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{{Infobox Reference Book
{{retitle|''The Doctor Who Role Playing Game''}}
|book name= The Doctor Who Role Playing Game
{{Real world}}
|image=
{{Infobox Merchandise
|image = Doctor Who Role Playing Game 1st FSA.jpg
|writer=
|writer=
|publisher= [[FASA]]
|publisher= FASA
|release date= [[1985]]
|release date= [[September (releases)|September]] [[1985 (releases)|1985]]
|format= Boxed collection, FASA 9001
|format= Boxed collection, FASA 9001
|isbn= ISBN 0-931787-90-4
|isbn= ISBN 0-931787-90-4
|previous release=
|prev =  
|next release = [[Doctor Who and the Rebel's Gamble]]
|next = Adventures in Time and Space: The Roleplaying Game
}}
}}{{you may|Adventures in Time and Space: The Roleplaying Game|n1=the more recent similarly-named roleplaying game}}
'''''The Doctor Who Role Playing Game''''' was a [[wikipedia:tabletop roleplaying game|tabetop roleplaying game]] published by [[American]] game company [[FASA]] in [[1985]]. The game allowed players to assume the roles of [[the Doctor]] and his [[companion]]s or else as other [[Time Lord]]s and their companions working as agents of the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]].  
'''''The Doctor Who Role Playing Game''''' was the umbrella title of a line of {{w|tabletop roleplaying game|tabletop roleplaying games}} published by [[American]] game company [[FASA]] in 1985. It included a "main", highly freeform game wherein which players were invented to create new plots wholesale for characters other than [[the Doctor]] and his televised [[companion]]s as well as separately-published gamebooks which presented complete plots featuring the Doctor, but interspeded with "gaps" in the plot for gameplay and player-interactivity to occur.


==Publisher's Summary==
FASA also published three "supplements". These were bundles of two pamphlets focusing on the Doctor's greatest enemies (the [[Dalek]]s, the [[Cybermen]] and [[the Master]]). One of the two books in each bundle focused on gameplay mechanics and included advice on how to work the villain into an original RPG plot, while the other book was in actuality a work of standalone [[Doctor Who universe|DWU]] fiction, presenting an in-universe history of the villain as allegedly compiled by the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]].
The Master has stolen a weapon that will give him the ultimate control of the universe and of time itself. The Daleks are invading Earth. The Cybermen are terrorizing the space lanes. And the Sontarans and Rutans are battling to see who wins the galaxy.


Only ''YOU'', the Time Lords and Companions of the Celestial Intervention Agency, can stop these villains from changing the course of history. Your weapons are your wits and your TARDIS. To join the Doctor in his adventures to defeat the foes of the universe, you only need your imagination, a pencil, some paper, and this game!
Due to their interactive nature, most FASA ''Doctor Who'' books are not considered a part of the [[Tardis:Valid sources|valid]] DWU as we on this Wiki define it.


==Overview==
== Overview ==
===The game===
{{simplequote|[[The Master]] has stolen a weapon that will give him the ultimate control of the [[universe]] and of [[time]] itself. The [[Dalek]]s are [[alien invasion|invading]] [[Earth]]. The [[Cybermen]] are terrorising the space lanes. And the [[Sontaran]]s and [[Rutan]]s are battling to see who wins [[Mutter's Spiral|the galaxy]].
The main set of three rulebooks, one for players, one for [[Wikipedia:game master|game master]]s and a guidebook to the [[Doctor Who Universe]], packaged in a cardboard box, was followed by several separately published adventures and supplements for the game, which provided details about the [[Dalek]]s, the [[Cybermen]] and [[the Master]]. The supplements contained two pamphlets, one for players and another for [[wikipedia:game master|game masters]], reflecting the fact that the CIA sometimes has faulty information. Its game mechanics were based on (though, not identical to) the ''[[Wikipedia:Star Trek RPG (FASA)|Star Trek RPG]]'' also published by FASA.


