PART THREE

How To Role-Play A DOCTOR WHO Adventure

BASIC CONCEPTS

TIME LORD is a simple yet sophisticated game that has a few basic mechanisms on which the rules rely. It is important to understand what is meant by abilities, how to use the dice, how distance and movement affect game play, and how to take turns before trying to learn the rest of the rules. Players, however, can largely make do with knowing only the few rules in this chapter. It is the referee who needs to have a more thorough grounding in the system.

Players and the referee should read this chapter carefully, or have it explained to them by someone who knows the rules. Rules in subsequent chapters can be skimmed by players to glean some knowledge of the game's workings; the referee needs to set aside time to read the rules at least once.

Experienced role-players will probably find that much of the structure of the game is familiar to them, in which case they should feel free to play after only skimming the rules. TIME LORD, however, does differ from many games in that the dice do not always have to be rolled to determine whether a character's actions succeed or fail, so this chapter is still recommended reading!

Abilities

Abilities simply represent a character's physical or mental capabilities. They indicate what he can or cannot do in terms of TIME LORD's rules. Each of a character's abilities is assigned a numerical value, typically from 1 to 6, where 1 indicates a low aptitude for the subject and 6 indicates a high aptitude. Where TIME LORD refers to a common ability, it is one of the eight abilities that are common to all characters: Strength, Control, Size, Weight, Move, Knowledge, Determination and Awareness. A special ability ian ability that enhances one of these eight common abilities: Marksmanship, for example, enhances a character's Control in combat and First Aid enhances a character's Knowledge when trying to heal an injured person. Special abilities typically have low values, usually 1 or 2, because their values are added to the appropriate common abilities instead of being used on their own.

To make it clear which value should be used, TIME LORD uses total ability to indicate that the sum of a common ability and an appropriate special ability should be used. If the rules say special ability, only the value of the special ability on its own should be used: the value of the common ability is not added.

Using Dice

Role-playing games can be complicated affairs, using many-sided dice in different ways to determine the outcome of events. The rules of TIME LORD, however, aim to make the game as simple as possible: only two six-sided dice _ the type that can be found in a game of Monopoly or Risk _ are used. Both dice are always rolled together and the result is always determined the same way.

Unlike most other games, where the numbers on the dice are added together, TIME LORD uses the difference between the numbers. The lowest number rolled is subtracted from the highest, and this value is known as the result. The result of rolling 1 and 6 is 5; the result of rolling 3 and 4 is 1; the result is 0 if a double 6 is rolled. The best result is 5; the worst result is 0.

In the course of the game, the referee will often ask players to roll the dice to determine whether their characters' actions succeed or fail. He decides how difficult it is to succeed and assigns a numerical value from 0 to 10 as the difficulty. He compares the numerical value of the character's ability with the difficulty and makes a note of the difference.

A character whose ability is greater than the difficulty automatically succeeds, and his player does not have to roll the dice. Whatever the character is doing is well within his ability to accomplish. It is possible, however, that the referee may tell him to roll the dice just for dramatic effect: the player, after all, does not know the difficulty he has to beat and rolling the dice introduces an element of doubt.

Beat The Difference

The dice always have to be rolled if the character's ability is equal to or less than the difficulty. There is a chance that the character may fail because he is attempting something that is beyond his ability. His player rolls the dice with the aim of beating the difference between the difficulty and the character's ability. He succeeds _ in effect he beats the difference _ if the result on the dice is greater than the difference between his ability and the difficulty. He fails if the result is less than or equal to the difference.

Whenever the rules ask a player to beat the difference, it means the dice must be rolled to beat the difference between the character's ability and the difficulty of the task he is attempting. In most cases, only the referee knows the difficulty and therefore the difference that must be beaten; players should trust his judgment.

Tegan and Nyssa are trying to catch up with the Doctor, who has sprinted off ahead of them across rough terrain. Tegan is coping admirably in her flat-soled air-stewardess's shoes, but Nyssa is finding it tough going in her Traken court shoes. They are confronted by a chasm that the Doctor has clearly jumped, judging from the scuff marks in the soil on both sides, and Tegan's player decides they have to jump it to follow him.

The referee has allocated a difficulty of 4 to the jump across the chasm, which he makes 5 in Nyssa's case because he knows she is wearing unsuitable shoes, and has decided the relevant ability to use is Control. Both characters have Control 4; Tegan's player has to beat a difference of 0 for his character to make the jump, but Nyssa's player needs to beat a difference of 1. After Tegan successfully leaps the chasm by rolling a 3 and a 1 to get a difference of 2, Nyssa's player decides that it is foolish to try the jump in shoes, takes them off, and leaps. The referee lowers the difficulty to 4, so Nyssa's player now needs to beat a difference of only 0.

Counters And Figures

Role-playing games such as TIME LORD do not have boards and can be completely played out in the imaginations of the players and referee. Sometimes, however, it helps to have a visual representation of the action so that everyone knows where everyone else is and does not feel unfairly treated because they cannot see what is going on. This is especially so if the characters get involved in a fight.

The referee should sketch a bird's-eye view of the characters' surroundings, whether it is outdoors or indoors, and mark on key objects such as the TARDIS, tables, benches or trees. The scale does not have to be accurate; all the plan has to do is allow players to envisage where they are. Counters, such as plastic tiddlywinks, Ludo counters or coloured pieces of cardboard, can be placed on the plan to show indicate the position of each character and enemies such as Daleks.

Miniature figurines can be used instead of counters _ there is a wide selection of different types and makes available from specialist games shops. The ideal ones are made of metal and are 25mm to 30mm high; they contain lead and are not recommended for small children.

Distances

TIME LORD uses neither metres nor yards to determine the distance between objects or the distance that characters can travel in a certain time. Distance in TIME LORD is measured in areas. An area is best thought of as being similar to a square on the board of a game such as Monopoly or Risk. One area can contain a number of characters, just as one square on the board can contain a number of playing pieces. The area just groups characters together to indicate the proximity of one to another. Characters can move from one area to another during their turns: some characters may be able to move further than others depending on their abilities.

When the referee draws up a plan of a location for the players he should divide it into areas. Instead of drawing up a plan, however, referees and players may find it more convenient to represent a location using a number of tear-off square notelets, such as those about 10cm square used for telephone messages. A nine-area location, for example, could be represented by nine notelets arranged in the right shape. More notelets can easily be added to a location to maintain a sense of distance, especially if the characters are running across countryside. Special features such as furniture or trees can simply be drawn on the notelets. The notelets should be arranged so that each row of squares is staggered.

The distance to an object or a person in areas affects the difficulty when a character tries to use certain abilities. This distance is the range, and is used in combat to modify the chances of hitting someone with a gun or blaster. It also affects the chance of spotting something or someone concealed in an area. Range is measured as the distance from one object to another, not including the area that the first one is in. Objects in the same area, therefore, are at a range of 0; objects in adjacent areas are at a range of 1.

Areas do not have a fixed size or shape: the referee decides how big they are and can even choose to have areas of widely differing sizes and shapes. An area purely indicates a tactically important space. In buildings, however, most areas will be about 3 metres by 3 metres _ enough space for five or so people to move about and exist comfortably in.

Movement

The distance that a character can cover in one turn depends on his Move ability. Most humans have Move 3, although the First Doctor has Move 2 to account for the limitations of that particular generation. A character's Move, however, is not the number of areas he can move: it is purely his ability to cover distance. In this way, Move works the same as any other ability.

Each area that a character moves presents a cumulative difficulty. On ordinary, flat ground such as short grass or indoors, each area presents a difficulty of 1 to the character's movement. A character who wishes to move from one area to an adjacent area faces a difficulty of 1; a character who wishes to move three areas faces a difficulty of 3. It follows that any character can move a number of areas less than his Move in a turn: a character with Move 3 can move up to two areas. Such a character may still have an action in that turn, such as shooting a gun or evading an attack.

A character who wishes to move a number of areas equal to or greater than his Move ability must beat the difference between the cumulative difficulty of the terrain and his Move. This counts as the character's action for the turn. A character with Move 3 who wished to travel five areas would have to beat a difference of 2 to succeed. He would need to roll a difference of 3 or more on the dice.

If the player fails to beat the difference, his character moves only the number of areas he could ordinarily travel without needing to roll the dice. He still moves in the direction he intended, but is assumed to have stumbled or tripped in his effort to move faster. The character may not have another action whether he succeeds or fails in his attempt to move further than normal.

A character may have special abilities that enhance his Move ability. Most companions have the special ability of Running _ most of them have plenty of opportunities to practise this skill in their adventures with the Doctor. If a character uses such a special ability it counts as his action for the turn.

Some of these special abilities are added not to the character's move but to the Move of a vehicle. A character with the Driving special ability adds his Driving to the Move of, say, a car or motorbike to travel further than normal. A character with Move 3 and Driving 1 would have Move 6 if he drove a Move 5 vehicle.

Terrain

Not every piece of ground is easy going: long grass, mud, scree and the rough, stony ground of a typical chalk pit all increase the difficulty of moving. The effects of terrain are always cumulative. A character who travelled across two areas of even ground (difficulty 1) and one area of scree (difficulty 2) would face a total difficulty of 4 to get into the scree-strewn area.

Each area of easy terrain has a difficulty of 1. Easy terrain includes open flat ground such as parkland, roads, pavements, floors in buildings and open woodland. Obstructed terrain has a difficulty of 2 an area and includes jungle, overgrown woodland, loose sand, hills, water, shingle beaches and bracken-covered or gorse-covered moorland.

Areas of terrain with a difficulty of 3 are rare. Difficulties as high as this are usually assigned by the referee to represent extraordinary situations, such as strong underwater currents or virtually impassable terrain, where progress is likely to be slow.

The difficulties given for terrain are only guidelines, because some characters may find certain types of terrain more difficult than others. Daleks, for example, can levitate up or down stairs, but this requires phenomenal amounts of energy and is accomplished only slowly; stairs are only a minor handicap to the Doctor and his companions.

Turns

Even a small group of people can cause an immense amount of confusion in real life if all of them decide to do something different at the same time. Their actions and reactions to other people, however, work themselves out without anyone having to tell the participants what they can or cannot do. TIME LORD is a game, however, and needs to regulate characters' actions so that the players and the referee know what happens and when it happens: TIME LORD does this by using turns.

Conventional boardgames usually use a turn to limit what one person can do; play then passes on to the next person. In TIME LORD, a turn is used to determine what all the players can do in the same amount of time.

There are two types of turn: the action turn and the research turn. Action turns are used to regulate hectic action such as combat or chases where the second to second decisions of the players and their opponents quickly change the situation. An action turn represents the passing of only a few seconds _ the exact amount of time is not important because any activities that take place in action turns are quickly resolved.

