Announced on Cubicle 7's Livejournal (http://cubicle7.livejournal.com/6963.html).
The game will be released in October 2009.
(http://www.cubicle-7.com/images/Who.jpg)
Looks good, and in a box set!
Sweet! (http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/15219.html)
Quote from: ICv2The long-awaited Doctor Who RPG from Cubicle 7 will be released in October. Cubicle’s Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space (MSRP $59.95) is the third licensed Doctor Who RPG. FASA published one in the 1980s, which was followed by a Virgin Publishing release in 1991. Cubicle’s new Doctor Who RPG is based on the current iteration of the popular BBC TV series, and features lots of full color pictures from the show.
Cubicle’s Doctor Who RPG, which was created to appeal to both the experienced and first time gamer, comes in a deluxe box set that contains a 144-page Gamemaster’s Guide, an 86-page Player’s Guide, a 30-page Adventures Book, 4-page Quick Start Guide, Pre-Generated Character Sheets, Blank Character Sheets, Gadget Sheets, tokens and dice.
The new Doctor Who RPG was written by David Chapman, who penned several of Eden Studios’ products (see “Cubicle 7 Plans Doctor Who RPG”). Like the show's Timelord, players in the game can visit any era of history and range across the universe, though they have to keep a wary eye out for Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Plasmavores, Slitheen and others.
Two things: First, I'd like to know what the price will be in the UK, in Pounds. Second, I wonder if they're going to change the cover art once Tennant is replaced by the new kid?
RPGPundit
The new kid could fit in an expansion for the next season.
Well blow me down, they're finally releasing it.
Pundit's cover question is a good one. As of late December Matt Smith will be the new incumbent, giving the image a shelf life of approximately two-and-a-half months. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a placeholder, or, failing that, to see a reissued cover sometime next year.
Does anyone know what system they are using for it? Is it another FATE game?
The cover rather turns me off it.
Yeah, I think they should have just gone with something simple- like maybe just a pic of the Tardis. Also I don't like games that use photos as opposed to art.
Quote from: Aos;310060Yeah, I think they should have just gone with something simple- like maybe just a pic of the Tardis. Also I don't like games that use photos as opposed to art.
Same here. Photos generally look pretty lame and out of place. They often disrupt the flow of the text.
Looks like there gonna be after the kiddy cash with that kind of image on the boxset since kids will want it based on the picture alone if my experiences of working in a toystore that sells the figures and other dr who stuff is anything to go on, if thats the case then i can see a retail in the uk of around £29.99 max for the boxset as most kids will have little or no interest in a higher priced boxset since they could get alot more figures or a huge playset for around the same price which will allow them to play they're own adventures alot faster and easier than any overpriced boxset ever could.
Yes, the UK price of the Box Set is a major concern. And I think that the cover is great, and is clearly for appealing to the kiddy crowd, which is a great move on their part.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;310012Two things: First, I'd like to know what the price will be in the UK, in Pounds. Second, I wonder if they're going to change the cover art once Tennant is replaced by the new kid?
RPGPundit
Tennant's run has been
hugely popular, so I doubt it. That cover is actually
very reminiscent of the BBC's press pics, the DVD covers, toy boxes and other merchandising. Though I'm not crazy about it, I can see their point. Well, thing is it's finally out, or will be. Huzzah.
Quote from: RPGPundit;310079Yes, the UK price of the Box Set is a major concern.
RPGPundit
Yep. We always get ripped off here. If something is $29, chances are it'll be £24 in the UK instead of giving even lip-service to the exchange rate.
Even if that is taken into account in this case, £40 is on the cards. Too high a price IMO.
Quote from: Broken-Serenity;310065Looks like there gonna be after the kiddy cash with that kind of image on the boxset since kids will want it based on the picture alone if my experiences of working in a toystore that sells the figures and other dr who stuff is anything to go on, if thats the case then i can see a retail in the uk of around £29.99 max for the boxset as most kids will have little or no interest in a higher priced boxset since they could get alot more figures or a huge playset for around the same price which will allow them to play they're own adventures alot faster and easier than any overpriced boxset ever could.
if this is marketed at the demographic who buys toy figures it will fail. Unless it's specifically designed as an rpg for young kids (unlike every single other rpg ever).
Quote from: One Horse Town;310083Yep. We always get ripped off here. If something is $29, chances are it'll be £24 in the UK instead of giving even lip-service to the exchange rate.
Even if that is taken into account in this case, £40 is on the cards. Too high a price IMO.
I wouldn't be surprised. Dark Heresy retails for £40 which is about average price these days.
Quote from: brettmb;310062Same here. Photos generally look pretty lame and out of place. They often disrupt the flow of the text.
To me, it looks pretty consistent with most of the other recent Who tie-ins that the BBC have published or endorsed. I wouldn't be surprised if part of the licensing deal with the BBC involves agreeing to keep the presentation of the product in-line with the rest of the tie-ins.
Besides, they probably won't be able to get enough photos of the new guy until after his term in "office" starts. I don't think it will hurt them too much. The big thing is that
it's coming out before Christmas. Got any friends or relatives who are Dr Who fans and might be interested in RPGs? Now you know what to get them!