===Relationship to the [[Doctor Who Universe]]===
Only ''YOU'', the [[Time Lord]]s and [[Companion]]s of the Celestial Intervention Agency, can stop these villains from changing the course of history. Your weapons are your wits and your [[TARDIS]]. To join [[the Doctor]] in his adventures to defeat the foes of the universe, you only need your imagination, a pencil, some paper, and this game!|Official solicitation}}
The game line reflected sometimes inconsistent knowledge of the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' universe and some notable divergences from known ''Doctor Who'' continuity. For example, it claims that the [[Meddling Monk]] was an alias adopted by the Master. The game's backstory resolved the [[UNIT dating controversy]] by flatly contradicting ''[[Mawdryn Undead]]'', placing that story's "present day" sequence in the near future. In an introduction, the authors of the game claim that some of the changes were made to make the history of the universe more consistent.


The adventure ''[[The Lords of Destiny]]'' suggested that, rather than dying, [[Adric]] had gotten saved at the last minute by a Time Lord in a [[TARDIS]] of a more advanced make that [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the Doctor's]], though this did not factor into the plot of the adventure.
The game's mechanics were based on (though, not identical to) those of the {{wi|Star Trek RPG (FASA)|Star Trek RPG}} which FASA had published previously.


===History===
=== Place in Doctor Who continuity ===
The game came out in two printings, one showing painted artwork of the [[Fourth Doctor]] and [[Leela]] the other a publicity photograph of them, the Fourth Doctor and his companions having greater recognition in the US than the [[Fifth Doctor|fifth]] or [[Sixth Doctor|sixth]] Doctors who had by this time replaced him. The painting printing had interior rulebooks with slick white covers, while the photographic edition featured more textured brown Victorian-styled rulebooks.
The game line reflected the established continuity of Doctor Who at the time of publication, though the rulebook introductions the authors admitted to have taken some liberties to make the history of the universe more consistent. It even tied in with non-televised works, with the backstory given for [[the Master]] on [[Gallifrey]] reflecting the revelations in the ''[[Radio Times]]'' short story ''[[Birth of a Renegade (short story)|Birth of a Renegade]]''. However, in later years, certain non-television stories presented wildly different interpretations and explanations, making the FASA Role Playing Game retroactively look "discontinuous" to some (such as the claim, made both in the main sourcebook and in ''[[CIA File Extracts (novel)|CIA File Extracts]]'', that [[the Monk]] was an alias adopted by the Master's sixth incarnation, rather than a distinct time traveller). The rulebook backstory also "resolved" the [[UNIT dating controversy]] by flatly contradicting ''[[Mawdryn Undead (TV story)|Mawdryn Undead]]'', placing that story's "present day" sequence in the near future.


FASA also published two [[gamebook]]s, ''[[Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal]]'' (1986) by William H. Keith, Jr., featuring the Fourth Doctor, [[Sarah Jane Smith]] and [[Harry Sullivan]] and the Daleks, set on the planet Gathwyr; and ''[[Doctor Who and the Rebel's Gamble]]'' (1986) by William H. Keith, Jr., featuring the [[Sixth Doctor]], [[Peri Brown|Peri]] and Harry Sullivan, set during the [[American Civil War]].
''[[The Lords of Destiny (game)|The Lords of Destiny]]'', one of the gamebooks, also suggested that, rather than dying at the end of ''[[Earthshock (TV story)|Earthshock]]'', [[Adric]] was saved at the last minute by a Time Lord in a [[TARDIS]] of a more advanced make than [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the Doctor's]], though this did not factor into the plot of the adventure. Numerous other stories attempted to show Adric's fate past the events of ''Earthshock''.


