The Zero Room - OOC Chat Thread

[yockenthwaite]

Big Finish who produce audio adventures with Doctors 4-8 have just announced their plans for a special release for the 50th anniversary. It's going to star all of Doctors 4-8, plus companions for each of them. And by the sounds of the blurb Doctors 1-3 will be involved in the story too somehow, raising the possibility of some of their companions guest starring too. I'll be buying it anyway To read more see here. The Big Finish audios include some really good ones - including possibly my favourite Doctor Who story of all, The Chimes of Midnight - and are well worth checking out.

[Mr. Handy]

Wow, that does sound great! I've got the first collection of Eighth Doctor audio adventures by Big Finish which includes Storm Warning, Sword of Orion, The Stones of Venice, and Minuet in Hill. I bought them when I happed across them at a Chapters when visiting Vancouver about two and a half years ago, and I listened to them after I finished watching the classic series and the 1996 TV movie. Minuet in Hell is my favorite out of those four, and it features Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier. Big Finish also made an animated version of Shada with Paul McGann, Lalla Ward, and John Leeson. You can watch it free here, where I saw it in 2010. It is also included on the newly released DVD of Shada along with what exists of the story and Tom Baker's connecting narration. I've preordered that, but it hasn't shipped yet.

I don't have any other Big Finish audios. I've seen them during visits to Forbidden Planet and the Doctor Who shop in London, but I spent a small fortune buying the five collectons of soundtracks from all of the missing TV episodes, and there was a limit to how much I could spend.

[Thorn]

I'll be away this weekend, just a heads up

[jaysun81]

I'm looking forward to picking up this 50th anniversary special by Big Finish. I also plan to pick up Shada. I actually have the old VHS copy of Shada...I always enjoyed it. However, I've never seen the 8th Doctor remake.

[Mr. Handy]

Yeah, Shada's a great one! You can't go wrong with Tom Baker as the Doctor and Douglas Adams writing the story. It's a shame they were never able to finish making it, but at least most of it is intact.

No problem, Thorn!

[Mr. Handy]

I finally had a chance to play my first adventure in the Doctor Who Solitaire Story Game, and it's loads of fun! There are so many different things (and combinations of things) that can happen that you could never exhaust the possibilities, and that's just with the core books. The additional books must add so much more. The text is often general and abstract about what happens, leaving it to the reader's imagination to fill in the story. In my first adventure, my newly regenerated Ninth Doctor visited Earth in the year 12,005, during the Second Roman Empire. Taking my trusty sonic screwdriver, I went out to explore and promptly got hopelessly lost. However, I was soon able to find my way and ran into Marcus Falco, a centurion. He told me about his friend Quintus, a Senator, and we went to visit him. Quintus offered to show us the sights of Novus Roma, and I happily agreed. We went to the arena to take in a robot gladiatorial game from Quintus's luxurious box seats ("Don't worry, the robots are not sentient," Quintus assured me). The opportunity to relax gained me a bonus Luck point, but it was not long before danger reared its ugly head.

Continuing to explore the city, the three of us stumbled upon evidence that secret forces were at work. Putting our heads together, we deduced that the Krillitanes were behind it. But what were they doing here? We investigated further by entering a restricted area - and promptly bumped into two Krillitanes, one of which was an Elder. Fortunately, Krillitanes are easily confused by someone who's smart enough, and the Elders love to gloat about their plans. I talked to them and tricked the Elder into revealing the Krillitanes' purpose here. They were attempting to crack the God-code written into the DNA of all living things so that they could control all life. Thanking the Elder, I said that we had to leave, and it just let us walk off. On our way out, we encountered a patrol of six Roman soldiers, one of which was a centurion. I approached them with open arms. "Friends, Romans, Countrymen!" I said in greeting - only to met with six blasters pointed at my face. "That's odd. That line went over well when I told Mark Antony to use it. Of course, he didn't turn out so well in the end. Pity about the snake."

"This is a forbidden zone!" barked the centurion. "You are not allowed here!"

"Me, not allowed? I'm allowed everywhere!" I tried to warn them about the threat posed by the Krilliatanes, but in spite of my charm, Quintus's status and brilliant oratory, and Marcus Falco's position in the legions, these soldiers refused to listen, determined to enforce their silly laws even if it meant their doom.

"Surrender or die!" ordered the centurion, so we put our hands up and were marched off to prison. Quintus could have used his influence to get us out had he not been in trouble himself.

