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THE CAST OF THOUSANDS
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Sontarans
Weapons: Blaster (Wounds 6 on
kill, Wounds 3 on stun, range 4 areas) Sontarans are built and bred for war, a subject at which they are masters after countless years of conflict with the Rutans, a sort of intelligent, phosphorescent green jellyfish. The Sontarans' home planet, Sontar, has a high gravity, and the species' stocky, heavily muscled bodies reflect this. Their manlike form is encased in flexible, gunmetal-coloured space armour; a smooth, dome-like helmet with narrow eye holes provides complete protection for the head. A translation box on a wide belt allows a Sontaran to understand and speak any language. Meeting a Sontaran is like meeting Humpty Dumpty with an attitude. By human reckoning, Sontarans are ugly: they have smooth-skinned, brown dome-like heads, with squat features and small red piggy eyes. Coarse bristles sprout in tufts from their ears and chins. A superstitious people might easily believe them to be goblins. Sontarans have only two fingers on each hand and opposable thumbs. Although Sontaran technology is highly advanced, bordering on limited time travel, it is geared to war. Much of the time, Sontarans are encountered individually and are usually scouts sent out to reconnoitre terrain or analyse the physical and mental weaknesses of the enemy. Scouts have spherical spaceships, about 5 metres in diameter, that are equipped with the necessary laboratory equipment to assist their in tasks and which also act as the control centre for their operations. Wherever there is a scout, a full invasion force is sure to be close by. Sontarans are clones: all of them look alike. They consider all other methods of reproduction as weaknesses, pointing out that up to a million cadets are hatched at a time at the Sontaran Military Academy, enabling the species to sustain tremendous casualties in war. Sontarans act alike, too: they respect military hierarchy and are used to ordering people about; Sontarans have little skill at negotiation. It must not be forgotten that although they are a martial race and relish even other people's conflicts, they have a high intelligence. Weapons The Sontarans are highly dependent on their equipment, which compensate for a shortage of real abilities. The main tool is a multi-purpose blaster and control rod, a narrow black tube about 30 centimetres long that is slung from the right side of a Sontaran's belt. When used as a weapon, the blaster inflicts 6 Wounds when set to kill and 3 Wounds when set to stun; it has a limited range of 4 areas. By modulating the light energy it emits, the rod can be used to hypnotize and control subjects. It is considered as having Determination 4 and a range of zero areas for this purpose. Weak pulses from the rod can be used to control Sontaran machinery. Armour Sontaran space armour counts as full Armour 9. Weaknesses A Sontaran's only weakness in its armour is the probic vent at the back of its neck, which is exposed even while the protective helmet is worn. It counts as an unarmoured Size 7 target. Sontarans need to recharge their energy periodically, retreating to their space ships to do so. Each hour a Sontaran is away from its ship counts as a cumulative difficulty against Strength against which it must test at the end of every hour in order to remain active. Sontarans are always mobile, therefore, for at least six hours after each recharging.
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TRACTATORS & THE GRAVIS
Tractator Weapons: Claw (Wounds 2) Weapons: Claw (Wounds 2) Tractators are harmless burrowing beetles that live in tunnels beneath a planet's surface. Sometimes, however, the species produces a Gravis, a super-intelligent Tractator with the ability to unite the lesser Tractators into an organized force. The Gravis is the driving force behind the expansion of the species, which can grow only by colonizing new planets. With the ability to construct sophisticated and accurate mining equipment, the Gravis oversees the building of tunnels to turn the centre of a planet into a giant gravity motor, enabling the Tractators to travel through space. Tractators, however, need a supply of humans, or other intelligent minds, to provide the living intelligence that powers and guides their mining machinery. If no such minds are readily available, the Gravis will seek to divert passing spaceships, causing to crash on the planet. Once the colonists have built up sufficient numbers to guarantee a permanent supply of usable minds, the Tractators move in, picking on weakened, sleeping or sick targets and dragging them through the very earth by dint of their gravitational powers. These people are then harnessed to the mining machines, which they operate until their minds burn out. When awakened by the Gravis, Tractators stand upright and are about 2 metres tall. The back of a Tractator is protected by black chitinous segments; tufts of black fur stick out from the overlapping sections. Its underbelly is a pale brown colour as is the broad, sucker-like base which allows it to move. It has a pair of short, stubby arms with ridged, shovel-like hands. The Gravis is identified by its predominantly green skin, instead of the more usual brown. Large, glassy eyes stare out sideways from an almost fishlike head, and instead of teeth, short tendrils are visible between the Tractator's thick lips. Two antennas, about 40 centimetres long, stick out from the top of