Research turns mark the progress of time during an adventure. Each research turn represents 15 minutes of real time, although it may take more or less time than that to resolve the actions which take place during such a turn. Work that takes a long time to accomplish, such as scientific research or clearing away the rubble from rockfalls and cave-ins, is regulated by research turns.

Players will usually only be aware of action turns during the game. Their characters' actions are predominantly of the moment. It is the referee who uses research turns to mark the players' progress through an adventure and to determine when events happen, such as the time that a bomb is due to go off or the point at which invasion fleet of an alien menace arrives.

There is no set order of events in a turn. Each player says what he wants his character to do when asked by the referee, the results are worked out and then applied simultaneously. The referee decides when one turn ends and the next one begins.

Actions

Each character can in general use only one ability during a turn, and the use of such an ability is called an action. The players say what they want to do in a turn and the referee works out what this means in terms of actions. It may be that the referee has to rule it is impossible for a character to achieve all that his player wants him to do in one turn.

Most of the time it is possible to express what a player wants to do as the use of one of his character's abilities, such as Control, Marksmanship, Running or Science. A character who wants to shoot someone uses his Control or Marksmanship abilities; one who wishes to analyse a plague virus uses his Science ability.

Movement is an exception to the number of abilities that can be used in one turn. It is possible for a character to travel a limited distance _ less than his Move ability in areas _ and still use another ability. In this way it is possible for characters to close on an enemy and attack, or even to flee from an enemy before firing.

ABILITIES

What a character can or cannot do in TIME LORD is determined by the abilities that define his physical and mental powers. Abilities represent a character's muscular power and toughness, his agility, his powers of deduction and so on. Each ability has a numerical value of one to six, with six being the best. Abilities not only indicate what a character can do; they are also a measure of his resistance to another character's abilities.

Eight abilities are common to all characters: the physical abilities of Strength, Control, Size, Weight and Move, and the mental abilities of Knowledge, Determination and Awareness.

Strength

Strength is the character's muscular power. It is his ability to lift and push objects as well as to withstand injury and to damage opponents in hand to hand combat. The ability is also a measure of a character's endurance. Strength determines the length of time for which a character could keep running while pursued by an enemy as well as how long he could hold his breath under water. The ability is as much a guide to fitness as it is power. Strength is the ability used to determine whether poisons take effect, and how quickly the character recovers consciousness or heals once he is wounded.

Control

Control is the measure of a character's agility. It represents suppleness, hand to eye co-ordination and whether the character is clumsy or articulate. The ability determines how accurate the character is at firing guns or striking with his fist or a melee weapon; it also determines his defence against attacks from opponents. Control is the ability used when a character has to leap chasms or climb trees or mountains.

Size

Size indicates a character's height and build. The ability is mainly used to determine how easy it is to hit a character. By default, however, the rules assume that most targets are the same size as an average person: Size 3. It is important to understand that the bigger a character's Size ability, the smaller he is: Size is just a measure of relative smallness. Small adults and children, for example, are Size 4; a large adult would be Size 3.

The ability is typically used to determine whether a character can crawl through ventilation shafts or narrow openings, where the Size of the opening is the difficulty of squeezing through. Big people, say Size 2 or 3, would find it harder to pass through the narrow openings that small or slightly built companions such as Jo Grant and Ace could wriggle through.

Weight

Weight is a measure of the mass of a character. It determines how easy it is to physically pick up the character and whether the character will fall through fragile floors or set off weight-sensitive traps. The ability is not measured in pounds or kilograms; each value represents a broad range of mass, so a character can be short and fat or tall and thin yet still have the same Weight. Most human characters have a Weight of 4. A small or lightly built human would have a Weight of 3; a heavily built human would have a Weight of 5. All objects also have Weight abilities which determines how easy they are to pick up or carry.

Move

Move is the character's ability to cover distance and is determined by the character's species. A human has a Move of 3, as does a Cyberman; both species move at about the same speed. These rates of movement, however, are slow. An animal such as a horse has a Move of 4; a human mounted on a horse would therefore be able to travel at the horse's rate rather than his slower speed. Particularly old or feeble characters may have a low Move to represent their frailty.

Knowledge

Knowledge is a character's ability to recall and understand information and to make sense of science and technology. The ability roughly indicates the type of civilization that a character comes from because it summarizes the experience a typical person from a particular time and place might be expected to have. Low Knowledge, for example, might indicate a character from a primitive background such as medieval Europe or even Roman times. A character with high Knowledge would typically come from a point in Earth's future, such as the twenty-first century. A character from the future, however, need not have a high Knowledge because a character could come from a regressive background: the Doctor's companion Leela, for example, is a savage yet is descended from technologically minded ancestors.

When the Doctor explains a complicated scientific principle it is the character's Knowledge ability that determines whether he understands the concept. If the Doctor has to analyse the weakness of an enemy so that he can develop a gadget to exploit it, his Knowledge determines how long it takes him to solve the problem. Knowledge also provides inspired insight: when the characters have done everything they believe is necessary to overcome an enemy and the referee knows there is something they have missed, it is Knowledge that gives the characters a chance of remembering or thinking of such details.

Knowledge also is a character's ability to believe or disbelieve in the improbable. Anyone who enters the TARDIS for the first time will find their Knowledge tested; it is the ability to doubt.

Determination

Determination is a character's mental resolve. It represents his ability to stick at something despite adversity. If a character encounters a hideous creature, Determination is the ability that decides whether the character faces it bravely or is terrified by its presence. Cowards or natural survivors usually have a low Determination. Determination is used to decide whether a character is influenced by the words or actions of another character. When facing the Master, it is a character's Determination that enables him to resist being hypnotized or to remain unmoved by the Master's entreaties. Determination is also the ability used to resist mind-controlling machines or to engage in psychic conflict.

Awareness

Awareness is a character's ability to react to his environment. It represents the character's senses and his ability to communicate, whether by speaking or through writing or art. When a character is searching for a hidden opening mechanism for a door or is trying to identify whether a group of people in the distance includes friends or enemies, it is the character's Awareness that decides if he succeeds or fails. Awareness also gives a character the chance to hear an enemy or creature that is creeping up behind him.

A character who is negotiating with other characters also uses the Awareness ability. He is trying to influence their behaviour, a skill which relies upon his ability to interpret their mood and upon his communicative skills. Great orators and diplomats would have high Awareness. High Awareness is also a characteristic of street-traders _ people who are used to haggling about the prices of goods.

Other Abilities

Most characters have other abilities, called special abilities, in addition to the eight common abilities: special abilities represent extra skills or areas of knowledge that have been learned through hobbies, sports and work, or they can be unusual natural talents. The ability of Marksmanship, for example, would be appropriate for a character whose hobby is rifle-shooting or who had been in the army; someone who habitually carries lots of junk in his pockets might have the ability of Resourceful Pockets.

These special abilities typically have a value of 1 to 3. Each one is a specialization of one of the eight basic abilities. A special ability enhances the appropriate common ability when it is used; the value of a special ability is rarely used by itself. Marksmanship, for example, increases a character's Control when he fires a gun; Indomitable Will is added to the a character's Determination to resist attempts at hypnotizing him.

All abilities give the players information that can be used to develop the personalities of characters. Special abilities will often indicate quirks of behaviour that can be highlighted.

How To Use Abilities

Characters in a TIME LORD adventure will often be faced with challenges that they must overcome to progress further. The challenge may be to build an electronic device to defeat an enemy or simply to leap a chasm that runs across the only route to a destination. Whatever the nature of the challenge, a character has a chance of succeeding or failing in the attempt; this chance of success or failure depends upon his abilities.

The referee decides which of a character's abilities is appropriate to a challenge and also how hard it is to accomplish: this is the difficulty. Guidelines on assigning difficulties are given in the referee's section.

The player whose character is attempting the challenge compares the character's ability with the difficulty. The character automatically succeeds if his ability is greater than the difficulty: the challenge is judged to be easily within his ability.

There is a chance that the character may fail if the difficulty of the challenge is greater than or equal to his ability, and the player must roll the dice to determine whether the character succeeds or fails. He succeeds if the difference between the numbers rolled on the dice is greater than the difference between the difficulty and the character's ability. In effect he must beat the difference to succeed. The character fails and must suffer the consequences if the difference rolled on the dice is less than or equal to the difference between the difficulty and the character's ability. The player has failed to beat the difference.

Jo Grant is locked in a room which has a high window. Even by moving furniture she cannot quite reach the sill, so she decides to jump up to get a hand hold. The appropriate ability for this challenge is Control and the referee decides that it deserves a difficulty of 4. Jo's Control is 3, which means the difference is 1. The person playing Jo needs to beat a difference of 1 on the dice to succeed.

Using Special Abilities

Sometimes a character will be faced with a challenge that is appropriate to one of his special abilities. A character with Leaping, for example, could use this ability to help him jump a chasm; one with Escapology could apply the ability if he were held captive and tied up with ropes. The value of the special ability is added to the appropriate ability and the total is used to determine whether the character succeeds or fails.

Jo has Escapology 2 and Control 3, which gives her a total ability of 5 if she is held prisoner and tries to wriggle free of her bonds. She does not use the Escapology value of 2 on its own because it is a bonus that is added to her Control.

Special Abilities

The special abilities listed here are those skills or talents most likely to be encountered or used by the Doctor and his companions. The common ability that each one enhances is given in brackets.

Acting [Awareness]

Acting allows a character to play the part of another person, either by mimicking that person's voice or by physically impersonating him. The character may have to dress appropriately to be convincing in the role.

Acute Hearing [Awareness]

Acute Hearing enables a character to hear quiet sounds that other characters might not notice, such as an assailant approaching stealthily from behind or the gentle hiss of knockout gas escaping from a container.

Animal Empathy [Awareness]

A character with the animal empathy ability gets on well with animals and can persuade timid ones to approach him. Animals will regard such a character as friendly, although even a friendly, hungry predator can be dangerous.

Animal Handling [Determination]

Whether as an animal trainer, a circus performer or a zoo-keeper, the character has experience of handling animals such as horses, lions, tigers or elephants. Such a character could, given time, teach them to do tricks: he knows an animal's habits and instinctively knows how it will react in certain situations. The ability extends to reptiles, so a character with Animal Handling could be an exotic dancer whose act includes snakes!

Archery [Control]

Archery is the ability to shoot accurately with a bow, whether it is a longbow or a crossbow. The bow's Wounds rating is used instead of the character's should an arrow hit its target.

Artist [Awareness]

The Artist ability means the character can paint or draw well according to the concepts of art of his time. Artist allows a character to draw sketches of objects or people which will be generally recognizable and of the right proportion.

