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.

---

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).

Character Templates: Hardboiled Detective

When I have run Doctor Who games at conventions, the UNIT soldier seems the most popular of the default character types I offer as pre-gens, but the detective comes close. I initially envisaged this as a character focused on investigation, but I've observed that people are keener on the implications of a tough combative type with investigation and breaking-and-entering as a secondary set of skills, so I shifted the first version of the character in that direction, with the result that's shown below. While the UNIT soldier is implied to be British (although he doesn't really have to be) the illustration I used on the character sheet for this one implies an American... although it isn't specified, and not everyone has played it that way.

Background

You were working a missing persons case in your home city when you stumbled into a temporal rift and found yourself flung almost a hundred years into the future to a hotel in Kent. Discovering that the missing person had been similarly trapped but had subsequently been killed and taken over by the Gelth, you teamed up with other people who had travelled through the anomaly to close it and defeat the alien invasion plan. Unfortunately, that still left you trapped in the year 2022! Using a TARDIS drawn to the hotel, you and the others are now travelling through time and space (note: how effectively depends on whether one of the other players is playing a Time Lord…) either to get back home, or simply to explore.

DW Monsters: Fendahleen

The next story is The Invisible Enemy, where the “monster” is the Swarm, which, in game terms, is more of a disease than a creature. Even then, it's a unique entity and outside our scope here; individually infected people could be described in game terms, but they're basically just mind-controlled. The monster in Image of the Fendahl is slightly more ambiguous, in that it's presented as if it were a unique entity, but some of the dialogue suggests it is merely the last of its kind and, while the others may be trapped in a time loop, they could theoretically show up again. 

The Fendahl does not appear again in the TV series, but it has featured in a tie-in novel and both a Doctor Who and a Torchwood audio, which give some suggestions as to how it could return. 

Character Templates: UNIT soldier

Judging from the number of hits, my ongoing series discussing various Doctor Who monsters in RPG terms is not one of the most popular things I've done. Which is fair enough. The original plan was to do the Tennant era next (Weeping Angels and all), but I'll likely give it a rest once I reach the end of the Fourth Doctor's run. While I will be back in a couple of weeks with the next monster in that series, I have some other ideas for what I might do further ahead. In the meantime, there is also this.

When I run DWAITAS games at conventions, I present the players with a batch of ten possible pre-generated PCs. With typically five players per session, that should give everyone a reasonable chance to play something that they like, without locking anyone in to "the one nobody else wanted". Each is a fairly generic character type suitable for the genre, although some are more explicitly tied into the setting than others. These are, after all, convention games, not an ongoing campaign where such things as inter-game consistency, character growth, and continuing investment in "your character" are an issue.

DW Monsters: Rutans

While The Talons of Weng-Chiang does include a giant rat, that’s nothing terribly unusual in RPGs, and, in any event, it’s a one-off creation. The next story, however, is Horror of Fang Rock, which introduces us to the previously mentioned, but never-seen, arch-enemies of the Sontarans: the Rutans. While they have occasionally been mentioned since, including in the modern series, they have yet to make a repeat appearance. 

They have done better in the expanded universe, featuring in four audios, two of which of do not include the Doctor, two home videos (one of which was subsequently novelised) and four further novels. In these stories, they often appear alongside the Sontarans – although this has so far not happened on TV – and frequently as lone individuals cut from the rest of the Host. As usual, they have also appeared in comics and short stories, although far less frequently than the Sontarans have.

DW Monsters: Kaldor Robots

The next story in the series is The Deadly Assassin, which does not have a “monster”, or any aliens other than the Time Lords. In the next story, The Face of Evil, we have a mad computer, but then we come to The Robots of Death. Robots, particularly human-shaped ones, have featured several times on the show, but these remain fondly remembered, at least partly for their Art Deco look. They featured in a 1999 novel, Corpse Marker, by the writer of the original TV story, but it’s really in the audio medium that they have had their greatest success. They have so far appeared in three audios alongside the Doctor, and in two series of their own, one of them reaching eighteen episodes.