the head and provide the means of directing and channelling gravitational energy. Weapons The main weapon used by Tractators is their Control Gravity ability. The concentrated gravity field manifests as a pink nimbus around its target. If forced to, a Tractator will attack with its stubby claws, which inflict 2 Wounds. Armour A Tractator's chitin counts as body armour with a protective value of Armour 4. Its soft underbelly counts as soft leather partial armour, offering protection of Armour 2. Weaknesses The Gravis is the Tractators' greatest weakness. Without him, the Tractators revert to harmless, purposeless creatures. Knocking the Gravis unconscious or moving him away from the same planet will break his control. Control Gravity [Determination] The ability to influence gravitational fields through mental control is imparted by the Gravis to his subservient Tractators. The strength of the gravitational force is equal to the Tractator's total ability (6 in the case of the Gravis, 4 in the case of other Tractators). The difficulty of moving a target is equal to its Weight plus the number of areas it is to be moved. A living subject in the gravitational field can try to break free using its Strength against a difficulty equal to the total mental ability of the Tractators. Tractators may increase the strength of the field by concentrating the mental power against one subject: the rules for group fire are used, but the effect is to increase the Tractators' total ability at Control Gravity.
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YETIS
AND THE GREAT INTELLIGENCE
Yeti Weapons: Web gun (grapple
attack, Strength 7), talon (Wounds 5) Yetis are unintelligent robots that are controlled by the Great Intelligence, a being of pure thought from another dimension. They are its tools on Earth, carrying out physical tasks that either the intelligence or its human agents cannot manage. Originally constructed in the Himalayas, the Yetis were given the form of abominable snowmen. They are about 2.1 metres tall, bipedal and covered in long shaggy brown fur. Their red eyes, black leathery snout and yellow fangs are barely visible through the mass of fur. Yetis look almost comically squat because of the breadth of their bodies, yet they are dangerous: their hairy hands end in razor-sharp talons, which the Yetis usually slash violently at an enemy. The creatures have a terrifyingly loud roar. Human agents control the Yetis about by moving scale models over maps of the local terrain: the models act as a focus through which the intelligence can channel its Determination to make the Yetis do its bidding. Weapons Yetis are sometimes equipped with web guns that emit a tough, resilient cobwebby substance that binds or envelops its target. The guns have a range of only 1 area. Although the web does no damage, it counts as a successful grappling attack made by an opponent with Strength 7. It slowly suffocates a target, counting as a Wounds 6 slow-acting poison with an attack period of one action turn. The web also has the ability Special Immunity (fire) 3, enabling it to resist burning and even to contain explosions. A Yeti inflicts 5 Wounds when it attacks with its talons. Armour The metal skeleton and cladding of a Yeti is equivalent to full Armour 8. Weaknesses Each Yeti receives its instructions through a silver control sphere about 10 centimetres in diameter that fits into a cavity in its chest. A flap of fur usually conceals and holds in the sphere, which is a Size 7 target. Without a control sphere in place, a Yeti is inactive: it is like a machine that has been turned off. Control spheres, however, are semi-intelligent and will seek out inactive Yetis: they have Move 1 for this purpose and can fly or levitate. Their other relevant abilities are Strength 3, Control 3, Weight 2 and full Armour 8. The Great Intelligence Exiled from another dimension, the Great Intelligence drifts through time and space, seeking entry into the world of men. It requires a mental focus in order to materialize: this focus can be the mind of an oriental mystic caught wandering in the astral plane, or even an active relic of the intelligence's previous visitations, such as a Yeti control sphere. If its focus is destroyed before it can build up sufficient power to enter the physical world, the intelligence is temporarily banished. It is theoretically possible to destroy the intelligence in psychic conflict, but even the Doctor's mind is too weak to contemplate such an action. Once the intelligence has a human agent, which in effect it hypnotizes and then possesses, it can gather together the materials necessary to build its robot servants, the Yetis, and their control spheres. A pyramid of control spheres is sufficient a focus for the intelligence to channel itself through. Its prime human agent gains the mental abilities of the intelligence. The Great Intelligence has no corporeal form, just the abilities of Knowledge 8, Determination 8 (Special abilities of Hypnotism 1, Indomitable Will 1 and Telekinesis 1) and Awareness 7. It can exert its powers through space, to restrain or move objects. This telekinetic ability can produce physical manifestations similar to cobwebs, tangible evidence of the intelligence's work. The TARDIS was once restrained in this fashion. Telekinesis [Determination] This special ability gives the intelligence the power to lift, move or restrain inanimate objects by thought alone: the difficulty of doing so is equal to the object's Weight plus the number of areas to be moved.