You know what excites me? The box contents. A player's handbook and GM guide of a decent size? Quickstart rules, pregenned characters, and a booklet of adventures to start out with? Dice and tokens and tactileness, oh my! It's got just about all the ingredients that a decent introductory boxed RPG should have to avoid being crippleware. Let's hope the design and writing are up to scratch.
Quote from: One Horse Town;310083Yep. We always get ripped off here. If something is $29, chances are it'll be £24 in the UK instead of giving even lip-service to the exchange rate.
Even if that is taken into account in this case, £40 is on the cards. Too high a price IMO.
Bear in mind, though, that a lot depends on where the thing is printed. If Cubicle are being smart, they'll have arranged with the BBC to use the printers they use for Dr Who tie-in material, since the game is quite likely to be pitched to the UK market (whereas even Dark Heresy, ostensibly based on a British-designed game universe, seems pitched to a global RPG market, which in practice means focusing on the States first and the UK second).
A full color boxed set that will sale for $60 US? Fantastic. A single XBOX 360 game goes for that much. This will provide just as much entertainment, if not more.
My wife is a Dr. Who nut and this might further her participation in RPGs.
And there really isn't a price too high for that development. :)
Quote from: Ghost Whistler;310096I wouldn't be surprised. Dark Heresy retails for £40 which is about average price these days.
Yes, but dark heresy is marketed to a tiny number of collector dorks, not to a huge untapped multitude of kids who've never played RPGs before.
And that's the question C7 have to ask themselves: are they going for the tiny but sure number of collector dorks, which makes sure that this game will be just another mildly successful blip, or are they going for the millions of kids who are apeshit over Doctor Who and never played an RPG in their life?
Because if its the latter, they should stop fucking worrying about the glossy paper, and start worrying about making the price well under 30~pounds.
RPGPundit
Dark Heresy is one of the few RPGs regularly found in normal bookshops. That it wasn't marketed to the 40k crowd was because GW wouldn't put it in their normal stores and despite its success passed it on to FFG.
GW are, frankly, wankers and have been since around 1990. You'd think they'd want to run with and promote a success, but nooooo.
GW gave up the Dredd license, despite having a really awesome game. It sold almost no minis.
GW licensed out WFRP 1e because they didn't want to deal with it. HHP picked up the license, and gave it up because James Wallis was bored with it.
GW licensed out several board games (Space Crusade, Hero Quest, ASC, AHQ) that didn't need loads of add-on minis. Rules for same are available for free from Hasbro...
GW quit printing blood bowl after they migrated it from a board game to a minis game; part of that migration included lots of people building boards, rather than using GW's board. They still make (and sell) the minis, but the rules are now free.
GW is all about the minis. They keep changing the rules on the various races in WHFB and WH40K so that people need to buy new minis.
I have a wife who was a big Eden fan and is a huge Doctor Who fan (of the new series) who will be ecstatic the day this is released.
I'd play it, if I get to play a gay Torchwood leftenant.
Quote from: Warthur;310097To me, it looks pretty consistent with most of the other recent Who tie-ins that the BBC have published or endorsed.
It is. I have all the non-fiction books. Same trade dress.
I'm excited! It's coming out! It's coming out!
Seanchai
The cover looks like the X and X guidebooks they have put out. (Which were cheap and full color for 13 bucks. I still need the first of the 4 though.)
I want it, but 60 bucks is a bit much. 40 dollars and my ass would preorder that action right now.
As it stands I will be looking for it on discount sites.
Quote from: RPGPundit;310147Yes, but dark heresy is marketed to a tiny number of collector dorks, not to a huge untapped multitude of kids who've never played RPGs before.
And that's the question C7 have to ask themselves: are they going for the tiny but sure number of collector dorks, which makes sure that this game will be just another mildly successful blip, or are they going for the millions of kids who are apeshit over Doctor Who and never played an RPG in their life?
Because if its the latter, they should stop fucking worrying about the glossy paper, and start worrying about making the price well under 30~pounds.
RPGPundit
Dr Who isn't marketed to any bigger or different an audience at all. Both games are marketed to whomever wants to buy them. I see no evidence of a particular plan to sell Dr Who in a groundbreaking way for rpgs (unlike the proposed Dragon Age rpg thing that's coming out based on that video game). And it's not as if 40k isn't appreciated by largely the same audience anyway.
You might see Dr Who in shops like Waterstones but I think that'll be as far as it goes. Nothing new there, so was Dark Heresy.
Quote from: GRIM;310160Dark Heresy is one of the few RPGs regularly found in normal bookshops. That it wasn't marketed to the 40k crowd was because GW wouldn't put it in their normal stores and despite its success passed it on to FFG.
GW are, frankly, wankers and have been since around 1990. You'd think they'd want to run with and promote a success, but nooooo.
yep; i have never understood why GW shops don't sell products like DH or that ccg that came out a few years back, Or the videogame(s). They sell the novels, which seems no different. But then, they, and a lot of their staff, are just wankers indeed. I also object to their advertising jobs that don't exist as well. A classy act, during a recession.
