Adventurers (Player's Guide)
A group of adventurers who had many possible identities may have gone on many adventures. Several of these identities likely co-existed as separate groups of adventurers, with the adventures possibly split between them, but this was not certain. Most identities of the adventurers were time travelers, but they could also have been primarily space travellers or groups based on Earth who occasionally travelled in time. (GAME: Player's Guide [+]Loading...["Player's Guide (2009 feature)"], Player's Guide [+]Loading...["Player's Guide (2012 feature)"], The Roleplaying Game rulebook [+]Loading...["The Roleplaying Game rulebook (2021 game)"])
Relation to the Doctor's travels[[edit] | [edit source]]
By most accounts, these adventurers co-existed with the Doctor and their travels. If the adventurers were incarnations of the Doctor and their companions, these adventures occurred within their lives as documented in other accounts. By one interpretation, apparent contradictions between the adventurers's travels and those of the Doctor may have been resolved by a third party. (PROSE: Starting Out [+]Loading...["Starting Out (feature)"])
Another interpretation was that the Doctor’s reality was already naturally contradictory, and therefore contradictions involving the adventurers were merely another part of a larger pattern. (PROSE: Starting Out [+]Loading...["Starting Out (feature)"]) By one account, the universe was frequently being changed by temporal ripples, and therefore any discontinuity between accounts of adventurers was the result of time being rewritten. (PROSE: An Age of Marvels [+]Loading...["An Age of Marvels (feature)"])
However, the adventurers may have existed in versions of history that diverged from the path of the Doctor's universe. They may have existed in tangent universes built on the power of choice, similar to those made by time beetles. (PROSE: Starting Out [+]Loading...["Starting Out (feature)"])
Many of the adventures experienced by the Doctor throughout their lifetimes may have been also experienced or re-experienced by these adventurers. This could have been due to the effects of the Last Great Time War. (PROSE: Designing Eighth Doctor Adventures [+]Loading...["Designing Eighth Doctor Adventures (feature)"])
Possible identities of the Adventurers[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor and companions[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Uncertain Time Lord[[edit] | [edit source]]
The adventurers may have been led by a Time Lord whose exact nature was uncertain. (PROSE: I Walk in Eternity [+]Loading...["I Walk in Eternity (feature)"], All of Time and Space - Volume 1 Introduction [+]Loading...["All of Time and Space - Volume 1 Introduction (feature)"])
The Time Lord might have been named "Donovan Rex Torson" or "Donovarexatorson". They might have used titles such as "the Colonel", "the Professor", "the Great Pertwee", "the Wanderer", "the Dreamer", or "the Time Thief".
The Time Lord may have been from various points in Gallifreyan history, possibly its ancient history, during the Morbius Rebellion, from around the creation of the Celestial Intervention Agency, the Gallifreyan Renaissance, the Temporal Cold War, the Last Great Time War, during the period of the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors, (GAME: The Time Traveller's Companion [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Companion (game)"]) from the period in which Gallifrey had returned to the end of time, (GAME: The Twelfth Doctor Sourcebook [+]Loading...["The Twelfth Doctor Sourcebook (reference book)"]) or from after the Razing of Gallifrey. (GAME: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (game)"])
If the Time Lord was operating during during the period of the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors, they might have escaped the Time War by being Chameleon Arched, caught in a time loop, lost in another dimension, frozen in an iceberg, or some other form of entrapment until they were rescued by the people who would become their companions. Alternately, they may have been a "Neo-Time Lord" born of the Time Vortex in a similar manner to River Song. (GAME: The Time Traveller's Companion [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Companion (game)"])