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Zygons
Weapons: Electric charge
(wounds 4, range 0), fist (Wounds 2) Zygons are refugees from a stellar explosion that destroyed their home world of Zygos. A Zygon's manlike body is upright and bipedal; its green and orange skin, however, looks unpleasantly rubbery and is slimy to the touch. A great dome-like head meets the shoulders direct; there is no trace of a neck. Lines of sucker-like nodules run along the limbs and spine, and form a crest on the Zygon's head; a Zygon's fingertips end in small suckers. Deep-set, small eyes, a pug nose and a slight, puckered mouth give the Zygons an air of brooding menace. Their burbling, sibilant voices sound menacing and betray the fact that Zygons are arrogant. Confident in their own superiority over other species, the Zygons seek new worlds to make habitable: they prefer warm wet climates. Because they are desperate to survive, Zygons will use any tactics they feel are necessary, even going as far as committing genocide. The Doctor had to deal with a Zygon spaceship and crew on Earth in Terror of the Zygons, when the Zygons planned to modify the Earth's climate to make it more suitable for their species and its herds of Skarasens, amphibious dinosaur-like creatures whose lactic milk is a vital component of the Zygons' life cycle. Zygon spaceships usually carry tanks containing Skarasen embryos. Zygon technology uses organic materials, with the result that it resembles the creatures themselves: consoles have rubbery nodules as controls, and connections are usually in the form of suckers on long rubbery stalks. Even a Zygon spaceship is partly organic. Zygons have developed a body transference machine that allows them to adopt the physical form of any creature, provided that they have recorded its body print. The usual procedure is to capture suitable specimens, preferably including key political figures, record their body prints and allow shapechanged Zygons to take their places. The specimens need to be held onboard the Zygon spaceship in the event that their body print fades. Weapons A powerful electrical charge emitted from a Zygon's fingertips is its only offensive weapon: it inflicts 4 Wounds and counts as a close-combat attack. A Zygon's fists inflict 2 Wounds. Armour Zygons have a tough hide, but they can be damaged by bullets. Their skin is equivalent to full Armour 6. Weaknesses Zygons have no real physical weaknesses. Their arrogance, however, can lead them to underestimate their opponents. Shapechange [Awareness] The ability of Shapechange is a very sophisticated form of Disguise. It is the ability exactly to mimic the physical appearance of another creature or person. Particularly advanced shapechanging techniques, usually machine assisted like that of the Zygons, also transfer some or even all of the copied subject's memory. |
Throughout his travels, the Doctor has met and made some enemies that have returned again and again, either to seek revenge for their defeats or simply by chance. These villains are characters in their own right that deserve careful role-playing by the referee. None of them would unnecessarily endanger themselves, and certainly would make the most of any opportunity to escape should events prove too dangerous for them.
Referees who like to give their players a challenge could easily give one player the role of a villain. Such a player should co-operate with the referee as far as developing a plot goes, but should also improvise, creating deadly traps for the other players to fall into. Having a real villain, rather than letting the overstretched referee handle the task, will give players a real third party to negotiate with and outwit.
