Rock on!

Also, dunno if you want to rename Sereth; or give me a new character. Probably depends what you envisage happening with the Parliament of Time. As in, do you want me to play Sereth for that episode, whilst the new companion gets sidelined; or do you want to run him?

Good point.  When you have your new character ready to go, I'll add another character to you so you can go back to re-use Sereth if and when there's a need to.

EDIT: OK, created.  Let me know if there are any problems.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:10, Thu 19 May 2016.

I think I'll take a couple of days to think about where to go with this and what sort of adventure we should have to add the new character in.

Good to go.

Except a pic. I want to avoid SMG or Eliza Dushku, despite the fact that they really kinda fit with the athleticism and acrobatics of this character; as they're too recognisable.

Not actually wearing a mask, but she has the general look.

Two blondes on the TARDIS? Watch out!

What's funny is I was at my local gaming store and I poked my nose into the 10th Doctor sourcebook and check out 10's stats (purely professional interest, doncha know.) While 10 is ever slightly smarter than Trav (Ingenuity 9), and has the same Science (6), his Technology and Knowledge are less (5). Of course, he more overall stat points and has Good abililities coming out the wazoo, because he's the Doctor and therefore OP. But it was gratifying to know that I (and most likely you guys) are comptetitive with the characters from the TV show. Now, I'm waiting for that crossover.

"You were making out with a Zygon and you have a girlfriend who steals your time machine while you're zonked out on hallucinogenic lipstick. Need I say more, boobie 1 and boobie 2?"

I'd be wary of a crossover with the actual Doctors, I really would. We all have our favourites, and I think for the GM to make any kind of statement about whether Trav or the Doctor is better, or which Doctor is better is... fraught with peril.

For example, in my view from a knowledge/science/ingenuity POV, Doc3 is most likely far superior. Though he knows nada about piloting a TARDIS, and spends more time cannibalising it for parts than anything.

But others may disagree.

It just hit me.

Traveller gave Sereth a Jedi Robe.

That post was meant more in jest than anything. If we actually see the Doctor, I expect nothing more than a cameo and a particularly long and intense conversation between the Doctor and Trav, and then them going their separate ways.

The rediscovery of Gallifrey and the Doctor's banishment of Rassilon would radically change some shit for Trav, but she'd still remain the same at the core. If this were to take place in Garyverse, she'd probably stop by Gallifrey *once*, to make one announcement, and then not come back for a long long time.

Oh, I've decided - Trav is a Shobogan. She and her family are from outside the Citaldel, and are farmers, like were portrayed when the soldiers came for the Doctor in Heaven Sent. That's the reason she doesn't talk in the received pronunciation - her Shobogan community talks and acts like North Americans, and rejects corrupt Citadel culture, but were desperately poor. Trav was sent to the Citadel because of her staggering brilliance when she was a child, passing all of the examinations easy and earning her way past other children with far greater pedigrees. This earned her family admittance to the Citadel and a much easier life. But she was placed in a dead end job as a celestiagropher, until her first adventure with The Doctor.

I agree that Doc3 is superior with everything. Come on, Venusian Aikido!

I think a cross-over could work and be pretty cool, if worked out right. I think the Traveller and the Doctor would have to cooperate more than compete, and the Doctor and companion would mostly have a separate adventure that intersects with ours without supplanting it. That's largely a balance issue though.

Sereth Kalath, that mask pic looks just looks kinda kinky. ;) You couldn't find anything else? There's a lot of cat-folk pictures.

Now, if you were one of those time-hopping leonine Tharils instead, you could show up at this Parliament of Time. :)

Not the whole affair. She only went back to the TARDIS/stayed behind when The Traveller, Sereth and Stanley moved to the Garden perimeter checkpoint.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:22, Fri 20 May 2016.

Depends on where we show up first. I kinda wanna go looking for the Warpsmith first, and then go tracking down the Corsair's secret, then do the Parliament of Time (which is a big, series ending event thing I imagine)

Since the Doctor is designed to be playable, I think that a fun option (should Gary entertain it) might be for guests to play The Doctor and a companion as -players-.

Well, that would be amusing.

I actually think I know a few people who could pull it off, too.

It looks like Phillipe chose not to play. Pity, I wanted to meet this name from the past.

If we're suggesting/picking, I wouldn't mind:
* A return to Paradise Towers. Smoke's ready for that now, with Sereth's leaving and showing her she does want to be back with her friends.
* Adventures in past and contemporary Earth.
* A Stanley-centric episode to get to know Stanley, if he's able. Let's have an exciting adventure in his hometown and hospital. :D
* I've also got an interest in doing something weird, like coming to a world where nothing makes sense until we work it out, or a Land of Fiction type of place.

I suspect there are going to be all the callbacks in that one....


I had this weird idea for doing an alt-timeline episode kicking around where everyone was playing some strange version of themselves, and trying to reestablish their original selves.

That would have been the place for Actual Samuel L. Jackson.... :)

Yes! I've been thinking of something just like that. I'd love to create an alternate Smoke Alarm.

In reply to Smoke Alarm (msg # 13):

I don't want an actual catfolk; because she is still (mainly) human at this point.

I did think about the Tharils, but they're in E-Space; which I believe the current series has 'locked out'. It's probably best I play a character that can be sidelined for that one anyway, as Sereth will likely be back.

Well, I always had a storyline kicking around in my head of doing this punk rock 2nd Traveller, who is very similar to McGann's 8th Doctor, who never got captured on Relnax, never transforfmed in the Marshall, and comes from a universe that is dying from her Time War. She's tough, embittered, and the last living Time Lord left in a universe of total Dalek victory.

Another idea is one of the classic past Travellers (1 or 2), or Louise Simons from Rifts Earth (a crafty survivor human with Trav's gear and a few magic items but no Gallifreyan super science or tech or ability to pilot a TARDIS, but still way smart - a rogue scientist!)

Or like the mirror universe of Inferno. We could see villainous versions of ourselves. Wearing eyepatches. :)

An evil Smoke Alarm would be a terrifying spectacle.

Evil Sereth!

Evil Travellers and a good, rebellious Marshall?

Sereth with a goatee!

It is not a true mirror universe unless everyone has a goatee. Everyone, even the TARDIS! :)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Sun 22 May 2016.

FWIW, although Kalath hasn't listed out a lot of equipment, I assume she is kitted out with preindustrial weapons -- perhaps a bow and a handed-down or improvised machete.

Yeah, I realised that after I turned my computer off last night. I was thinking possibly a spear though; along with a bow.

I feel your pain.  The 2D6 curve is a harsh mistress.

Yeah; I remember that. I haven't actually had to make any die rolls there yet; I'm scared to.

OH and no. Sereth would have the eyepatch, not the goatee. Because his holographic form already has an eyepatch. The holographic form is his alternate form trying to establish a foothold on this reality...

Sorry, Trav, it sounds like Stan and Smoke are currently in the TARDIS medbay. You're on your own! :o

It's eyepatches in the evil Whoniverse, after the Brig had one in "Inferno". There's an anecdote in which every one in cast and crew pranked Nicholas Courtney by wearing eyepatches during his reveal scene. So, eyepatches for everyone!