I was taken to be interrogated, where I was subjected to their mind probe. "No, not the mind probe," I said in a very insincere tone. I easily withstood it by thinking of nothing but nursery rhymes and was taken back to the cell I shared with Marcus and Quintus. It was an easy matter to escape, with a little help from my sonic screwdriver. However, just as we were leaving the prison, we ran into a group of six Krillitanes, their leader the same Elder I had met before. My glib tongue proved to be effective again, and I got the Elder to reveal more about their plans and to let us depart in peace.

Now I had the beginnings of a plan to defeat the Krilliatanes, but I needed to do some scientific research (I should have used engineering, but I forgot that the sonic screwdriver gives me an extra Engineering trait. Still, I rolled well enough that I didn't need it.). Quintus provided a lab for us to use, and I made excellent progress. Continuing my research, I soon made a major breakthrough. "Eureka!" I cried, as I'd figured out exactly how to stop the Krillitane and prevent any bloodshed. Now I just needed to find the right way to approach them, so I started studying what I knew of them to find their weaknesses.

Before I could finish, they approached me. The Elder and its escorts had tracked us to the lab, and they surged inside. "You have interfered for the last time, Doctor!" it said. It issued a chilling order to its minions. "Kill them all!" The Krillitanes advanced...

"Wait!" I cried, and to my surprise they did. Again I talked my way out of trouble, claiming that I had discovered that the designer of the God-code had also implanted a self-destruct mechanism to keep any living things from exploiting it. If they completed their studies and learned the code, they would immediately die! The Krillitanes were skeptical at first, but I showed them my research and used enough technobabble to fool the Elder (and spent a Luck point because I botched my initial roll). The Elder was convinced at last, and it vowed to stop trying to break the code. It even let us live out of gratitude.

Mission accomplished, I returned to the TARDIS to continue my travels. I said goodbye to Marcus Falco, but Quintus wanted to come with me and see the universe. I gladly welcomed him aboard as my first companion, and we headed for our next adventure in time and space.

[jaysun81]

Sounds interesting.

[Mr. Handy]

It looks like I got into the DWSSG at just the right time. Though earlier versions of the game have been around since 2009, it's been vastly improved and expanded. The wiki didn't go live until December 25, and the First Doctor supplement wasn't there until January 5, the day before I discovered the game. The other supplements will be added throughout the year, with each of the classic Doctors getting their supplements placed on the wiki on the first Saturday of each month in order. There is also additional content on the wiki that is not in the PDF versions of the game, including sound clips and many more pictures. The hyperlinks really help with navigating as well. I've had to keep track of everything on paper, but later this year there are plans to allow character sheets and moves to be recorded and saved on the wiki, which will make it an even more convenient way to play. A dice roller will be added to the wiki too.

[ImpInTraining]

I failed you, buddy...

We played trivia on the cruise ship. One of the questions was "What does T.A.R.D.I.S" stand for... and I blew it. Sorry.

[CrackheadC.]

I am currently in the States visiting family, so I won't be able to post (very tight schedule, I am only here for one week). I will be back in Korea on Tuesday and will be able to post again then.

[Mr. Handy]

No problem, and enjoy!

The DWSSG now has the dice roller up and working, and I've played a few more adventures in the last couple of weeks, including one where Quintus and I visited Pompeii in A.D. 79, shortly before Vesuvius blew its top. He was delighted to see the original Roman Empire. The Sycorax were planning to invade, and humanity would have been helpless in that era. Fortunately, I managed to defeat the Sycorax by finding the beacon that would guide their invasion fleet in to land and placing it on top of the volcano, thus destroying the fleet. We even managed to get safely into the TARDIS before the eruption.

[CrackheadC.]

I'm back from my vacation, but after a 20 hour ordeal of travel I am just going to bed. I'll catch up and post tomorrow.

[Mr. Handy]

Welcome back!

[Mr. Handy]

Welcome to Trace, who will be taking over the character of Elliot Webb!

[ImpInTraining]

*waving to Trace*

[DetectiveSocks]

Hey everybody, sorry for the long response for my character, but school had just started for me last week and I've been busy

[Mr. Handy]

Welcome back! I don't think you've missed too much.

[DrPeterson]

Welcome, Trace!

[Mr. Handy]

I'll be leaving for a convention on Thursday afternoon and won't be back until Sunday night, though I might not be able to catch up and post until the following night.

Those of you in the Regrouping thread may interact freely with each other. My input won't be needed unless you go somewhere or do something, but please try to come to a decision about what everyone is going to do next by the time I return.

[CrackheadC.]

Enjoy, and I apologize to everyone in the thread, for some reason I haven't been able to get onto the forums recently, I had been getting some general error.