The adventurers may have been a Time Lord and her companions who got caught in a time bubble during the Time War and ended up in the post-Time War universe realizing that history has changed such that the companions were no longer part of it. They needed to slowly manipulate events to re-establish their history, but something dangerous came of these attempts. (PROSE: The Ninth Doctor Sourcebook [+]Loading...["The Ninth Doctor Sourcebook (reference book)"]) These actions may have been returned to in this Time Lord's equivalent to the Day of the Doctor. (GAME: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (game)"])
A Time Lord War Party may have been pushed out of the Time War by getting caught in a “tentacle of bent time” that extended into the post-War universe. (PROSE: Starting Out [+]Loading...["Starting Out (feature)"])
If the adventures occurred in another universe, the adventurers may have been led by a Time Lord who became the last of the Time Lords instead of the Doctor due to the Doctor either never being born or dying in the Time War. This Time Lord may faced many of the threats which would have otherwise been dealt with by the Doctor. (GAME: The Time Traveller's Companion [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Companion (game)"])
A Time Lord may also have been part of the group without realizing it. A young Time Lord in their first incarnation was rescued from the Razing of Gallifrey by a faulty TARDIS and deposited on Earth during the Flux with no memory of their past. They might have joined a group of adventurers. They might not have realized they were a Time Lord until they died and regenerated at some point in their adventures, being left with a mystery of their origins and finding a connection to Gallifreyan culture. (GAME: The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (game)"])
Time Agents[[edit] | [edit source]]
The adventurers may have been Time Agents. (GAME: Player's Guide [+]Loading...["Player's Guide (2009 feature)"], Asteroid Day [+]Loading...["Asteroid Day (game)"], et al.)
They may have been a group of Agents recruited by the Time Lords in the Last Great Time War, who deserted at a critical moment which they could no longer remember. (GAME: The Ninth Doctor Sourcebook [+]Loading...["The Ninth Doctor Sourcebook (reference book)"])
If the adventurers were a mix of Time Agents and other types of people, the Time Agent could be someone who had established themself on Earth as a history teacher. (GAME: The Twelfth Doctor Sourcebook [+]Loading...["The Twelfth Doctor Sourcebook (reference book)"])
UNIT operatives[[edit] | [edit source]]
The adventurers may have been UNIT operatives. (GAME: Adventures in Time and Space [+]Loading...["Adventures in Time and Space (2009)"], Asteroid Day [+]Loading...["Asteroid Day (game)"], Gamemaster's Companion [+]Loading...["Gamemaster's Companion (game)"], et al.)
They may have included or been advised by Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, the Third Doctor, Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, John Benton, Sarah Jane Smith, Mike Yates, Harry Sullivan, Colonel Critchton, Winifred Bambera, Richard Blake, Martha Jones, Mace, Ross Jenkins, Sanchez, Erisa Magambo, Malcolm Taylor, (GAME: Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook [+]Loading...["Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook (game)"]) Kate Stewart, Petronella Osgood(s), Edwin Bracewell, Elizabeth Shaw, McGillop, Colonel Walsh, Jac, Denise Gamble, Christina de Souza, or Morgaine. (GAME: The Black Archive [+]Loading...["The Black Archive (game)"])
In response to the lapse of security which led to what UNIT termed the “Naismith/Saxon Incident”, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart advised UNIT’s director to begin recruiting from outside UNIT’s personnel to form up to six investigatory teams with worldwide jurisdiction termed CRASH teams. Lethbridge-Stewart attached a list of potential recruits, some of whom may have become the adventurers.