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Davros
Apparent age: over 100 The Kaled scientist Davros is responsible for one of the greatest evils ever to be inflicted on the universe: the Daleks. Originally created as simple engines of war to eliminate the Thals, the Kaleds' rivals on the planet Skaro, the Daleks have gone on to terrorize the universe. Yet they are beaten time and time again by the Doctor; they even lose their centuries-long war with the Movellans, who develop a virus that is deadly to Daleks. It is the weaknesses of the Daleks that bring them back to Davros, who in turn needs the Daleks to satisfy his lust for power. Although Davros is a genius, he is clearly quite mad. But his madness makes him the most dangerous paranoid megalomaniac in the universe. He is determined to eliminate the weaknesses of the Daleks and bring his creations back under his control, and he has no compunction about killing or crippling people in the course of his scientific experiments. He is as ruthless and cruel as the Daleks, although he still has vestiges of benign emotions which enable him to manipulate other people through pity. The Daleks are now split into two factions: pure strain Daleks and Imperial Daleks. Pure strain Daleks are those created by Davros's original genetic experiments; Imperial Daleks are the more advanced Daleks that Davros is currently experimenting on to produce the ultimate fighting machine. Mutants that Davros produces which are unsuitable as Daleks are rejected and consigned to the outside world to survive on their own. These mutants usually stay near to Davros's laboratories, making fearsome guards. Davros rules the Imperial Daleks in the guise of the Emperor Dalek. A cripple, Davros was already confined to an armoured, self-powered chair before his creations turned on him. This base is like the bottom half of a Dalek, with black panels and silver hemispheres in rows on each slab. It contains his life-support system, communications equipment, and even a few dirty tricks to overcome enemies. As Emperor, Davros has simply topped this base with a broad dome, about 1.5 metres in diameter, with a single eye-stalk. The front of the dome can be lifted to reveal Davros himself. His wrinkled, brown-skinned and hairless head is surrounded by a cage of electrodes. In the centre of his forehead, suspended by the cranial cage, is a blue electronic eye which allows Davros to see: he is otherwise blind. His upper body is covered by a black, plastics tunic. One arm hangs uselessly by his side, the end disappearing into the top panel of his armoured chair; his right arm and hand control the switches and buttons. Davros's voice is electronically augmented, and sounds like the harsh, metallic voice of a Dalek. Weapons Davros has no offensive capability. The control panels of his armoured base, however, may conceal probes and drugs that can be used to bend the minds of people and Daleks to his will. Davros needs to be in the same area as his victim to strike with such weapons. Armour Davros's armoured base is made of the same material as Dalek armour; it is equivalent to body armour offering protection of Armour 9. In his guise as Emperor Dalek, Davros has the equivalent of full Armour 9. Weaknesses Like his creations, Davros is not very mobile. His upper body is vulnerable to aimed shots if it is not protected by the Emperor Dalek dome and counts as an unarmoured Size 6 target. Davros is aware of his weaknesses, however, and even resorts to using simulacra of himself to decoy attacks. The main control panel on his armoured base houses his life support controls. Anyone who learns of their existence and location can threaten to turn Davros off, in which case he becomes quite amenable to their demands.
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Sabalom
Glitz
Apparent age: late 30s Glitz, a small-time crook with small-time ambitions, is more a rogue who finds himself on the wrong side of the Doctor than a real enemy who is out for the Doctor's blood or brain. Although he will co-operate when circumstances require teamwork, Glitz is always out for himself and constantly looks for opportunities to improve his wealth, health and general safety. If that means shooting or betraying someone, Glitz is happy to do so. If Glitz cannot negotiate a good deal for something he wants or win it in a game of chance, he will put his mind to stealing it. He has great confidence in his bargaining ability, even when opposed by obstinate or unwilling traders, and is sometimes too confident for his own good. Glitz will consider working for a patron -- even someone like the Master -- if he believes that he will gain in the end. He is not an idiot, though, and seldom trusts his patrons. Even the crew of his spaceship, The Nosferatu, are not worthy of his trust: he sold one particularly mutinous crew. In effect Glitz is a buccaneer of the space lanes, although he prefers to describe himself as a scholarly philanthropist. He is fond of using long words to confuse his minions and to make him appear more educated than they are. His rough background is betrayed, however, when he comes across objects of great value, to which his usual response is 'Must be worth a lot of grotzits' or 'I can do you a deal on that.' A native of the planet Cilostephus, in the constellation of Andromeda, Glitz has spent some time studying, as he might say, the architecture of rudimentary behavioural reform establishments: in other words, he has been in prison. The Nosferatu, Glitz's spaceship, is any craft that Glitz happens to acquire on his travels. The Nosferatu 1 was destroyed on Ice World; The Nosferatu 2 was simply the commandeered vessel of Ice World's late ruler, Kane. Glitz's propensity for gambling and adventure means he is likely to lose and gain several spaceships, so his craft may not be immediately recognizable to the Doctor. Although Glitz is lazy and prefers his minions to do any hard work, he will take over when competence is required. He resents being pushed around by anyone, even if they have the authority and are in the right. A stocky, well-built man, Glitz wears swashbuckling attire: a loose-fitting, multi-coloured silk top, a studded leather shoulder-guard worn over his right shoulder, baggy black trousers and calf-length brown boots. His curly black hair is greying slightly, and his sideburns are fashioned into narrow bars. Glitz's green eyes are mischievous and calculating. Although Glitz rarely works alone, he seldom works with the same people twice, usually because he has diddled them out of any promised remuneration. His crew typically consists of criminals like himself but without the brains for organized action. At the end of Trial of a Time Lord, Glitz left Ice World accompanied by the Doctor's companion Mel, who was determined to change his criminal ways. In future encounters with Glitz it may be that Mel is present, probably still trying to reform him. Weapons His blaster can be set to stun, inflicting 3 Wounds, or to kill, inflicting 6 Wounds. For contingencies, Glitz usually carries a small but powerful grenade which is concealed up one sleeve of his tunic. The grenade inflicts 7 Wounds to anyone in the same area when it explodes and 3 Wounds to anyone in an adjacent area. Armour Glitz wears virtually unnoticeable plastics fibre body armour beneath his tunic. Aimed attacks need to be made at his head or limbs to avoid hitting this protection, which is Armour 5.