Astrogation [Knowledge]

Pilots of spaceships would be lost without Astrogation, an advanced form of navigation that allows explorers to find their way around the universe. A character with Astrogation knows how to use the advanced instruments necessary to set a course or to identify locations in space.

Bargaining [Awareness]

Bargaining is the ability to obtain a fair price for goods or services. A character with the Bargaining ability has an intuitive feeling of an object's worth and has the negotiating skills to obtain the right price. Bargaining, however, is effective only if each person involved can communicate with the other.

Bench-thumping [Control]

Anyone who can get a television set to work by hitting it or persuade a gadget to work by thumping the laboratory bench in exasperation has the Bench-thumping ability. It is not a skill that can be used on its own: anyone who resorts to Bench-thumping must first have tried to repair or make an object using an ability such as MacGuffin. The character has a second chance of making a gadget work using his Bench-thumping ability to determine whether he is successful.

Blunt Weapons [Control]

The Blunt Weapons ability allows a character to use any blunt weapon, such as a club, quarterstaff, mace or walking stick, in combat. The weapon's Wounds rating is used instead of the character's if the attack hits a target.

Brawling [Control]

Brawling is the dirty tricks form of close combat where anything goes. It gives the character the skill to use improvised weapons such as chairs and vases at an ability higher than his Control: the character's Brawling is added to his Control to give his combat ability. Players who have characters with this skill should try to think of clever manoeuvres to exploit an opponent's weaknesses.

Bureaucracy [Awareness]

Civil servants are masters of Bureaucracy: they are able to bamboozle ordinary people with the complexities of red tape and equally they are able to slice through bureaucratic restrictions to speed progress through the ranks of a large organization. A character can use Bureaucracy can be used confuse lesser bureaucrats by implying that he knows procedure better than they do and sending them off to do pointless tasks.

Cheat Death [Strength]

A character with the Cheat Death ability is either lucky or has a strong will to live. Cheat Death enables a character to survive damage that would ordinarily kill most people. Cheat Death increases a character's Strength when determining the number of Wounds that cause death. A character with Strength 3, for example, can take 6 Wounds before dying; one with Strength 3 and Cheat Death 1 can take 8 Wounds before dying. In effect, Cheat Death extends the range of Wounds at which a character is seriously wounded.

Command [Determination]

The ability to give orders is hereditary among nobility and is vital to army officers. With the right tone of authority it is possible that a character who shouts an order can convince anyone who is trained to obey commands to do as he wishes, such as salute or shoulder weapons.

Computing [Knowledge]

Computing is the ability to use computers to elicit information as well as to program them. Computing is also a character's ability at cracking computer security; Cryptanalysis might prove useful in addition.

Con [Awareness]

Con is the ability to pull the wool over other people's eyes. The Con ability might be used to convince security guards that the character is really a friendly agent in disguise; it could also be used to misdirect people by persuading them that a source of danger is in a different place from its real location.

Contortionism [Size]

Contortionism is the ability to make a character's build smaller by dislocating joints and twisting the body to occupy less space. Anyone who contorts their body using this ability has a Size equal to his usual Size plus their Contortionism. A character in this state, however, may not dodge in combat.

Cryptanalysis [Knowledge]

A character with Cryptanalysis is adept at formulating and breaking codes. Referees can choose to have the character solve a code by simply rolling the dice, or make the player solve it using his own brainpower with the help of a few hints to reflect the character's Cryptanalysis ability.

Cybernetics [Knowledge]

Cybermen are the undisputed masters of Cybernetics, the use of mechanical and electronic components to replace organic limbs and organs. Human scientists, however, have also studied the subject. The ability allows a character to build cybernetic parts and devices which imitate other abilities, such as a replacement eye which would allow the character to see infra-red light.

Dancing [Control]

A character with the Dancing ability can co-ordinate his movements to look graceful or at least vaguely with it on the dance floor. Whether the character is skilled at formal court dance of the 15th century, 1960s go-go or 1990s house, his peers at least will recognize his talent.

Detective Powers [Knowledge]

Detective Powers is the ability to notice tiny clues and to remember countless pieces of information which can later be pieced together to explain other characters' motives and actions. A player whose character is told vital information may forget it during the course of the game: if the character has Detective Powers then that player should be reminded of this information when it becomes important again.

Disguise [Awareness]

Disguise is the ability to change a person's appearance using masks, make-up and clothes so he resembles someone else. With this ability a character can effectively change his height, stance and mannerisms so they are unlike his own or like those of someone else. It does not include the ability to sound like another person, for which a character needs Acting. The Master frequently disguises other people to resemble himself so he can make his getaway.

Driving [Move]

Driving allows a character to control vehicles such as cars, motorbikes, jetbikes and hovercraft in difficult manoeuvres. A character who wished to tilt the car he was driving so that it could pass through a narrow opening would need to have the Driving ability. Driving also allows a character quickly to familiarize himself with a strange vehicle.

Edged Weapons [Control]

The Edged Weapons ability allows a character to use any weapon with a cutting edge or stabbing point such as a sword, axe or spear. The weapon's Wounds rating is used instead of the character's should the weapon hit a target.

Electronics [Knowledge]

Electronics is the ability to understand electronic components and circuits, what they do, and how to build new ones or alter existing ones.

Eloquence [Awareness]

Eloquence is the ability to use the correct form of address when negotiating with nobles. It implies a knowledge of procedures, and a character with this ability will rarely put a foot wrong when addressing important people.

Engineering [Knowledge]

The Engineering ability gives a character an understanding of the physical properties of materials such as metals, plastics and ceramics and how such properties can be employed in construction. On an immediately practical level, it allows a character to assess how much time it will take for pursuers to cut through bulkheads or airlock doors.

Escapology [Control]

Escapology is the ability to escape from bonds such as ropes or chains. It combines subtle body movements, contortionism, lockpicking and knowledge of knots so that the character is in the best position to escape from his bonds once his captors are no longer paying attention. Jo Grant learned Escapology as part of her training as a UNIT agent, although even she found some knots were difficult to untie quickly.

Explosives [Knowledge]

Explosives is the ability to place explosive charges and bombs in the position where they are likely to do most damage. It is also the ability to develop new types of explosive. Ace is the Doctor's companion who knows most about explosives; she developed her own, nitro-nine. Nitro-nine has proved usefully destructive at times, although the Doctor usually frowns upon its use.

Fast Reactions [Control]

A character with Fast Reactions can act before any character without this ability. Fast Reactions would allow a character to strike another in combat and resolve the effects before his opponent had a chance to strike back: it breaks the rule that all combat is simultaneous. When a character with Fast Reactions encounters another character with Fast Reactions, the one with the highest special ability reacts first.

First Aid [Knowledge]

First Aid is the commonsense application of life-saving techniques or medication to keep an injured or unconscious person alive or prevent him from getting worse. First Aid is the ability to bandage and splint injuries; it indicates that a character knows how to handle badly injured patients. A character uses his total ability of Knowledge and First Aid to determine whether he successfully applies the techniques, but heals only an amount equal to his special ability on its own.

Fisticuffs [Control]

Fisticuffs is a gentlemanly fighting ability: the character adheres to rules such as those formulated by the Marquess of Queensberry when he resorts to combat. Only the character's fists are used, and no dirty tricks are allowed! Fisticuffs allows a character to strike at an opponent and to block incoming blows. A character using Fisticuffs inflicts Wounds equal to half his Strength,

Gambling [Awareness]

A character with Gambling is skilled at games of chance, whether by luck or through an ability to cheat without being noticed. Gambling also gives a character a chance of noticing whether another gambler is cheating.

Gloating [Determination]

Gloating is a trait of cruel or evil characters such as the Master which exhibits itself when the Doctor or his companions are trapped or about to die. A character with this ability may be compelled to gloat in such circumstances, giving his captives time to formulate a particularly cunning plan of escape.

Gymnastics [Control]

A character with Gymnastics is supple and fit with a well-developed sense of balance. Gymnastics enhances a character's Defence against enemies' attacks and improves his chance of leaping gaps or obstacles.

History [Knowledge]

The History ability indicates that a character is well versed in events from his past: he can remember key dates as well as details of older civilizations' lives.

Hypnotism [Determination]

Hypnotism is the ability to dominate the will of another person or to put someone into a trance. A character with this ability may need the help of an object to hypnotize someone, or they may be able to do it just through the power of words. The Doctor needed a spinning disc to hypnotize Aggedor on Peladon; the Master's technique is simply to say: 'I am the Master and you will obey me.'

Independent Spirit [Determination]

Anyone with Independent Spirit is not easily persuaded to do things against their will: although they may be asked or told to do something, they will usually rebel and follow their own course of action. Independent Spirit increases a character's resistance to Con or Command, for example.

Indomitable Will [Determination]

A character with Indomitable Will is not easily overcome by hypnotism or even the ubiquitous mind probe, and remains in firm control of his mind. The ability is added to Determination to resist the effects of hypnotism and so on.

Intuition [Awareness]

A character with Intuition can sense when something is not quite right. Someone may have been in a room before he entered or that person might still be there, waiting behind a filing cabinet ready to attack the character. The difficulty of sensing something depends largely upon the extent to which it would affect the character.

Iron Constitution [Strength]

An Iron Constitution means a character can resist the effects of damage and poisons and cope with alien environments better than other people. A character with Iron Constitution can also endure long walks or run for long periods without tiring. The Iron Constitution ability is added to a character's Strength whenever he has to resist the effects of wounds or poison.

Juggling [Control]

The ability to juggle objects requires good hand to eye co-ordination. Its main use is for entertainment, but two characters with Juggling could accurately throw objects between them to confuse or annoy a villain.

Keen Sight [Awareness]

A character with Keen Sight can spot objects at a greater distance than other characters and has a greater chance of finding objects that can be located by sight. Characters with Keen Sight, however, are discomforted by bright lights and they cannot see in complete darkness.

Law [Knowledge]

Law is the ability to understand and debate legal points and to present cases. It may prove useless, depending on the laws of the society in which a character with this ability finds himself.

Leaping [Control]

Whether through athletic training or natural ability, the character is adept at leaping great distances. Gaping chasms present little challenge to such a character, who can also jump up to grab ledges, chandeliers or tree branches.

Linguistics [Knowledge]

Linguistics is the ability to learn and understand languages. It is rarely needed because many of the people that the Doctor and his companions encounter speak English. Should communication prove impossible, however, Linguistics allows a character to study and learn a language so that basic desires and intents can be expressed.

Lockpicking and Safecracking [Control]

Whether equipped with a bent hairpin or skeleton keys, a character with the Lockpicking and Safecracking ability can open mechanical locks and break into safes with combination locks. The character must have a tool of some type with which he can open the lock: it is impossible with only fingers. Electronic, technologically advanced locks need to be tackled by someone who is adept at Electronics or MacGuffin.

