Character Templates: Post-Apocalyptic Survivor

This next character is another one that hasn't proven hugely popular. Unlike the two I ditched, however, it seems to me that this one still fills a useful niche so, at least for the time being, I'm keeping them in the selection. In fact, the character type is one that has a specific subclass suited for them in Doctors & Daleks, so I'm probably not alone in feeling that they're genre-appropriate. It may just be that the players who gravitate towards this sort of character find some of the other options even more attractive.

The character as I've created them for DWAITAS has good outdoor skills - less useful on a space station, perhaps, but handy enough in jungle or rocky wasteland planets, both of which crop up a lot in the show. More importantly, though, they have decent combat skills and ability at first aid. Compared with the UNIT soldier, they also have fewer technical skills, coming from a postapocalyptic world where those are of less immediate use, replacing them with intuition and athletic ability. A key point, however, is that the character has a background that directly fits into a particular element of the Whoniverse.

Settings: An Unearthly Child

I’m going to start a new series of posts here – and who knows whether it will prove any more popular than the previous ones. Not exactly a large audience here, although the D&D posts have done well enough, as did the “companions as PCs” posts back in the day. This is going to be similar to the other Doctor Who related things I’ve done looking at things from an RPG perspective, but with a focus on the episodes and, more specifically, on their settings. 

This has, of course, been done before. It’s pretty much the basis of the DWAITAS individual Doctor sourcebooks that I’ve reviewed elsewhere. But I don’t have a constraint on page count here, nor a publishing schedule to keep up with (these are likely to be very irregular) and, hopefully, I can come up with some different angles and try to avoid duplicating what they did too much.

Character Template: Amateur Sleuth

My original set of pre-gens for convention games included a couple of characters that did not prove popular. One was a nurse, intended to fill the "support" role that's exemplified by the Stalwart in Doctors & Daleks and that maps to characters on the show such as Rory or (to a lesser extent) Rose, Polly and so on. If I was running Doctors & Daleks rather than DWAITAS that would could well be more popular, but I'm not, and it isn't. The second was a barbarian warrior in the Leela mould, which I think proved unpopular because of the low tech, especially in a game that normally isn't heavy on combat. 

So I ditched both of those from the selection and added two new characters to replace them. I've no idea how popular they will prove, but the first of them fills the niche of the investigator now that I've made the private eye more physical since that was the way he usually got played. This time, we have an amateur sleuth, intentionally low on physicality but with observational and problem-solving skills that should (I hope) have an obvious function in any RPG scenario that isn't a straight dungeon crawl. Sarah Jane, as an investigative journalist, is perhaps the closest analogy from the show, at least conceptually (although it's arguable how often that comes into play) although the background details here are very different.

DW Monsters: Ogri

The next few stories, taking us through the remainder of season 15 and into season 16 are:

• Underworld – the enemy here is a unique one, a computer that has built its own robots.
• The Invasion of Time – other than the Sontarans, this features the Vardans, who have powers of telepathy and teleportation and can turn insubstantial but otherwise basically appear human.
• The Ribos Operation – The only ‘monster’ here is the Shrivenzale, a local predator. From what we can tell, there is little to suggest that its game statistics would be radically different from, say, a tiger.
• The Pirate Planet – This story does not feature a monster.

This brings us to The Stones of Blood. This features three different types of alien. Apart from their physical appearance, the only significant difference between Diplosians and humans is that the former are essentially immortal. The Megara are microcellular machines, more of a game effect than a ‘monster’ in the RPG sense. 

That leaves us with the titular monsters of the story, the Ogri. Although they have since been mentioned in passing, the Ogri are a one-off monster on the TV show. They have made brief appearances in the spin-off novels, although not so far in the audios… at least partly, one assumes, because they are silent. 

Description and Biology

Like the Kastrians, the Ogri are silicon-based lifeforms, but they take the rocky nature one step further. Physically, they are large, tall and somewhat irregular rocks, lacking any visible sense organs, orifices, or limbs. When they are awake, they glow with a golden light and they can move about, but other than this, there is nothing visible about them to distinguish them from regular rocks and they are, for example, completely rigid.