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The
Master
Apparent age: early 40s The Master and the Doctor are contemporaries, rival Time Lords from their student days at the Academy on Gallifrey. Although the Master is also a renegade, he is dedicated to creating chaos and destruction throughout the universe, sometimes just for the fun of it. At the same time he seeks power over others. Once friends, the Doctor and he are now the bitterest of enemies: the Master is determined to kill the Doctor and lays deadly traps through space and time to attain this objective. No trick is too low for the cunning Master. He will threaten and endanger the lives of innocents and enlist the help of the most dangerous aliens in the universe if he believes it will give him power. The Master has even resorted to working with the Daleks. He is an ally of dubious worth, however, as he is always out for his own good, and will betray his allies if it is expedient to do so. Charm and subtlety are the two main weapons of the Master. He is devilishly charismatic, disarmingly polite and well-dressed, enabling him to sway people to his way of thinking by simple argument and strength of personality. If gentle persuasion does not work, he uses hypnotism; if that fails he resorts to anger, threats and abuse. It is in failure that the Master's megalomaniac personality comes forth, although he is quick to suppress any outbursts of temper. The Master's plans, however, are seldom straightforward. He uses a devious selection of traps to snare the unwary or to ensure he has time to escape when his plans go wrong. His quest for power leads him to investigate powerful civilizations in attempts to learn their secrets. The Master will use the superstitions and beliefs of a people against them while manipulating their technology. Yet he sometimes underestimates both the resolve of the people and the power of their technology, ending up with nothing. He is a formidable expert at disguise, using rubber masks to hide his true appearance and deceive his enemies. Unlike the Doctor, the Master no longer has the power of regeneration because he has reached the end of his natural life cycle. By force of will and hatred for the Time Lords and the Doctor, however, the Master kept his decaying thirteenth incarnation alive long enough to absorb body of Consul Tremas of Traken, whose form he now adopts. The Master has dark, short swept-back hair, a pointed beard and moustache, and blue eyes and dark, brooding eyebrows. He wears a simple black jacket and trousers, with an ornate collar that is embroidered with silver in a diamond pattern. He wears black gloves. Weapons The Master's deadliest weapon is the tissue compression eliminator, which looks like a black rod about 4 centimetres in diameter and 25 centimetres long. It is equivalent to a blaster that inflicts 9 Wounds but has a range of only one area; if it kills its target, that person is shrunk to one sixth of his height and weight. The discovery of the doll-like remains of this weapon's victims is a sure sign that the Master is around. Sometimes the Master will use an ordinary blaster that inflicts 6 Wounds on kill and 3 Wounds on stun. He also has recourse to a variety of explosive traps and electronic gimmicks. Absorb Form [Strength] If the Master's body fails him, he can attempt to absorb the body of another. He must first beat the difference between his total Absorb Form ability and the target's Strength to physically take over. If he succeeds, he must then beat the Determination of the host's mind using his Determination in order to control both mind and body.
