Publisher: Cubicle 7 Entertainment
Authors: Darren Pearce and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
Year: 2013
Players: Two or more
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: As long as you’d like
Pages: 160 pages
Genre: Doctor Who RPG sourcebook
Retail Price: $34.99 Hardcover; $19.99 PDF at DriveThruRPG
When I reviewed The Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space RPG, I made it very plain I was disappointed in how little of the near fifty year history of the show was mentioned. I understand there are plenty of Who fans out there who have nearly no interest in anything in the series which took place prior to the relaunch in 2005 yet my “first” doctor was Tom Baker, when I discovered the show on the local PBS station back in Chicago as I was preparing to enter high school. Following that I began to swing over to a book store which specialized in science fiction and fantasy (The Stars Our Destination) finding those imported Target books which introduced me to the three Doctors who came before Baker. I suppose that lead to a majority of my disappointment with DWAITAS in its David Tennant and Matt Smith editions.
It’s important to remember the first Doctor was very far removed from what we’ve come to know during the modern Russell T. Davies/Steven Moffat years; William Hartnell’s Doctor was crotchety, cranky, mainly set against changing history and not happy about having companions aboard the TARDIS – outside of his granddaughter Susan. The first Doctor also appeared as an elderly man and didn’t have a great amount of stamina. It’s fun to look back at the adventures of the first Doctor as mainstays of the series such as the Daleks and Cybermen make their debuts. Unlike the tales of later Doctors there are fewer appearances of monsters and more focus on historical stories or alien cultures.
The rest of the chapters are devoted to the twenty nine adventures in which Harnett appeared as the Doctor. Each adventure is broken down into four sections: synopsis; running the adventure; characters, aliens and gadgets; further adventures.
Synopsis – Obviously enough this is a detailed breakdown of the televised adventure. Some are a bit shorter than others but this makes sense mainly because each story arc would have anywhere from one to twelve episodes. Also some of the “lesser” stories don’t seem to get a lot of due but that’s understandable as well.
Running the Adventure – Interestingly enough, each adventure isn’t broken down into only replaying the tale as broadcast but also plenty of ideas as to presenting the major beats of the adventure without making it simply a rehash. GMs can also take advantage of tips on how to make players invested in the adventure rather than just climbing back in the TARDIS and getting out of Dodge.
Further Adventures – Here you’ll find a handful of what ifs and additional adventure ideas to build adventures down the line following up in the action from the story in the synopsis section. For the most part these seeds make for interesting reading.
Overall the presentation of The First Doctor Sourcebook is top notch with plenty of black and white photography. Unlike the core game book, I found the ratio of photos to text to be just right; you won’t feel as if you’re getting cheated out of gaming material because of an overabundance of pics. I really think Cubicle 7 has done a great job with the sourcebook and, as someone intimately familiar with the existing episodes of William Hartnell’s time as the Doctor (in the 1970s the BBC wiped many video tapes which contained the shows in order to save cash by rerecording over them) the writers have captured the feel of the adventures nicely.
As mentioned earlier on, this is a great pickup for not only players of the RPG but even for folks who are just fans of Doctor Who. The book is filled with great info and ideas for GMs of not only DWAITAS but other generic RPG systems too. Granted, the book is written in a style which will appeal to players newer to the RPG genre but even more experienced gamers will get a lot from the volume also. Now Cubicle 7 has released the Second Doctor book and I’ll be looking forward to checking that out as well since I’m a bigger fan of the Patrick Troughton adventures than the William Hartnell tales.
In my opinion, DWAITAS becomes a much richer game (and much more appealing to run) with the new line of Doctor sourcebooks.