==Supplements==
=== History ===
===Sourcebooks===
The main game was released in three printings. The first used painted artwork of the [[Fourth Doctor]] and [[Leela]] as cover art, while the other two featured a collage including a publicity photo of the two characters. (At the time, [[Tom Baker]] as the Fourth Doctor and his companions had greater recognition in the US than the [[Fifth Doctor|Fifth]] or [[Sixth Doctor|Sixth]] Doctors who had, by this time, replaced him.) The "painting" printing had interior rulebooks with slick white covers, while the first "photographic edition" first featured more textured, brown, Victorian-styled rulebooks, and the second had smooth, more-plainly designed brown rulebooks. The two photographic editions also had slight differences in their box art and text to differentiate them. <ref>[http://www.waynesbooks.com/DoctorWho.html Wayne's Books site depicting all three editions of the base set and cover images of the supplements & adventure modules.]</ref>
====[[The Daleks (roleplaying supplement|The Daleks]]====
Two part module with ''Daleks'' and ''The Dalek Problem'' with details about the Daleks' backstory, playing guide stats and new scenario. (1985 - FASA 9101 - ISBN 0931787939)


====[[The Master (roleplaying supplement)|The Master]]====
Interestingly, the latter two editions removed information and photos of the Sixth Doctor and his companions, as apparently FASA had not initially secured the rights to use any information on Colin Baker's incarnation. In addition, none of the versions of the main game have photos of [[Roger Delgado]]'s version of [[The Master]]--again, due to likeness rights--but they DO include information on his incarnation. The same is true of "THE MASTER" Sourcebooks described below.''
Contains ''The Master'' and ''The Master: CIA File Extracts''. (1985 - FASA 9102 - ISBN 0931787947)


====[[The Cybermen (roleplaying supplement)|The Cybermen]]====
[[File:Docor Who Role Playing Game 2nd FSA.jpg|thumb|2nd & 3rd Edition photographic cover]]
Contains ''The Cybermen'' and ''Cyber Files: CIA Special Report''. (1985 - FASA 9103 - ISBN 0931787734)


===Adventures===
FASA also published two [[gamebook]]s of a different style, which worked much like the ''[[Doctor Who Make Your Own Adventure Books]]''. The first, ''[[Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal]]'' (1986) by [[William H. Keith, Jr.]], featured the Fourth Doctor, [[Sarah Jane Smith]] and [[Harry Sullivan]] and the [[Dalek]]s, set on the planet [[Gathwyr]]; the second, ''[[Doctor Who and the Rebel's Gamble]]'' (1986) by William H. Keith, Jr., featured the [[Sixth Doctor]], [[Peri Brown|Peri]] and Harry Sullivan, set during the [[American Civil War]]. Both of these paperback books were self-contained volumes, allowing the player to use a simplified version of the base game's mechanics without the need to own the base game itself. The player simply needed paper and pencil to keep track of their stats and progress in the game. Both also allowed play without needing dice, by randomly flipping to certain pages which revealed a number between 2 and 12 in their upper corners.
====The Iytean Menace====
"Out in the fog-shrouded night of Victorian London, an evil force was lurking, waiting to strike. A senseless murder, over a strange artifact, was only the very beginning of the terror of <b>The Iytean Menace</b>. What was the ancient evil, and how had it been awakened? Where would it strike next?


The Time Lord and his Companions had been sent to the capital of Queen Victoria's realm to learn the source of a strange weapon that should never have been on Earth at all.  What they found was a web of mystery and deception that led them, step by step, to a confrontation with <b>The Iytean Menace</b>." (1985 - FASA 9201 - ISBN 0931787912)
== List of releases ==
=== Gamebooks ===
==== "Adventures" ====
* ''[[The Iytean Menace (game)|The Iytean Menace]]''
* ''[[The Lords of Destiny (game)|The Lords of Destiny]]''
* ''[[Countdown (game)|Countdown]]''
* ''[[The Hartlewick Horror (game)|The Hartlewick Horror]]''
* ''[[The Legions of Death (game)|The Legions of Death]]''
* ''[[City of Gold (game)|City of Gold]]''
* ''[[The Warrior's Code (game)|The Warrior's Code]]''


