point and I don't think I ever owned this one when it was new.

Not exactly sure when it happened, but Roger Moore is now our Editor in Chief replacing (the now late) Kim Mohan. I knew 1987 was a huge shake-up year for TSR; this is just one of many.

Letters cover Gygax's Dragon Chess with shopping guides on which minis to buy to build your own. My previous DM (at the time) had built his own and it was fun, but overly complicated for my desires at the time.

Forum covers the Mystic College from Dragon #123. It has made me want to go back and reread those. 

Nice big ad for the AD&D Dragonlance Hardcover.  Mine got attacked by rabbits (seriously) and I recently purchased a POD version from DriveThru and a copy from Heidi Gygax, so I guess I am OK really.

Dragon MVP Ed Greenwood is up with our first article, Welcome to Waterdeep. Doing these "This Old Dragons" has really given me a greater appreciation for the Forgotten Realms and Ed's writing in general. This five-page article is great introduction, especially for people like me that know there is giant meal out of the Forgotten Realms and have no idea where to take our first bite. I am reading this and thinking "Oh I could put the Keep on the Borderlands there and B5 here..." and that I think is the exact thought Ed wanted me to have while reading. Well done.

A review from John C. Bunnell on Gary Gygaz's Role-Playing Mastery book in Matters of Mastery. He is not 100% sold on the book, and having read it myself years ago I get this. The book lacks a clear direction. There good ideas in it, but thematically it doesn't hold together. 

W. Todo Todorsky has nice system of disbelieving Illusions in To Believe or Not to Believe. Very typical of the times in there are charts and percentages. Today we would have a modified DC, but hidden in these numbers are the bases for doing these, ie every 5% change is a +1 on d20 roll. It is neat, and it is fun and very, very 80s AD&D. 

Roleplaying Reviews is up next with books taken from today's headlines. Ken Rolston covers both Empire of Petal Throne (which has fallen from grace) and Jorune (which I have seen more about recently). Rolston calls EPT a modern classic and must-have; and yes this is all true, but the shine for me at least is gone and the stain is too deep. He also loves Jorune, which I have always wanted to play but never found anyone that was playing it. He goes into quite a bit of detail on both games. 

Through out those pages we get ads for the Judge Dredd RPG, the brand new Forgotten Realms boxed set and Might & Magic, software for your Apple II.

James Ward is up with The Game Wizards with a look ahead to 1988 from TSR. A note that if you want to get published contact Bruce Heard. Wonder if he still is taking mail for this? Castle Greyhawk is up in January with what looks like a "little bit" of humor sprinkled in. To this day I can't help that this product was done to directly tarnish the Greyhawk and Gygax legacy, but maybe I am over reacting. Some Marvel books, some Top Secret books. OH and the Bullwinkle & Rocky game along with more Buck Rogers!

The Spirit Way is our fiction piece from Leigh Anne Hussey.

Something interesting up next. Dale Oldfield and Mark Foster give us King's Table, their implementation of the ancient chess-like Hnefatafl game. Lots of variations and options of board set up are given. It is very interesting and I have always wanted to play. In 1987 this looked new to me, but now you can get these from Amazon and many game stores.

Jeff Grubb is next with Plane Speaking The Negative Quasi Elementals. This covers the Ash, Vacuum, Dust, and Salt Elementals.

Moving on to modern games, Dennis McLaughlin talks helicopters for Top Secret in Chopper Power! At this time my roommate, and Air Force ROTC guy, would have been all over this and likely found some sort of issue with it. But he had a lot of issues with things.

Gamma World players get a new naming systems for mutants in Kim Eastland's A Mutant by Any Other Name.

The Island in Your Computer by Cheryl Peterson is an interesting slice of time. The nascent Internet as we know it was growing here in the form of CompuServe.  While CompuServe itself did not contribute much technology-wise to the Internet we know of today, the experiences people had did. The article is the victim of the previous owner's desire to keep all the Marvel Phile articles.

So this is missing the Marvel Phile and the Role of Computers articles. 

Next is a quiz from Lawrence R. Raimonda. U 2 Kan Ern Big Bux! I am not sure what the point of this one is. Humor? Sure, maybe, but not enough to justify the page count in my mind. 