How they would work biologically is a mystery. The lack of visible sense organs doesn’t rule out an ability to sense vibrations, perhaps even soundwaves in the air, although it’s hard to imagine how they would see in visible light. It’s also unclear exactly how they move, but perhaps they can manipulate the crystals in their bases to create a sort of conveyor belt-like effect, pulling them along and leaving dust in their wake. 

Their most significant ability is that from which the story takes its name. In order to function, the Ogri need some special nutrient found in blood, which they can absorb from living beings by touch. Since this wouldn’t enable them to build the silicate structure of their bodies, it’s likely to be an adjunct to a primary feeding method that extracts minerals from the ground while they are in contact with it.

It’s implied that it’s the proteins in the blood that they need, but iron seems more likely given their mineral nature. And perhaps they can extract that from iron ore or rust when it’s around, but not from solid items of forged metalware – or perhaps the protein binding the iron into the haemoglobin makes the process easier for them. Either way, if they are after the iron, it’s worth noting that aliens will not necessarily have iron-based blood – some real-world invertebrates have copper-based blood, so we know this is possible.

If, on the other hand, it really is just the protein, then it presumably must be a specific sort of protein, or they could get it from other parts of a victim’s body, or even the grass they are rolling over (they don’t seem to need much). And, if it is specific, then, again, aliens may be safe, since there are other ways of binding iron into a respiratory pigment than the one employed by haemoglobin… and we know this because, again, some real-world invertebrates use them.

Game Attributes

While they are not immobile, the entirely rigid structure of the Ogri makes them unusual in game terms. That they can move implies a dexterity, since this is often used to calculate things like initiative and reaction speed, but the complete lack of manipulative appendages means that it isn’t dexterity in the everyday meaning of the word. Given their slow movement rate and inability to (for example) meaningfully dodge anything thrown at them it’s probably at the lowest level that a given game system will allow without being zero and, if possible, well below the minimum score that a human character could possess.

For similar reasons, strength is also unusual; they don’t have any means of exerting leverage. But they can push things and they won’t have any difficulty carrying heavy objects if somebody places one on top of them, so, even if they can’t use it to wield a sword, it’s likely very high. Their ability to resist physical damage is going to be even higher, although different systems may reflect this in varying combinations of armour and constitution/vigour. But, basically, they are rocks, and it’s hard to damage a large rock with weapons designed to injure fleshly beings unless we’re talking high explosives or powerful energy weapons. They’ll be resistant to fire, cold, and electricity, among other things, although strong acid would still be a problem. If they are using the protein component of blood, organic poisons that work on that might affect them, but it seems more likely that their biochemistry (or equivalent) is too alien for that to be the case.

There is no indication that the Ogri are intelligent. At best, they are probably equivalent to something like a dog… although, admittedly, it’s not obvious how you would tell.

Special Abilities

The key distinguishing ability of Ogri is the ability to extract blood from a living being by flesh contact. Indeed, it’s probably the only attack method they have other than falling over onto somebody or nudging them off a cliff. Most of the time, they just do this passively, but on the one occasion we see them attack, the victim becomes stuck to them – possibly by having their flesh partially absorbed into the rock – and then they extract all the blood in a matter of seconds. For game purposes, we’d likely want to slow this down a bit, and give more of a chance of resistance or escape. Having said which, an attack that relies on the victim touching you with bare flesh and that doesn’t involve actively striking out, is more of a ‘trap’ effect than a regular combat action.

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5E - Ogri

Large earth elemental, unaligned

Armour Class: 18 (natural)

Hit Points: 84 (8d10+40)

Speed: 5 ft.

STR 20 (+5)	DEX 1 (-5)	CON 22 (+6)
INT 3 (-4)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 4 (-3)

Damage Resistances: bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, fire, cold, electricity, poison.

Condition Immunities: blinded, grappled, prone.

