Doctor Who Ideas for Pulp Alley

[Arundel]

Tis a rainy day here in Southern California and I have some free time, so I've poured a large mug of tea and am going to work on getting some Doctor Who-themed leagues started. The trouble is I'm not that familiar with the rules and so I thought to come here to ask for some guidance. If any of you have any ideas for translating the following into Pulp Alley I'd be most grateful! (I've searched online but haven't found much.)

The Doctor: He will be the Fourth (Tom Baker) if that makes any difference. Should be a formidable fellow, obviously, but not so much in combat. Thinking to load him with gadgetry and the more brainy talents. A strong Dodge rating is probably essential. Any thoughts?

Companions: Not thinking of any specifically - they're not nearly so important to me as the good Doctor. Helpful lads and lasses of the sidekick variety, obviously.

UNIT: Pretty easy, really - probably gangs of five with some good combat skills.

Daleks: Right, here is where I could really use some ideas. They should be tough, of course, but I'd also like more than just two or three on the table (it's my Cecil B DeMille side). Could really use some pointers here.

Davros: evil mastermind sort. Probably pretty easy, but giving a pointer to specific skills that might suit would be very helpful.

Cybermen: Tough but different from the pepperpots. Thoughts?

Many thanks for any ideas!

[mysteriousbill]

Didn't the Daleks use Robomen?

[Panama]

Its a trick one I think but I'll see if I can help out, out haven't Played PA in a while & don't have any of the books to hand.

For The Doctor & sidekick I'd go with Duo but this makes it very hard to win even more so if your only new to PA.

Dalek, as you want to use more then just a few is again tricky given that you want them to be tough, so maybe have one or two tough one's with gangs making up the rest.

Davros, you could go for I think its call the hidden hand, basically you have no leader but get more points to spend, meaning that like with all good pulp villains you've have loads of minions run around doing your dirty work while you stay safe in the shadows

Cybermen   lots of gangs is the way to go as there's always lots of them.

I hope that's of some help to you & I'm sure Dave will most likely be able to point you in the right direction.

[Arundel]

Bill, yes they did!

Panama, those are some excellent suggestions that largely follow some of the ideas I've been considering. My thought for the Doctor's league will be to have him, possibly the Brigadier as his sidekick, Sgt Benton as an ally, two gangs of UNIT troopers and a follower Companion. I think that adds up right.

I agree with you on the Daleks - because I'm going for numbers with them, I'd probably have a few "souped-up versions" in the Sidekick and Ally slots, then 1-3 gangs of drones (possibly with the talent that always gives them cover, to highlight their toughness), and then an evil, relatively useless human flunky as a follower (a turncoat scientist or some such). Maybe adding the Armoured ability from the genre packs as well? I might have to houserule how to do this with gangs, AND give the Doctor and his league some little bonus (more gadgets?) to balance things out.

Agree with the hordes of Cybermen idea. Perhaps the Eagle-Eye ability (gives longer range) for leader types?

Thank you both for your input!

[d phipps]

Just a few quick thoughts.....

For the Doctor, maybe some flexible skill buffs such as Trick and Plan. Maybe consider a somewhat defensive ability such as Disarming? Note, Disarming is intended to represent throwing an enemy off their game - rather than literally disarming them. Indomitable might be good to represent his resilience.

For the Daleks, I'd make them Armored. This will make them robust and slow.

Maybe make the Cyber men Goons and take Marksmen and Fierce. Basically for stomping around and causing havoc. I could see a wide array of different Cybermen types - Followers, Allies, Gangs, Sidekicks, and even Leader level.


Doctor Who scenarios are perfect for Pulp Alley because the goal for the Doctor is too complete the Major Plot Point -- instead of just fighting stuff. 


I hope we get to see more!

