Roleplaying with Doctor Who!

The Zen Doctor

“The House That Ate Time”

“The House That Ate Time” (1TD01)
by Nathaniel Torson
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Game Master: Erin   Players: Adam, Brian, Erin
Game Date: 6 July 2018; 28 July 2018; 18 August 2018
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Characters: The (Nth) Doctor, The (Lost) Doctor, The (Zen) Doctor, Selene, Marilyn, K9
Adversaries: The House, The Weeping Angels, The Reapers, et al.
Allies: Howard Carter, John Smith
Time: 16 November 1891 CE; 2 August 1914 CE; 9 September 1988 CE
Space: Great Thrumpton, England, Earth; Valley of the Kings, Egypt, Earth; Montana, United States, Earth
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Continuity: The first adventure featuring the Zen Doctor and K9.
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Synopsis: In the tunnels beneath the Martian moon Phobos, the Doctor and Selene evade Ice Warrior extremists. Down the autumnal paths of nineteenth century New England, the Doctor and his trusty steed Marilyn flee the manifestations of a nightmare. And in the peace and serenity of his TARDIS, the Doctor’s meditations are interrupted by a warning from K9 concerning a temporal disruption. In one continuum-shattering instant, these three distinct incarnations of the same renegade Time Lord find themselves face-to-face, and the implications of such a convergence are nothing short of catastrophic.

The force that has brought three Doctors to the same deceptively nondescript basement vault is driven by hunger, an all-consuming hunger greater than the raging energies of the time vortex itself. It feasts on the transcendental flesh of god-like Chronovores, and it saps the artron emissions from prototype Sontaran timeships. Unchecked, it will devour the TARDIS whole. Putting aside their differences to investigate this ravenous presence, the Doctors discover that beyond the underground labyrinth stands a house unlike any other, where spacious halls and tastefully decorated lounges conceal an architecture that mocks the laws of physics, and each door and window opens onto a different time and place. Reality itself is but a pabulum here, for this is the house that eats time!

Deconstructing the deadly mysteries of this astonishing structure requires a coordinated effort across three distinct timeframes, moments in history infected by its corrupting influence. In each of these eras, a Doctor must face a gauntlet of terrors, for the paradoxes produced by this insatiable beast of an abode have attracted some of the universe’s most dangerous temporal parasites. But there is hope to be found in these distant times and places, for a lone figure is present wherever the Doctor ventures. Earth’s history and the survival of the TARDIS may depend upon the kindness and goodwill of one Dr. John Smith, an ordinary Englishman caught up in most extraordinary circumstances.

Three Doctors. Three timeframes. One monstrous threat. It’s time to bring down the house.


Teaser: “The House That Ate Time” (The Zen Doctor)

THE STARK walls of the console room seemed to radiate a soft white light, creating a feeling of warmth in otherwise sterile surroundings. A hexagonal console stood in the centre of the room, stretching up to a bright ceiling almost entirely covered by a canopy of intertwining leafy branches. The light filtering through the greenery threw patterns of shadows across the white walls. From the distance, the faint wooden sound of wind chimes wound its way into the tranquil room. In a far corner, a man sat in meditation.

With a sound like ice cracking on the surface of a deep, frozen lake, a metallic whirring broke through the calm. The noise grew closer. The man opened one eye, breathed deeply, and closed it.

The clamour did not cease, and soon a series of beeps accompanied the whirring. There was a loud thunk as something rolled across the threshold into room. This time, the man opened both eyes. His metal canine companion trundled toward him.

(more…)