Senses: Tremor sense 60 ft., Passive Perception 10

Blood Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (3d6) necrotic damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. The reduction lasts until the target takes a long rest. The target dies if this reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

Challenge: 4 (1,100 XP)

BRP - Ogri

STR 2D6+15 (22)	CON 2D6+15 (22)	SIZ 2D6+12 (19)
DEX 1	POW 2D6+6 (13)
Hit Points: 21	Move: 1
Base SR: 6	Damage Bonus: +2D6

Armour: 12-point solid rock

Combat Skills: Drain Blood 50% (1D6 CON damage)

GURPS - Ogri

ST 20	DX 1	IQ 3	HT 20
Thrust: 1d-4		Swing: 1d-3
Speed: 1	Move: 1		Size: 1

Advantages: Body of Stone, Damage Resistance +8, Innate Attack (1d, Toxic, Contact Agent, Melee Attack), Vibration Sense

Disadvantages: Blindness, No Legs (slithers), No Manipulators, Restricted Diet (very common)

Savage Worlds - Ogri

Agility: 1	Smarts: d6 (A)	Spirit: d8
Strength: d12+1	Vigour: d12+1

Skills: Fighting d6, Stealth d4

Abilities: Armour +8, Elemental, Environmental Resistance (cold, heat)

Blood Drain: A ‘strike’ (actually a touch) from the Ogri does Vigour+d4 damage.

Pace: 1                  Parry: 5                 Toughness: 8           Size: 1

STA - Ogri

Control: 5	Fitness: 12	Presence: 7
Daring: 11	Insight: 5	Reason: 2
Command: 0	Security: 2	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 14	Resistance: 3

Attacks: Blood Drain (Melee, 3^, 1H, Vicious 1, Debilitating)

Character Template: Former Time Agent

Some of the characters I include as pre-gens for convention games are historical or contemporary, which makes it easy to envisage the sorts of roles they'd fall into from other genres, and fits with many of the companions in the TV series. But this is science fiction, and many players will be more keen on playing a character that fits in that mould. One of the pre-gens I have that fills that niche is a former Time Agent, something that also ties us into the modern show. Not, I have to say, that anyone has yet played him like Jack Harkness or Captain John... although that could be the limitations of one-off convention play.

The general theme of this character is to have a mix of action-oriented skills with advanced technical skills; not, perhaps, a real specialist in anything, but an all-round concept that would still work in many SF games. There's also the key advantage that the character has some familiarity with time travel. Their vortex manipulator is of limited use in the sort of stories I'm running as one-offs, but they act as a useful backup if there isn't a Time Lord in the group. And that happens more often than you might think...

DW Monsters: Usurians

The next story is The Sun Makers, where the primary villain belongs to an unusual alien race called the Usurians. Even compared with the Ood, which can at least go mad or be possessed by evil psychic entities, the Usurians are physically harmless and one could therefore argue that providing stats for them is not necessary, since they basically can’t fight back. But that makes for something different, and, in any event, it’s at least possible to match wits with one, or attack it psychically, so I’m going to do it anyway.

Other than their original appearance, the Usurians have only featured in one story, an audio where they are manipulating events from behind the scenes.

Character Templates: Torchwood Scientist

At conventions, I have so far found that players tend to go for the obvious adventurer archetypes when picking from the list of pre-gen PCs for my Doctor Who games. That makes sense given the one-off nature of the game session; it's easier to work what a character is supposed to be doing if they fall into an obvious niche. So, although I originally included a pre-gen that fell into the support role (a military nurse from the 1940s) that was never popular, and I no longer include it. But this is Doctor Who, so it would feel odd if all the character options were traditional fighter or rogue types; we also need characters with scientific or knowledge skills. It's not quite the "wizard" niche of fantasy games since you aren't getting to zap people with fireballs or transform into animals or whatever, but it does fit the genre. 

So I include a scientist, somebody with the technical skills to solve problems in a more in-genre way. To keep them grounded in our world, rather than alien, and to fit them in with the setting, they are specifically a Torchwood scientist, something that also allows them a little bit of the "magic" role through their familiarity with alien technology (they'd have "boffin" in the 1st edition of DWAITAS, but that doesn't apply in the 2nd).