DW Monsters: Kastrians

The primary antagonist in The Masque of Mandragora is not only a unique entity, but one that’s more of an abstract threat than something we could stat up; it produces visible effects and controls people, but it doesn’t really qualify as a “monster”. Following that story, though, is The Hand of Fear and Eldrad. Now, Eldrad himself is also unique, in that he’s the last surviving member of his species, the Kastrians, but because we can throw time travel into the mix, that doesn’t mean we could never meet another. Having said that, the Kastrians do not return, or even get much of a mention, elsewhere in the TV series. Indeed, their only other appearance to date is in the audio story Eldrad Must Die! which is, of course, a direct sequel.

DW Monsters: Krynoids

After The Brain of Morbius, which features a unique monster, we come to The Seeds of Doom (not to be confused with the Second Doctor story The Seeds of Death) and the Krynoids. There are only two in the story, but they’re a species of alien that could plausibly be found on many other planets, so they’re within my remit for these posts. The Krynoids are a one-off monster within the series, and have been little used elsewhere. Other than a few short stories, they have featured in only one licensed audio, Hothouse, which acts as a sequel to the TV serial without really expanding the description of the species.

Description and Biology

Krynoids are plants that begin their life cycle as seed pods flying through space. Once they land on a suitable planetary surface they germinate, infecting the nearest large animal by injecting them with bacteria-like cells. The original plant then dies, but the infective cells take over and restructure the host's body using it as the foundation to grow the second, reproductive, phase of the Krynoid. Essentially, then, we have two forms: the plant inside the seed pod, which produces the infective spores, and the much larger form that the spores grow into and that eventually produce new seed pods.

DW Monsters: Androids

Following Terror of the Zygons, the next two stories are:

• Planet of Evil – the anti-matter monster here is an apparently unique entity and, in any case, is more a sort of mobile hazard than something with creature statistics
• Pyramids of Mars – although we only encounter one Osiran, they are a race… however, they’re sufficiently powerful that they are more effectively described as one-off NPCs. I’m also going to pass on their servitor robots for the time being as there isn’t much to say about them other than them being large, strong, robots.

This brings us to The Android Invasion. The alien race here are the Kraals, which have leathery skin, sculpted skulls, and a small nose-horn. Other than their physical appearance, however, there seems little to set them apart from humans, and in game terms they (as with races such as the Draconians) probably don’t need any particular rules. Their titular android creations, however, are a different matter. 

DW Monsters: Skarasen

The next story up is Terror of the Zygons, the only classic series appearance of the eponymous aliens. While I have done those before, as a recurring race in the modern series, the story also includes the Zygons' pet monster, the skarasen. Considering that we're told the creature is essential to Zygon survival, it's noteworthy that it has not appeared again on TV in any subsequent stories involving the race. 

The spin-off media, however, have been more willing to include them. They have so far appeared in two of the licensed audios (and one older one, outside the regular license) and two novels. The most significant of these is probably the Eighth Doctor novel The Bodysnatchers, which features a batch of infant skarasen. Each of these stories has, naturally, also included the Zygons; there have been many Zygon stories without the skarasen, but never the reverse.

Trouble at t'Mill (con game report)

This weekend, I ran a Doctor Who game at the annual Continuum convention in Leicester. I've had relatively little to run the game before, despite having written about related topics here, although this was the third in a loose series where I have previously run the other two (including one at last year's Continuum). The game was run using the Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space system (2nd ed.) - one that I haven't used in my "monster" posts since, of course, the relevant information already exists in print. For those who haven't previously encountered it, it's available here.

Unfortunately, I'm not terribly good at coming up with ideas for adventures. I can tweak stuff that already exists, and throw in ideas but writing the adventure itself, not so much. (My recent fantasy sourcebooks, which are available here and here, consist of settings, NPCs, and plot hooks, but cannot reasonably be described as "scenarios"). Fortunately, there is a readily available source of plot ideas for Doctor Who: the expanded universe.

DW Monsters: Cybermats

The Wirrn are the only new race introduced in season 12, with their story being followed by, in order:

• The Sontaran Experiment 
• Genesis of the Daleks  
• Revenge of the Cybermen

All of which feature their titular returning “monsters”. However, the last of these three does include, in addition to the Cybermen, their creations, the cybermats. These had previously appeared in a couple of Second Doctor stories, in slightly different form, and have also appeared once in the modern series. Outside the TV series, they have so far featured (typically quite briefly) in nine audio stories and one original novel – all, of which, of course, also include the Cybermen in more prominent roles. Two of the audios address the question of the cybermats’ origin and nature, which is probably the most detail we’re ever going to get on them; the two answers given are, however, contradictory.