Perhaps Mirror Sereth wears TWO eyepatches. ;p

Fun fact: you will have noticed that occasionally when I drop in some Gallifreyan I do it by using a transliteration widget by converting Latin alphabet to Greek characters.  I took this inspiration from the novel Cold Fusion, where at one point the Doctor speaks some Old High Gallifreyan as a quasi-magical invocation, rendered as "Ανδ ωηεν Ι τυρνεδ αρουνδ, τηεψ ωερε αλλ ωεαρινγ εψεπατξηεσ".  ("And when I turned around, they were all wearing eyepatches.")  So you have Lance Parkin and Virgin Books to blame for this.

I've read that. I was pleased I could translate it without looking it up. :)

I haven't read a lot of the Wilderness years books. I was getting heavily into RPing as a hobby at the time; so didn't bother. (Didn't actually know about them for a year or two). Then BBC took over the line, and I thought I'd give them a shot. Unfortunately, the first one I read was the Eight Doctors... and that was the end of that.

If only you'd read the next book, Vampire Science.

The Eight Doctors kind of killed the line right out of the gate. Terrance Dicks is normally at least reliable, but that was very poor and childish. I guess editors were expecting them to be more like children's books than the previous adult New Adventures, which came as a shock to the fans. The Eight Doctors would probably have fit in well the current NSAs however.

Things picked up a lot with Vampire Science, then War of the Daleks killed the range again a few books later with its needless and overcomplicated retconning the destruction of Skaro. Finally, Alien Bodies came along as a vast improvement, introducing the Time War that we're basically still dealing with, but by then it seems the fandom at large wasn't interested. The books remained fairly good, then the Time War came and ate the series, then the authors made periodic attempts to go cold-turkey on the fanwank (destroying Gallifrey so we can't go back there; giving the Doctor amnesia so he doesn't know everything), only to then binge on it.

Okay, I'm probably not selling them too well here. :) There are good and decent books there, and some turkeys as usual, but the overall direction of the range was haphazard.

Ironically, the new series would spend all its time both ignoring the EDAs and ripping them off for the Time War.

I did try and pick them up again later on; but they went outta print father fast.

I did actually meet one of the Virgin uuthors once; I shared a class on history with her. I was actually reading one of her DW books before class began, and she told me she wrote it. Not being a big fanboy; I didn't seize the opportunity for an autograph...

... and that might count as 'giving in to the power'.

Kate Orman? She's been a great Who writer, and possibly the only Australian.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:19, Mon 23 May 2016.

Yup. Lovely person too. She seemed shocked anyone would be reading a book she wrote. We were in a class about the European Witchhunts through the WEA.

BTW, I didn't make this explicit before now, but as we are on to the start of a new adventure, all story points reset.

Yeah, irony of franchise shifts. I shrugged internally when I heard Kylo Ren called Ben Solo, for example.

Meh. Unlike some of the DW stuff; that made sense. I never read the SW books, not really being a SW fan; and I thought it made perfect sense for Han and Leia to name their first kid after Obi-Wan.

Yes. But many fans flipped out at the Solo twins and Ben Skywalker being relegated to non-continuity, due to Disney executive decision. Meh, I say, I just want cool Star Wars movies. Also, we get Chewie back.

I feel like Traveller would get on well with the Magician, a weird Time Lord who hung with Turlough after he returned to Trion in Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (a strange 80s novel):
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Magician
They have the same attitude to not tampering with the time-line, in not taking people's decisions away from them and such.

The Magician in his adventures with his companion -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuMpYTyRjw

I think Trav is going to update the files when she gets back.

"Mostly harmless my...."

Nah, that's just your average RIFTS party.

I get Trav really likes RIFTS; but my experiences with RIFTS were not happy ones. I only played it a couple of times and then, never again.

And I say this as someone who's first foray into RPing was first edition AD&D.

I'd like to say it wasn't like that... But the Magician was very dedicated to doing stuff-all to help when he didn't have to, and leaving Turlough to do everything.

I like to think he regenerated into this guy:
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Shopkeeper

I never liked Turlough anyway.

RIFTS was at least of mild interest to me back in the day as a gonzo kitchen sink setting, but the rules were just a mess.  I might pick up the Savage Worlds incarnation at some point.  Well, if I didn't have a zillion games going unplayed on my shelves and hard drive as it is.

I'll let Stan respond to the call, but don't mind me. I don't mind sitting back for a bit: it gives Kalath a chance to stand out, and I figure we need to see Stan and Smoke chat and adventure together again. Plus, in this kind of situation, splitting up the team is the path to adventure. :)

When is splitting up the team -not- the path to adventure?

And Trav was BMX bandit. I had super science, but it took time to deploy. Imagine if Capaldi's Doctor had to be part of the MCU Avengers,running around with explosions and such all around. Trav usually hid behind things while her comrades unloaded the mega damage. I drove the time machine,did the strategy and the scientific analysis that no one else had the brains for (which I usually crushed), but when it came to magic and mega damage,I was kind of useless unless I had time to get ready.

But when I had time to get ready...ohh boy. Just like The Doctor.

They were all goobing over the Naruni book. Some of them mentioned it in character. "Naruni tech? I can make you stuff twice as good as that off the shelf crap, at least!"

Hmm. Splitting the team is not the path to adventure when a player steadfastly declines to take the plot-hook with the other PCs, and goes off to pursue their own interests or side-plot separately, forcing the DM to essentially run two parallel, not-as-great adventures. Yeah, I've been there, too often. :(

Meh. That's when rocks fall in a mysterious rainfall around the offending PC, allowing everyone else to progress on to adventure!

Okay, DnD not splitting the party is good generally.

I decided to trot on out because I feel in the last few storylines I've been playing Trav too conservatively. She's supposed to often have no plan. For my own headcanon, its her slowly getting over being a Time War general and back to being herself.

Hey! I'm trying to lead you guys to the plot and the new PC! So what if that plot involves getting turned into teleporting cheetahs?

Sorry, I have been a bit busy and did not know what to post. The past couple of days I have been dealing with people who are giving me wrong information (or they are just lying, but they have deliberately made that hard to prove). Someone who offered to help with the situation did his best, but so far hasn't been able to do anything. Very frustrating. Hopefully this issue will be resolved next week. Okay...rant over.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:41, Wed 25 May 2016.

Hope everything works out!

As for dealing with teleporting cheetah virus stuff - it's not like Stan doesn't have prior experience dealing with that, right?

(Stanley in his last campaign ;) )


This message was last edited by the player at 19:57, Wed 25 May 2016.

I have never played RIFTS, but I know it has a reputation for "good setting, bad rules" and the classes being imbalanced. IIRC, you could have one player playing a beggar and the player next to him a mech pilot.

In general, I don't like kitchen sink settings. Especially not when fantasy and science-fiction get mixed. Admittedly, Doctor Who also has aliens, robots, witches, gods and demons and next weeks episode can be in a completely different genre from this weeks episode. I think I don't mind as much because those elements are mostly separate from each other and there is always a sort of sci-fi explanation.

Hey, someone said to me, "Wanna play a Time Lord?" And I jumped at it. And Rifts brought you all your girl Trav! You should be thankful for that at least!

Things like RIFTs, and from what I hear, Warhammer - both the old stuff, and the newer stuff - have that in common. DnD isn't really a great rule set; but it is somewhat balanced. Other than the mage issue. But the crunch of DnD (and yes, even Forgotten Realms) has not been something I enjoyed greatly.

... yes, let's get Smoke to bring her arrowgun in a place where killing has more than usual ramifications...

The laughs!

I figure it would be up-close killing. Long-range crossbow shots don't quite have the same predatory instinct.

Besides, the bonus speed and such from the Cheetah condition would be a bonus in Smoke's case. :) She's already got the animal instincts and wild edge.