HAVE FUN

[Arundel]

Dave, those are some excellent suggestions - the specific skill names are especially helpful, as, like I say, I'm still in the learning curve with the rules. Watched your solo game video on Youtube yesterday and today will try to mash up the Doctor's and the Dalek leagues, for a game or two over the weekend. This could prove an extreme peril due to the fact that my wife and kids want to set up the Christmas tree and I'll be occupying our biggest table. I'm hoping I don't fail my Dodge roll... 

[Tom Reed]

If you are using Baker you have to add K-9 as well.

[Arundel]

Yes, I plan to. Was thinking he would make a good plot point - otherwise I'm not quite sure what abilities to give him. Must watch more episodes!

[Dangerboy]

For the Doctor I'd look at Quick-Witted, as the extra dice will help with perils and plot points and it does a good job representing his competence in general. I also second Dave's suggestion of Disarming; it gives him a slipperiness all Doctors seem to possess. The perk Company of Heroes could work too. The Doctor would have a smaller league, but higher level companions.

If you want to make your Daleks especially invulnerable, consider the Unearthly ability. Although their durability is  admittedly inconsistent, and your Daleks will have to be Allies or better (the ability isn't available to gangs), you'll give them the feel of physical invulnerability that can't be dealt with via conventional means. That also means Action Skill-oriented characters (like the Doctor) can deal with them far more easily, or at least on equal footing.

[Arundel]

Dangerboy, those are some excellent suggestions, thank you. As I said before, at this stage of my development specific abilities really help as I tend to get a little overwhelmed with all the choices. Working on the leagues this morning with games lined up over the next several days - so we'll see how it goes!

Thanks again!

[warrenpeace]

Are you using Black Tree Design figures for this Dr. Who project?

I've only seen about 3 seasons, so I don't think I can offer much on specific abilities. Need to really comb through the Pulp Alley Leagues booklet for that. But I think I can offer some suggestions for league structure for the Daleks & Cybermen:

Cybermen league:

I'd suggest using Mastermind, led by an off table cyber controller or cyber planner, but led on table by a sidekick level cyber leader or cyber lieutenant. Add another sidekick cyber scout or cyber sniper, perhaps with a long range weapon. The rest of the slots not used for additional perks, including the extra 6 slots from Mastermind, should be used for multiple highly modified gangs.

Instead of the usual 5 or six figures per gang, use 3. But each gang figure takes two hits to eliminate, and each gang figure gets a combat die (rather than the usual 1 combat die per 2 figures). And, because they are cybermen, have each gang remain in action until the last figure is eliminated. This will give the mass of cybermen you desire to see, with most moving in lockstep small groups, and will show the cybermen as tougher than a normal human gang.

Because these extra gang abilities go off script from what is found in the Pulp Alley Leagues booklet, you could either impose a small slot cost on the cyberman league or compensate opposing leagues with an extra slot or two. You could have a scenario involving a fight between cybermen and Daleks, with The Doctor and humans getting caught in the middle, perhaps in 1930's New York City.

Daleks:

Since you want to see multiple Daleks on the table, I'd suggest a couple of Dalek leagues. They could either oppose each other as imperial and renegade factions, or they could be on the same side but each be assigned a different mission.

Dalek League of Legends: This is the 4 sidekick league. Although Daleks certainly have a hierarchy and different functions and roles, those armored cars they ride around in with a universal weapons system seem to give them mostly similar capability. (I could be wrong on this, as I haven't watched enough Dr. Who.) So that makes the idea of 4 sidekicks with one designated leader attractive as a way to depict Daleks.

Interestingly, there is precedent in the show for this group of 4 in the 2006 finale "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday" with its Cult of Skaro. The black Dalek leader was named Sec. The others were named Jast, Thay, and Caan.

Dalek machine team: Another league of Daleks could consist of a leader, a sidekick, one of those extra tough 3 figure gangs like the one I described above for the cybermen (basically some lower level workers), and a crew operating some kind of machine or weapon. Their mission might be to get that machine or weapon into action to accomplish something. That would give you the multiple Daleks that you'd like to see while balancing the scenario by having most of them be low level workers or crew.

