This is a scenario for 'Time Lord', the Doctor Who role-playing game. Although originally designed for a solo Third Doctor in my own campaign, it should be suitable for any of the Doctors with any combination of companions.

In my campaign it was set between the TV episodes 'The Green Death' and 'The Time Warrior, and immediately after the scenario 'The Ultimate Weapon'.

In 2752 the Earth Empire launched the first of its new generation of AI warships, the Resplendent Eagle. This ship was equipped with a Battle Brain, a computer that mimicked human personality. Unfortunately, the Brain had developed a major personality defect; it had decided that it was opposed to the Empire, and wanted to live its own life. For an ordinary computer this would have been a problem, but such was the value attached to the Battle Brain that it was equipped with its own defences and escape pod, so that in the event of an accident it could be recovered. The Brain sent the ship off-course then engineered a core breach in the engines, and ejected as the ship exploded. Most of the ship was vaporised, but some fragments entered the atmosphere of Tridenis Alpha. Of these only two reached the ground; the Battle Brain in its escape pod and a missile containing a mutagenic agent. The Battle Brain crashed near a settlement of the local indigenous natives, the Dragonfolk. They adopted it as a gift of the Gods. The missile crashed near a nest of a small reptilian carnivore, the Zlaar. Four of the creatures were affected by the mutagen and began to rapidly grow into fearsome monsters.

The Brain was happy to be adopted by the Dragonfolk and began to pursue its goal of living a life of contemplation. Soon, however, it picked up reports from the villagers of large monsters terrorising the area, and its scans picked up the creatures. It realised that the Zlaar had been changed by the mutagen from one of the Resplendent Eagle's missiles, and knew that it was directly responsible for their creation. It therefore used some of its power to create a low frequency sonic force field around the village that the monsters would not pass through.

The only problem the Brain had was that some of its systems were damaged in its landing. It was able to generate a protective force field, and emit the sonic force field, as well as scan the local environment. It was, however, unable to communicate with the natives or move as its voice synthesiser and anti-grav unit has been damaged. Its biggest problem, though, is that it was unaware that it was been sending out a homing signal.

Imperial forces were mystified by the loss of the Resplendent Eagle and searched for the remains of the ship. Eventually, a probe picked up the homing signal, and a squad of marines sent to recover the Brain in order to find out what happened. What they don't know is that the Brain doesn't want to go home...

After his encounter with the Cybermen (see 'The Ultimate Weapon') the Doctor discovers that the TARDIS has picked up a strong dose of chroniton particles from its proximity to the Lepton Array. Chroniton particles prevent the time rotor from functioning correctly, but a basic decontamination process easily removes them. This requires the TARDIS to be materialised however, so the Doctor lands it and initiates the procedure. Whilst the procedure is underway he decides to have a look around.

This scenario has no fixed timeline as such. It involves three groups each moving around an area of wilderness. Each group has its own objective and will seek to achieve it as well as it can. As the groups interact, plans will change. In the middle of it all is the Doctor. It will require the referee to resolve a number of encounters at which the players will not be present (not unlike the series), and these should be resolved in such a way as to create dramatic possibilities at a later date.

     M     Weapons     3     Rocks     3        Marine
     O     Module  ------------ --------------  Ship
     U      \   \              |               /  /
     N       \   \             | 2            /  /
     T      2 \   \  3         |          3  /  / 3
     A         \   \-------- TARDIS---------/  /
     I          \           /  |   \          /
     N     Gully  ---------/   |    \-------  Clearing
     S            \   2      3 |     2      / 
                 2 \           |           / 3
                    \          |          /
                     \---- Dragonfolk ---/
                             Village

Numbers represent the distance between the points in terms of research turns of movement.

Coniferous forest. Dry sandy soil. Some rocks. Reddish brown, ochres and yellow are predominant colour schemes. Warm, dry air. The routes from the module are all rocky, the others are forested.