Except Kangs are somewhat lower down the food chain...


I hope it gets sorted out, Stanley.

You're probably right. Though hmm. I dunno.

Maybe it would depend on her feelings as she fired.

Should we post ourselves in the Kestartes thread? Can we see Traveller and Kalath? Or do monsters appear and separate us? :)

I feel like this is a divided party moment.  But brain no work at the moment.  Maybe later, maybe tomorrow.

Probably the only PC who is not at some risk of furryness is Dr. Newton. :)

Oh come on! As if -I- am at risk...

I'm more like a certainty.

I just want Trav to have a quasi Doc-9 rant about 'how they always wander off'

It'd be irony if a companion had that rant about her.

That's because he was already exposed to the Cheetah virus in his prior regeneration!

DUM DUM DUM DUM. DUM DUM DUM DUM.

The drumming...!

"If the Traveller can change, so can the MASTER!"

Oh shoot me. With all the talk about the player behind Trav wanting a regeneration...

Is the woman in white the Watcher?

Not really a question to be answered; just mad speculation.

The Doctor's mother.

Weeping Angel.

White Kang.

:)


I just remembered the "Don't run!" bit from Survival. Smoke Alarm's doomed. :o

"If the Traveller can be young and strong, so can I. THE MISTRESS, REBORN!"

Or something like that.

I love the Master; but I'm not sure he really works running against the Traveller.

And calling himself the Mistress is just... yeah.

It's just a gag, you know! :)

How far away is the woman in white? If she's too far away to see clearly, it seems too far to tell for sure who she's pointing at, except through dramatic realisation. ;)

I'm getting quite certain that that woman is the Watcher now. Except apparently this one can talk.

The Doctor's one could talk, but only to the characters. The audience just never heard it.

In Always Time to Travel, the audience are getting some rather one-sided conversations. :)

This is very terrifying to me, as it's all organic, but also awesome. Rolling with everything, come what may! This may not be regeneration, but something else.

*if* Trav regenerates, I have not decided on her new new form yet. Still vacillating between Kate Mulgrew and Haley Atwell. The fact that Atwell has just left Agent Carter is fortuitous.

I reserve the right to be entirely fickle.

Also, since this may come up - Gary - can Story Points be applied to the rolls for Random Regenerator? Trav has that flaw.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:14, Sun 29 May 2016.

I'm going to say no, as it's a flaw that turns up so infrequently.  It shouldn't be that easy to mitigate.

Hey Gary, should that roll be Perception+Awareness instead? To find a hiding place?

I'm at work so haven't rolled; because Monday is always very busy.

But hiding is always awkward - how much of it is finding the right hiding place; and how much of it is being able to utilise it?

I'd say Awareness + Subterfuge is right.  There's no such thing as Perception in the Vortex system....  And at the moment it's not Coordination because you do have the leisure to hide without necessarily having to move silently / under cover to do it.

The system has an impressive array of blind spots, but anything related to stealth or sneaking is going to involve Subterfuge.

... I'd argue Perception -is- Awareness.

Systems with a huge amount of skills (DnD; Unisystem spring to mind) often have a passive perception with an active notice. But as this is a lot more streamlined; it can get rolled into one fairly easily.

I'll roll shortly and edit into the post.

But keen senses is really +2 on -all- awareness rolls? That's impressive.

Technically, the minor version of Keen Senses applies to all checks with only one sense, while the major version applies to all senses but only "to notice or spot something". It might be possible to have an Awareness check that doesn't involve noticing or spotting (tracking something already found or maintaining attention, say), but in practice that would barely come up. It's a pretty good trait.

In comparison, I've realised Run For Your Life! is a subpar trait: the point you spend on it can just as easily be spent on Coordination, boosting your Speed at all times, and giving benefits in many other areas. The only time a chase doesn't depend on Coordination anyway is probably starship and TARDIS piloting. Which Smoke isn't likely to get into.

Thanks. I'm at work so was just going off what was on my character sheet.

It's the major version so it's good to go.

My personal opinion is that DW:AITAS is serviceable, but their are better RPGs for Doctor Who.

The Traveller in Marvel Heroic:

Affiliations
Solo d6; Team D10; Buddy d8
"You've never been able to work alone. You've always needed people around you." (IC quote from the Rifts campaign from Driftwood, a Shifter companion who betrayed her.)

Distinctions
You Crazy Girl, Unflagging Optimism, General of the Time War

Power Sets
Last of the Time Lords - Enhanced Senses D8, Psychic Resistance D8, Telepathy D6, Super Science D12 (As Sorcery, except when the Doctor dreams up a hare brained scheme using Time Lord or other technology), Superhuman Stamina D8, Teleport D12, Blast D8

SFX - TARDIS Malfunction - Shut down Teleport in exchange for a +1 step up of one other Last Of The Time Lords power set power
SFX - She is ancient and terrible - Add 1 step to LAST OF THE TIME LORDS powerset immediately after taking emotional stress
SFX - TARDIS short range jump - add D6 to doom pool to use TARDIS for short range transport

Limit: A Universe of Foes. The Narrator can spend a D8 from the Doom Pool have an old enemy appear as a complication or enemy asset.

Specialties
Cosmic Master, Menace Master, Science Master, Tech Master

Milestones
The Warlock Legacy
1 XP if Warlock, Phillipe, Fortuna or Evers are met or mentioned in a scene
3 XP if a major mystery or secret is discovered concerning the 4 Warlocks or the TAROT is uncovered
10 XP if you either free the TARDIS angels or seize the power of the TAROT for yourself.

Every Star, Every Planet
1 XP When you arrive in a new time or place
3 XP When you deliberately seek to interfere in events that have nothing to do with you
10 XP When a new companion joins you, or leaves you

The Lonely Goddess
1 XP When reminded that you are the last of your kind and responsible for ending the Time War
3 XP When your Time Lord nature either endangers your Companions or causes them to become greater or better
10 XP When one of your Companions suffers Trauma due to their direct involvement with you, or when you regenerate to protect them from such Trauma.

The problem with the vast majority of systems for Doctor Who; and that includes Marvel Heroic from what I can tell; is that it's assumed everyone's equal, and they work off that base.

Whilst this, as well as Eden Studios Cinematic Unisystem, and some others undoubtedly, work off the base that -not- everyone is equal; without help. So they give drama points, story points, or whatever, to level the playing field. Which simulates the show(s) they are meant to simulate a lot better.

It's not perfect, but it's actually pretty good. And I am unconvinced anything else out there would be any better; and most would be worse.

The thing that makes Marvel Heroic work is that it makes *everyone* equal - the dice mechanic gives characters who aren't as narratively powerful different benefits so that they have just as much effect on the story. This is how you have Captain America roll with Thor.

Marvel Heroic would be perfect for Doctor Who, especially with it's ability to track emotional damage between scenes and have that damage power abilities.

We've discussed this before, but I have to disagree.  MHR is really good for handling characters with heroic abilities, including the "badass normal", at wildly different power levels.  Not so much for mixing and matching such characters with normal-normals.

It is probably the rule set I would most like to be running.  But not for this game.

Oh, don't take me throwing up Trav's stats in MHR as lobbying for switching game systems. I played Matt Smith's Doctor in MHR and had a good time. No, this campaign is firmly DW:AITAS. The stats were just to show how it might be done and idle conversation.