[whomever1]

  You could also toughen up some normal gangs by taking the Reanimated perk--that would be about as good as armored.

[Arundel]

Warrenpeace@ I can't thank you enough for the detailed response and all the ideas therein. Whoo, where to start?

I'm actually doing this project in the Big Scale, 54mm, and so unfortunately won't be tapping into the excellent BTD range. Why the big scale? It really boils down to fact that I like the heft and look of them better; maybe also that they feel even more like toys and so nurture the Inner Boy many of us have lurking about somewhere in the psyche. At least I do.    The initial credit, or blame, for the thing can be laid firmly at the feet of our own Mr Faversham: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=112391.msg1405969#msg1405969   

My UNIT troops will be the same Britains Deetail figures he uses, except with the red berets and green bases rather than the greys he uses; Cybermen, Davros, the Doctor and K-9 are all by Corgi; for the Daleks I went a slightly different route and have used the Roll-A-Matics Daleks made by Product Enterprises http://productenterprisedoctorwho.weebly.com/25-roll-a-matic-daleks.html  - at about 2.75" (just over 60mm) they are a little bigger than pepperpots should be, but they are great, solidly built little toys and they look all the more formidable for all that - and as most of my human figures are actually 60-ish mm it isn't too jarring. For Companions, random scientists, thugs, pedestrians, etc., I am using 1/32 Preiser figures - made for model train enthusiasts - that come pre-painted and are in 1/32 (54mm) scale. So there you are; far more information than you probably wanted, but I'm having such fun with the thing that it's a pleasure to share.

Your rules suggestions are excellent. I may well adopt your tougher gang idea, since I think it will hit the sweet spot between making the pepperpots tougher yet still allowing me to have numbers on the table. Even with the 'always in cover' gang ability they were feeling a little too easy to kill, so this could well be the solution. I also like the off board leader idea for the Cybermen. That feels spot on. One of my future projects is to make some Cybermats to bulk out their forces. I will try to sculpt some from FIMO or some other coloured clay; Kaled mutants too! Anyway, thank you again for all the advice.

Whomever@ Yes, I'd been eyeing that ability as well. Could be just the thing. Thank you!

[Dangerboy]

Dalek League of Legends: This is the 4 sidekick league. Although Daleks certainly have a hierarchy and different functions and roles, those armored cars they ride around in with a universal weapons system seem to give them mostly similar capability. (I could be wrong on this, as I haven't watched enough Dr. Who.) So that makes the idea of 4 sidekicks with one designated leader attractive as a way to depict Daleks.

Interestingly, there is precedent in the show for this group of 4 in the 2006 finale "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday" with its Cult of Skaro. The black Dalek leader was named Sec. The others were named Jast, Thay, and Caan.

The Cult of Skaro would make an excellent league! The League of Legends perk is perfect for them. It'd be an easy way to get some fairly imposing Daleks (they'd each have Sidekick level skills and two abilities) with just four figures.

To steal ever further from warrenpeace and whomever1, you can make give your Cybermen their signature feel with a few perks. Combining Mastermind and Reanimated will get you a small legion of some tough Gangs, as well as a Sidekick to lead them.

I kind of like the idea of Dalek, Cybermen, and Doctor leagues that use different structure perks (League of Legends, Mastermind and Company of Heroes) to give them each a different feel and play experience. I look forward to hearing how it all turns out.

[Arundel]

Agree with all you say, Dangerboy. Another thought I've had is that in a brief campaign of 4-6 games, one might start the Daleks or Cybermen as really tough, a League of Legends or some similar set-up, and then as the games progress (especially with any victories the Doctor's league might win), reduce their level to something closer to their opponents - maybe even to the stats of standard gangs, plus some leader types, by the end. Seems to me this would reflect a number of Who episodes in which the Daleks/Cybermen get destroyed rather frequently by UNIT, the Doctor or both.