[Doctor Who: Systemless] Give me adventure hooks!

[The Grey Elf]

You saw the subject. I'm already decided on the system I'll be using. What I need from you folks are good, Whovian plot hooks, preferably in a "Setup/complication/action" setup. That is, three paragraphs, laying out the scenario in a few sentences. Here's an example using a real ep from Series 2 (Minor spoilers below).

TITLE: New Earth

Setup: While on vacation at New Earth, The Doctor and Rose investigate a distress call on the psychic paper, which leads them to a hospital run by humanoid cats who are more than they seem.

Complication: Cassandra, the Last Human, hides in the basement having survived her last encounter with the Doctor, and seeks to use Rose's body to do some investigation of her own.

Action: The cat-nuns have been breeding clones infected with every disease in history, so they can generate cures, but what happens when the clones achieve self-awareness and are set free...?

So hit me up! Let the original scenario ideas fly!!! Also, keep in mind that rather than the "Doctor and one or two companions" idea, this will be a "Young Time Lord and five companions" method. It will be in continuity; that is to say, the young time lord somehow miraculously survived the Time War and has obtained a TARDIS and Sonic Screwdriver from the ruins of Gallifrey. The TARDIS will likely be a tad bit...off...being as how it's sustained some serious emotional damage as a result of the war. I intend for its chameleon circuit to work, but perhaps not perfectly.

[MadCow]

I like the idea of this thread. I'm also pitching a Who-ish game to my group (no idea if it'll garner any interest), but here's something wacky that me and my friend brought up during lunch today (what a coincidence too ):

TITLE: Army of Darkness

SETUP: The timelord and his companions arrive in medieval Europe only to stumble upon a war between knights and vampires.

COMPLICATION: A few Daleks temporal-shift into this Time (perhaps they were from the Battle of Canary Wharf), and the vampires declare war on them. ("You would destroy our brethren with four Daleks?" )

ACTION: Faced with limited technological resources, the party faces total extinction of humans and vampires alike if they are unable to stop the vampires and Daleks. Also, what's that strange anomaly/power source that the TARDIS is detecting deep within the heart of the vampire's coven?

[JustinCognito]

TITLE: The General's Playground

SETUP: The TARDIS is drawn to Earth in the year 4356 by a momentary uptick in psychic energy, only to find themselves in a seemingly idyllic part of the New Unified States.

COMPLICATION: The TARDIS is stuck, and will not move until the surge of psychic energy decreases. Furthermore, the Doctor and his companions find themselves being followed by men and women in seemingly archaic manners of dress (long robes, ritualistic hairstyles, etc.).

ACTION: The men and women are members of a splinter group of the dominant religion of the period, who believe that the N.U.S. has fallen to heresy and outside taint. To this end, their fanatical leader has inculcated psychic qualities in their children, who have been trained since birth to stand as soldiers of their god. Phase One begins tomorrow.

[Bailywolf]

Hitler's Demon

SETUP: The Travelers arrive, expecting to have a nice holiday in the cabaret scene of 1930's Berlin, and instead arrive a decade and change too late... they are quickly arrested by SS men, and taken to a Nazi Special Sciences center in an old castle where Jewish geniuses and mathematicians work under pain of execution for them and their families. The Commander-Doctor operating the Center seems to recognize the Travelers for who they are, and in his office (while under guard) they are shown a historical evidence of their previous travels in Earth's history. "Now, my friends... you will help the Fuhrer unlock the secrets of the Dämonmaschine." When they are taken into the castle's dungeons, they find an old-model Dalek, chained, and splayed open for experimentation. "The Fuhrer feels a... how do you say? Kinship with the demon-machine. He sees the Future in it. So you, travelers from the past, will unlock its secrets for me."

COMPLICATION: An escape plan by the scientists and their families. A secret Time Agent masquerading as a Nazi officer who might get the wrong idea about the PC's. A semi-functional Dalek time-tunnel device also in Nazi possession, which is causing dangerous temporal eddies. An attack by the Resistance. The escape of the maddened Dalek. A visit my Hitler himself leads to the impossible choice- save Hitler's life, or see causality implode.