I have plenty of SP Trav. I just feel it's weird to be throwing an SP on a presence + convince when I have presence 2 and convince 0. In comparison, Sereth had presence 5, convince 3, and often could pull in 1 or more other bonuses - and yet would usually only just beat Kalath's 13.

But I'm pretty sure they're fighting over the wolf; not Trav. I don't think they've seen Trav.

Then I'll hold onto it then.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:00, Tue 31 May 2016.

I kind of feel like the way DWAITAS has to be played, to feel like you're a PC and not just a pawn of the story, is as follows:

If something you're rolling on will affect the direction of the story but can be failed in relative safety, don't throw an SP.  If you're bad at the thing, you will probably do badly, but you'll get in the kind of trouble your character should logically be getting into.

If something you're rolling on will have serious negative consequences, throw a story point.

• If you're bad at the thing, you may fail, but you probably won't fail fatally, and you might stumble into one of the weirdly fortuitous circumstances that Who characters sometimes do.
• If you're good at the thing, you have a good chance of achieving an amazing success, but in all likelihood you'll at least get a middling result, and save yourself the disappointment of ignominious failure at something you thought your character was good at.

TL; DR: Story points are your only defense against the game being so swingy.

And there's the other reason.

IF there were two of them, I'd have used one. But given I do have a tactical advantage; and full-on Cheetah folk don't tend to bother with missile weapons, I felt like chancing my arm. The dice, other than that first total flop for stealth, have actually been pretty good for Kalath so far.

I tend not to think about using Action Points, Story Points, or the like in any system. When I do, my rule of thumb is to use them to survive or to do something awesome my character would be capable of. For the rest, I don't mind trusting to dice or story, or accepting losses when losses are logical. They're not there to be good, they're there to be great.

Smoke's either going to make friends with the Cheetah People, or make enemies. Either is likely, and I don't mind either option, so I don't want to nudge it with a Story Point.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:28, Tue 31 May 2016.

One system I do remember to use them in, is Drama Points in the cinematic unisystem; if I'm playing one of the... non-hero types. White Hats in Buffy; others have different names for them. Purely because the gap between heroes and non-heroes is -huge-.

I'm almost afraid to ask this, but what does Smoke Alarm want?

She wants to be Just. Like. Sereth. Clearly.

Everyone wants to be Sereth. But there can be only one...

To greet the Cheetah People and get them to not attack us, without looking like weak prey.

Even us Time Lords are jealous. I mean, come on, he's played by Sam Jackson.

cue Youtube videos of Sereth talking with Pulp Fiction dialogue

I watched The Hateful Eight over the weekend.  Let me tell you: that right there was some industrial-grade cognitive dissonance.

Sorry Trav. Kalath is not Sereth.

Smoldering brush fire, meet gasoline!

Yeah, can't see that going badly.

And entirely in character. No way Trav is gonna let Cheetah people eat her family.

Another SP for Impulsive? ;)

Once again, Smoke's stuck in a situation she can't just run away without leaving someone in the clutches of the bad guys. This is why she operates better alone. :p

She's really fails the "I don't have to outrun the lion" story from Survival.

I'm gonna hold off on further IC posting for now.

Don't worry! If it comes down to it, Kalath would totally pass the "I don't have to outrun the lion" story.

Letting someone be captured by the bad guys is not always the worst possible outcome, if the enemies are decent people. However, these creatures literally want to eat them, so please don't leave Stanley :).

When we get close, Kalath will look to see if she can ambush. However, she won't be telling Trav if she can; she'll just sneak off to try to set it up.

I'll wait till I know we're close before making rolls; as there's probably a fair few posts between Stanley and Smoke to go first; due to to how far away they were.

Little update regarding my lying people problem last week:
it has been more or less resolved, helpful person A was eventually able to point me in the right direction and I had a back-up plan. Found some other people who had noticed the same pattern with the 'misinformation', which didn't actually help me, but it is nice to know it is not just me. All in all, an incredibly frustrating experience, but I am 90% sure it is over now and I hopefully won't have to deal with those people again.

Sorry for the rant and sorry for being so vague, but I don't want to (and won't) bore you with the details.



Cue the laser pointer :).

I'm sorry Stan. If I can help in any way, let me know. Much love.

Glad to hear it's sorted.

Heehee. Heffalump!

Oh crud.

... Trav's not the only impulsive one out of that pair.

Kalath's an interesting challenge for me. Sereth's bad traits were generally mechanical; and easy to play. Kalath has a lot which are RP-based; and also can have a serious detriment on her health...

At least we'll die with a full load of story points! ;)

Meh. I wasn't really thinking about story points. More you get the points for taking the drawback, so you should play it out or it's a cheat.

You shot one of the Cheetah People, correct?

Obviously.

Of course! I wasn't going to shoot Smoke or Stanley.

Yet.

I am, by the way, calling a house rule audible on Keen Senses.

I'm going to say that it does not count for the Awareness + Coordination difficulty of ranged attacks.  I don't think that Smoke Alarm has been using it as such, and it just would make the Cheetahs into flipping ninjas.  The counterbalance to that, since the Major version just gives a +2 but costs as much as 2 points of Awareness would, is that it can give you arbitrarily "better" perception or free details compared to someone without it.

I'm open to discussion if somebody really opposes this.

I totally support that.

Keen Senses is already one of the best traits in the game, IMO. It treads very close to failing the DnD game balance test of "Is there any mechanical reason -not- to take this trait?".

Kalath is more likely to be melee in the long run; but right now she is pretty ranged. She's actually likely to be one of those who can switch back and forth fairly easily; though she'll never use blasters or the like.

I've never considered using Keen Senses for dodging ranged attacks, and don't think I've ever used it that way. I never realised one could apply it to such a roll. It makes sense that it wouldn't: as I discussed earlier, the trait specifically refers to acuity of a single sense or noticing or finding hidden things in general. The combat application is more about being generally aware of the field of battle, actions of foes, and spotting an attack action, which doesn't involve a single sense or noticing things.

But I don't know, Keen Senses is starting to look sub-optimal. Two points in Major Keen Senses is a bit less effective than two extra points of Awareness in general, if you can fit them. It's a weird system, it doesn't really care about balance, but it doesn't seem to be issue either.

I probably am thinking a bit too much like the Buffy RPG; which limits you to a 6 for humans for stats. So +2 according to that is quite good if you have a 5 or 6 in a stat.

Mind you, anyone playing a creature-type which has bonuses to stats get to break that limit anyway.

I suspect it was originally thought up in its Minor Good, single sense version (where it is basically equivalent to a Specialty, and is good value as such).

The Doctor's problem is that Companions wander away from him. My problem is that my companions won't run for their lives.

To be fair, the Doctor, with a few exceptions, has been more surrounded with less physically adept companions than you are. Take out Leela, Jamie, Ace and Harry, and Jack and River I guess, and what do you have left?

True point. And one of Trav's hall marks is that she draws more (super) heroic companions - Abraham Lincoln (who was a renowned shooter and wrestler), Al Capone, Roy Fokker and Rick Hunter (Veritech fighter pilots), the Rifts crew (which included a fallen Cosmo Knight, a Cyber Knight and an Atlantean Time Wizard), and you guys.

Now, Trav needs musicians back on her team!

Hmm. Gus, Frobisher, Bernice, Roz and Chris, Destrii, Fey. :) But yeah, it's the same point from an expanded list. Ian was also pretty physical; he did train as a gladiator, knight, Aztec warrior, and on.

The Wilderness arguably had the Doctor's most physical companions. I had forgotten about Ian granted.

