I noted on Twitter that Cubicle 7 had announced the release of Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space as a PDF, through DriveThruRPG and RPGNow. I haven’t got my own copy at the moment, which irks a little… I’d love to have my hands on it right now. Others have been opening the box with reverance, inspecting the glossy booklets with curious and fannish eyes.

I have to admit I am happy to wait – because I’m not at a major disadvantage for waiting an extra week or two. In the meantime, I’m saving £13 on the recommended price.

Now, I have to wonder the advantages of getting the PDF copy. You get no box, no dice – and you need to print them out if you want to use the tokens. If the PDF pricing considered this in light of market pricing as well, I might be tempted (and I have other games in PDF format, while also possessing the hardcopy)… However, the PDF copy is £21.53, just £5.46 cheaper than the boxset I’m getting from Play.com. What would possess me to do without the physical books for such a discount? Yes the PDF can go anywhere with me, stored away on a laptop or iPhone; but do I, as a Doctor Who GM, really need to be that flexible?

Just noted that there’s a favourable review of the new Doctor Who RPG in the latest issue of SFX.

The production value seems to have impressed – with the reviewer noting that many RPGs didn’t come up to the mark in terms of presentation. The reviewer noted the game used a point system for character creation and supported creation of characters suited to the atmosphere of the game (i.e. no gungho alien killing machines coming out of this game!)

The only downside the reviewer noted related to player fights over who got to play The Doctor/the resident Time Lord. I doubt that fight will really last long – because the weight on the shoulders of the average Time Lord will likely detract from the entertainment of playing one. Too much depends on you being right and you spend your time concerned for your companions – so very little time to consider yourself. If you do struggle to get players to agree, rotate character roles – random selection each session. Players who don’t like that kind of random factor and prefer to develop their own characters will rapidly get the idea and settle on a more agreeable arrangement for who plays what character. Those less bothered can play Time Lord ping-pong.

Anyway, I still await arrival of my copy. The price of getting the game £13 cheaper than advertised seems to be existing for the whims of the distributor. The game will come when it comes… Not like I don’t have anything else to do in the meantime!

Heck, I’m not going to lie – I weep at the drop of a hat when it comes down to films and TV shows with favourite characters. I still shed a tear when Spock or Kirk dies – in Star Trek II and VII, respectively. Waving goodbye to the crew of the Galactica was like attending a wake for lost friends. So, Sarah Janes involvement with the 10th Doctor has been a real Kleenex moment. Their first meeting, along with Rose, had tears rolling by the as Sarah Jane pontificated on the ups and downs of being a companion. When the Doctor ‘presented’ her with a rebuilt K9, shuddering recommenced, eyes wet and puffy.

Anyway… I should have known better than engaging in a Sarah Jane Adventures marathon yesterday. I knew the Doctor would appear in one of the stories – and he did in the Wedding of Sarah Jane. I enjoyed the story, though the villain of the piece was fairly obvious from the outset. The story actually took a little while to warm up, giving you the chance to see that Sarah Jane might actually be falling in love for real; but, by the end of the episode it clearly was not to be. The arrival of the TARDIS had reverberated through the episode, straining in the background, obviously blocked from materialising by some outside force. When the Doctor finally arrived, he did so with customary explosion of noise and action.

In the end, the villain failed and Sarah Jane was left without a groom… then the Doctor said goodbye. Having shown the kids around the TARDIS, Sarah Jane and he stand alone – and they say farewell, Sarah asking if she’ll see him again and the Doctor admitting that he doesn’t know. We know, of course, that he probably never will (except perhaps fleetingly in an end of year adventure), so it proves all the more emotional.

Boo-hoo. Poor me.

Update: Not really an update, as such – just testing that Renegade Time Lord’s integration with Twitter is up and running.