====The Lords of Destiny====
==== Unproduced ====
"The World-Ship of Ydar was a monster, vast, implacable, and set on a collision course with the Galaxy of Man. Giant starship and mobile world, <i>Destiny of Ydar</i> is both refuge and vengeance of a long-dead civilization which must be stopped, or worlds will die. The cooperation of the Ydarans is vital. To bad they're caught up in a civil war just now. Too bad, too, that they've forgotten the rest of the universe exists..." (1985 - FASA 9202 - ISBN 0931787920)
* ''[[The Six Doctors (unproduced game)|The Six Doctors]]''<ref name="DDWRPG LOST">{{cite web
|url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140707131512/http://homepages.bw.edu/~jcurtis/Diary%20of%20DWRPG%20-%20Issue%20020.pdf
|title=''The Lost FASA Doctor Who Adventure Modules''
|author=
|website name= The Diary of Doctor Who Role-Playing Games, Issue 20
|date of source = 7 July 2013
}}</ref>
* ''[[The Forest Demons (unproduced game)|The Forest Demons]]''<ref name="DDWRPG LOST" />
* ''[[The Mondas Factor (unproduced game)|The Mondas Factor]]''<ref name="DDWRPG LOST" />
* ''[[The Sands of Terror (unproduced game)|The Sands of Terror]]''<ref name="DDWRPG LOST" />
* ''[[The Invasion from Mars (unproduced game)|The Invasion from Mars]]''<ref name="DDWRPG LOST" />
* ''[[The Valley of Dread (unproduced game)|The Valley of Dread]]''<ref name="DDWRPG LOST" />


====[[Countdown (FASA game)|Countdown]]====
==== Standalone ====
"The sudden appearance of a dangerous gravity bubble causes the TARDIS to dematerialize [sic] aboard a ship of the Earth Empire on an emergency mission to deliver vital serum to a plague-ridden world.  Before the adventure is over, the Doctor and his Companions must contend not only with the death-dealing gravity bubble, but with the ship’s paranoid computer, space pirates, and an attack by androids as well." (1985 - FASA 9203 - ISBN 0931787955)
* ''[[Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal]]''
:''This adventure featured the [[Cybermen]], but this was intended to be a surprise to the players, as they would initially only encounter androids of unknown origin, as in [[DW]]: ''[[Earthshock]].'' The surprise, however, would be ruined if the players saw the cover of the publication, as it prominently featured a Cyberman.''
* ''[[Doctor Who and the Rebel's Gamble]]''


====The Hartlewick Horror====
=== Supplements ===
"Why are the villagers of a sleepy little town like Hartlewick disappearing? Has the archeological excavation of an ancient Druidic mound awakened something that was better left undisturbed? And are these strange occurrences related to the presence of a mysterious energy field?
==== Sourcebooks ====
* ''[[The Player's Manual (reference book)|The Player's Manual]]''
* ''[[Game Operations Manual (reference book)|The Game Operations Manual]]''
* ''[[The Daleks (reference book)|The Daleks]]''
* ''[[The Master (reference book)|The Master]]''
* ''[[The Cybermen (reference book)|The Cybermen]]''


The Time Lord and his Companions are sent to Hartlewick, England to locate the source of this unexplained energy field. But they do not have much time. Forces are at work to unleash something hideous and all-too-powerful upon the residents of 1923 Earth." (1985 - FASA 9204 - ISBN 0931787750)
==== Unproduced ====
* ''[[The Sontarans (unproduced reference book)|The Sontarans]]''<ref name="DDWRPG LOST" />
* ''[[Gallifrey (unproduced reference book)|Gallifrey]]''<ref name="DDWRPG LOST" />


====The Legions of Death====
==== Prose fiction ====
"The legions were on the march... but Rome had never faced an enemy like this one. [[The War Chief|An evil renegade Time Lord]] has allied himself with British tribesmen to lure a Roman army — and a Roman Emperor — into a deviously plotted trap. History will be changed and an army of fanatic conquerors loosed upon the Galaxy if a Time Lord and his Companions cannot stop the renegade's sinister plan.  As time runs out, the adventurers race to their final confrontation with the <b>Legions of Death</b>." (1985 - FASA 9205 - ISBN 0931787262)
* ''[[Tabby Cats And Time Lords (short story)|Tabby Cats And Time Lords]]'' (in ''[[The Player's Manual (reference book)|The Player's Manual]]'')
* ''[[A Sourcebook for Field Agents (novel)|A Sourcebook for Field Agents]]''
* ''[[The Dalek Problem (novel)|The Dalek Problem]]''
* ''[[CIA File Extracts (novel)|CIA File Extracts]]''
* ''[[The Cyber Files (novel)|The Cyber Files]]''