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The
Meddling Monk
Apparent age: late 40s Like the Doctor, the Meddling Monk is a renegade Time Lord who cannot abide the restrictive practices of his people. The Monk, however, is a mischief-maker and interferes with the proper course of events on planets in his attempts to improve history. He is the Prometheus of the cosmos, bringing technological fire to its people. The Monk believes that technology should be given to primitive societies so they can improve their lot in life. He also champions the underdogs, historical losers who he believes have a better culture and deserve to survive rather than perish at the hands of a crasser people. It was his intention, for example, to forestall the Viking invasion fleet that left King Harold's forces to exhausted to beat off the Normans in 1066. Only the Doctor's timely intervention thwarted the Monk's plan. Although he is a clever and devious schemer, the Monk is careless; his motives and plans are sometimes transparently obvious. Very much into creature comforts, the Monk has a habit of accidentally leaving anachronistic clues to his presence. Although his TARDIS's chameleon circuit works, allowing the time and space machine to fit in with its surroundings, the Monk carelessly leaves objects outside it: in his secluded base, it is possible to find modern kitchen equipment and power lines. The Monk will use any technological aid he can to further his plans, from gramophone records for sound effects to atomic cannons to destroy his enemies. He is a collector, too, hoarding trophies in his TARDIS that have been taken from all periods and places in time and space. The Monk is not an evil character, just a misguided one. He is quite jovial, and incredibly pleased with himself, when his schemes are running smoothly. Yet he behaves childishly and sulks when his plans are balked. He longs to get revenge on the Doctor, who has twice stranded him, and may well turn up as a third party in an adventure, completely unconnected with main events. Most of the time, the Monk dresses in a brown habit and round cap, a disguise that allows him to pass freely through the primitive societies which he seeks to enlighten. He has a round, cheerful face, brown, slightly greying hair, and green eyes. Weapons The Monk is not normally armed, nor does he wear armour, although his TARDIS usually has stocks of weapons from all times. He is quite handy with improvised blunt weapons.
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The Rani
Apparent age: mid 40s The Rani is an exceptionally talented Time Lord whose main talent is neurochemistry; she is also an outstanding genetic engineer. Her completely unethical approach to her experiments, however, resulted in the Time Lords banishing her from Gallifrey, and she is forced to experiment wherever she can temporarily set up a base. Her TARDIS is a monument to her genius: inside, preserved or dormant specimens of creatures are displayed like ornaments in glass containers. Although the Doctor has ruined her experiments in the past, she considers herself above the need for petty feuding. The Doctor is merely a brilliant tool for her to use to further her experiments, and she seeks him out only when his talents are necessary to success. Her great talent for disguise, however, means that the Doctor often fails to recognize her and only too late realizes who he is up against. The Rani uses stealth and subtlety to achieve her objectives, and seldom tries to be too clever for her own good. Her traps, however, are usually elaborate. Human beings are a particularly rich source of raw materials for her experiments: the Doctor has said she regards people only as walking heaps of chemicals. She also uses chemicals and drugs rather than mental powers such as hypnotism to ensure obedience. It does not matter to her whether the drugs cause pain or death; such side effects are not enough to make her abandon her experiments. Out of her disguises, the Rani is a strikingly attractive and imperious woman. Her heart-shaped face has high cheekbones; her eyes are a chilling blue-grey. Long, brunette hair tumbles down over her shoulders and back. She typically wears futuristic clothing: a crimson, sparkly tunic, crimson trousers and red-leather mid-length boots. On her left wrist she wears a broad, metallo-plastic bracelet which provides audiovisual communication with her minions and spy cameras, as well as operating scientific apparatus. Weapons The Rani does not habitually carry a weapon unless she believes her victim is going to resist, nor does she wear armour. In such events she carries a small blaster that inflicts 6 Wounds when set to kill and 3 Wounds when set to stun. Usually she relies on an impressive arsenal of traps to protect her base or to stop captives escaping. These typically take the form of mines detonated by trip wires. The mines inflict 10 Wounds to anyone in the same area who treads on them: anyone who enters the same area as a mine will be blown up unless they can beat the difference between their Awareness and the difficulty of spotting the mine (its Size of 6). The grubs she impregnates with mind-controlling drugs and feed to her potential slaves suppress the Determination of their host, making them subservient to the Rani's will. The drug is equivalent to a Wounds 4 fast-acting poison: if it beats the difference between its Wounds and the target's Strength, the subject's mind becomes receptive to the commands of the Rani. The poison does not injure its target, but the total Wounds it inflicts is the difficulty that the person has to beat to recover from the drug and throw off the Rani's control.