Aside from CRASH teams, other possible types of groups within UNIT who could have been the adventurers included UNIT freelancers, UNIT Special Forces, and the National Oversight Committee. (GAME: Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook [+]Loading...["Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook (game)"])
Other than humans, other possible species of UNIT operatives included weapons-grade Cyberman from the 3W Institute Affair who had managed to retain their humanity, fish people, and Zygons. (GAME: The Black Archive [+]Loading...["The Black Archive (game)"]) A Judoon officer could also have been part of the group as an alliance between species. (GAME: Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook [+]Loading...["Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook (game)"])
Even a Time Lord other than the Doctor also exiled to Earth by the Time Lords. This Time Lord could have been forcibly Chameleon Arched, with the Arch given to a trusted UNIT officer for safety. (GAME: Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook [+]Loading...["Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook (game)"])
Members of the adventurers could have been through the Cassandra Programme. (GAME: The Black Archive [+]Loading...["The Black Archive (game)"])
However, operatives could experience any adventure throughout time and space. They could go anywhere in space using Project Indigo (GAME: Adventures in Time and Space [+]Loading...["Adventures in Time and Space (2009)"], Judoom! [+]Loading...["Judoom! (game)"], The Einstein Engine [+]Loading...["The Einstein Engine (game)"]) or the disappearing bracelets. (GAME: The Black Archive [+]Loading...["The Black Archive (game)"]) They could go anywhere in time using experimental time travel (GAME: Adventures in Time and Space [+]Loading...["Adventures in Time and Space (2009)"]) developed as part of Project Blackstep, space-time rifts, a dormant Crack in Time found in Winston Churchill’s bunker which could be temporarily re-activated using artron energy, (GAME: Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook [+]Loading...["Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook (game)"]) or means of time travel kept within the Black Archive (GAME: All of Time and Space - Volume 1 [+]Loading...["All of Time and Space - Volume 1 (game)"]) such as Vortex Bungee Cords, osmic projectors, or Weeping Angels. (GAME: The Black Archive [+]Loading...["The Black Archive (game)"])
They could become companions of a Time Lord, possibly the Doctor.
The adventurers may have been a UNIT team time scoops by Time Lords to fight in the Time War due to being some of the best soldiers in history.
They could discover a crashed TARDIS and get stuck in it as it takes off beyond their control. (GAME: Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook [+]Loading...["Defending the Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook (game)"])
The adventurers may have been a UNIT team who experienced a temporal ripple that erased UNIT from time, with the team mysteriously remembering the past version of history and trying to solve the mystery of it. (GAME: Playing in the Ninth Doctor's Era [+]Loading...["Playing in the Ninth Doctor's Era (feature)"])
Torchwood operatives[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Other possibilities[[edit] | [edit source]]
In a version of history where the Daleks did not interfere with the time travel experiments of Theodore Maxtible and Edward Waterfield, the duo might have become space-time explorers along with a version of Victoria Waterfield who was scientifically-minded. Gaining insights into technology from their time as adventurers, they might have established a steampunk version of the British Empire across time. (PROSE: Victorian Adventurers [+]Loading...["Victorian Adventurers (feature)"])
The adventurers may have been ghost hunters, prison wardens from Paradise Towers, Iceworld, Shada, the Stormcage Containment Facility, or some other facility chasing escaped convicts across time, Shadow Proclamation operatives, (GAME: The Seventh Doctor Sourcebook [+]Loading...["The Seventh Doctor Sourcebook (reference book)"]) Sontarans infected with human emotion by the Doctor who decided to chase after him through time and space to be reverse this process, the crew of a robot like the Teselecta with the goal of assembling the Key to Time, a band of thieves plotting large crimes across history, a cross-time flower delivery service who competed with a rival flower delivery service, a group negatively affected by aliens invasions of Earth who were angry at the Doctor and wanted to put him on trial, a group inspired by the Doctor who wished to emulate his life, a group who all separately died shortly after meeting the Doctor who were mysteriously resurrected and found themselves in an empty building on a beach with portals leading to other times and places, or a group of people chosen by the Doctor's TARDIS to take his place at a point when he was unable to do so. (PROSE: Starting Out [+]Loading...["Starting Out (feature)"])
