#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.