Marksmanship [Control]

A character with the Marksmanship ability can shoot firearms or blasters accurately. In essence, all guns work in the same way, and provided that a character understands how a primitive or technologically advanced gun works he can apply his Marksmanship ability in combat. The weapon's Wounds rating is used instead of the character's if the attack hits a target.

Martial Arts [Control]

Martial Arts is a specialized form of unarmed combat which allows a character to make deadly attacks with his fists and feet as well as to dodge and block incoming attacks. There are many types of martial arts, and a player should try to make the one his character practises distinctive. The third Doctor, for example, perfected Venusian Karate, enabling him quickly to knock out or disable opponents. A character inflicts Wounds equal to his Strength when making a Martial Arts attack. If he wishes to only slightly injure an opponent he can choose to inflict Wounds equal to half his Strength.

Mathematics [Knowledge]

Mathematics is the ability to perform mental gymnastics with numbers and abstracts. It is invaluable when trying to set co-ordinates for the TARDIS or to calculate how long it will take to travel anywhere. Mathematicians are almost human in comparison with statisticians.

MacGuffin [Knowledge]

MacGuffin is the ability to build gadgets out of available parts to be able to defeat an enemy or get out of sticky situations. It represents scientific knowledge, inspiration and a grasp of the weaknesses of an enemy. The Doctor might use his MacGuffin ability to convert a transistor radio into a short-range radio transmitter or to convert a length of electrical cable, a transformer and an assortment of electronic parts into a force-field generator.

Mechanics [Knowledge]

Engines and machines are complicated, but a character with Mechanics understands them. With the right parts such a character could build an engine or repair one.

Medicine [Knowledge]

A character with Medicine knows how to use drugs or plants to cure diseases, counter poisons or to speed healing and recovery. If a patient's condition is unusual or unknown, such a character may have to undertake research in a laboratory before he knows which drug will be effective.

Mountaineering [Control]

The Mountaineering ability indicates that a character can climb awkward rock faces and knows how to tackle easy ones using only handholds.

Musicianship [Awareness]

Musicianship is the ability to play musical instruments. A character with this ability should choose which instrument he can play, such as guitar, piano or recorder. The ability to play one kind of instrument may be applicable to another: a character who could play the guitar should also be able to adjust to a lute.

Navigation [Knowledge]

Navigation is the ability of a character to use the stars that are visible from his native planet to chart a course over land or sea.

Occultism [Knowledge]

A character with Occultism knows about the white and black magic practices of witches, druids and the like. The ability also implies a familiarity with superstitions and old sayings.

Pain Resistance [Strength]

Pain Resistance is the ability to tolerate the effects of wounds and torture. It increases a character's chance of resisting the effects of wounds when they are inflicted. The ability is of no use if the character has succumbed to his wounds; the character must be conscious to use it.

Photographic Memory [Knowledge]

Photographic Memory is the ability to observe and remember in perfect detail diagrams, rooms, faces, reams of secret plans and the shape and size of objects. It is purely a visual skill and does not imply an ability to remember names unless they have been printed next to a picture.

Piloting [Move]

The Piloting ability allows a character to fly aircraft, rockets or spaceships. If the manner of travel is more advanced than that associated with the technology of the character's time and space, he will find it hard to fly the vehicle, although he would undoubtedly be able to help another more skilled pilot.

Poisons [Knowledge]

This ability indicates the character knows how to formulate or extract poisons. He can also produce antidotes.

Precision [Awareness]

The character with this ability is uncannily accurate at judging distances, angles and speeds.

Pseudoscience [Knowledge]

Pseudoscience is the ability quickly to come up with convincing scientific arguments or explanations which either sound impressive or are accurate but confusing. A character with Pseudoscience has the ability to baffle people with science. The Doctor once started to explain the Blinovitch limitation effect to Jo Grant about time travel in The Day of the Daleks; pseudoscience could have been used to come up with name of the effect and provide a brief explanation. Pseudoscience can be made into a personality trait of a character: the Doctor would not explain that a piece of apparatus had blown a fuse without first declaring that the temporal feedback circuit had overloaded.

Quick Recovery [Strength]

A character with Quick Recovery heals or recovers consciousness faster than most people. The Quick Recovery ability is added to the character's Strength whenever he tries to regain consciousness or makes a healing roll.

Refined Palate [Awareness]

A character who has a Refined Palate has an exceptionally well developed sense of taste. Such a character appreciates good food and drink and can sense when something doesn't taste as it should do. A character with a Refined Palate in ancient times would probably find himself employed as a food-taster.

Regenerative Powers [Strength]

Regenerative Powers is the ability to self-heal or repair damaged parts of the body. K9's use of this ability, for example, extends to repairing only his electronic circuits; a Time Lord uses this ability to change his form to overcome massive tissue damage. Regenerative Powers typically allow repairs or healing to occur at the end of each research turn.

Resourceful Pockets [Awareness]

Resourceful Pockets is a character's ability to find useful objects in his pockets. The item need not be recorded on the character sheet: it is assumed that the character habitually carries an assortment of junk in his pockets. In The Ark in Space, the Doctor produces a cricket ball for Harry Sullivan to throw at a panel; more routinely it might be used to produce a small bag of jelly babies as required.

Riding [Move]

Riding is the ability to control and stay on animals such as horses with or without stirrups, saddles and reins. It also allows a character to spur a mount to move faster; the character's Riding is added to the animal's Move.

Robotics [Knowledge]

Robotics is the ability to build and program robots as well as to understand how robotic minds think. It can also be used to repair robots and alter their personalities.

Running [Move]

A character with the Running ability is especially quick. Instead of moving normally he can opt to run: his Move is increased by the value of his Running ability.

Sailing [Move]

Sailing is the ability to handle small sailing craft such as dinghies, yachts and windsurfers.

Science [Knowledge]

Science is the ability to understand and apply the principles of the main sciences. Players may specify which sciences their characters are particularly adept at, such as physics, chemistry or biology.

Screaming [Awareness]

Screaming is the ability to make a noise that can be heard through miles of catacombs, tunnels or ventilation shafts. Its main purpose is to alert the Doctor that one of his companions is in distress, but original uses of this ability shouldn't be discounted: Victoria's screams were amplified to kill a parasitic weed in Fury from the Deep.

Sense of Balance [Control]

A character who has Sense of Balance is perfectly at ease on a tightrope or on a narrow ledge because their natural balance is so good that they are unlikely to fall. Sense of Balance also allows characters to perform tricks such as spinning plates on poles or to run egg and spoon races with little danger of breaking anything.

Sensitive Nose [Awareness]

A character with a Sensitive Nose has a keen sense of smell. This might allow him to smell gas or chemicals before they can harm him, or could be used to appreciate food and drink. A character with this ability should avoid noisome locations and unwashed barbarians.

Serendipity [Awareness]

Serendipity is the ability to make happy chance finds. A character may make a mistake or clumsily knock over something; although it may seem disastrous at the time the event does some good. A character with Serendipity can make the find or be responsible for events leading up to it. Jo Grant, for example, spilled a jar of powdered mushrooms over the Doctor's microscope slides in The Green Death which led to the discovery that the fungus was deadly to a species of mutant giant maggots.

Singing [Awareness]

A character with Singing has received vocal training. He has a strong, melodic singing voice which other people regard as pleasant to listen to.

Sleight of Hand [Control]

Sleight of Hand is the ability to manipulate objects without being noticed: it is typically used to pick a person's pockets, to palm small objects or even to cheat people at cards.

Special Immunity [Strength]

Special Immunity conveys additional, sometimes only partial, resistance to a type of attack or substance. A character could be immune to the effects of a specific poison, for example, or a type of energy. Cybermen, for example, have a Special Immunity to heat and a Special Immunity to cold, although the extremes of either will ultimately affect them.

Sports [Control]

A character with Sports should choose a sport at which he is adept, such as cricket, football or rugby. In situations where skills learned in the sport could help the character, the sports ability is added to the character's Control.

Stealth [Control]

Stealth is the ability to move quietly, to hide in cover or to do both at once. Characters who are trying to spot someone who is hidden or moving stealthily match their Awareness against the character's Stealth.

Striking Appearance [Awareness]

Attractive or handsome characters have the Striking Appearance ability. This affects how other characters react to them; a companion with a pretty face might be more able to convince a security guard to let her pass.

Strong Passion [Determination]

A character with the Strong Passion ability has a strong emotional attachment for someone. If the object of their affections is ever in danger, the Strong Passion ability is added to the character's Determination to give them extra mental staying power.

Swimming [Move]

Characters are assumed to be able to swim to a limited degree; those with the Swimming ability can swim well and cope with strong currents.

TARDIS [Knowledge]

TARDIS is the ability to operate the TARDIS's controls and, when something goes wrong, to work out what is needed to repair it. Although a character may have the TARDIS ability, this does not mean he can fully control it. Characters without the TARDIS ability cannot do much more than open the doors of this time and space machine.

Temporal Science [Knowledge]

Temporal Science is the ability to understand the theories and limitations of time travel.

Thrown Weapons [Control]

A character with the Thrown Weapons ability can accurately throw weapons such as javelins, axes and daggers. The ability also applies to rocks and other improvised weapons such as bits of furniture or ornaments. The weapon's Wounds rating is used instead of the character's if the weapon hits its target.

Tracking [Awareness]

Tracking is the ability to follow the trail of a person or animal by identifying footprints or noticing clues such as broken twigs and bent blades of grass.

Transmat [Knowledge]

Transmat is the ability to operate and understand Transmat, an instant form of travel by matter transmission.

Ventriloquism [Awareness]

A character with Ventriloquism can throw his voice to make it seem as if the sound comes from a source some distance away.

Wilderness Lore [Knowledge]

A character with Wilderness Lore is familiar with the plants, animals and climate of his native environment, and the greater his ability, the more likely he is to survive. Wilderness Lore means the character knows what he should and should not eat, which reptiles and insects are poisonous, and which large animals are dangerous.

COMBAT

Fighting is a dangerous pursuit, whether in primitive or technologically advanced cultures. Few of the Doctor's companions can come through more than a fist-fight unscathed, and attacking a creature that is armed with a powerful energy weapon is foolhardy. Sometimes, however, the Doctor and his companions have no choice: they must resort to violence to get out of an awkward situation. Success largely depends on choosing the right moment to act.

There are two types of physical combat: close combat and ranged weapons combat. Close combat takes place between characters who are in the same area. It covers fisticuffs and swordplay, whether in the form of a simple duel between two people or a confused melee that involves dozens of characters.

