Temporal Trace Locator
Gadget: Temporal Trace Locator
Type: Special
Traits: Scan, Transmit, Vortex
If the Time Lords built it, it looks like a silver gauntlet, studded with ruby control studs and marked with the Seal of Rassilon. If the Doctor or a player character built it, it’s a crazy contraption of loose wires, duct tape, clockwork and what appears to be a hamster wheel, all connected to a 51st century computer interface. Either way, it goes ding when there’s temporal trace stuff.
The Locator can interface with a TARDIS or another time machine, and guide it unerringly (more or less) to the vicinity of the next temporal trace. It can also be used as a general-purpose scanner and temporal manipulator.
A temporal trace, by the way, is a scar, a discontinuity in time left by the Dalek weapon. They’re invisible to most people. Characters with Feel the Turn of the Universe Trait get uneasy when close to a trace, and the Temporal Trace Locator can detect them automatically from a short distance. To zero in on a trace, the operator of the Locator must make an Ingenuity + Technology roll, with a Difficulty that varies depending on distance to the trace and local conditions.
As traces are hyper-dimensional scars in the Vortex, they aren’t necessarily tied to a particular place. They might be entangled in the timeline or some person or object, or only come into phase with our reality at a particular time. The player characters will have to explore wherever they land in order to find the trace. If the characters are relying on the Locator to fly the TARDIS, then they can’t leave until they find the trace. If they’re merely following the Locator’s directions, then the Locator kicks up an almighty fuss if they try to leave without finding the trace (increasing the Difficulty of any Transport or Technology rolls to leave by +6).