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Sil
Apparent age: indeterminable Sil is a particularly sadistic member of the Mentors, a highly intelligent slug-like species from the planet Thoros Beta. The Mentors are skilled traders in the universe's commodities who are rarely on the losing side of a deal. They will hide the true worth of a resource if it means they can pay a lower price for it: their goal is to obtain maximum profits, even at the expense and hardship of others. Not all of the Mentors are as corrupt and distasteful as Sil; they are just small creatures making big business. Sil, however, has been corrupted by the power that his trading position provides and is decidedly decadent. His human bodyguards are treated as little better than slaves: they carry out strong-arm work as well as mundane tasks such as spraying Sil with the water that he needs to prevent his skin from drying out. Sil is a devious and deviant schemer who is as repugnant in nature as he is in appearance. He relishes the pain of others and delights in their torture. His voice gurgles and splutters words, often incoherently owing to a fault in the translation box he wears on his left breast. To him, another's distress is an opportunity for entertainment, especially if it is a member of the ugly human race that is suffering. Sil has a particular dislike of the Doctor's assistant Peri, who he considers is particularly repulsive. Despite his overt love of painful entertainment, Sil is a fawning coward who seeks only to gain favour in his employer's eyes. He works for the Galatron Mining Corporation, one of the main trading companies of Thoros Beta, and is paranoid that one of its rivals will usurp his company's position as an exploiter of valuable resources. The Mentors are green-skinned and about 1 metre long. They have well-muscled chests and arms, but instead of legs they have a tapering, segmented tail. By human standards a Mentor is repulsive to look at: although its face has human features, the eyes are large and bulging, and its teeth are sharpened to points. A bony crest surmounts the head, and a loose, slimy frill of skin surrounds the neck and spreads over a Mentor's shoulders. Mentors are naturally creatures of the sea. Although they have adapted to life on land, they are not particularly mobile and need human assistance to move freely. The Mentors employ drugged and obedient human guards to protect them and to carry the palanquins in which they ride. Weapons Sil is not armed: he relies on his guards to protect him. They are far future soldiers, armed with blasters that inflict 6 Wounds on kill and 3 Wounds on stun; they wear metal, open-faced helmets that count as partial Armour 5. Armour Sil's slimy green skin is equivalent to full Armour 3. Weaknesses Physically, Sil is far from a threat and could be easily destroyed. Yet he is backed by the weight of the Galatron Mining Corporation; if the corporation's faith in Sil were destroyed, he would suffer a more crushing defeat. |
The third Doctor was particularly fond of flashy or gimmicky means of transport, whether it was to chase people, escape from them or just for everyday travel. In TIME LORD, the abilities of different types of vehicles are important only in chase scenes, when it is important to work out whether the bad guys close on the Doctor and his companions, or vice versa. At tactical level during action turns, it is unlikely that a vehicle will ever be used at its full speed, so the Move ability of each type of transport is only its speed relative to other means of transport.
A driver or rider with a Move special ability such as Driving adds this to the Move of the vehicle to determine how far it can move each action turn. If he has to control the vehicle, however, to do stunts or manoeuvres, his Move plus any relevant special ability is used.
Mechanical vehicles have Strength abilities that indicate their motive power, typically used to push objects out the way or tow other vehicles out of trouble. An attack directed at a vehicle has to overcome its Strength to put it out of action. When used as a fast-moving ram, the number of areas it moves is the number of Wounds it inflicts on a target; it also has to resist this using its Strength so that it is not put out of action. Any attack that puts a vehicle out of action does not necessarily destroy the vehicle: it usually indicates that a vital component has been damaged and must be repaired or replaced. Some vehicles have the ability to resist damage better than others: such vehicles have the special ability of Damage Resistance.
Vehicles are subject to the same terrain difficulties that affect characters. Some vehicles, however, have tracks or broad tyres that allow them to travel more easily over certain types of terrain. Such vehicles have an additional ability, called Rough Terrain. Although it may appear that boats can travel as fast as cars, it must be remembered that they are permanently in difficulty 2 terrain.
Damage Resistance [Strength]
This ability allows an inanimate object to withstand impacts and attacks owing to its construction or component materials. Damage Resistance would be used to protect a car in a crash, for example, or to withstand gunfire. The ability acts as a type of Armour: any Wounds inflicted that do not beat the Damage Resistance count as superficial damage and do not count against the total that puts the vehicle out of action.