Ranged weapons combat is fighting that takes place at a distance. It covers attacks made by weapons such as Dalek guns, the submachine-guns and rifles of UNIT troops, and the bows and thrown spears of primitive tribes.

The main difference between ranged weapons combat and close combat is the distance over which each takes place. Someone armed with a ranged weapon can fire at a target in the same area or one typically up to six areas away. Both types of combat use the same procedure.

All actions in one turn of combat are assumed to occur at the same time. Although each player will resolve his character's actions in turn, the results are applied only after all characters have had a turn. The referee decides which actions are resolved first, and keeps track of the results. The character whose attack is being resolved is called the attacker; his opponent is the defender. The defender may also be referred to as the target when he is attacked by a character who is using a ranged weapon.

An attack made in combat counts as the character's one action for a round. Characters who are not involved in combat, however, may move about the same area or be engaged in other tasks at the same time.

It is important to remember that only the player whose character is attacking rolls the dice. That player's character hits if he overcomes his opponent's defences.

Procedure

Each player decides what his character is going to do during the turn. It may be that some characters do nothing that is relevant to combat: they might choose to make use of other abilities. Whatever the player decides to do, he waits until the referee asks him before revealing his action.

A character has five options he can choose from at the beginning of an action turn:

n Stay in the same area and do nothing except recover from any wounds.

n Stay in the same area and dodge any attack made against him.

n Stay in the same area and perform an action while evading or parrying an attack from any one specified opponent.

n Try to move a number of areas whose difficulty is greater than or equal to his Move ability (including any special abilities such as Running) by beating the difference. Such a character forfeits any right to attack or defend.

n Move a number of areas whose difficulty is less than his Move ability (including any special abilities) and perform an action while evading or parrying an attack from one specified opponent.

There is one option that can be chosen during an action turn:

n Abandon any previously stated intention, stay in the same area and perform an action at an increased difficulty of 2.

Although in all these options, performing an action usually means attacking an opponent, it can also be an attempt to use any ability. The Doctor, for example, could move and, as his action, attempt to reset the controls of a runaway machine.

Only characters in the same area can attack each other in close combat. Within an area there are no restrictions on who can attack whom, but no attacks can be made using close combat on anyone outside that area. Characters are assumed to be moving about rather than remaining stationary while they are in combat, which is why they have such freedom to act in an area.

Attack and Defence

A character's skill at making attacks in combat is his Control. This value may be enhanced by abilities such as Edged Weapons, Martial Arts or Marksmanship, in which case the total of his Control and his special ability is used. Whether this value is Control on its own or Control enhanced by another ability, it is known as the character's Attack.

Leela's abilities are Control 5, Edged Weapons 2 and Archery 1. Her ability to attack in close combat is 5 if she strikes with her fist; her ability is 7 if she strikes with an edged weapon such as her knife; it is 6 if she shoots a crossbow in ranged weapons combat. Her Attack is respectively 5, 7 and 6.

The basic Defence of a character against an attack is his Size. This ability applies to any and all attacks made against the character in one round: Size is the inherent difficulty of hitting a person. In ranged weapons combat, the distance to the target in areas at the end of the turn is added to the target's Defence.

Sometimes a character will have more than one attack made against him, in which case the best option is to dodge all the attacks. Even a character who was going to attack can change his mind and choose to dodge should he discover that more than one attack is going to be made against him. A dodging character forfeits any right to attack but has a Defence equal to the sum of his Size and Control against any attack made against him that he is aware of.

A character who attacks and defends in close combat during the same turn can increase his Defence by parrying or evading one opponent's blow. He must use a weapon to parry an attack; an unarmed character, unless he has the Martial Arts ability, can only evade. A defender who parries has a Defence equal to the sum of his Size, Control and ability with the parrying weapon. If the defender evades, his Defence is the sum of his Size and Control. A parry or evasion can be applied to only one attack; the character's Size is his Defence against any other attacks. Ranged weapons attacks can be evaded or dodged but not parried.

Leela's abilities are Control 5, Size 3 and Edged Weapons 2. Her basic Defence against any attack is 3. She could still make an attack and then choose to parry or evade one attack made against her. Her Defence against one close combat attack is 10 if she parries with a knife; it is 8 if she evades. She has Defence 8 against any attack made against her if she dodges.

Her basic Defence against ranged weapons attacks is 3 if the attacker is in the same area, because the range is 0 areas; her Defence is 5 against an attacker who is 2 areas away. If she dodges her Defence is 8 and 10 respectively at those ranges.

Resolving An Attack

A player who declares that his character is attacking waits until the referee is ready to resolve his action. The referee, not the players, decides in which order any attacks are made. It may be that he elects to resolve all the referee characters' attacks before determining the results of the player characters' attacks.

Any player whose character is making an attack compares the appropriate Attack with the Defence of the opponent. The blow automatically hits if Attack is greater than the opponent's Defence. If Attack is equal to or less than the opponent's Defence, then the character hits the defender if his player can beat the difference between Attack and Defence by the difference rolled on the dice.

Leela has Attack 7 with her knife (Control 5 plus Edged Weapons 2). She would automatically hit anyone who had a Defence of 6 or less. Against an opponent with a Defence of 7 or more, her player would need to roll the dice to beat the difference between Leela's Attack and her adversary's Defence. She would need a difference of 2 or more on the dice to hit an opponent with Defence 8.

In ranged weapons combat using a crossbow, Leela's Attack is 6 (Control 5 plus Archery 1). She would automatically hit a target with Defence 5, such as a stationary Size 3 opponent at a range of 2 areas. Against a target with Defence 7, such as a dodging Size 3 opponent with Control 3 at a range of one area, her player would need to beat a difference of 1 on the dice.

Wounds

The amount of physical harm that any attack does to a target is measured in wounds. When a character hits an opponent in combat, he inflicts a number of Wounds appropriate to the weapon he is using.

Leela inflicts 4 Wounds with her knife if she beats an opponent's Defence. She inflicts 2 Wounds (half her Strength of 5 rounded down) if she uses her fists. Bolts fired from her crossbow inflict 4 Wounds each.

Armour

Some of the Doctor's enemies wear armour that may protect them from the Wounds inflicted by an attack. Daleks, for example, are encased in an armoured shell that protects the creature inside from most small-arms. The metallic skin of a Cyberman makes it hard to destroy even when using a blaster.

Armour absorbs either all or none of the Wounds from an attack. The number of Wounds inflicted is compared with the protection of the armour, which is expressed as Armour 4, Armour 8 and so on. All the damage gets through and injures the target if the number of Wounds is greater that the protection of the armour. If the number of Wounds is equal to or less than the protection of the armour, the attacker needs to beat the difference between these values to wound the defender. All the Wounds are inflicted if the protection of the armour is beaten.

Leela fires a bolt from her crossbow and inflicts 4 Wounds against a Cyberman that has Armour 9. Her player needs to beat a difference of 5 to get through the armour and wound the Cyberman, which is impossible because she can only equal that difference. The player and Leela learn the hard way that Cybermen are generally immune to arrows.

The effects of wounds are worked out direct if the defender does not wear armour.

Effects Of Wounds

Wounds always injure a character, although the effects of this may not immediately be noticed. A character feels the effects of Wounds only if they overcome his Strength. The total number of Wounds that a character receives, however, is always recorded whether or not he is overcome by them.

The defender is automatically overcome if the number of Wounds inflicted is greater than his Strength. If the number of Wounds against the defender is equal to or less than his Strength, the attacker must beat the difference between Strength and Wounds to overcome the defender.

A character who is overcome falls unconscious to the ground at the end of the turn, but may still resolve his attack if he has yet to do so. An overcome character may be near to death or even dead depending on the number of Wounds he has taken. Wounds are cumulative, whether a character is overcome or resists the effects, and the total number of Wounds against a character should be recorded. This determines whether the character is unconscious, near to death or dead.

Any character who is not overcome by his wounds can continue to act normally. His player should bear in mind, however, that the character is wounded and that further injury could easily result in death.

Special Rules

Combat is not always straightforward. Inventive players may come up with a special move that requires careful adjudication, or might try to aim blows to disable or disarm opponents rather than kill them.

Aiming

Some creatures are too tough to be beaten in a straight fight and often the only way to defeat them is to attack a weak spot. A Dalek's eye-stalk is vital if it is to see but is less heavily armoured than its body; a Cyberman is especially vulnerable to gold items shot into the grille on its chest unit.

Characters also have to aim if they have to shoot at partly obscured targets, such as a guard crouching behind a crate and whose head is the only visible part of his body. Aiming does not affect the procedure for combat: the Size of the specific part of the target is used instead of the target's usual Size.

Leela aims her crossbow at an enemy soldier who is shooting at her from around a corner. The soldier is Size 3 but presents only his head and shoulder as a target: the rest is of him is protected by a wall. He presents a Size 5 (head and shoulders) target to determine his Defence against Leela's attack.

Crowding

Up to five characters can be in one area without impeding one another: anyone in such an area can act freely. An area that contains more than five characters becomes crowded. Characters in a crowded area may use only short weapons, such as knives, or natural weapons, such as fists. No character may use a ranged weapon in a crowded area, although people outside a crowded area can fire at targets in that area.

Disarming

An attacker can deliberately try to disarm an opponent, rather than try to harm him, by making an aimed attack at his enemy's weapon arm. If the Wounds inflicted beat the Strength of the opponent, the weapon is dropped but the defender is not injured. Alternatively, an aimed attack can be made at the opponent's weapon itself, aiming to beat the weapon's Strength in order to break it.

Grappling

Few of the Doctor's companions use weapons to attack opponents: they either indulge in fisticuffs or try to restrain or wrestle with an enemy. This type of combat is used to capture opponents unharmed for questioning.

Grappling is resolved in the same way as hand to hand combat, except that the player states his character is going to grapple an opponent when asked to declare his action. He should say which part of his opponent he is going to restrain; the size of this target is used to determine the opponent's Defence. The biggest target that an attacker can grapple is the chest and arms of his opponent, typically Size 5, although it may be better, depending on circumstances, to restrain an opponent's weapon arm. Anyone who grapples has a Defence equal to his grappling ability, typically Size plus Control and an ability such as Brawling. A defender may use any defensive ability he feels is appropriate: parrying is interpreted as using a weapon to intimidate the attacker; evading or dodging are simply techniques to get out of the way.

If the grappling attack succeeds, the attacker must beat the difference between his Strength and the defender's Strength to restrain his opponent. Grappling attacks do not wound the defender.

A character who is restrained in this way may attempt to break free in subsequent turns. The player states that his character is doing so as his action for a turn. The character needs to beat the difference between his Strength and sum of the Strength, Control and relevant grappling ability of his captor to break free. A restrained character with a grappling ability can elect to use this and his Control instead of Strength. If he succeeds, he may move or attack next round as normal. The person restraining him is assumed to be trying to prevent this escape.