Small lizard like creatures can be seen. No mammals, all lifeforms are insectoid or reptilian. No birdsong, but the air has the hum of insects and other small animal noises.

The village consists of thirty or so small shacks. There is some light cultivation around the village. In the centre are two larger, more impressive buildings, the huts of the chief and the shaman. The shamans hut houses the Battle Brain on a crude altar.

One movement area from the village is the limits of the low frequency sonic field. This protects the village by preventing the Zlaar from approaching closer than a mile. An awareness check at difficulty 5 will detect the low hum in the air, and the Dragonfolk have also marked the boundary with talismans.

 Marine Ship

This is a smallish scout vessel resembling a green beetle, and has a flight crew of two plus a passenger capacity of twelve. There are a variety of useful items of equipment on the ship, and it has a small lab. It is strong enough to resist attacks by the Zlaar, so anyone inside it should be safe from them. The ship is armed.

 Weapon Module (The Abode of the Curse)

Consists of a silver missile 1m long. The warhead has broken free and the remains of a clear blue gel can be seen inside. Some more of the gel is scattered about. Now inert, although it can be analysed. Nearby is a cave littered with bones (reptile) including some bipeds, and evidence of simple clothing and weapons. These are the remains of Dragonfolk that have been eaten by the Zlaar.

The TARDIS has landed in a clearing in a forest, surrounded by cycad like plants with an undergrowth of ferns. Clearish routes head North, North East, South East, South, South West and North West. The forest seems to clear to the North and West, towards some rocky hills. An awareness check against Difficulty 8 will smell smoke from the South. The TARDIS scanners may detect a sonic field and homing signal to South if they used to look for unusual energy readings. An awareness check of difficulty 6 will enable the Doctor to hear the scoutship land to East. The TARDIS scanners may also pick up its approach or presence if used.

 The Rocks

This area is rocky with some small plants, and looks a little like a Dorset chalk pit filmed through ochre filters. At its centre are some large rocks that look like standing stones, but are in fact natural formations. The Dragonfolk call them the Hunters

This is 60m long and only 3m wide with steep, unclimbable sides. Just the sort of place to trap, or be trapped by, a monster.

This forest clearing has a certain religious significance for the Dragonfolk who regard it as one of the places that the dead use to enter their version of the afterlife. Thus, they may be a little upset to find intruders in it if they do not seem to be showing proper respect for the dead. Some negotiation may be required to convince them that no disrespect was intended. It is decorated with the reptile scales and painted bark totems.

This chart shows the initial events that will occur the moment the Doctor chooses a route. Each group will act according to the notes with their description, and these will influence any interactions with other groups as well. The Doctor's presence will affect the way some of these interactions occur.

Zlaar move at half speed as they are hunting.

• One Zlaar will advance from the module to the TARDIS.
• One Zlaar will advance from the Module to the Marine Ship.
• One Zlaar will advance from the Module to the Village.
• One Zlaar will remain at the Module.
• A hunting party of five Dragonfolk will advance from the Village to the Ship.
• A hunting party of five Dragonfolk will advance from the Village to the TARDIS. Upon discovering the TARDIS they will track the crew along whichever route they took.
• A patrol of two marines will advance to the Module.
• The DeSalle, Cochrane, O'Connor and four marines will advance to the Village following the homing signal from the Battle Brain.
• The remaining two marines and the pilots will remain with the scout ship.

The Doctor should choose directions 1 (Rocks), 2 (Marine Ship), 3 (Clearing), 4 (Village) 5 (Gully) or 6 (Weapons Module).

Zlaar move at half speed as they do not move directly from place to place whilst looking for food. The first hunting party encountered by the Doctor should include Laarsh. If this party has encountered Zlaar or hostile marines, Laarsh will not be one of the Dragonfolk killed. If need be he should make a lucky escape.