Description and Biology

The appearance of cybermats changes at least as much as that of the Cybermen, but they are always small segmented metallic creatures that crawl along the ground. Although some of the versions lack any visible biological parts, the original version had organic eyes, and that in the modern series has animal-like teeth implanted in it. It seems reasonable to assume, however, that all cybermats are, like their creators, cyborgs combining both organic and electronic elements.

The wide variation in form is doubtless because the Cybermen have arisen more than once on different planets and have come up with different cybermat designs independently, as well as their tendency to upgrade their technology. As a minimum, it seems likely that all cybermats have an organic brain (or at least part of one), but there’s no reason to assume that they all originate from the same sort of creature. While the TV series has not so far weighed in what those might be, as noted above, the audios provide two possible answers.

The more plausible explanation, to my mind, is that given in the Fifth Doctor audio Spare Parts, where it stated that the Mondasian version of the cybermat was created from a type of pet popular on the Cybermen’s original homeworld. As a domesticated animal, this would have been tractable, and easily configured by cyber-tech to end up as something similar to what we see – the original physical form also loosely resembling the final shape.

The alternative, more horrific, possibility comes from The Crystal of Cantus, an audio story that does not directly feature the Doctor. Judging from the cover art, the Cybermen in this story are Telosian, rather than Mondasian, and here we’re told that cybermats are created using the brains of human babies. There is some logic to this in that very young humans can’t reasonably be converted into the regular Cybermen we see, and they might not wish to waste the potential resource. On the other hand, it’s hard to explain why they would put the brain in such an obviously non-humanoid body, or whether it would work terribly well – or behave in the way that it does – if they did. Most (but not all) cybermats also seem too small to physically fit even a baby’s brain inside them.

Plus… ick!

Other than the brain, there may not be many organic internal organs in a cybermat, although, again, this might vary between models. So long as you have a suitable means of providing the brain with oxygen and nutrients, there are probably few parts you absolutely have to keep organic, depending on the technology available. In general, similar principles apply to their “biology” as do for the Cybermen themselves.

Game Attributes

In many respects, cybermat statistics can be modelled on those of Cybermen, with the exception that they are much smaller and that, in systems that care about such things, they are a different shape. They obviously have low physical strength and don’t seem especially agile. Their cyborg body will be resilient, as that of the Cybermen is, although in systems where physical size is built into the relevant statistic, that may well cancel out. The armour plating is marginally bullet-proof, but not exceptional.

Regardless of the origin we go with, it seems clear that cybermats are of only animal intelligence, although likely a fairly intelligent animal, such as a dog. For this reason, they don’t have many skills beyond attacking and stealthily sneaking about. The attack is delivered by a bite; the various models have metal teeth, or organic ones, or perhaps even piercing mandibles, but in game terms, this is unlikely to make much difference. Since one of their purposes is to scout out their environment, their senses are likely quite good.

Special Abilities

For the sake of simplicity, I will assume that the two special abilities we see cybermats use are general functions of the cyborg, even though we only see one or the other (or neither) being used in any given story. Specific models can be described by cutting out either or both of the abilities and/or adding a vulnerability to gold in those versions said to be susceptible to this attack. The Cybermen can probably swap out functional modules in their creations anyway, depending on what they want them to do on any given occasion.

The eyeless, almost wormlike, version of Revenge of the Cybermen has the ability to inject its victims with a venom, virus, or other toxic agent stored inside it. We know that the chemical in question can be changed to suit different purposes, so even the base model may vary somewhat, but we’ll assume a regular poison. The other special feature, seen in Closing Time, is the ability to drain electricity from their surroundings, providing energy to their masters.

---

5E - Cybermat

Tiny construct, neutral

Armour Class: 16 (metal plating)

Hit Points: 19 (3d4+12)

Speed: 20 ft.