====City of Gold====
== External links ==
"Dinosaurs in the twenty-first century?  That was only the first mystery that confronted the Time Lord and his Companions when they set out to investigate a violent revolution in an age of turmoil, and stumbled into a plot that could end human history -- and change the universe forever. A lost city and a vanished race from the depths of time and [sic] hold the key to the destiny of the Earth, unless the adventurers can penetrate the mysteries of the <b>City of Gold</b>." The adventure featured the [[Silurian]]s. (1986 - FASA 9206 - ISBN 0931787491)
* [http://homepages.bw.edu/~jcurtis/fasa.htm A photographic guide to the game, supplements and adventures]
* [http://www.waynesbooks.com/DoctorWho.html Further details of this game plus extra modules available from an Amazon based online RPG trader, includes cover images]


====The Warrior's Code====
== Footnotes ==
"Arigato, Doctor Who.  A collision in the [[Vortex]] with an unknown timeship…a forced materialization on the rocky seaside cliffs of feudal Japan…a power play among the samurai warlords who wield absolute power in an ancient and mysterious realm.  For the Time Lord and his Companions, those were only the first steps in a dangerous game, where one man’s ambition could bring the collapse of human history.  Stranded, cut off from help or contact with Gallifrey, the time travelers must band together to free themselves from old Japan, history from a madman’s plot, and humanity itself from oblivion in a distant but all-too-real future.  To achieve their goals, the adventurers must learn to understand the shifting politics and timeless culture of the Land of the Rising Sun.  They must come to understand the samurai and their Bushido…<b>The Warrior’s Code</b>." (1986 - FASA 9207 - ISBN 0931787735)
{{reflist}}
{{TitleSort}}


==See also==
{{FASA navigation}}
*''[[Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal]]''
{{Template:Roleplaying_games}}
*''[[Doctor Who and the Rebel's Gamble]]''
*''[[Time Lord (role playing book)|Time Lord]]'', another ''Doctor Who'' RPG
*[[Citadel Miniatures]], makers of a range of miniatures intended for use with the game


==External links==
[[Category:Articles that were originally Wikipedia forks]]
*[http://homepages.bw.edu/~jcurtis/fasa.htm A photographic guide to the game, supplements and adventures]
[[Category:The Doctor Who Role Playing Game]]
*[http://www.waynesbooks.com/DoctorWhoRPG.html Further details of this game plus extra modules available from an Amazon based online RPG trader, includes cover images]
[[Category:Prose fiction overviews]]
{{wikipedia|Doctor_Who_RPG}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doctor Who RPG}}
[[Category:Doctor Who role-playing games]]
[[Category:Non-canonical material]]

Latest revision as of 07:03, 17 October 2024

RealWorld.png

You may be looking for the more recent similarly-named roleplaying game.

The Doctor Who Role Playing Game was the umbrella title of a line of tabletop roleplaying games published by American game company FASA in 1985. It included a "main", highly freeform game wherein which players were invented to create new plots wholesale for characters other than the Doctor and his televised companions as well as separately-published gamebooks which presented complete plots featuring the Doctor, but interspeded with "gaps" in the plot for gameplay and player-interactivity to occur.

FASA also published three "supplements". These were bundles of two pamphlets focusing on the Doctor's greatest enemies (the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Master). One of the two books in each bundle focused on gameplay mechanics and included advice on how to work the villain into an original RPG plot, while the other book was in actuality a work of standalone DWU fiction, presenting an in-universe history of the villain as allegedly compiled by the Celestial Intervention Agency.

Due to their interactive nature, most FASA Doctor Who books are not considered a part of the valid DWU as we on this Wiki define it.