ACTION: Escape the Nazis, free the Scientists, Evade and Destroy the Dalek and his Time-Tunnel device. Ally with the Time Agent (and convince him not to arrest you). Save Hitler's Life.

THEMES: The moral weight of time travel. Hammer horror films (a monster lose in the castle). Pulp Nazi-smashing. Man's inhumanity to man.



-B

[MadCow]

TITLE: Island of the Giants

SETUP: While travelling, the TARDIS seems to be pulled out of the time tunnel and onto a mysterious island in the middle of nowhere. A power source that is located deep underground appears to be interfering with the TARDIS and this makes it impossible for the time lord and his companions to leave, nor ascertain where they are. Furthermore, while scouting they find survivors of a plane that crashed via similar circumstances and learn that there are other mysterious things on the island.

COMPLICATION: The party and the survivors soon find themselves hunted by extremely large humanoids while they are investigating the power source that is located within an underground complex on the island. They further discover that the power source is unstable, and will denotate within 24 hours, taking out the whole island with it. Meanwhile, as the power source grows more unstable, it causes various geographical anomalies, which eventually causes key sections of the underground complex to collapse. This forces the PCs to go topside (and face the giants) whenever they need to get to different sections of the complex in order to stabilize the power source.

ACTION: Dodge the giants, diffuse the power source and escape from the island, saving any survivors that... err... survive.

THEMES: It's Lost meets Land of the Giants!

[The Grey Elf]

Good stuff so far, folks!

Originally Posted by MadCow

SETUP: The timelord and his companions arrive in medieval Europe only to stumble upon a war between knights and vampires.

Of course, what are the Vampires REALLY? There's no supernatural in the Whoniverse, so they're clearly some sort of alien being...

[Pthagonal]

Originally Posted by The Grey Elf

Of course, what are the Vampires REALLY? There's no supernatural in the Whoniverse, so they're clearly some sort of alien being...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire..._Claws_of_Axos

Possibly...

[Bailywolf]

Originally Posted by Pthagonal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire..._Claws_of_Axos

Possibly...

Or... actual vampires o'course.

-B

[MadCow]

Just like the werewolf episode... make them alien. They can have superhuman strength, UV light burns them, they thrive on human blood, and can infect others with their DNA. They come from a very superstitious and feudal planet, they are guarding the remains of their derelict space craft that stranded them on this planet thousands of years ago (which the time lord will require to defeat the Daleks), etc etc...

edit: oooh... State of Decay vampires seem more appropriate here...

[Thamilon]

TITLE: Burnout

SETUP: Desiring a break from their most recent encounter with a war zone, the Time Lord and company decide that a few days of peace, love and music are just the ticket. Amazingly, the TARDIS works perfectly and they find themselves in upstate New York a few days before Woodstock - just in time to find out that several members of the local population are spontaneously combusting...

COMPLICATION: The local drug dealers are actually aliens, working for an intergalctic conglmerate ( the Slitheen or some similar group) that has been secretly profiting off the Vietnam War. Fearful of the growing counter-culture, they have had their agents (the dealers) secretly spike the farmlands around Woodstock, New York with a formula unknown to Earth scientists that slowly facilitates combustion in carbon-based life. This forumla, oddly enough, is called Burnout and is a pest-control poison, marketed in a fashion similar to Raid on other planets. In addition to the local food crops, the dealers have also spiked their own supplies of marujana. The goal is to either kill off most of the prominent figures and leaders of the counter-culture who will be in attendence or at least, create enough of a scare to further sow unrest.

ACTION: Prevent the spread of the the Burnout-infected food and pot, stop the alien plot without distupting the established timeline and insure that Woodstock goes on without a hitch.

THEMES: Anti-War, Anti-Drug and good ol' fashioned Conpsiracy Theory.