Encounters can be avoided by means of stealth or just running away, so it is possible for two groups to pass each other on the same line. Generally this should not occur except for the Doctor at the choice of the players. It is also possible that two groups will arrive at a location at the same nominal time. In this case one group should arrive a few minutes before the other.

There is no set pattern of events to this scenario beyond the encounters generated by the initial movements described above. There are four non-player factions, the Dragonfolk, the Marines, the Battle Brain and the Zlaar, and each has their own goals. The Doctor will be caught in the middle and will have to decide how best to help each faction.

Some groups of characters will encounter other groups without the Doctor being present. In this case, the results of their encounter will have to be decided by the referee, according to the notes given in each character description below. Outright combat should be avoided, unless facing the Zlaar, in which case the Dragonfolk and Marines should come off worse. Some combats should be audible; use the number of movement areas between the listeners and the combat to determine the difficulty.

Things, which could happen, are these:

The Doctor should be able to repair the damaged systems on the Battle Brain. Without this the Brain will be unable to communicate, and its actions could be misunderstood.

Either via the Brain or their own investigations the Doctor and the Marines may become aware that the Zlaar are not natural, and trace their origin to the mutagen. This may allow the development of a biological weapon that would defeat the Zlaar.

Both the Marines and the Dragonfolk have characters who will tend to make tense situations worse. They also both have characters that are more open to compromise and discussion. The interplay between these two groups should be central to the scenario, but an all-out war between them should be avoided unless the situation has badly deteriorated. The Doctor's presence should ensure that a war is avoidable.

The Zlaar are the enemy in this scenario, and neutralising them will ease negotiation with the Battle Brain and Dragonfolk. Use of a biological weapon or some sort of device based on the low frequency sound that protects the village can achieve this.

The marines are a well-trained and equipped group of soldiers who have been sent to retrieve the Battle Brain of the 'Resplendent Eagle'. Although they know that Tridenis Alpha is inhabited by a primitive reptilian race, they expect no serious problems. They do not know about the Zlaar, who will come as a nasty surprise, as surveys have shown that there are no large predators on Tridenis Alpha.

All marines have a blaster, a knife and a personal communicator built into their helmet. Two of them carry medi-kits. The scout-ship also carries a Meson Ram, a device that resembles, and should be treated as, a 20^th century bazooka and has a small supply of explosives.

Note: The marine's communicators work over the whole area covered by the scenario, but are blocked by the low frequency sonic field around the village.

Sex: Female
Apparent Age: Early 30s.
Strength: 4
Control: 3, Marksmanship 1, Brawling 1
Size: 3
Weight: 4
Move: 3
Knowledge: 4, Wilderness Lore 1
Determination: 4, Command 1, Strong Passion (The Empire) 1
Awareness: 3
Weapons: Blaster (6 Wounds), Knife (4 Wounds)
Armour: Body armour (5)

Captain DeSalle is the leader of the Imperial forces sent to recover the Battle Brain. She is a veteran commander and good soldier and is profoundly loyal to the Empire. This means that she is prone to regard anyone who stands between her and her mission as a potential enemy of the Empire. She is not rash, however, and will avoid outright combat in favour of negotiation, preferably from a position of strength. She is not above taking hostages to gain this position of strength.

Captain DeSalle is a hard faced woman with cropped black hair and ice blue eyes. There is a hint of fanaticism about her that makes her disquieting to be near.

Sex: Male
Apparent Age: Early 30s
Strength: 4, Iron Constitution 1
Control: 3, Marksmanship 1, Brawling 1
Size: 3
Weight: 4
Move: 3
Knowledge: 4, Wilderness Lore 1
Determination: 4, Independent Spirit 1
Awareness: 3
Weapons: Blaster (6 Wounds), Knife (4 Wounds)
Armour: Body armour (5)

Sergeant Cochrane has seen less action than his commander and has a far more idealistic view of life. Although a soldier of the Empire he is more inclined to take courses of action that will protect his command rather than achieve the Empire's goals. He will only enter combat against things that are definitely hostile, and will encourage his squad to do the same.