STR 6 (-2)	DEX 10 (+0)	CON 18 (+4)
INT 3 (-4)	WIS 12 (+1)	CHA 5 (-3)

Skills: Perception +3

Damage Resistances: Cold, Fire, Poison

Senses: Passive Perception 11

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6) piercing damage and 11 (3d6) poison damage.

Challenge: 1 (200 XP)

BRP - Cybermat

STR 1D3+6 (8)	CON 18	SIZ 1D6 (4)
INT 3	POW 2D6 (7)	DEX 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 11	Move: 8
Base SR: 6	Damage Bonus: -1D6

Armour: 5-point metal plating

Skills: Listen 50%, Spot 60%

Combat Skills: Bite 50% (1D6-1D6 damage, plus a POT 10 poison)

GURPS - Cybermat

ST 8	DX 10	IQ 3	HT 18
Damage: 1		Move: 2
DR: 10		Size: -4

Advantages: Alertness +3, Damage Resistance +6, Doesn’t Eat or Drink, Doesn’t Sleep, Fit, Innate Attack (Toxic, melee attack, resistible, 2d, linked with Piercing, melee attack, 1d)

Disadvantages: Cannot Speak, Electrical

Savage Worlds - Cybermat

Agility: d6	Smarts: d6 (A)	Spirit: d10
Strength: d4	Vigour: d12

Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d8

Edges: Cyborg, Hard to Kill

Special Abilities: Bite (Str+1), Poison (lethal)

Pace: 5                  Toughness: 5 (4)                   Size: -3 (Very Small)

STA - Cybermat

Control: 6	Fitness: 6	Presence: 4
Daring: 6	Insight: 2	Reason: 2
Command: 0	Security: 1	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 7	Resistance: 2

Bite: Melee 2^ (1H, Deadly)

DW Monsters: Wirrn

We don’t see any newly introduced races in the remainder of the first revived season after Dalek, but for the record, the relevant stories are:

• The Long Game – The “monster” here is the Jagrafass, which is, so far as we can tell, a unique being, not a race.
• Father’s Day – The Reapers are said to be completely impervious to damage, which makes them more of an obstacle than something that can be described with creature statistics so I will, at least for the moment, pass on them.
• The Empty Child – The real threat here are the nanites that create the empty children and they are only doing what they are doing because of a very specific malfunction. Thus, the empty children themselves are a one-off thing and the malfunctioning nanites are (game mechanically speaking) a disease, not a monster.
• Boom Town – features the Slitheen.
• Bad Wolf – features the Daleks.

With the Ninth Doctor’s run completed, I am heading back to the classic era, and looking at the monsters of the Fourth Doctor’s run. The first story of his run is Robot, which features a unique… robot… but after that, we get The Ark in Space, which introduces the Wirrn. 

Although we do briefly see a dead Wirrn in a later story, they otherwise do not appear again in the TV show. They do, however, feature in the 1998 novel Placebo Effect and in four audio stories. The most notable of the latter are perhaps Wirrn Isle, a direct sequel to The Ark in Space, and Wirrn Dawn, which is essentially Aliens with Wirrn instead of xenomorphs. As usual, a few comics and short stories round out the total.

Description and Biology

When it comes to some of the more non-humanoid aliens in the classic TV series, it can often be difficult to determine how much of their appearance is how they are ‘supposed’ to look and how much is down to the limitations of special effects, budget, and the need to fit actors inside the costumes. The Wirrn are an example of this, but by no means the most extreme, so we can make a reasonable guess at the intent.

Wirrn, then, physically appear much like giant insects, with some features resembling those of mantises and grasshoppers and others with less obvious analogues. Their general body form is insectoid, with a distinct head, thorax, and segmented abdomen. The thorax bears six legs, at least four of which are likely supposed to be carrying the weight of the body (they don’t on the prop used in the show, because the actors’ legs are inside the abdomen) and the front two of which can be used as arms. They don’t seem to have much in the way of hands on the ends of these limbs and, unlike many real-world insects, they don’t have wings. 

The head has a pair of large eyes, which may or may not be compound, and a pair of long antennae. The latter are primarily used for the sense of smell in real-world insects, but they have other functions, too, so they may or may not be the same here. There are a pair of curved mandibles, but none of the other mouthparts a real-world insect would have, nor any ocelli. There is also a slender, antenna-like structure projecting from the forward part of the head which is presumably sensory in function.