If two or more people restrain someone, each additional character adds one to the difficulty of breaking free. The base difficulty is calculated from the character with the highest abilities.

Sometimes two characters will try to grapple each other. Each resolves his attack as normal. If both attacks fail, neither character has a hold on the other. If both attacks succeed, the characters are wrestling for an advantage. Whoever breaks free first while retaining hold of his opponent gains the upper hand.

Once a character has successfully restrained an opponent he can hold on to him, restraining him and resisting any attempts to break free, or can attempt wrestling attacks such as picking up his opponent and throwing him to the ground! The referee should flexibly interpret an inventive player's wishes and work out appropriate difficulties.

Grenades

Area weapons such as grenades or dynamite are not aimed at people, rather they are aimed at a particular area. The difficulty, therefore, depends on the Size of the area (typically Size 2 for an area measuring 3 metres by 3 metres) and the range (as thrown weapons, grenades have a maximum range of three areas). An attack that misses, however, may fall short or even overshoot, still causing damage to people or property -- this is only likely if characters with low ability try throwing a grenade at a range of 2_3 areas.

One minus the result on the dice is the number of areas away from the target area that a grenade lands if the attack misses. A negative number means the grenade undershoots by that many areas; a positive number means the grenade overshoots by that many areas. The grenade still travels along the original line of fire it was intended to be projected along and explodes in its new area.

If one minus the result on the dice is zero, the grenade still lands in its target area but it does not explode that turn: it explodes in the next action turn, giving people in the area a chance to move away or even to pick up the grenade and throw it back!

A UNIT soldier with Control 3 throws a grenade at a Size 2 area containing a group of Cybermen. The range is three areas, resulting in a Defence of 5. He has to beat a difference of 2 to succeed but rolls double 6 -- a result of 0. The grenade lands one area further away than intended (one minus the result is plus one, indicating an overshoot of one area). Had he rolled a result of 1, the grenade would have landed in the same area as the Cybermen but exploded only next turn.

Group fire

Soldiers use group fire with ranged weapons to stand a better chance of hitting a target, perhaps one that is partly concealed by cover or one that must be disabled by shooting at a weak point. Any characters that are in the same area can combine the fire from the same type of ranged weapons. The character with the highest appropriate combat ability directs fire, and his ability is used as the base Attack to hit the target. Each additional character, up to a maximum of the fire-director's ability, adds one to this Attack. Regardless of the number of characters involved in group fire, the Wounds for only one hit is used to overcome the opponent.

A Cyber-lieutenant with Control 3 and Marksmanship 2 directs the fire of four other Cybermen, each with Control 3 and Marksmanship 1, at a Raston Robot. The Cyber-lieutenant has Attack 5, which means it can direct the fire of five Cybermen -- itself and the four it is leading. The overall Attack of all five Cybermen firing at one target is 9.

Shooting into melees

Shooting a ranged weapon into a group of friends and enemies is a dangerous pursuit: the attacker is as likely to hit a friend as he is to hit an enemy. The Defence of a target in a group is increased by the number of the attacker's friends or allies in that group. If the attack misses yet would ordinarily beat the unadjusted Defence of the target, the attacker has hit the nearest friend, by line of sight, to his target. The Defence of the attacker's friend is immaterial: he is automatically hit in this instance.

Snapshot

A snapshot is any ranged weapons attack that is made without preparation. It is possible that once it becomes clear where everyone is moving that a player will want his character to fire at a different target from the one he originally intended. This is likely if a target comes into view only briefly in the round, say by running across an opening. A snapshot could also be made to shoot at a target before it moves out of range.

A snapshot is equivalent to choosing the sixth action turn option: the character remains in the same area and abandons what he originally intended to do. The attack is resolved the same way as a normal ranged weapons attack, except that the difficulty is increased by two.

WEAPONS

The Doctor and his companions rarely use weapons; they are more likely to be threatened by opponents that use them. In the course of their adventures, however, the Doctor and his companions may have to fight to survive or attain an objective. Companions are often ordinary people who have just become mixed up with the Doctor's travels; they are not mercenaries who plunder time and space while armed to the teeth. Unless companions have a good reason for being armed they should be discouraged, perhaps by the Doctor, from carrying weapons.

Weapons are best left to those who are able to handle them skilfully. Characters such as the Brigadier, who might carry a revolver, and Jamie, who would probably feel uneasy if he didn't have his dirk, are best qualified to survive a fight. When an adventure reaches a sticky moment where only a fight will allow the Doctor and his companions to continue, such trained warriors will be more useful than someone who does not know one end of a blaster from another. There are always exceptions, however, as Tegan proved in Earthshock when she grabbed a Cyberman's blaster and capably blew away its colleagues. The referee and the players should be prepared to adapt to circumstances.

There is good reason for keeping out of the way of weapons: they are dangerous. One blow from any weapon is usually sufficient to seriously injure a companion or the Doctor. The threat of being hit can prove more effective than actually striking or firing at a character.

Weapons are divided into two categories: close-combat weapons and ranged weapons. Close-combat weapons can be used only against nearby opponents. In the game they can be used to attack only opponents that are in the same area as the wielder. There are three categories of close-combat weapons: natural weapons, blunt weapons and edged weapons. Ranged weapons are used to attack opponents at a distance, usually from zero to six areas away. There are four categories of ranged weapons: thrown weapons, bows, firearms and blasters.

The number of wounds that a weapon inflicts on an opponent depends on its category.

Close-combat Weapons

Natural weapons

Any attack which is made with a part of a creature's body is made with a natural weapon: fists, feet, teeth and claws are all natural weapons. Natural weapons can be either soft or hard: fists and feet are soft because they are fleshy; teeth, chitinous mandibles, claws and horns are hard.

A soft natural weapon inflicts Wounds equal to half the character's Strength; any halves are rounded down. (A Strength 1 person would inflict 0 Wounds; although this would not damage anyone, the dice should still be rolled to determine whether the weak blow knocks out its target.) A hard natural weapon is more effective: it inflicts Wounds equal to the character's Strength. The weakness of fist attacks is one of the main reasons why characters choose to use something better, such as a sword.

Attacks made with fists or feet do not usually injure an opponent sufficiently to kill him. The wounds inflicted, however, are often sufficient to knock out an opponent for an action turn. An attacker who hits his opponent too many times or who is exceptionally strong may well be capable of killing an opponent. A Cyberman is an especially dangerous: its hard metal fist inflicts 6 Wounds -- it is as lethal as a blaster.

Soft natural weapons may not be used to parry attacks other than those made by soft natural weapons. A character who has the Martial Arts ability strikes with his hands and feet as if he were using hard natural weapons. His attacks inflict Wounds equal to his strength. Such a character may also attempt to deflect attacks as if he were trying to parry them.

Blunt weapons

A blunt weapon is a weapon that does not have a cutting edge or a point that is used for thrusting. A club made from a tree branch, a medieval knight's mace, the butt of a gun or a household object such as a vase or a chair are all blunt weapons. Blunt weapons inflict 3 Wounds. Because blunt weapons inflict more wounds than most characters' fists, they are more likely to knock out an opponent when they hit. They are unlikely to kill most opponents because they inflict fewer wounds than, say, a blaster or a rifle.

Edged weapons

A weapon with a sharp cutting edge or which has a point used for thrusting is treated as an edged weapon. Swords, rapiers, axes and spears are all edged weapons. An edged weapon inflicts 4 Wounds. Like blunt weapons, edged weapons inflict more wounds than a character's fist could. Edged weapons damage vital organs, either killing an opponent or knocking them out owing to the pain of the wound. A blow from a sword is quite likely to put down most human opponents: only someone who is heavily armoured or quite strong will be able to fight on.

Ranged Weapons

Thrown weapons

Missile weapons that are held in the hand and hurled at their target are thrown weapons. The category includes daggers, spears, rocks and household objects such as vases or other ornaments.

There are two types of thrown weapon: light and heavy. A light thrown weapon is usually no more than a foot or so long. The category includes daggers, throwing knives and small rocks. A heavy thrown weapon is either long or bulky: the class includes spears, javelins and boulders.

Light thrown weapons inflict 3 Wounds; heavy thrown weapons inflict 4 Wounds. Thrown weapons have a maximum range of three areas.

Bows

Bows and crossbows have a maximum range of five areas, although an especially powerful bow might have a range of six areas. An arrow fired from a bow inflicts 4 Wounds. It takes an action to string an arrow for a long or compound bow, giving it a maximum rate of fire of one shot every two action turns. A crossbow requires two actions to cock and load, giving it a maximum rate of fire of one shot every three action turns.

Firearms

It is unusual for the Doctor's companions to carry firearms, although many of them are prepared to pick up a gun and use it if necessary. Guns should be treated more as a threat: they are often used to intimidate at close range. Only the Brigadier, Benton, Yates and other UNIT soldiers would typically carry guns in the Doctor's TARDIS, but they would probably feel uncomfortable without their weapons! Guns are also notoriously ineffective against creatures such as Daleks or creations of antimatter; the best defence is to run away.

Close-combat weapons, blasters and bows are simple compared with firearms. Although a firearm is easy to use, it is complicated by the mechanisms and loading procedures that different designs have necessitated. Most characters in TIME LORD should be able to pick up a gun and fire it; whether they are able to reload it or understand how it works is another matter.

A firearm is a small gun that uses an explosive charge to fire a bullet. The term embraces flintlock pistols, revolvers, muskets and rifles, weapons used by soldiers in some of the most violent conflicts of Earth's history. Soldiers in UNIT or from the time of the English Civil War or the French Revolution would typically be armed with a firearm of some type. Even the Daleks had recourse to a machine-gun when their blasters failed them on the energy-draining planet of Exxilon.

Firearms are classified according to their loading mechanism and their power. The first determines how long it takes to reload a gun before it can be fired; the second determines the number of Wounds that a gun inflicts. All guns can be used as makeshift blunt weapons in hand to hand combat. Blunt weapons or brawling abilities are appropriate to this use: any gun used this way inflicts 3 Wounds.

Loading Mechanisms

Muzzle-loaders

Early firearms are loaded by inserting the gunpowder charge and the bullet in the muzzle of the gun and ramming them down to the breech. This time-consuming process gives them a slow rate of fire. It takes two actions to reload a muzzle-loading pistol, and three actions to reload a muzzle-loading musket or rifle. The fastest rate of fire possible with a flintlock pistol is one shot every three action turns; it is one shot every four action turns for a musket.