Also, if she fully cheetahs out there; that's an extra 1 to the attack, due to co-ordination increasing when she becomes the Cheetah.

I have this sudden urge to say "Come with me if you want to live."

I'll post later. So many choices.

Oh wow.

"The kitlings WILL NOT STOP until they find and kill you."

Kitlings scared me more than Daleks and Cyberman and Sontarans combined.

Those Cat People in New New Earth? Child's play. The Kitlings were the real deal.

Did Traveller hear Smoke's call, and did Kalath just kidnap Traveller and take her away without us? :o
This message was last edited by the player at 03:52, Tue 07 June 2016.

Hey, if Trav doesn't let her, Kalath won't press the point.

You know, given the circumstances and various unsubtle foreshadowing, I'm tempted to say that if Trav's player missed it OOC, Trav missed it.  And I will underscore that with Story Points for everybody if that's what you want to say happened.

Note that Trav's phone will continue to transmit after the 'port, so Smoke & Stanley can just follow the homing signal.

Through Cheetah-infested streets.

The moment you say story points for everyone, you know Trav will go for it!

I have a few, but I'll probably burn through them a lot faster than I did as Sereth.

Some people make fun of the animatronic cat in Survival, but I thought the unreality just made it creepier.

Admittedly though, I think the point that I really went "HOLY CRAP GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE" was when the Master with cat-eyes was revealed.

People make fun of the Ainley-Master a lot; but he was good. Delgado was clearly the king; but Ainley wasn't actually bad.

I did miss it OOC. Certainly, Trav was distracted as hell, as she struggled with the darker portions of herself. So I'm fine with that!

But ooooh boy will Trav be pissed. She may even attempt to escape.

Also, if either Smoke or Stanley are hurt, River Song will regret sending us to this death trap. Not even The Doctor will be able to save her.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:00, Tue 07 June 2016.

Kalath, the insane kidnapper!

You can't kill River. Her early death would change so much in the timeline...

Who said anything about killing River now?

If River legit didn't know anything about this planet and just simply passed on a clue, then all is cool. But if this was malicious, she'll have wished she was dead.

That's not terribly in character for River, however. I can see River tricking Trav into some horrible trap, but not her companions.

Still, there will be a conversation at the Stormcage, after this.

... besides, if you kill River, you piss of the Last Centurion. Even Trav might regret that...

Yeah, I didn't really like season 6 much; but Amy's speech at the beginning of a Good Man Goes to War gets me.

Sure, I'll run with Trav being whisked away. We have this quest to catch up with her, we can't finish that right off. So how much of a tease is it for her to disappear as we do? :)

To be fair, Traveller, you're an adventuring Time Lord – anywhere and anywhen you go is going to a dangerous deathtrap of some description. :) Kestartes was probably perfectly fine a century ago, before the Cheetah infection took hold.

I love the metaphor of the Cheetah infection here: violence literally begets violence, it changes you literally. It's like a furry zombie apocalypse, only fighting the zombies means you become zombie.

"Survival" was probably Ainley's best performance as the Master. His second best might be totally hamming it up in the Destiny of the Doctor PC game cutscenes. :)

Also, why does Kalath use the Kang "ware"? Has Kang speak spread even here? :)

For differing reasons, perhaps.

To me 'ware' seems a primitive form. It feels -right- for a group of primitives to use that than 'beware'.

It's true too:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ware

Hah! Cool.

She might also be more likely to use beware when she hasn't been fighting off the Cheetah for pretty much the entire episode.

Yes, but Trav is an emotionally injured Time Lord with a fierce mother instinct.

And actually, I quite liked Ainley in Logopolis. At least until his turn of insanity of 'People of the universe, please attend carefully'.

The image that sticks with me out of that story is Ace, trying to fight off the urge to fight and holding up the Doctor's hat and brolly like holy symbols.

Given that my outstanding image of that serial is the Doctor's "If we fight like animals, we die like animals" it works for me.

.... run!!!!!

Weirdly, the little girl Squeak calling the Master "the bad cat man", which some of you know became my username here and most other places. :)

Cute.

So we should be going "Stan, Stan, the bad cat man, if he can't do it... you will obey."

I haven't seen the Who episode with the Cheetah people, but I guess there is a reason they hunt human(oid)s and not the Kitlings. A small cat should be easier to catch than a human that will fight back.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:27, Sun 12 June 2016.

Kitlings and the Cheetah People have a link. It's been a while since I watched Survival, but I think they were basically the scouts, who'd hunt out new potential prey, as well as new Cheetah People.

I do remember quite clearly the Master created a link with the Kitlings to hunt down the Doctor.

Although I am bemused by Kalath's characterization of them, IC, as implacable, tireless hunters.  Yes, they're creepy teleporting cats with a psychic-transformative power to change susceptible people into ferocious predators.

They're also CATS. :)

She has to rationalise why the Kitlings and Cheetah people co-operate, as much as they do anyway.

She may also be exaggerating so Trav doesn't do something stupid. She doesn't know it's pointless stopping her from doing something stupid...

The kitlings seem to be like hunting dogs for the Cheetah People: they go out, find prey, tell the Cheetah People about it, then get the scraps.

The Master bonded with a specific one named Shadow, mentioned in the New Adventure First Frontier. It seems they can also travel in time, because the Master used Shadow to escape from the Cheetah World to the 1950s USA.

Isn't it possible that he just got back to wherever he left his TARDIS?

That's what I really don't like about the New Series Master. No TARDIS. They've literally, removed every single TARDIS from existence except the Doctor's.

It seems the planet blowing up threw him off course. :) The planet was packed with artron energy too.
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/First_Frontier

The concept in "Survival" was that you could only teleport back to your home, so they needed Midge or Ace, whose home was Earth, though Ace landed outside the TARDIS. I imagine the Master has no "home", not even his own TARDIS, so he couldn't go anywhere.

I'm pretty sure there was an insinuation that the TARDIS was Ace's home now.

Thanks. The cats and the cheetahs work together, so it is logical that the cheetahs don't hunt the cats.

FWIW, at the moment I am just waiting to see what the next overt action from anyone is.

Eating!

Though if there's a Hunt...

Smoke's doing a wallscrawl.

Okay.  Let me know if you mean to keep working on it until the Cheetahs are right on top of you and Stanley.

That's the idea, the same routine as before, but I intend it to end very differently. ;) Stanley should get a couple of areas away while Smoke distracts the Cheetahs.

Yes, you shooed Stanley away earlier, so he really should get moving by now. Stanley doesn't really want to 'run away' when there is a real chance Smoke could get hurt/captured by the Cheetahs, but it is for the best.

Smoke could become...

One of Us!

Stanley doesn't have to outrun the lion. He only has to outrun Smoke Alarm. :)

Stanley is certainly going to try :), but what if we are already surrounded and he is running straight into a trap?

We'll escape from that when we come to it!

Just give in to your feelings... kill the Cheetahs.

Smoke's tactics might be well suited to dealing with Cheetahs without actually falling prey to the Cheetah Virus.

I'm on hold, effectively. There's no way she could, or would even want to, find Smoke by herself, so unless Trav drags her in, or they're spotted by people in the stronghold...

I did kind of wonder whether there was any notion of getting to the stronghold now.  Kalath has probably been sufficiently sated by this point that more abstract goals are back on the table.

Yeah, but going in -without- Trav, means she's failed, as she didn't bring back food. I was willing to say she put that behind her to get Trav somewhere safe, but I'm not sure she'd go for that.

