Subtitle: 24 HOURS AGO
Sgt Streebek, the US Army officer attached to UNIT, is being briefed by his superior, Col. Oralia Isenhart (played by Dame Judy Densch). They’re both walking through construction, pushing aside plastic, people in lab coats rushing around, sparks from arc welders flying.
Col. Isenhart: Remember standard protocol.
Rex Runyan, Time Agent, is being briefed by his superior, Col. Duggin Zaragosa (played by Stephen Fry). They’re both walking through construction, pushing aside plastic, people in lab coats rushing around, sparks from arc welders flying.
Zaragosa: If at any time you encounter The Doctor, you are to stay with him.
Col. Isenhart: Contact us as you are able, check in when you can.
Zaragosa: Leave messages at the established drop points.
Col. Isenhart: But above all
Zaragosa: But above all
Col. Isenhart: STAY WITH THE DOCTOR
Zaragosa: STAY WITH THE DOCTOR
Sgt Streebek leaves, starts walking outside.
Runyan leaves, starts walking outside.
We pan back from Streebek, to reveal that he’s outside Battersea Power Station. Subtitle reads “2010″
We pan back from Runyan, to reveal that he’s outside Battersea Power Station. Subtitle reads “2170″.
HIT THE THEME MUSIC
This session was a little choppier than the first. Some of it was that we moved from being around a table to sitting in the living room, on sofas and comfy chairs and the floor. It gave the large group more space, but removed some of the focus. It also suffered, as the last session, from the perceived objective of keeping Donna away from the Doctor, which split one player character (Donna) away from everyone else. This, of course, was my fault; I needed to get to the macguffin quicker. I also introduced far to many threads last episode (and again with the introductory cut scene), to see which ones the players tugged on. Could have been tighter. Fail fast, fail forward, next episode will be better.
But this episode still had some awesome.
Picking up from last time, Wilf and Donna are driving home from Albion Hospital. Donna, of course, insists on driving. She sees a man walking down the street, a tall man in a black hoodie, hands in pockets. He turns into a book store, Black Books (a joke for myself and one other player; no one else has seen the show, but it wasn’t a huge deal). Reapers appear, and start attacking the bookstore building and tearing up the neighborhood, attacking people and cars. Donna starts to remember, but manages to not have a seizure.
The Doctor asks Sgt. Streebek to follow. He jiggery-pokeries Streebek’s walkie talkie to be able to call the Doctor on his sonic screwdriver (Cameron made a point that the screwdriver has the power of “scan”, so it should be able to scan radio frequencies; I let him spend story points to allow it). Streebek sees the Reapers. Manny from Black Books runs in front of his car, screaming and freaking out. Streebek tells the Doctor, who tells Streebek to stay with Donna. Everyone else runs the couple of blocks to the neighborhood.
I missed a perfect opportunity for a character bit with Novice Chen. She got to the scene of Reaper carnage and immediately started helping people, doing triage and first aid. I should have played an instant NPC and done more roleplaying with being helped by a cat nun nurse. I blew it. Too busy trying to juggle the players and plot.
The Doctor scans, detects the temporal anomaly centered on Black Books, and runs in. The proprietor, Bernard Black, sits at his desk reading Dickens and never looks up. As the Doctor plows through into the kitchen in the back, Bernard tells him to put on the kettle while he’s back there.
Outside Donna’s (I let Linda, the player, decided what type of house she’s in since hitting the lottery; a McMansion, of course), Streebek sees someone else staking the place out. Someone who looks like Eric Roberts. Yes, that Master. Streebek stays put and waits for the Doctor.
The anomaly clears itself up. The Doctor and company head back to Albion Hospital, and take the TARDIS to Donna’s. The inside of the TARDIS is a mellow, soothing beach, with white sand and turquoise water and pink seagulls and three moons. The control panel sits on the shore, and they have to wade into the receding tide to get to it.
Inside Donna’s, she hears a TARDIS noise from inside the house. She recognize it as a TARDIS, and starts having a seizure. Someone walks in, stabs her in the neck with a hypo spray, picks her up and lays her on the bed. It’s the Roger Delgado Master. He tells her that he’s there to help. It was the Doctor that did all of this to her. She remembers the Doctor, right? But now he has to go. He walks out of the room, and she hear the sound of a TARDIS in the hallway.
Eric Roberts Master leaves as the Doctor’s TARDIS arrives, and everyone unloads. The Doctor, Katie, Novice Chen and Streebek run inside the house, wondering why Eric Roberts Master would stake the place out and just leave. Katie asks who this Master is, why why there are three of him. The Doctor explains the history of his relationship with the Master using sock puppets (Cameron was freaking hysterical!)
Rex Runyan goes looking for Eric Roberts Master alone.
Inside, Donna remembers everything but doesn’t explode. Novice Chen checks her out and determines that she’s been given some sort of sedative, but can’t identify what it was exactly. They know it will wear off eventually. They find Wilf knocked out in the kitchen, slumped over at the table but okay. Reviving Wilf, he explains that he got the fob watch from the mysterious redhead, who told him it was for Donna. He was told to give the cat’s head ring to the Doctor.
Donna figures that the fob watch can be used to make her fully human again and not at risk for head asplodey-ness, if they can find a chameleon arch (I establish that the one in the TARDIS is broken. Because, well, there’s a PLANET inside the TARDIS). The Doctor wonders. He also wonders why three Masters, all of whom are supposed to be dead, are working together. And where the cat’s head ring/TARDIS key fits into this.
Meanwhile, Rex Runyan turns the corner and is confronted by Eric Roberts Master, who points a Tissue Compression Eliminator at him and demands that he turn over his Vortex Manipulator. CLIFFHANGER!
The session was plot heavy, character-bit moderate, and action-lite. The players had a good time, but I didn’t feel like it was my best work. I don’t feel as if I gave some players enough screen time. I don’t feel as if I gave people enough to do, and sort of railroaded the plot along. Some of this was because players were feeling stuck, not knowing what to do. Fail fast, fail forward, I’ll adapt and make the next session less kludgy.
I want to wrap up The 3 Masters plotline next session. I’m working on a big finale where the players actually DO something other than try to stay away from Donna.
No game for the next two weeks, due to players having lives. Next session is the 27th, and then we’re back to the normal bi-weekly schedule, alternating with the Pathfinder game where I play Brokko Zayne, Gnome Hemorrhoid.
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