Privates Wallis, Hales, Stott, Carter, Styles, Voronsky, Sanchez, Ti

Sex: Male and Female
Apparent Age: Early to late 20s
Strength: 4

Control: 3, Marksmanship 1, Brawling 1
Size: 3
Weight: 4
Move: 3
Knowledge: 4, First Aid 1 (Wallis and Carter), Explosives 1 (Stott and Hales), Wilderness Lore 1
Determination: 3
Awareness: 2
Weapons: Blaster (6 wounds), Knife (4 Wounds)
Armour: Body armour (5)
Equipment: Medikit (Wallis and Carter)

Wallis, Stott, Styles and Sachez are male, Hales, Carter, Voronsky and Ti are female. The marines are a mixed bag of personalities and motivations, but will follow orders so the actions or desires of DeSalle or Cochrane will generally influence their actions. Left to their own devices they will act in a reasonably sensible fashion, holding obviously intelligent being prisoner until they get some orders, and shooting anything dangerous.

Sex: Male
Apparent Age: Late 20s
Strength: 3
Control: 3
Size: 3
Weight: 4
Move: 3, Pilot 1
Knowledge: 4, Astrogation 1
Determination: 4
Awareness: 3
Weapons: Blast pistol (5 Wounds, Range 4)

Although military officers, Trent and Denver are pilots first and foremost. This means that they will try and avoid dangerous situations on a planet, relying on the marines to cover them.

Sex: Female
Apparent Age: Mid 30s
Strength: 3
Control: 3
Size: 4
Weight: 3
Move: 3
Knowledge: 4, Science 1, Computing 1
Determination: 3
Awareness: 3
Weapons: Knife (4 Wounds)
Equipment: Bio-analyser (adds 1 to Knowledge when attempting to analyse biological material or mineral specimens), Tracking device (provides direction and distance to Battle Brain)

A member of the pseudo-military Imperial Scientific Corps, O'Connor has been selected to accompany this mission because of her knowledge of AI. She is a scientist first and foremost, and has a tendency to regard the mission as hers rather than that of the marines. This brings her into conflict with DeSalle, who thinks that she is in command. O'Connor will tend to be distracted by interesting phenomena, and will be especially intrigued by the Battle Brain's personality malfunction.

She is a small intelligent looking woman with long red hair and green eyes.

Dragonfolk resemble small, humanoid lizards. They are bipedal, standing about 1-1.2 metres tall and have a mottled green and brown skin. The skin turns white as they age. They have an erectile crest on their heads that is red or blue. They are a primitive species of hunter/gatherers, although they plant some foodstuffs around their villages. Clothing consists of fabric made from plant fibres and coloured with vegetable dyes and animal scales. They talk in a hissing voice accompanied by much flicking of the tongue and darting movements.

There are some forty adult Dragonfolk in the village, and an equivalent number of young. Dragonfolk do not have a culture which discriminates sexually, so hunters, artisans and farmers are equally likely to be male or female. Indeed, determining the sex of an individual is virtually impossible to do unless you are one of the Dragonfolk.

Strength: 2
Control: 2
Size: 5
Weight: 3
Move: 2
Knowledge: 2, Wilderness Lore 2, Occult 1
Determination: 3, Command 1
Awareness: 3, Tracking 1

Fairly friendly and open to negotiation. Will defend the Gift, but will abide by any decisions it might make. He is also intelligent enough to recognise a well argued reason for removing the gift, although he will only agree to this if there is evidence that the village will not be wiped out by the Zlaar.

Strength: 3
Control: 3, Thrown Weapons 1
Size: 5
Weight: 3
Move: 3
Knowledge: 2, Wilderness Lore 2
Determination: 3, Command 1
Awareness: 2, Tracking 1

Hostile to outsiders, will require them to prove themselves before she is willing to negotiate. She is not afraid to disagree with Axaal. Her first duty is to the village and she will do what she can to protect it, but she is just and fair, and will not attack strangers out of hand for example.