Trav is trying to convince Kalath to teleport her to the TARDIS, of course. It'd be really hilarious if they were to wind up in the red deserts of Gallifrey outside the Citadel or near the blue shimmering ley lines of Rifts Earth. ;)

The Doctor: "You're here? Took you long enough."

I'm 95% certain it can't work that way, and 100% certain Kalath doesn't think it can.

Post later. Work.

If you all would like to shortcut bringing all the PCs together, I don't know that we need to drag it out.  There were some thoughts I'd had about what might happen if someone got truly split off, but that seems to not have happened.

Why not? The episode makes it fairly clear, from the way I understand it. Trav's home is the TARDIS.

If not, Trav is getting to the point that she wants to turbopistol through the walls and go out and find them.

The episode makes it clear it's the teleporters home. Trav is not the one teleporting; Kalath is. And her home, right now, is the Stronghold.

I'm happy to go with that.

I don't mind whether we head back, drag it out, or get Smoke lost in the city. But there will be other opportunities for us to be hunted by Cheetah People through the streets.

It might be fun to see Smoke operating alone in the city. A ruined city is basically her natural habitat, and it would be interesting to see her have a brush with the Cheetah Virus. Maybe she could go hunting for food to replace what Kalath lost?

I didn't -lose- it! I left it behind to save people!

I am fine with either option.

Hey, if we catch a kitling and put a collar and leash on it, can we have it teleport us? :) I figure there's got to be a reason the Doctor was trying to catch one in "Survival". :D

I am left with the mental image of Captain Jack Harkness pulling up the sleeve of his greatcoat to reveal a kitling securely bound to his forearm, poking it in the nose, and vanishing in a 1989 special effect.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:36, Wed 22 June 2016.

In reply to The Guardian (msg # 195):

-ROFL-

OH maaaannnn....

How would you steer it? Brush it one way to go forward, the other way to go back, scritch its head to stop? :)

Knowing Jack...

Probably pulling on it's ears.

Talk about risky!

Riskier than jumping on top of a TARDIS starting to travel through the time vortex?

Point well taken.

Although I wonder if Jack could survive the unique kind of crazy that goes on in an episode of ATTT.

"Yer kinda cute, Time Agent Boy. But are you cute enough?"

That is hilarious.

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater...

It is only Kalath's eyes that look catlike at this moment, right?

That's correct.

I'll see if I can find a picture of Ace when she's being catlike from home.

Here's one, but not great:
https://m0vie.files.wordpress....torwho-survival9.jpg

It's good enough to give Stanley an idea of what Kalath's eyes look like; at least unless I can find a better one from home.

I think I get the idea. The infection turns someone into a cheetah but the more drastic changes only occur in the more advanced stages, right?

EDIT: Oh, I just remembered: Trav posted an image of the Master with yellow eyes and fangs in post #60 of this thread. That is a slightly more advanced phase of the disease?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:10, Thu 23 June 2016.

Yup. ANd the more violent you are, the quicker it takes a hold. Smoke suggests that it's more about melee violence, and ranged might be okay. I'm unconvinced, but it is probably -better- to be a ranged combatant. It's all about if you give in to the bloodlust.

Detectora de Icendios sounds rather cool, but Detectora de Humo might be more accurate. :) Or Alarma de Humo, to be literal. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 06:35, Wed 29 June 2016.

Detectora de Incendios (Fire Detector) is the common term, so Trav-as-Louise (who was bilingual on Rifts Earth) may be getting it wrong.

Sorry I've been away. Expect a post tonight or tomorrow.

Sorry for being quiet. I lost my job at the end of last week, and Kalath isn't an easy character to get a handle on.

Oh no! Best wishes in your job search, I hope your situation resolves itself quickly.

Likewise.

When you feel the need to vicariously tear things into shreds, we'll be here. :)

In reply to Kalath (msg # 213):

I am sorry to hear that and wish you the best of luck.

Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck finding another. I've had zero success even getting responses.




Mayhaps, but there isn't any blue sauce. The Red Kangs have the Blue Kangs beat there.

I've had a couple of interviews; and one recruitment agency with a "Well, we want to offer you the job, but you need your own car due to location"; it's just getting that slight step further into a job. Hopefully non-contract this time; because I hate this whole "yes, let's come to work sick" thing.

Huh, to me it looks like message #233 of the IC thread was posted by Trav? But it is the Elders reacting, so shouldn't it be a GM post? And Trav's reply (msg #234) was posted two minutes before msg #233? I am confused.

Well spotted.  It's fixed now.

Wow, even my posts time travel. ;)

This is going to be like a much bleaker game of Pokemon Go. :)

Sorry Trav; not a good time for me to respond. I had one interview an hour ago, another one in a bit under an hour, via Skype.

Take your time, no rush. It's late evening here in the States. Good luck with the interviews, BTW. Great thing about PBP format is that we can pace it.

Well, I might have a contract job. 3-6 months; but a fairly good pay given what I do.

Hey, folks.  Just checking in.  I know we are sort of in an awkward place with Kalath's player being in a bad situation for spending a lot of effort on gaming.  Meanwhile Kalath the character has a pretty important part to play in the current adventure, just from the standpoint of becoming part of the team going forward.

So that is why I've been hesitant to make any posts for the last week.  I wanted to know what anybody's thoughts were about keeping the game warm in the meantime.

(And I hope things are going well enough back in the real world, of course.)

I just keep trying to figure out how to answer Trav's question. It's... yeah. It's like asking a caveman "What would you do if you didn't need to hunt to eat".

In all fairness, sheer incomprehension is something that our favorite Time Lords face on a regular basis. :D

Perhaps you could say it's now close to sunset and will soon be too dark to go to the library or back to the TARDIS, and the Hunters are most active at this time. Then Traveller, Smoke, and Stanley need to stay in the compound, we can explore the compound and chat to each other and to some NPCs, and work out how things work here. Then we can tread water a while before we're ready to move on.

Yeah, Trav makes solving this situation sound (relatively) easy. I would be sceptical.



That is a good option.

Sorry guys. In honesty, this quietness is good news, though it doesn't seem it; I'm just being swamped with interviews at the moment.

Lucky you!

One on Monday for an actual permanent role. It's only a phone interview at this point; but still.

I'll try to get a post up over the weekend.

Phew.

Step 1, phone interview, passed.

Step 2, testing.

HOORAY. Well done!

I've been slow in posting lately because my job has moved me out to a new location, doubling my commute. Trav owns a TARDIS but I do not. :(

Also - too many interviews is the problem you want to have, I suppose. Best of luck with your plans.

Too many interviews is so-so. Too many job offers is the problem you want...

May it be a problem you are soon afflicted with.

I figure it this way:

If I'm getting at least one interview a week; it's clearly how I'm coming off in interviews, rather than a lack of skills.

Government department is also being a total pain about giving me my welfare payments though. If we run into any Hunters, or enemies at all, I might well pretend they are the people I'm dealing with from that department.

I confess that I seem to be dealing an exceptionally dark hand of misery in the IC thread.  I note that I am wont to compose these posts with Who soundtrack music as background; last night, for whatever reason I was playing Caves of Androzani....

Really? I can't wait to see what happens when you reach the Seventh Doctor era and have a Keff McCulloch binge. :p




Centrelink are a total pain about everything. They once cut me off for not attending my work-for-the-dole – despite me reporting I had paid work that day. :\

Every time I have to go back on Centrelink, I have a lot of trouble. Way this is going, I'll have a job before they pay me, then reject me because I earn too much.