Since they are aliens, and not real insects, we can’t make too many inferences about their internal anatomy. Nonetheless, their ability to move about without difficulty when they are as large as they are would imply the presence of an internal skeleton in addition to the chitinous plates on the outside of the body. A respiratory system based on tracheae wouldn’t work at that size, so they must have lungs of some kind – although not necessarily where we would expect them to be. 

There are two stand-out features of Wirrn biology. The first is that they can survive without food, water, and even air for extended periods. Some real-world creatures, most famously tardigrades, can do much the same, entering a state of almost total hibernation until woken up by the presence of liquid water. In the case of Wirrn, however, they can remain active for at least some of this time, being able to survive in a vacuum because of an ability to convert their expired carbon dioxide back into oxygen. In reality, that would require an input of energy from somewhere else – possibly sunlight – but this isn’t specified.

The second feature, of course, concerns their life cycle. The Wirrn are eusocial insects, like ants or bees, with only a small number of reproductive females. The status of the males is unclear; it could be that all the other Wirrn are male and that only a minority get the chance to mate, but it’s also possible, that, like real-world eusocial insects, the majority of Wirrn are sterile and it’s not obvious which ones are the fertile males. It’s also possible, if less likely, that queens are parthenogenetic, and there are no fertile males at all.

The queen lays her eggs inside warm-blooded vertebrates where they incubate until they hatch. Like bees and many other insects – but unlike the grasshoppers and mantises they otherwise resemble – Wirrn are holometabolous. That is to say, the egg hatches into a distinct larval form that later pupates to turn into an adult. The larva is a segmented worm-like creature with six short stubby limbs like those on the hind part of a caterpillar. They lack any obvious sense organs, and the mouth is simply a round opening without any mandibles or other visible mouthparts. 

Where it gets weird is that the larvae secrete a slime that slowly transforms humans (and presumably similar vertebrates) into further larvae. Like regular larvae, these gain racial memory from their biological parent(s) and are also able to access the memories of the mammalian host. Since the host is apparently a kind of cow-like animal on their home planet, it’s hard to see what purpose this evolved for, but it’s certainly handy when the host happens to be a human whose world you wish to conquer.

There is a question as to just how humanoid the host has to be. Since they originally evolved to infect bovine creatures on another planet, the requirement is probably broad, and any warm-blooded mammal of sufficient size will do. So cats are likely safe because they are too small to form a proper larva let alone incubate an egg, but large dogs, cattle, horses, lions and so on are probably all fair game. Maybe ostriches, too, since they are warm-blooded and likely no more alien to the Wirrn than we are, but whether reptiles such as crocodiles – or Silurians – would fit the bill is less obvious.

Game Attributes

Despite the spindly appearance of their limbs, the Wirrn are no weaker than humans. They move slowly and clumsily but the latter may be more a factor of the costume’s limitations than something intended to be true of the race. Their armoured carapace is resistant to physical attacks, including blaster weapons, and their ability to survive for long periods in harsh environments implies a high degree of physical endurance. They are vulnerable to electricity, and likely to some other non-kinetic attack forms, too.

While they appear monstrous, the Wirrn are an intelligent species, on a par with humans and able and willing to communicate with them under the right circumstances. They don’t have any native technology that we know of, which limits the skills they will inherently possess, but their ability to absorb the knowledge of their host significantly offsets this. Nonetheless, the version I will provide stats for is one that has incubated in a non-sentient animal; additional skills can be added as required when other circumstances apply. The mandibles would be able to deliver a nasty bite, but the main threat in hand-to-hand combat would actually be how hard they are to injure, leading them to win a war of attrition.

There is also the matter of the other two instars – the larvae and pupae. The larvae are undeniably slow-moving and clumsy, even if the adults are not, and they lack any manipulatory appendages or natural weapons. Their hide is thick and resilient and can be easily regenerated, making them difficult to hurt, although not as much so as the adults. At this stage, they’re probably not fully sentient unless they have incubated inside or taken over a creature that already was and they’re apparently unable to communicate when in full larval form.

The pupae are immobile and harmless so, while they too are likely difficult to injure, they can’t fight back and so do not require creature statistics.