Breech-loaders

Breech-loading guns are faster to reload than muzzle-loaders. Shotguns are classed as breech-loading guns. All breech-loaders take one action to reload, which gives them a maximum rate of fire of one shot every two action turns. A double-barrelled shotgun, however, can be reloaded as one action and is then ready to fire two shots, one after the other in different turns: its rate of fire is two shots every three action turns.

Guns with magazines

Rifles with magazines, revolvers, automatic pistols and submachine-guns can be fired each turn until their ammunition runs out. It takes one action to replace a magazine with a fresh one, but longer to reload a magazine or to reload a revolver. A magazine or revolver with up to six shots capacity takes two actions to reload; other magazines take two actions for every six shots they contain. Most of the time a referee need not worry about the time it takes to reload such guns; the only important information is how many rounds a gun can fire before it runs out of ammunition.

Revolvers, pistols and rifles typically have six-shot magazines, and submachine-guns typically have 30-shot magazines. Referees who wish fully to detail actual weapons should feel free to do so.

Gun Types

Submachine-guns

Submachine-guns can be set to fire single shots or in bursts. Single-shot setting increases the difficulty to hit a target by one. A submachine-gun set to automatic fire can attack either all the targets in an area -- it cannot discriminate between friend and foe! -- or one target, increasing the damage done.

A submachine-gun inflicts 5 Wounds on each target when it is set to single shot or used to fire into an area. A submachine-gun set on automatic and used to fire at only one target inflicts 6 Wounds.

A submachine-gun set to automatic expends 10 shots in a burst; a maximum of three bursts can typically be fired using the same magazine. The attacker rolls to hit each target in the area into which he is shooting. He would, for example, roll three times to hit three targets.

Pistols, revolvers and shotguns

All pistols, revolvers and shotguns, regardless of the ammunition used, inflict 5 Wounds and have a maximum range of four areas.

Rifles and muskets

A rifle or musket inflicts 5 Wounds. Muskets increase the difficulty to hit a target by 1 because they are inaccurate.

Blasters

A blaster is a firearm with a short range but devastating effect. It shoots powerful bolts of energy which are capable of damaging steel and concrete; a single hit is enough to put down most opponents. Different cultures in the universe have developed blasters which use different forms of energy. Soldiers from 21st century Earth and beyond use lasers that use the energy of light, whereas Daleks have gunsticks which rely on nuclear energy. Sea Devils' weapons use heat. Apart from these differences and some slight variations in performance, however, all blasters are treated the same way in TIME LORD.

Blasters are personal weapons with a limited range. A soldier would be equipped with a blaster in much the same way as he would receive a sword or axe in ancient times. Yet the blaster is far more flexible as a weapon: it can be used to hit targets at a distance and it can be set to kill or stun opponents. Although it may sometimes do no more damage than more primitive weapons such as UNIT's rifles, its flexibility more than compensates.

When a blaster is set to kill it inflicts the maximum number of wounds it is capable of doing. Most Earth soldiers' blasters inflict a maximum of 6 Wounds. This is enough to seriously injure or kill a typical opponent, although a heavily armoured target such as a Dalek or Cyberman may completely escape damage. Most soldiers set their blasters to kill, which makes the threat of a hit an unpleasant proposition for a character.

A blaster that is set to stun inflicts half the maximum number of wounds it is capable of doing. Most Earth soldiers' blasters inflict 3 Wounds when set to stun. This is usually sufficient to lightly injure a typical opponent and make him fall unconscious.

Grenades and Explosives

Area weapons such as grenades, sticks of dynamite and cans of nitro-nine need special mention. The Thrown Weapons ability governs their accuracy when they are thrown into an area; the Explosives ability is used to place them accurately for a controlled explosion or for demolition work.

Explosives and grenades attack not only the area they are detonated in but also adjacent areas, depending on their power. All targets in the primary zone of effect of an explosion are attacked at the full Wounds value of the explosive; all targets in the secondary zone of effect are attacked at half this value, rounded up.

Most explosives used in a quantity capable of being thrown, including grenades and bundles of dynamite, inflict 6 Wounds on every person in the same area and 3 Wounds to anyone in an adjacent area. Nitro-nine is more effective: one can inflicts 7 Wounds to targets in the area of detonation and 4 Wounds to targets in adjacent areas. Larger quantities of explosives inflict proportionately more damage. Referee's notes on explosives, grenades and areas of effect appear in Part Five.

Heavy Weapons

It is unlikely that any character will use more powerful weapons than the hand-held weapons outlined here. Shells from field guns and the like can be improvised in their effect: they are area weapons with an even greater radius of effect than grenades, typically inflicting the maximum number of Wounds to targets in the primary zone of effect, half maximum Wounds in the secondary zone of effect. A suggested Wounds score is 12, which would inflict 6 Wounds in the secondary zone of effect. The zones are calculated the same way as those for explosives in Part Five.

UNIT troops frequently resort to bazookas to deal with alien menaces. These weapons have a range of 6 areas and inflict 8 Wounds if they hit. They can also be aimed at an area, in which case the explosive shell inflicts 6 Wounds to targets in the area of detonation and 3 Wounds to targets in adjacent areas.

Armour and shields

Although neither the Doctor nor his companions have much use for armour or shields except as part of a disguise, their warlike enemies make frequent use of these defences. Primitive societies have more use for armour than advanced ones simply because their ancient weapons are more likely to be deflected by armour: there are few suits of armour that can withstand gunfire and still be practical to wear. Yet strong armour is still used by technologically advanced species, some of which have built it into their very form. The Daleks and the Cybermen have both harnessed the properties of alloys and metals to create armour that is tough enough to withstand the firepower of the races they seek to dominate.

There are three categories of armour: full armour, body armour and partial armour.

Full armour is an all-encasing suit of armour that protects its wearer from top to toe. It is the type of armour worn by Earth's medieval knights and alien species such as the Daleks, Ice Warriors and Cybermen. There are few weak points in a suit of full armour: those that exist are limited to eye-slits and the inside of joints. Full armour always counts against any attack against the wearer unless that attack is aimed at a weak point. Full armour is heavy and restricting: the Move of any creature or person wearing it is reduced by 1 unless the armour forms part of its natural skin or an in-built part of its mechanism.

Body armour covers only the wearer's torso. A Greek hoplite's skirt and cuirass, a knight's hauberk and a policeman's bullet-proof jacket all count as body armour. Like full armour, body armour always counts against any attack against the wearer unless that attack is aimed at a part of the body that is not covered by the armour. Body armour would not count against a blow aimed at, say, an arm or the head.

Partial armour is the individual elements of armour that go into making up a full suit of armour: it includes greaves, vambraces, sleeves, leggings, gauntlets and helmets. Unlike full armour and body armour, partial armour counts only against attacks that are aimed at the part of the body it protects; it has no general effect against attacks. Partial armour, however, does have its uses: it protects vulnerable parts of the body from disabling attacks and allows anyone wearing body armour to reduce the number of vulnerable points. A helmet is the commonest piece of partial armour worn by soldiers: whether it is a Viking helmet, the tin hat of an English Tommy from the First World War or a Gallifreyan guard's headpiece it is a useful defence against a sly attack from behind.

Shields are a special type of partial armour. They are effective only against attacks from the front and shield side that the wielder is aware of. Shields always increase the difficulty of hitting the wielder. A buckler increases the difficulty by 1; a larger shield increases the difficulty by 2.

The protection that armour affords depends on the material from which it is made. Protection is always expressed in the form Armour 2, Armour 3, Armour 8 and so on, where the number is the difficulty that must be overcome by the Wounds inflicted by the attack. If the attacker fails to beat the difference between Wounds and Armour, his blow does not injure the defender: the armour has deflected or absorbed all of the damage. If the attacker beats the difference between Wounds and Armour, his blow lands as if the defender were wearing no armour and he tests to overcome the defender's Strength as normal. Any attack whose Wounds are greater than the defender's Armour automatically gets through the armour.

Primitive armour

Padded cloth is the most basic type of armour and affords little protection. It is most commonly worn as a quilted hauberk, sometimes with sleeves, although exceptionally thick and heavy winter clothing may give the same effect. Padded cloth is Armour 1.

Soft leather is little better than padded cloth. It is typically worn as padding beneath metal armour, but also includes leather jerkins and biker's leathers. Soft leather is Armour 2.

Tough leather is soft leather armour that has been specially treated. It is the type of armour typically worn by castle guards; in some ancient civilizations it is even the best armour that can be produced. Tough leather is Armour 3.

Flexible metal armour comprises linked rings of metal or small scales of metal sewn to a leather undercoat and is commonly known as mail or scale armour. It rates as Armour 4.

Plate metal armour is the beaten breastplates of Greek warriors or the full suits of armour worn by late medieval knights. Overlapping plates of metal provide flexible joints in full suits of this type of armour. Many helmets also count as plate metal armour. It rates as Armour 5 and is the best that can be achieved through Earth's metalworking techniques.

Advanced armour

Plastic-fibre armour consists of strong, impact-resistant plastic fibres woven together into a cloth or bonded into strong plates. It is the material used to make bulletproof vests and riot gear and offers protection against attack in a lightweight form. Plastic-fibre armour rates as Armour 5. If worn as full armour, plastic-fibre armour does not reduce the Move of its wearer.

Reflective armour is intended to reduce the effect of laser blasters by reflecting or dispersing the high-energy beam of light. It counts as plastic-fibre armour but with the ability of Special Immunity 1 against laser light, in effect making it Armour 6 against lasers.

Leela's durable leather clothing is the equivalent of tough leather body armour: she has Armour 3 covering her chest and abdomen. Anyone attacking her has to get through this armour if they hit, unless they choose to make an aimed attack at her head, arms or legs. Leela's armour does not protect her if an attack hits one of these areas. Her arm, however, is Size 6, making it a far harder target to hit than Leela as a whole, who is Size 4. Leela could also add any benefits from dodging or parrying to her defence.

DEATH AND INJURY

All characters should fear death in TIME LORD, even the Doctor who can regenerate to survive attacks that would kill an ordinary person. It is unlikely that a character who behaves sensibly in an adventure will die, but a moment of rashness, carelessness or nobility may make this a real danger. Players should certainly not treat their characters as if they had script immunity: to a certain extent they do, but this alone will not save them. Even companions of the Doctor have died in the course of his adventures.

The number of Wounds a character has taken and the character's Strength determine his health. A character is lightly wounded if the total number of Wounds he has taken is equal to or less than his Strength. He is seriously wounded if the number of Wounds he has taken is greater than his Strength but less than or equal to twice his Strength. A character is dead if the number if Wounds he has taken is greater than twice his Strength. A character with Strength 3, for example, is lightly wounded if he has taken 1 to 3 Wounds, seriously wounded if he has taken 4 to 6 Wounds, and dead if he has taken 7 or more Wounds.