Rough Terrain [Move]
Rough Terrain is the ability of vehicles to move easily over terrain, such as mud or shingle beaches, which has a difficulty of more than 1. Some vehicles can apply this to all such terrain; others can apply it to only certain types of terrain. In all cases, the Rough Terrain ability is added to a vehicle's Move to determine its total ability which is matched against the difficulty of the terrain.
Light aircraft
Strength: 6, Damage Resistance 1, Size: 2, Weight: 6, Move: 6
Light aircraft typically carry from one to four people: the category loosely covers prop-planes such as First World War biplanes, Tiger Moths and Cessnas. A light aircraft must travel at least four areas a turn otherwise it stalls and may crash. To regain of a stalled aircraft the pilot must beat the difference between his Piloting ability and a difficulty of 6. The Piloting ability is essential to be able to fly a light aircraft.
Bicycle
Strength: 4, Damage Resistance 1, Size: 4, Weight: 3, Move: 4
A pedal bike is an emergency item of transport for one person. Bicycles can usually be found propped against lampposts in town and city streets during the twentieth century on Earth.
Car
Strength: 6, Damage Resistance 2, Size: 2, Weight: 6, Move: 6
Cars are the predominant form of transport on twentieth and twenty-first century Earth. The are like mobile areas, able to hold five people and still allow them to use certain abilities. Air cars, far future cars that use repulser fields to keep them off the ground, treat all terrain as difficulty 1.
Helicopter
Strength: 6, Damage Resistance 1, Size: 2, Weight: 6, Move: 6
The Brigadier uses a two-man helicopter quickly to get to crisis areas. Helicopters can hover in the air and do not have to move each action turn they are airborne. They cannot, however, be used to ram targets otherwise they crash! The Piloting ability is essential to be able to fly a helicopter.
Horse
Strength: 5, Control: 4, Size: 2, Weight: 5, Move: 4, Knowledge: 1, Determination: 2, Awareness: 3
Used as a beast of burden and a means of making men more mobile, the horse is typically used by primitive societies. It conveys an advantage to its rider in combat: the rider's Defence is increased by 1. Horses will also instinctively react to an attack against them by lashing out with their hoofs, inflicting 5 Wounds.
Hovercraft
Strength: 6, Damage Resistance 1, Size: 2, Weight: 5, Move: 5, Rough Terrain 3
Hovercraft use a cushion of air to float above the ground or water. They can range in size from tiny one-man or two-men craft (use the above abilities) to passenger vessels (as above, but Size 1, Weight 7).
Jet bike
Strength: 4, Damage Resistance 1, Size: 4, Weight: 5, Move: 6
Jet bikes are the waterborne equivalent of motor scooters. These small, manoeuvrable craft propel themselves along using jets of water; if the rider falls off, they automatically slow down and travel in a circle, enabling the rider to swim over and remount.
Land Rover
Strength: 6, Damage Resistance 2, Size: 2, Weight: 6, Move: 6, Rough Terrain (land only) 2
UNIT troops favour these durable, rough terrain vehicles and use them to transport personnel and equipment. A Land Rover can easily transport six people.
Lorry
Strength: 7, Damage Resistance 2, Size: 1, Weight: 7, Move: 6
Lorries are used to convey large quantities of materials or men, and therefore might carry anything from tea chests to troops. They are typically equivalent to two or three areas in size.
Motor bike
Strength: 5, Damage Resistance 2, Size: 3, Weight: 5, Move: 6
Small, powerful and fast, motor bikes are the sexiest form of transport that a companion can hope to drive. Protective gear, such as a plastics fibre helmet and soft leather clothes, is recommended. Tricycle versions with balloon tyres are available: these vehicles have the additional ability of Rough Terrain (land) 1.
Rowing boat
Strength: 2, Damage Resistance 2, Size: 2, Weight: 5, Move: 5
Largely suitable for rivers and inshore work, rowing boats are a slow and cumbersome form of transport. Their advantage is their carrying capacity, equivalent to one area of space. The category includes punts and canoes.
Speed boat
Strength: 3, Damage Resistance 2, Size: 2, Weight: 5, Move: 7
Speed boats are the nippiest form of waterborne transport in TIME LORD and just the thing to use to chase or escape from villains. Motor boats have a Move of only 6 because they are, in effect, rowing boats with outboard motors.