Special Abilities

The ability of Wirrn to survive in a vacuum is easily dealt with. Most systems will either provide a specific ability that covers this or would just have it be something that the creature “does” and that does not require a special description.

The transforming slime from the larvae is a more complicated issue. There is almost certainly a ‘saving throw’ (or equivalent) involved here; it’s just that the only person we see affected in the TV show happened to fail his. Once infected, however, while further saving throws – probably based on willpower – can slow down the rate of transformation, so far as we know, it is ultimately irreversible. So what we have is a slow-acting contact poison, but one that transforms the victim rather than killing them and, moreover, leaves them active while it is doing so.

One way to simulate this might be to reduce the victim’s dexterity or equivalent attribute since their ability to move about and manipulate objects is being steadily eroded as the transformation into a slow-moving slug-caterpillar continues. At a certain point, the transformation is complete and any skills that rely more on knowledge than physical ability or humanoid shape are carried over to the newly created Wirrn.

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5E - Wirrn

Large monstrosity, lawful evil

Armour Class: 15 (natural)

Hit Points: 38 (4d10+16)

Speed: 30 ft.

STR 10 (+0)	DEX 10 (+0)	CON 18 (+4)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 12 (+1)	CHA 8 (-1)

Saving Throws: Constitution +6, Wisdom +3

Skills: Athletics +3

Damage Resistances: Bludgeoning, Fire, Radiant, Slashing, Piercing

Senses: Passive Perception 11

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (2d4+1) piercing damage.

Metabolic Resilience: The Wirrn can survive without food or water for ten times longer than a human. The Wirrn can hold its breath, and survive in a vacuum if necessary, for up to five days without ill effect. For each day thereafter, it takes a level of exhaustion.

Racial Memory: In addition to possessing the past knowledge of their parents, a Wirrn also has Proficiency in History, Medicine, Nature, Religion, Science, or Technology if its original host had Proficiency in those skills.

Challenge: 1 (200 XP)

5E - Wirrn Larva

Medium monstrosity, lawful evil

Armour Class: 12 (natural)

Hit Points: 30 (4d8+12)

Speed: 10 ft.

STR 10 (+0)	DEX 4 (-3)	CON 16 (+3)
INT 8 (-1)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 6 (-2)

Saving Throws: Constitution +5, Wisdom +2

Skills: Athletics +3

Damage Resistances: Fire, Radiant, Slashing, Piercing

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6) piercing damage.

Infection: The Wirrn larva secretes an infectious toxin. If this touches the bare skin of a warm-blooded vertebrate-like creature, the creature must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or become infected. Once infected, they begin to transform into a Wirrn larva. Each hour, they must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or transform further, losing 2 points of Dexterity in the process. Once they have lost 8 points of Dexterity in this way, they are fully transformed and replace their original statistics with those of a Wirrn larva.

Pupate: When a Wirrn larva pupates, it is considered to suffer the Paralysed condition until it emerges as an adult. Its statistics otherwise remain unchanged.

Challenge: ½ (100 XP)

BRP - Wirrn

STR 3D6 (10-11)	CON 2D6+12 (19)	SIZ 2D6+9 (16)
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 3D6 (10-11)	CHA 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 18	Move: 10
Base SR: 4	Damage Bonus: +1D4

Armour: 6-point chitinous exoskeleton (no effect against electrical attacks)

Skills: Climb 50%

Combat Skills: Bite 50% (1D6+1D4 damage)

Metabolic Resilience: The Wirrn can survive without food or water for ten times longer than a human. The Wirrn can hold its breath, and survive in a vacuum if necessary, for up to five days without ill effect. Each day thereafter, it takes 1D6 damage that cannot be healed without returning to a breathable atmosphere.

Racial Memory: In addition to possessing the past knowledge of their parents, a Wirrn also retains any of the following skills its host body possessed: Artillery, Craft, Drive, Heavy Machine, Knowledge, Language, Literacy, Medicine, Navigate, Pilot, Repair, Science, Strategy, Technical, Track.