Not that that's bad, exactly; except for how the hell I'm going to get enough money for food in the meantime.

Hey folks,

A member of my family has been given a cancer diagnosis and I've been wrestling with making time to fly down to Florida and seeing them. That's been sorted. Apologies for not being here and being distracted.

No need to apologise, your family is more important than this game.

There you go. That oughtta to give you something to work with.

We should head out to the spot where Kalath saw the white figure. Trav should continues to transmit that song and hopefully we will get the attention of the sorcerers.
Step two is to find/Use some sort of tunnel to get us closer to the library.

Trav, I am not sure, but I think The Guardian meant that Parnesco told Kalath to bring back the gear in private and that we couldn't overhear them.

I did, but it's not like it was some great secret.

If Trav wants to tell the guy who is so tight-fisted that he won't allocate medicine to a child because she's not "earning her keep", that she and her two friends have access to a storehouse of untold practical wealth, I'm certainly not going to stop her.

MWAHAHAHAHAHA

There's a reason why Time Lords don't worry about money.

"One moment."

VOORP VOORP

"I just got the entire contents of a Wal Mart."

-just cracks up and Smoke's last post-.

You're killing me here.

Well, we may have to. :p

It seems at this point that you're basically set to move out... somewhere.  I've seen a couple of basic destinations floated, but I'm not sure there's been a conclusion, whether it's going to chase the white figures or taking an underground route toward the library.

Once you've come to an agreement, I can set a new scene.

Yes, I also laughed when I read Smoke's post. I hadn't looked at it that way.




Difficult choice, but I vote for going to the library. That is almost guaranteed to give at least some results.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:00, Sun 21 Aug 2016.

The figure in white will probably track us down anyway.

Or the sorcerers (if they are not working together). Especially, if Trav keeps sending out that signal.

A small sample of what Trav is sending out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?...i0yb8zRxiSOeaxx-zl4o

Apparently Traveller learned some tricks from the DJ on Necros:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPOBd3pxI-s

First, an override - Firebomber is not bad anime muzak. (To Trav, at least.) Nekki Basara is one of Trav's ex boyfriends (from a Robotech setting that has in it elements of the later Macross shows), and she knows these people personally and loves their music, as much as she loves Blue Kang skip hop wubstep. Don't be a hater.

Secondly, that clip was awesome! It's good to see that my manuever has a Whovian precedent! No doubt The Marshall heard of that and thought it was ridiculous, but Trav, remembering that, thought it was awesome.

Travcanon - Trav's sonic weapons tech comes from the instrumecha/sonic weapons program she worked on with the RDF. The 1st stage were the atrocious instrumecha weapons from Lancer's Rockers. Trav will slink away in shame if anyone ever brings these up to her -



Second are the sonic pods that 2nd Traveller designed for Nekki Basara's YF-19 Valkyrie (Nekki never harmed anyone and instead fired music at people)



As well as much cooler looking sonic instruments for her Robotech Firebomber family -



5th Traveller on these ghosts from her past - "I regret nothing to do with Nekki Basara."

Excepting the sonic borer she worked on with Speizo, Macross 7 and the Protodevlin War was the last time she worked on mecha scale sonic weapons.

Maybe it's time Trav builds for all of you either instruments, sonic weapons, giant transforming robots, or some combination thereof.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:57, Wed 31 Aug 2016.

Stanley is also covering his ears.

Aha. I was just stirring for giggles. :p I looked up some clips, and it wasn't to my tastes. And a Kang's musical tastes are decidedly different, when "Blue Kangs are Best!" is their benchmark. Anyway, no music is good when pumped to 100+ dB. :p

Hey, if there's any giant transforming robots, Smoke's climbing them and bringing them crashing down!

Crashing down? Why not fly in them instead?

Trav LOVES giant robots! You will too!

It's a time honored custom for young people to steal giant robots and then use them to save lives!
This message was last edited by the player at 05:26, Thu 01 Sept 2016.

They're basically towers that walk, so what else would Smoke do but run up and down them? And they're giant cleaners, so what else would she do but smash them? And they're probably piloted by caretakers. Kangs and mechas are basically natural enemies. :D

Something Kalath and Smoke can agree on!

The music or mechas? :p

Both!

More the mechas though.

Look, a giant cleaner:

That's the spirit! Trav will get right on it.

They even have transforming jet fighters in your color:

If you want to let it trigger some more overt signifier of your infection, such that the other PCs might pick up on it, you can take a Story Point.

Sweet Jebus.  Like Smoke Alarm isn't fully capable of toppling governments with an arrowgun, a squeeze bottle of hand soap, a hapless civil servant and a mop.

Edited the post for that.

And hey, Smoke can also -save- Governments. Witness Draconia!

And sometimes at the same time!

Anyway, no thanks, a jet fighter would only slow Smoke Alarm down. :)

And jets with legs, the hell?


BTW, doof-doof is Australian slang for thumping bass music, especially dopplering past in a hotted-up car. This is why Mad Max: Fury Road had the Doof Wagon and the Doof Warrior.

Ah, gotcha. Trav would know but I wouldn't, being a stupid American ;)

Australian slang is weird as all hell if you're not used to it.

"Doof-doof" is probably the simplest, as it's just an onomatopoeia for the sound of thumping bass.

But Australia itself is just weird as hell:
http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/a...nake-innocent-family

I once had an ongoing rivalry with an American friend about Australia. Beautiful country, but watch where you're walking because all it's fauna is dangerously (well, supposedly).

We now have a new name for the Turbo Pistols - the Doof Guns.

Muzak blasters.

It is in fact the same set, only redressed. :)

Efficient :)

Always Time to Travel still has the budget of the classic years. Thus the reuse of Draconians, Kangs and now Cheetah-People.

I have it on good authority that the producer has all the budget he needs, he's just a terrible hack. :)

Hey, no series should avoid efficiency and cost-saving. :)

It's hardly "The Invasion of Time". :D

Hey, I quite like the Invasion of Time. Especially the Leela-bits.

Leela bits are always good (well, that came out suggestive ;) ). And the tyrant Fourth Doctor is the best "dark" Doctor ever done (though that may have just been Tom Baker on set). It's the endless running around the same damn boring sets for half of a long six-parter that really wear on you. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:57, Mon 05 Sept 2016.

True. I think there's one even worse for running around the same sets though; but can't quite remember it. Gallifrey stories in general had that issue though.

That turned out to be a fake by the way, a promotion for an Aussie Rules football match of all things. Because Australia is also stupid.

As well as music from old Macross shows. Fans are wondering how the producers got the music rights, and are half expecting splice ins of cheezy Zentraedi battle pods.



Some fans of ATTT have been calling for a Zentraedi companion and more explicit Robotech call outs oon ATTT, but due to rights conflicts with Harmony gold, this is an impossibility:

This message was last edited by the player at 11:40, Tue 06 Sept 2016.

I'm sure that portions of this ruined city were probably also used for the Silurian/ancient Australia episodes, and even ruins on Rifts Earth back in Trav's Rifts HBO series.

Incidentally, I just now noticed Kalath's updated character tag.  Nice.

What happened after the blip?! Is Smoke still here, or was she carried away with the kitling?

Sorry, edited.  Guess I got all caught up in the narrative inevitability....

I will post on Smoke's whereabouts after the others get a chance at weighing in.