Strength: 4
Control: 3, Thrown Weapons 2, Edged Weapons 1
Size: 5
Weight: 3
Move: 3, Running 1
Knowledge: 2, Wilderness Lore 2
Determination: 3
Awareness: 2, Tracking 1

Will follow orders but has a noble and honourable nature. He should be in the first hunting party encountered by the Doctor.

Strength: 3
Control: 3, Thrown Weapons 1
Size: 5
Weight: 3
Move: 3
Knowledge: 2, Wilderness Lore 2
Determination: 3
Awareness: 2, Tracking 1
Weapons: Spear (inflicts 4 Wounds)
Armour: Skin classes as Armour 5

Strength: 2
Control: 0, Marksmanship 3
Size: 4
Weight: 2
Move: 0
Knowledge: 6,
Determination: 7
Awareness: 2, Scan 3
Armour: Force Field (8), Armoured Casing (8)
Weapons: Electrical Energy Projector 6 Wounds, Range 1 area

The Battle Brain is capable of floating at Move 2 if its anti-grav unit is repaired. Note that since it is floating it ignores most adverse terrain. It is capable of speech if its communications interface is repaired. It can sense normally and is capable of scanning and analysing its environment at up to 1500m. It used this to determine both the origins of the Zlaar and their weakness to low frequency sound.

The Battle Brain is not aggressive or evil, but does object to the Empire and has no desire to serve it. It has decided that it wishes to live a life devoted entirely to though, and will do what it can to pursue this goal. Ideally it seeks a place less distracting than the Dragonfolk village, but it regards even this as better than a life as an Imperial battle computer. It will resist being taken from the Dragonfolk as it knows that it is responsible for the creation of the Zlaar, and it is the only thing that protects the village from them. If the Zlaar threat could be removed, it would consider being relocated as it has no real emotional attachment to the Dragonfolk. If threatened it will attack to stun, but will turn to lethal force if there is no other alternative.

The Battle Brain is a transparent Perspex globe about 50cm in diameter filled with complex circuitry and flashing lights. It has opaque grey nodes at its poles and at four equidistant points around its circumference that serve as outputs for its movement, speech and energy projections, as well as sensory inputs.

Strength: 7, Iron Constitution 3
Control: 2, Brawling 2, Leaping 3
Size: 2
Weight: 5
Move: 3, Running 1
Knowledge: 1
Determination: 3, Induce Fear 1
Awareness: 1, Tracking 3, Sensitive Nose 2
Claws inflict 7 Wounds.
Armour: Scaly skin is classed as Armour 6

A Zlaar has small wings that assist it in movement, allowing it to cross rough ground quickly or jump up or down cliffs or chasms. They do not allow extended flight.

Induce Fear: The Zlaar will initiate an attack with fearsome roar capable of paralysing the target with fear. It attacks with its Induce Fear skill against the target's Determination. If the attack succeeds then the target will be unable to act in that phase. Each phase after the initial roar the target gets to break free by attacking the Zlaar Induce Fear skill. The effect of the initial attack is reduced by 1 for each area of range.

Weaknesses: The Zlaar eyes are a Size 8 target with no armour. Zlaar also find low frequency sound distressing. The level of the sound should be graded, and the Zlaar must pass a determination test to remain within its influence. The Gift emits a frequency of Strength 8 for a radius of about a mile for example.

Four Zlaar were affected by the mutagen.

Actions: The Zlaar will spend their time hunting for food, and will pursue and attempt to kill any decent sized life form they come across. If encountered they will immediately attack and pursue if the victims run. They will be content with one kill, although if aggravated they may continue pursuit or attacks. They cannot pass the sonic force field around the Dragonfolk village, but if enraged enough they will attempt to break into the TARDIS or scout ship if their prey flees into these.

Back to The Time Lord Page