BRP - Wirrn Larva

STR 3D6 (10-11)	CON 2D6+9 (16)	SIZ 2D6+6 (13)
INT 2D6+6 (13)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 1D6 (3-4)	CHA 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 15	Move: 3
Base SR: 7	Damage Bonus: 0

Armour: 2-point bubbly hide

Combat Skills: Brawl 40% (1D3 damage)

Infection: The Wirrn larva secretes an infectious toxin. If this touches the bare skin of a warm-blooded vertebrate-like creature, the creature must make a CON roll against a resistance of 10 or become infected. Once infected, they begin to transform into a Wirrn larva. Each hour, they must make a POW roll against a resistance of 10 or transform further, losing 2 points of DEX in the process. Once they have lost 8 points of DEX in this way, they are fully transformed and replace their original statistics with those of a Wirrn larva.

Pupate: When a Wirrn larva pupates, it becomes immobile, with a DEX and Move of 0. Its statistics otherwise remain unchanged.

GURPS - Wirrn

ST 10	DX 10	IQ 10	HT 18
Speed: 7		Move: 5
Size: +1

Advantages: Damage Resistance +5, Extra Legs (+2), Oxygen Storage (5 days), Racial Memory (active), Radiation Protection/2, Reduced Consumption-3, Vacuum Support, Innate Attack: Bite (1d-2)

Disadvantages: Obsession (propagate the race) 

Skills: Brawling-12, Climbing-12, Free Fall-12, Stealth-10, (other IQ-based skills possessed by the original host body)

GURPS - Wirrn Larva

ST 10	DX 4	IQ 10	HT 18
Speed: 5.5		Move: 2
Size: +0

Advantages: Damage Resistance +2, Dominance

Disadvantages: Mute, No Legs (slithers, larva only), No Manipulators, Sessile (pupa only)

Skills: Brawling-6

Savage Worlds - Wirrn

Agility: d6	Smarts: d6	Spirit: d8
Strength: d6	Vigour: d12

Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d6

Metabolic Resilience: The Wirrn can survive without food or water for ten times longer than a human. The Wirrn can hold its breath, and survive in vacuum if necessary, for up to five days without ill effect. Each day thereafter, they take a level of Fatigue.

Racial Memory: In addition to possessing the past knowledge of their parents, a Wirrn also retains any of the Smarts skills its host body possessed.

Pace: 6                  Parry: 5                 Toughness: 12 (3)                      Size: 1

Savage Worlds - Wirrn Larva

Agility: d4	Smarts: d6	Spirit: d8
Strength: d6	Vigour: d10

Hindrances: Mute

Infection: The Wirrn larva secretes an infectious toxin. If this touches the bare skin of a warm-blooded vertebrate-like creature, the creature must make a Vigour roll or become infected. Once infected, they begin to transform into a Wirrn larva. Each hour, they must make a Spirit roll or transform further. After four failed Spirit rolls, they are fully transformed and replace their original statistics with those of a Wirrn larva.

Pupate: When a Wirrn larva pupates, it becomes immobile, with an Agility and Pace of 0. Its statistics otherwise remain unchanged.

Pace: 2                  Parry: 2                 Toughness: 8 (1)                      Size: 0

STA - Wirrn

Control: 8	Fitness: 10	Presence: 8
Daring: 9	Insight: 8	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 2	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 12	Resistance: 2

Traits: Immune to Vacuum

Metabolic Resilience: The Wirrn can survive without food or water for ten times longer than a human. 

Racial Memory: In addition to possessing the past knowledge of their parents, a Wirrn also retains any Science, Conn, Engineering, or Medicine skills its host body possessed.

STA - Wirrn Larva

Control: 6	Fitness: 9	Presence: 8
Daring: 9	Insight: 8	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 0	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 9	Resistance: 0

Infection: The Wirrn larva secretes an infectious toxin. If this touches the bare skin of a warm-blooded vertebrate-like creature, the creature must make a Fitness + Security roll against a difficulty of 3 or become infected. Once infected, they begin to transform into a Wirrn larva. Each hour, they must make a Daring + Command roll against the same difficulty or transform further, losing a point of Control in the process. After four failed rolls, they are fully transformed and replace their original statistics with those of a Wirrn larva.

Pupate: When a Wirrn larva pupates, it becomes immobile, unable to perform any active tasks or oppose any attacks. Its statistics otherwise remain unchanged.