The small ads of Gamers' Guide follow. Seeing a lot more ads for computer aids for GMs and players. Also seeing a drop off of Play by Mail ads.  

Convention Calendar has what is hot for Winter 1987-88. Of those listed, I actually went to the Egyptian Campaign on a cold February Saturday. I hate talking bad about gaming experiences or my alma mater, but I found them to be particularly unwelcoming to new players. Today I'd call them stereotypical Grogs who had no interest in showing a bunch of Freshmen the ropes. It actually soured me on going to Cons for a very long time.

Sadly I have heard since then that my experiences were not particularly unique. Sad really, I would like to have gone to one of the longest on going conventions in the state. 

Snarf Quest #52 is next. I'll admit I have no idea what is going on here. One of the story arcs where they go to the future from D&D to Star Frontiers. 

Dragonmirth is next. The "No Pain, No Gain" joke is good for the times but the Laurel and Hardy one was even getting really old then.

Wormy is up. It is one of the last ones before Tramp ended up in the same town I was in.

So a good, but not great, issue. I can't tell if I am seeing something not there because I know or if there is something, but this feels like a magazine in transition. We have left the Golden and Silver Ages of Dragon and are now into something a little different. What kind of different? Well most of the old guard is gone. The magazine has pivoted away from Gygax and Greyhawk to Greenwood and the Realms.  Mohan is out, Moore is in. Soon the world will see the first details of the Second Edition of AD&D.

Oh. checking my CD-ROM I see there is a Hnefatafl board inside.

Oh. I am looking for Dragons from the 2nd Ed era, #160 to #274.

Do not tell me I can get issues online. I don't condone piracy of any sort. Besides, I have the Dragon Magazine CD-ROM that goes all the way to issue #250. 

Thanks!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 30

 This room is right off of the smaller lab (Room 29). This room is large with lots of operating tables in the center and desks and workbenches along the walls. There are large vats along the walls.

When the characters enter this room, zombies begin to crawl out of the vats.  They are covered in thick sticky blood.

Vat Zombies (5). These zombies have 2+1** HD and are faster than normal zombies and can attack at any point in the round. They also have +1 to damage and AC of 4.

These zombies are one of the last creations of the Necromancers. 

The zombies have no treasure, but the remains of the alchemical equipment will get 1000 gp in gold, 3000 gp in silver and 4000 gp in copper. There are also gems (2030 gp) and other equipment (1000 gp) if the characters can haul it out. 

There is a large door on the far wall, it can be open easy enough.

The Witch Queens of the Basic Bestiary

 On Monday, I mentioned some plans for Basic Bestiary, namely to include many of my various Witch Queens with stat blocks.  I wanted to talk about it today.

As my Basic Bestiary project has grown (and grown, and grown) it has also morphed. I originally planned this to be a collection of monsters from my various witch books and monsters from my notes that never had a proper home. Later it morphed as a nod to not just the Monster Manual, the book that got me into D&D, and two of my favorite books the Fiend Folio and Deities & Demigods. What I liked about both was the variety of creatures and beings they included.

Tea with the Witch Queens by Brian Brinlee

While I have a lot of Witch Queens, I can only include some of them. Many belong to other people and IPs. Great for a game here in my home, bad for a publication. Others would not work for the scope and design for Basic Bestiary.  

The idea started when I was trying to figure out what to do with Baba Yaga. Was she Faerie Lord? Some sort of Outsider? Something else? No. She was a Witch Queen, and in my worlds, that is something special.

Here are the ones I am thinking about so far. Linking to stats when I have them, but all will need to tweak all of them at some level.

• Baba Yaga
• Circe
• Darlessa
• Elena the Fair (change the name to Vasilisa)
• Marissia (but strip out some of her histories)
• Morgan Le Fey
• Nicnevin / Nic an Neachneohain

I would like to include Ceridwen, Louhi, Lilith, and Sycorax. While I am at it, I would like to also include others like Bloody Mary, Grimhild, Mother Carey, Prättäkitti, and Sebile.

Others I have good substitutes for. For example, much of what I have been doing with Kersy of Mystara is close enough to the witch Urganda to work as a stand-in, much like Vasilisa works for Elena the Fair.

So far, my plan is to put them all in an appendix at the end of the book. They are not really monsters, even if myth and history have portrayed them as such.  I also don't think a major heading like Witch Queens (like how many books do with Demons or Devils or Elementals) will work because other than being witches and immortal, they are not allied and don't have a lot of powers in common.  Still, I might change my mind about that. 