I may come to regret this.

We may be joining you. Trav is spitting mad and will probably be shooting Kitlings unless someone stops her.

Also, Trav's glasses are running full spectrum, and are gathering data that can possibly analyzed later.

I've imagined Smoke's fate in various ways, but I must say being eaten by animatronic cats wasn't among them. :)


I half expect Trav's old cat collar to have a tracking beacon in it or something. :) It must have some technology, as Trav changed it with the sonic screwdriver. I'll drop a Story Point to make it so, if need be later.

YES IT DID (like, actually, IC wise it did. I mean, if you own a pet cat on Rifts Earth, of course you'd have an RFID tag in the collar!)

Also, you have your phone, don't forget. Trav can reconfigure that device to track that Kitling throughout time and space.

I'll be happy to spend an SP as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:13, Mon 12 Sept 2016.

That too, but it might be a while before she can call. :)

Now we know how the Master bonded with the kitling called Shadow. :D

I see what you did there. :p

I didn't realise it. :)

Actually, would befriending kitlings or cheetah people be something that prompts the Call? Ace befriending Kara seemed to be a part of it, and IIRC there was something in the Seventh Doctor Sourcebook about it. On the other hand, Smoke's approach is so very un-Call.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:28, Tue 13 Sept 2016.

I reckon that empathy is never a one-way street, particularly not when psychic shenanigans are involved.

Certainly, one's actual means and impulses have a lot to do with it, though.

I was cheering for Smoke! Yay!

Kangs versus Cheetah People, it's like the book-ends of the Seventh Doctor TV era.




I wonder if one has a black stripe on its face, the other a white stripe. Mayhaps the two in the sewers did too. That is, it could be the pair Smoke painted and escaped from back in the alley, still stalking us.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:57, Tue 13 Sept 2016.

It could only get weirder if you were chasing each other through the Kandy Kitchen.

NO THERE IS NOT GOING TO BE A TRAV REPRISE OF HAPPINESS PATROL

"Lemonade? I'm spraying this all down with tequilah."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:39, Tue 13 Sept 2016.

Why not just eat the Kandy Man? Problem solved!

-licks lips- Did someone say I -could- eat someone?

On another note, I am -amazed- that Stanley and Traveller followed my direction to run.

I possibly should not say that around Kalath.

Why would I ever be sorry about that?  Cheetah People.  One might reasonably expect An Awful Lot Of Running.

Run fast and carry a cat. :D

Also, Doctor Who. Running Is Mandatory

Maybe we want to take the Cheetahs with us to meet the sorcerers?
Probably not...

I have a cat and I'm not afraid to use it!

Kalath --

Are you cool with this being a point at which your Cheetah "infection" becomes an obvious thing to the other PCs?

I'm not real certain as to how this is all likely to play out given that a) you wanted the character to be based on this gimmick, but b) the Traveller seems interested in applying ludicrous amounts of scientific doubletalk to "fix" the Cheetah problem.

(This is not unlike how Sereth was supposed to be shamed and exiled, except that you all made the mistake of winning.)

You can make it obvious.

Personally, I doubt it can be entirely fixed; as even the Doctor couldn't. Best he could do is have Ace have some measure of control over it.

Is Smoke Alarm still stuck outside? Was she dropped closer to the building or further away? Perhaps I might get some alternative benefit from the roll?

At the very least, she should get back her story point.

The building you're stumbled up against is the one inside the barrier, with the other PCs.  The kitling resolved "make the Cheetah go away" in the closest approximation its understanding and powers could manage.

I thought about having the kitling go too, but it seemed like Smoke wasn't ready for that yet.  And there are some more possibilities if you keep it for now.

Thanks!

Actually, that's even better, all told. :)

Mind, the thought did cross my mind that "make the Cheetah go away" might include teleporting Kalath to some random distant location.

This Gadget requires some training and maintenance but it should be quite useful. :)





And it seems I went and did just that. :D


In other games, I'm in a Star Trek game that suddenly became a Doctor Who crossover, with the GMing planning occasional appearances of the Doctors. In classic Who fashion, my character is sure the Ninth Doctor and Rose are saboteurs. :)

If you're interested, it's still open and advertising here:
link to a message in another game
It's pretty good and also framed as a TV show. It's Adult though ("HBO style") and a character died in the first two days. :( He was a redshirt following the Doctor, so it was unfortunately inevitable.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:19, Fri 23 Sept 2016.

Oh crap. If we can get this GM to check this game out, maybe we can drop by as guest stars! Trav is explicitly a cross media character!

Even as a Starfleet dude I'll check this out, thanks!

He may have done, I linked to here to show how we handled one of Smoke's freak-outs to help resolve a similar situation there. But I think an ATTT link would be a crossover too far. :P I'm the Orion helmswoman, btw.

A feeling that it would be too far means WE HAVE TO DO IT.

Stan, time to beam up!

Just wait until the Seventh Doctor and Ace show up, and they actually are. :P

Since the Ninth indirectly caused the death of her friend, swearing a vengeance oath against him might not be out of the question.

Though being a green Orion woman, things will get awkward if the Eighth or Tenth show up. ;)


I'm working on my post now, Smoke's got something to say. :p

Conflict avoided. Traveller was distracted by something shiny and new. :) Mayhaps she's already feline? :p

Traveller is reminding me of the Doctor's dilemma in the Invisible Enemy.

Cheetah People can jump between worlds. Taking our TARDIS keys away won't hinder us much if we turn. :p

Damn.  Y'all are awesome.

We'll wait for Stanley to respond to this exchange while you're hanging around outside the library, but: 1 Story Point all around.

Just remember, Smoke Alarm, if you rip a kitling's head off, sewing it back on DOES NOT FIX THE KITLING.

...

Mayhaps Puddy is not really a plush toy?

D:
This message was last edited by the player at 02:58, Tue 27 Sept 2016.

Heavens help us, but we may have just gotten a Kitling as a companion.

Welcome aboard, Puddy 2.0.

Don't they need a link of some kind to their destination? This is why Kalath couldnt take Trav back to the TARDIS initially.

It would be hilarious if this was a way that Trav could get back to RIFTS Earth and Gallifrey, instead of taking billions of years of punching through a crystal wall.



"Don't worry Booby, we have the cheetah virus under control. We now have an overload of cute!"

"Blue nekos are best!"


This message was last edited by the player at 03:37, Tue 27 Sept 2016.

It seems to be between home and hunting ground, however they're defined.

Hmm.  Kitling vs. the Us.  Psychic predatory gestalt seed vs. the meta-empathic product of many generations of natural selection in a persistent telepathic field.

This requires great thought.

Don't forget Us evolved in a TARDIS.

Kitlings can hop through space.

The Us can hop through time.

The new phone game from BBC America - US vs KITS

Can the benevolent US protect the TREASURE from the malevolent teleporting KITLINGS?

Now available for Android and IOS!

Guest Starring THE TRAVELLER, SMOKE ALARM and all your favorite ATTT companions, past and present! Collect Companion Cards from the current hit show, as well as from the Classic Traveller, Robotech, Rifts and Doctor Who expansion DLCs! Can you help the US save the TARDIS?

In reply to Smoke Alarm (msg # 339):

Maybe the first TARDIS was actually created by the war between US and Kitlings.

Also, I got the impression that Kitling teleporting was much stronger. As in, I kinda got the impression from Survival that the Kitlings could send the Cheetah People to the hunting grounds, but the actual Cheetah people could only teleport home.