They could have been River Song and a team of archaeologists, who travelled with River Song's vortex manipulator. (PROSE: All of Time and Space - Volume 1 Introduction [+]Loading...["All of Time and Space - Volume 1 Introduction (feature)"]
They could have been Clara Oswald and Ashildr in Clara's TARDIS. (PROSE: Starting Out [+]Loading...["Starting Out (feature)"])
The adventurers could have been Sam Edlund, Charlie Bluth, Aidan Duke, Chamberlain-2165, and Triketh Lsstek, who saved the Thirteenth Doctor together (GAME: The Echo Chamber [+]Loading...["The Echo Chamber (game)"]) and may have gained the Hermit’s Lantern, a powerful sentient object which could manipulate time to take them to any place in history. (GAME: The Hermit's Lantern [+]Loading...["The Hermit's Lantern (game)"])
They may have been the Bannerman Road gang. (GAME: Doom of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Doom of the Daleks (game)"])
The adventurers may have been companions of the Doctor who were left behind by him in an era not their own, forced to survive. (PROSE: Playing in the Twelfth Doctor's Era [+]Loading...["Playing in the Twelfth Doctor's Era (feature)"])
Various individuals may have joined the adventurers during their travels. An older Vicki Pallister may have joined them if they met her in Ancient Greece. (GAME: The Myth Makers [+]Loading...["The Myth Makers (game)"])
Any of the possible identities seemingly incapable of time travel may have acquired a time machine. This was possibly a TARDIS, either from the Last Great Time War, gifted by the Doctor, or stolen from Gallifrey. Also possible was a DARDIS, SIDRAT, Third Zone time ship, something of the make of Stratton's time vessel, (PROSE: Playing in the Twelfth Doctor's Era [+]Loading...["Playing in the Twelfth Doctor's Era (feature)"]) a Silent timeship, Vortex Manipulator, time ring, Dalek time corridors, Weeping Angels, a mysterious abandoned house which was a crossroads between times and places, (PROSE: Starting Out [+]Loading...["Starting Out (feature)"]) or a Chronal Engine stolen from the Headless Monks. (GAME: The Tomb of Cleopatra [+]Loading...["The Tomb of Cleopatra (game)"]) Additionally, various adventures had specific accounts for how a group of adventurers confined to a different location and time could experience them. (GAME: Doom of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Doom of the Daleks (game)"], The Tomb of Cleopatra [+]Loading...["The Tomb of Cleopatra (game)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Possible sequences[[edit] | [edit source]]
Several sequences of adventures across time and space may have occurred to adventurers.
Adventurers had several encounters with the Ravens of Despair. (GAME: The Ravens of Despair [+]Loading...["The Ravens of Despair (game)"])
After an incarnation of the Doctor was hit by the Temporal Exerminator, he (or the Director) recruited adventurers to save him by finding temporal traces across time to find Exterminator's origin point and stop it. (GAME: Doom of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Doom of the Daleks (game)"])
Adventurers searched for the hiding creatures in a similar manner to the Twelfth Doctor, possibly going into the past of someone close to them. They may have discovered that these creatures were actually real, being holders of many secrets. (GAME: Listen [+]Loading...["Listen (game)"])
Other possible events[[edit] | [edit source]]
Dated events[[edit] | [edit source]]
Adventurers met the First Monk when he was building Stonehenge, and discovered the Monk's connection with the Pandorica. The damaged Cyberman near the Pandorica may have been damaged by the adventurers. (GAME: The Time Meddler [+]Loading...["The Time Meddler (game)"])
In 1st century BC Egypt, adventurers came to the Tomb of Cleopatra investigating a Cyberman head which was discovered by archaelogists in the 21st century. This was a trap for the Doctor created by the Headless Monks as revenge for the Battle of Demons Run, but the adventurers may not have even had the Doctor among them. (GAME: The Tomb of Cleopatra [+]Loading...["The Tomb of Cleopatra (game)"])