Something fun to look forward to.

I also have to get art for all of them too. And...there is still the question of the cover art for all four books.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 29

 This room opens up from the hallway to reveal the last creature worked on by the Necromancers. 

It is a Zombie Owlbear (5HD, attacks like an owlbear, but last in initiative like a zombie).

This creature lacks any intelligence including the knowledge or the will to move to another room. It will attack anything this room.

There are three skeletons on the ground. They wear the remains of what could have been wizard robes. The robes have been slashed. The story here is a little obvious, these were the wizards working on this beast and it killed them. 

One of the robes has a wand of magic missiles with 5 charges left. Another has a ring of protection +1, and all have about 45 GP total.

Searching the room will find a lot of lab equipment, some materials for sewing up corpses and surgical gear. There is a stone slab near the door out with the word "Jabrexi" on it in the language of magic.

Review: Blue Flame, Tiny Stars

I was on Mastodon a while back (and I really do need to do more over there) and I struck up a conversation with Stephen Wendell.  He was promoting his new book Blue Flame, Tiny Stars, and I asked for a copy, which he happily sent me.  I got it in the mail about a month ago and I finally sat down to read it.  Honestly it was hard to put down.  While he was not expecting a review when he sent it, I said I would review it. So here it is. 

Blue Flame, Tiny Stars

Blue Flame, Tiny Stars, or more properly, "Blue Flame, Tiny Stars: A Memoir of Early Experiences Playing the Holmes Edition of the World’s Most Superlative Role-Playing Game" by Stephen Wendell, is a memoir of one man's first experiences with Dungeons & Dragons. 

Stephen's story here is a familiar one. I could have recounted a very similar tale of the summer of 1980 after being exposed to D&D back in December of 1979. But his tale is an earnest one and an engaging one.

The sales pitch for this book includes the line "Warning: Reading this book will make you want to play D&D!" and that is 100% true. Reading through Wendell's recollections of his first encounter with D&D, via the Holmes Basic Rules (same as me) made me want to pull out my Holmes set and roll up a new character. It reminded me of summer days coloring in my own dice with a white crayon and then playing games at night with my brother or friends. 

This is not a long book, a little more than 30 pages. It also reads much faster than its size would suggest because it is so engaging. Wendell manages to do something rather magical here. He engages you in his own discoveries and makes you recall your own at the same time. It is not just a fantastic new tale; it is a fantastic OLD tale that you already know. 

I have talked a lot about Holmes Basic and its enduring appeal. This book is a love letter to that set and that time. 

The book is on sale in lots of places, and Wendell sells it in a variety of formats (print, pdf, epub), all at Pay What You Want (at DriveThru).  But seriously, find the suggested price and pay more than that. 

Regardless of what you pay for it or how long it takes you to read it do pick this one up. Especially if you started as part of the "Second Generation" of Gamers that did not learn from war games or from the ancient masters. We taught ourselves or learned from others that also taught themselves. This is the group that both Wendell and I (and likely many of you) claim membership in. 

Props also for including the quote from Carl Jung. Seriously was this book custom-made for me? We even have the same dice.

If you are part of that Second Generation, then you owe it to yourself, or at least that 9-11-year-old version of yourself, to pick up this book. It is more than just a nostalgia grab. It is the real thing, and I am happy to have it.

I am sticking my copy inside my Holmes boxed set where it belongs.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 28

This room is really a wide hallway with many smaller cells on each wall to the left and right. There are four on each lower row on both sides and four above these in an upper row for a total of 16 cells.

The cell doors are steel and not bars. It is difficult to hear anything at all on the inside, but the doors do feel warm. The locking mechanism is broken so unlocking one will cause the others to open as well.

Opening the cells will release 8 Hellhounds (3 HD each).  These animals were going to be used for breeding purposes but they have been forgotten. They are hungry and quite insane. They will attack everything in the room, including each other.  

Once one Hellhound is down the nearest three will attack it and attempt to eat it. If they succeed (two rounds to do this) then their HD increases to 4 HD.

Each hound is wearing a jeweled silver collar with 500 gp.  The magic of the collar kept them locked onto this plane.