purplecat: The Tardis against a sunset (or possibly sunrise) (Doctor Who)
purplecat ([personal profile] purplecat) wrote2016-10-08 06:04 pm
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Cover of Search for the Doctor (1986)





Given how studiously Doctor Who, the show, has avoided giving us child companions, it is always a little jarring when a piece of spin-off media chooses to do so. Though, in the case of a choose your own adventure book, you can see why it might have been tempting, even if it does make your assumptions about your audience pretty explicit.
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purplecat: The Tardis against a sunset (or possibly sunrise) (Doctor Who)

[personal profile] purplecat 2016-10-08 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Severn House Publishers Ltd (according to the inside). There were at least six of them (because I have six of them) not all with the little boy starring as "You".

There are also at least two (because I have two) Fasa Choose your own adventure books (also sixth Doctor based) which are about three times the length and US focused - e.g., the first is all set around the American Civil War and amused me at the time because one of the "losing" scenarios involved the chain of reasoning that went "South wins the civil war -> America doesn't buy Alaska -> COMMUNISM WINS" which I thought was a bit of a tenuous chain of reasoning.

[identity profile] philmophlegm.livejournal.com 2016-10-08 06:32 pm (UTC)(link)
The FASA ones are presumably part of the same licence as their early 80s RPG http://www.shopontheborderlands.co.uk/cat/doctor-who/doctor-who-fasa/ .
purplecat: The Tardis against a sunset (or possibly sunrise) (Doctor Who)

[personal profile] purplecat 2016-10-08 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I assume so. I have a goodly selection of the FASA material (bought from a US Who fan of my acquaintance back in the day) but I have to confess I've never actually looked through it properly so don't have much of a feel for the game.

[identity profile] philmophlegm.livejournal.com 2016-10-08 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Me neither actually. To be honest, I'm not convinced that Doctor Who really lends itself to an RPG. It's quite a valuable RPG though.
purplecat: The Tardis against a sunset (or possibly sunrise) (Doctor Who)

[personal profile] purplecat 2016-10-10 10:50 am (UTC)(link)
I think the "great man + lesser companions" format (and yes, I know, the show does lots to subvert that from time to time, but only from time to time) is bad for roleplaying (again, as a generalisation). I think the FASA game encourages players to come up with their own Time Lord team though which has the potential to lead to much more balanced player groups.

[identity profile] philmophlegm.livejournal.com 2016-10-10 11:48 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, I think it makes a lot out of the Celestial Intelligence Agency.
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