In 1575, adventurers came to northern England and stopped a group of weapons-grade Cybermen from altering the history of Mary, Queen of Scots with a plague of Cybermats. (GAME: The Northern Knights [+]Loading...["The Northern Knights (game)"])
In 1942, adventurers stopped the Monk’s forgotten atomic cannon from being used in the War after it was discovered by the British. (GAME: The Time Meddler [+]Loading...["The Time Meddler (game)"])
In the 1980s, adventurers were summoned by UNIT to investigate celebrity chef Shane Crossley’s secret Androgum nature. (GAME: "Late for Dinner" [+]Part of The Two Doctors, Loading...{"namedpart":"Late for Dinner","1":"The Two Doctors (game)"})
In the late 20th century, adventurers stopped a Drahvin invasion of Earth. (GAME: Galaxy Four [+]Loading...["Galaxy Four (game)"])
On Christmas day 2000, adventurers stopped the Mandragora Helix from invading San Francisco through a Tong. (GAME: "Big Trouble in Chinatown" [+]Part of The TV Movie, Loading...{"namedpart":"Big Trouble in Chinatown","1":"The TV Movie (game)"})
In the early 2000s, adventurers prevented a cloned Deathworm Morphant from escaping a Geocomtex facility. (GAME: "Van Statten’s Worm" [+]Part of The TV Movie, Loading...{"namedpart":"Van Statten’s Worm","1":"The TV Movie (game)"})
In 2013 London, adventurers became caught up in a conspiracy involving a young Jack Harkness working for the Time Agency and the Kartz-Reimer Mark 2 time machine. (GAME: "Message in a Bottle" [+]Part of The Two Doctors, Loading...{"namedpart":"Message in a Bottle","1":"The Two Doctors (game)"})
Last Great Time War[[edit] | [edit source]]
Adventurers faced a Morbius resurrected by the Time Lords for the Time War. (GAME: The Brain of Morbius [+]Loading...["The Brain of Morbius (game)"])
Adventurers may have once realised they had been manipulated by the Sisterhood of Karn. (GAME: "The Unseen Hand" [+]Part of The Night of the Doctor, Loading...{"namedpart":"The Unseen Hand","1":"The Night of the Doctor (game)"})
Undated events[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the era of the Earth Empire, adventurers met Talon Movel and became caught in the genesis of the Movellans. (GAME: Evolution [+]Loading...["Evolution (game)"])
Adventurers went backwards in Time Lord history to the Morbius War, and faced a young First Morbius. (GAME: The Brain of Morbius [+]Loading...["The Brain of Morbius (game)"])
Adventurers faced Cyber-Morbius. (GAME: The Brain of Morbius [+]Loading...["The Brain of Morbius (game)"])
Adventurers including the Sixth Doctor were summoned by Stike to the Madillon Cluster, becoming caught up in a conflict of Sontarans and Cybermen. (GAME: "The Gauntlet" [+]Part of The Two Doctors, Loading...{"namedpart":"The Gauntlet","1":"The Two Doctors (game)"})
Adventurers explored Anomaly IV. (GAME: Schrödinger's Expedition [+]Loading...["Schrödinger's Expedition (game)"])
At a point in time and space far from 21st century Earth, adventurers may have faced the Master after he projected his mind into a new body after falling into the Time Vortex. (GAME: "The Return of the Master" [+]Part of The TV Movie, Loading...{"namedpart":"The Return of the Master","1":"The TV Movie (game)"})
Yasmin Kahn and the Holo-Doctor recruited adventurers to help them investigate temporal ripples affecting the Cyber-Wars. (GAME: "She is Loved" [+]Part of The Power of the Doctor, Loading...{"namedpart":"She is Loved","1":"The Power of the Doctor (game)"})
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This page describes the ambiguous "player characters" at the heart of most adventures in Adventures in Time and Space: The Roleplaying Game. A central premise of the series is that its releases are compatible with each other such that multiple releases can be combined in long-running roleplaying campaigns; thus characters created for one adventure may continue to be used in future adventures, with releases often emphasizing that even adventures written for a Doctor and companions can be played using other characters at the players's discretion. Multiple beginnings are often included for adventures to accommodate for whoever the adventurers may be in the version of the adventure being played. Releases are also back-compatible, with The Roleplaying Game: Second Edition continuing to reference first edition sourcebooks as being narratively compatible with slight gameplay shifts.