Overview[[edit] | [edit source]]

"The Master has stolen a weapon that will give him the ultimate control of the universe and of time itself. The Daleks are invading Earth. The Cybermen are terrorising the space lanes. And the Sontarans and Rutans are battling to see who wins the galaxy. Only YOU, the Time Lords and Companions of the Celestial Intervention Agency, can stop these villains from changing the course of history. Your weapons are your wits and your TARDIS. To join the Doctor in his adventures to defeat the foes of the universe, you only need your imagination, a pencil, some paper, and this game!"Official solicitation

The game's mechanics were based on (though, not identical to) those of the Star Trek RPG which FASA had published previously.

Place in Doctor Who continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

The game line reflected the established continuity of Doctor Who at the time of publication, though the rulebook introductions the authors admitted to have taken some liberties to make the history of the universe more consistent. It even tied in with non-televised works, with the backstory given for the Master on Gallifrey reflecting the revelations in the Radio Times short story Birth of a Renegade. However, in later years, certain non-television stories presented wildly different interpretations and explanations, making the FASA Role Playing Game retroactively look "discontinuous" to some (such as the claim, made both in the main sourcebook and in CIA File Extracts, that the Monk was an alias adopted by the Master's sixth incarnation, rather than a distinct time traveller). The rulebook backstory also "resolved" the UNIT dating controversy by flatly contradicting Mawdryn Undead, placing that story's "present day" sequence in the near future.

The Lords of Destiny, one of the gamebooks, also suggested that, rather than dying at the end of Earthshock, Adric was saved at the last minute by a Time Lord in a TARDIS of a more advanced make than the Doctor's, though this did not factor into the plot of the adventure. Numerous other stories attempted to show Adric's fate past the events of Earthshock.

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

The main game was released in three printings. The first used painted artwork of the Fourth Doctor and Leela as cover art, while the other two featured a collage including a publicity photo of the two characters. (At the time, Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and his companions had greater recognition in the US than the Fifth or Sixth Doctors who had, by this time, replaced him.) The "painting" printing had interior rulebooks with slick white covers, while the first "photographic edition" first featured more textured, brown, Victorian-styled rulebooks, and the second had smooth, more-plainly designed brown rulebooks. The two photographic editions also had slight differences in their box art and text to differentiate them. [1]

Interestingly, the latter two editions removed information and photos of the Sixth Doctor and his companions, as apparently FASA had not initially secured the rights to use any information on Colin Baker's incarnation. In addition, none of the versions of the main game have photos of Roger Delgado's version of The Master--again, due to likeness rights--but they DO include information on his incarnation. The same is true of "THE MASTER" Sourcebooks described below.

2nd & 3rd Edition photographic cover

FASA also published two gamebooks of a different style, which worked much like the Doctor Who Make Your Own Adventure Books. The first, Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal (1986) by William H. Keith, Jr., featured the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan and the Daleks, set on the planet Gathwyr; the second, Doctor Who and the Rebel's Gamble (1986) by William H. Keith, Jr., featured the Sixth Doctor, Peri and Harry Sullivan, set during the American Civil War. Both of these paperback books were self-contained volumes, allowing the player to use a simplified version of the base game's mechanics without the need to own the base game itself. The player simply needed paper and pencil to keep track of their stats and progress in the game. Both also allowed play without needing dice, by randomly flipping to certain pages which revealed a number between 2 and 12 in their upper corners.

List of releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

Gamebooks[[edit] | [edit source]]

"Adventures"[[edit] | [edit source]]

Unproduced[[edit] | [edit source]]

Standalone[[edit] | [edit source]]

Supplements[[edit] | [edit source]]

Sourcebooks[[edit] | [edit source]]

Unproduced[[edit] | [edit source]]

Prose fiction[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Wayne's Books site depicting all three editions of the base set and cover images of the supplements & adventure modules.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 The Lost FASA Doctor Who Adventure Modules. The Diary of Doctor Who Role-Playing Games, Issue 20 (7 July 2013).


v • e
FASA The Doctor Who Role Playing Game
Sourcebooks
Adventures
Solo-Play
v • e
Doctor Who roleplaying games
FASA
Virgin Publishing
Harlequin Miniatures
Cubicle 7
Warlord Games
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