Some abilities such as Cheat Death or Iron Constitution affect a character's resistance to pain and even death. In effect they increase a character's Strength, allowing him to take a greater number of Wounds before dying or being seriously wounded.

Lightly wounded

A character who is lightly wounded has received a wound which is only a graze, or has been knocked out by a gentle blow from a blunt weapon. The character can recover from such an injury quickly. A lightly wounded character does not need medical attention to heal his wounds, although First Aid or Medicine could quickly return him to full health.

Seriously wounded

A character who is seriously wounded has received a painful wound that needs medical attention or a long time to heal. He may not heal his wounds until he receives medical attention such as First Aid or Medicine, although he may attempt to recover consciousness. A seriously wounded character who does not receive medical attention takes one Wound for each hour (four research turns) he does not receive attention: such a character will eventually die. First Aid may be sufficient to make a seriously wounded character only lightly wounded.

Dead

The character is dead and cannot be brought back to life. Grisly experiments or powers, however, have been applied to dead characters and it may be that the dead can walk again. Captain Cook in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was killed, for example, but the Gods of Ragnarok animated his body long enough for him to perform a service for them.

RECOVERY

Anyone who is overcome can try to regain consciousness at the end of each action turn except the one in which he fell unconscious. When all opponents have been overcome or restrained, however, a character may try to recover from being unconscious only at the end of each research turn that has passed since the fight finished. An overcome character may therefore be able to return to the fight if he is only lightly wounded, but if he is still unconscious after the fight he probably needs medical treatment.

Whether a character recovers or remains unconscious depends on his Strength and his Wounds. He recovers at the appropriate time by beating the difference between his Strength and his Wounds. Anyone who recovers may act normally, although they are still wounded: Wounds are removed only by healing. A character whose Strength is greater than his Wounds automatically recovers at the end of the turn after the one in which he was wounded. Such a character is only lightly wounded: in effect he has been dazed or winded by the force of an attack.

Seriously wounded characters -- those whose Wounds are greater than their Strength -- can take some time to recover and it may even be impossible for them to do so without assistance. Such a person, however, may recover just in time to save the day or execute the next part of his master's evil plan.

A Kaled scientist has been badly injured, receiving 6 Wounds from an attack. He has Strength 3, which means he recovers if he can beat the difference of 3. He fails to do so while the combat rages around him, but after everyone has left he has a chance to recover every research turn and might be able to alert Davros and the Daleks to his failure.

Healing

Wounded characters will get better of their own accord as time passes, provided that they are not too badly wounded. This process is called natural healing.

Natural healing removes Wounds equal to the character's Strength for each week of bed rest: the damage is healed at the end of such a week. Healing continues until the character's Wounds level is zero, at which point the character has fully recovered. No character may have a negative Wounds score. First Aid and proper medical attention can speed the natural healing process.

A character with Strength 3 would recover three points of Wounds after one week of bed rest. If he had 5 Wounds, after one week he would have 2 Wounds, and after two weeks he would have 0 Wounds.

Use of First Aid

First Aid may be applied only once to a wounded character: it assumes that whoever administers First Aid tends to any injuries as best he can. A character with the First Aid ability immediately heals Wounds equal to the value of his special ability if he can beat the difference between his total ability and the Wounds of the injured person.

Anyone who applies First Aid but fails to heal Wounds has still bandaged the injured person, who will not suffer further wounds due to bleeding. First Aid requires basic medical facilities, such as clean bandages and water, or a first aid kit.

Katarina has Control 2 and First Aid 2, giving her a total ability of 4 at First Aid. She cleans and bandages the wounds Steven received at Troy. He has received 6 Wounds, which means Katarina must beat the difference of 2 to succeed. She reduces his Wounds by 2 if she succeeds, otherwise she merely makes a neat job of bandaging him.

Use of Medicine

Characters with the Medicine ability are trained doctors or nurses who understand the medical techniques and drugs of their time. Anyone with the Medicine ability can heal Wounds equal to his special ability on its own if he can beat the difference between his total ability and the injured person's Wounds.

Medicine may be applied to any injured character, provided that no other such attempt has been made in the previous 24 hours. A failed attempt at Medicine does not prevent further attempts at using this ability, although each attempt must be at least 24 hours later than any other. Medicine, however, requires specialized drugs or equipment to be effective. Many useful items may be kept in a doctor's bag, for example, but this does not mean that all the required drugs are carried. A doctor might carry antibiotics with him, for example, but have no antidotes for snake venoms. Applying the wrong medication brings no benefit.

After Katarina has successfully applied First Aid to Steven's Wounds, the Doctor examines him. The Doctor has Knowledge 6 and Medicine 1, giving him a total Medicine ability of 7: he deduces that Steven's wound is infected, but does not have the right drugs to cure his companion. He sets course for a planet that he hopes will provide the right drugs. Once he finds them, he needs to beat the difference between his total ability of 7 and Steven's Wounds, now standing at 4, to heal 1 Wound a day. His ability is high enough automatically to succeed, but without the drugs he is powerless.

After Katarina's attention, Steven regains consciousness after one research turn. His Strength of 5 means he is now only lightly wounded because he has only 4 Wounds. The referee, however, rules that the infected wound is equivalent to a slow-acting poison of potency Wounds 3, and rolls the dice every six hours (24 research turns) to see whether Steven falls unconscious again. As the Doctor speeds the TARDIS towards civilization, Steven seesaws between wakefulness and sleep.

POISON

Some creatures are especially dangerous because their attacks rely on venom rather than damage to kill or paralyse opponents. Whether such a creature is a snake or a Cybermat, all companions should be wary of its attacks. Not all poisons come from creatures: intelligent men and creatures often use them on weapons or in food either to kill or drug their enemies. Such poisons are encountered only rarely.

Poison come in two basic types: slow-acting and quick-acting. It may be injected, ingested or rely on contact with the skin to take effect. A slow-acting poison gradually builds up in the body of its victim until it reaches a lethal dose, whereas a quick-acting one immediately attacks its victim at full strength, and gradually loses its effectiveness as the victim's body shrugs off its effects. All poisons have Wounds ratings that represent the maximum effectiveness of that poison.

Quick-acting poison

A quick-acting poison attacks the Strength of the character with its full Wounds rating. If it overcomes the character, either because its Wounds rating is higher than the Strength of the character, or because the referee beats the difference between these values, then the character is overcome and takes Wounds equal to those of the poison.

After the initial attack, the poison continues to attack the character's Strength but at reduced values. The Wounds rating of most quick-acting poisons decays at a rate of one point an action turn: after one action turn a Wounds 6 poison attacks at Wounds 5, delivering 5 Wounds if it overcomes the character's Strength. Once a poison reaches Wounds 0 it has no further effect.

Any further attacks which increase the level of toxin in the victim's body increase the Wounds only up to the maximum for that poison. A Wounds 6 quick-acting poison is deadly and rare; snake venom is typically Wounds 4 or Wounds 3.

Slow-acting poison

A slow-acting poison increases in effectiveness from 1 Wound up to its maximum Wounds rating. The usual rate of increase is one point every research turn, although those poisons that rely on repeated doses to take effect increase in effectiveness only when each dose is given.

If the current Wounds rating of a slow-acting poison beats the Strength of a character, either because the Wounds rating is higher than the Strength of the character or because the referee beats the difference, then that character is overcome. A slow-acting poison wounds a character only if it overcomes his Strength.

Slow-acting poisons that do not require repeated doses decay in potency once they have reached their maximum Wounds rating. The rate of decay is equal to the rate at which they increased in potency. Poisons that rely on repeated doses can be maintained at their maximum level by further doses. Once a slow-acting poison has decayed to Wounds 0 it has no further effect.

Effects Of Poisons

Lethal poisons that inflict enough Wounds on a character will kill him. The Wounds inflicted by such a poison can be healed by natural healing, although this is usually too slow to prevent the character from dying. First Aid will be effective if applied, but usually heals too little to counteract the effects of poison. Medicine, with the appropriate antidote, is the only sure cure. The correct antidote immediately and completely neutralizes the poison and allows healing to take place.

Poisons that paralyse or make a person sleep do not kill: they achieve their effects with the object of keeping the victim alive. Wounds inflicted by such a poison may be healed through natural healing while the character is paralysed or asleep. First Aid and Medicine are also effective.

Infection

Wounds inflicted by dirty weapons, such as swords or spears from primitive civilizations, may be infected. Such Wounds can be treated as slow-acting poisons, building up from Wounds 1 to a maximum of Wounds 3, with an effect time of 6 to 24 hours. The referee may change these values depending on the circumstances.

FALLS

Vertiginous heights are very much a part of DOCTOR WHO, and characters should quite rightly be wary of them. One slip when ascending or descending a cliff face can mean death or severe injury at the least. The number of Wounds a character takes from any fall depends on the distance he travels and the ground he lands on.

Distance is measured in terms of vertical areas: the referee decides how many areas represent the distance. There are usually 3 metres to each vertical area, so a fall of 3 metres, for example, is only a fall of one area; a fall of 10 metres is a fall of four areas.

The type of ground that the character falls on decides the base amount of Wounds that are inflicted. Soft ground, such as mud or water, inflicts 1 Wound; hard ground, such as packed earth, inflicts 2 Wounds; rock inflicts 3 Wounds, and particularly dangerous ground, such as jagged rocks or spikes inflicts 4 Wounds. The number of areas the character falls is added to this base value to determine the total number of Wounds inflicted. A fall of 3 areas onto rock would inflict 7 Wounds; the same fall into water would inflict only 4 Wounds.

If a character attempts to use an appropriate ability to avoid injury, such as Swimming to represent diving into water, the Wounds that would be inflicted by the fall count as the difficulty of avoiding injury.

SUFFOCATION AND DROWNING

Whether a character is drowning or suffocating, the effect is much the same: they cannot breathe because their air supply has been cut off. The number of action turns that a character is without completely without air counts as a difficulty against Strength that he must beat to avoid taking damage; a special ability such as Iron Constitution increases his resistance.

Any character who fails to beat the difference takes 3 Wounds. If he is overcome, he have a chance to recover at the end of the next turn to resist the further effects of oxygen deprivation. If he fails to recover he automatically take 3 Wounds.

Turlough, with Strength 4 and Iron Constitution 1 has a total ability of 5 to resist suffocation or drowning: he could easily remain without air for four action turns, and would only start trying to beat the difference on the fifth turn.

Characters put into a hypnotic trance, however, can resist the effects of suffocation -- caused, for example, by the removal of air from an airlock -- better than usual. They must beat the difference at the end of every research turn instead of every action turn.

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