Quote from: Ghost Whistler;310279You might see Dr Who in shops like Waterstones but I think that'll be as far as it goes. Nothing new there, so was Dark Heresy.
The combination of wider retail distribution and massive UK brand recognition may result in something more. The BBC freely admits that it makes bundles from Who merchandise every year.
Quote from: Hackmastergeneral;310208I have a wife who was a big Eden fan and is a huge Doctor Who fan (of the new series) who will be ecstatic the day this is released.
I'd play it, if I get to play a gay Torchwood leftenant.
Last I heard Torchwood will be getting its own boxed set next year. It'll be a complete game using the same ruleset, but pitched to an older audience.
Torchwood? Mmmh... Not really my thing, but that's a real smart move in C7 part...
(I wonder whether they'll go on to publish rules for Mr. Smith and sonic lipstick? :p)
Quote from: SunBoy;310289Torchwood? Mmmh... Not really my thing, but that's a real smart move in C7 part...
(I wonder whether they'll go on to publish rules for Mr. Smith and sonic lipstick? :p)
A Sarah Jane boxed set was also mentioned.
Of course this was almost two years ago, when the Who set was scheduled for a 2008 release. Things may have changed since then.
Quote from: GRIM;310160Dark Heresy is one of the few RPGs regularly found in normal bookshops. That it wasn't marketed to the 40k crowd was because GW wouldn't put it in their normal stores and despite its success passed it on to FFG.
GW are, frankly, wankers and have been since around 1990. You'd think they'd want to run with and promote a success, but nooooo.
I suspect it's a case that, despite the stuff they licensed to FFG being a success, it wasn't enough of a success to spend GW's time and money on it. Say, for every £100 GW spent on DH they enjoyed a net profit of £50, but for every £100 they spend on their minis lines they get a net profit of £100: at that point it doesn't make sense for GW to spend their own time on DH when they could just license it out, have someone else spend the money developing it and enjoy the tasty royalties, whilst their own designers focus on what makes them the most money.
Quote from: Drew;310286The combination of wider retail distribution and massive UK brand recognition may result in something more. The BBC freely admits that it makes bundles from Who merchandise every year.
how will this game have wider retail distribution?
i've no doubt Dr Who merch is big bucks. But those things aren't obscure involved hobby products; they are highly accesible toys whose use is immediate and apparent.
Quote from: Ghost Whistler;310296how will this game have wider retail distribution?
The aforementioned Waterstones. The Cubicle 7 Q&A I attended a while back also mentioned selling it through toy stores and any other place that carries Who merchandise. It's an official product, backed by the BBC, and as such is likely to have many more doors open to it than other RPGs.
Quotei've no doubt Dr Who merch is big bucks. But those things aren't obscure involved hobby products; they are highly accesible toys whose use is immediate and apparent.
Maybe you're right, but there was a time when these obscure and involved hobby products flew off the shelves. Whilst there are many environmental factors that might the curtail the success of the Doctor Who RPG, I don't think that the patience and concentration required to learn how to play it will be one of them.
Two things:
1. Yay! I digs this news!
2. What kind of system will this be using (if anyone knows that is)?
Quote from: Drew;310290A Sarah Jane boxed set was also mentioned.
Of course this was almost two years ago, when the Who set was scheduled for a 2008 release. Things may have changed since then.
Now, that one I'm not so sure about... is there really that much material in the SJA to make for a whole set? I'd say that a good website with info on the characters (and how to translate them to the game) could be a safer move...
Quote from: Ghost WhistlerBut those things aren't obscure involved hobby products; they are highly accesible toys whose use is immediate and apparent.
RPGs are not really that "obscure" anymore, really. And actually, this "wacky grown-up game" could be a great hook for the smaller kids. I'm sure every one of us who's got a little brother/sister/son/daughter know that children just LOVE this stuff. Maybe I'm a bit too optimistic here, but we could really be seeing some big thing here. You know what? Scratch what I said above about Sarah Jane... make a box set out of it alright, and target it to 9-12 kids... I'm probably just being fanboyish here (and I really wouldn't know except for the web, we don't get Doctor Who down here in the Western Indies -though we do get Torchwood, ain't that weird?), but this could be really big...
Is the tone of the game written for youngsters?
Quote from: Ghost Whistler;310305Is the tone of the game written for youngsters?
If they're keeping consistent with the general tone and style of other tie-in material, I think they'll try to keep things kid-accessible without talking down to them. The people currently managing the franchise are very aware that they need to cater both to the younger generation of fans and to grown ups (of both the fanboy variety and the more casual follower who remembers watching the old series as a child and enjoys watching the new series with their children).
You can see this approach with the way they do the show and its main spin-offs, actually; Torchwood is specifically for grownups and older teens, the Sarah Jane Adventures are a kid's show, and Dr Who is the "broad church" which tries to accommodate everyone (but perhaps might be a bit over the heads of the youngest audience members). Which, incidentally, means that the 3-game approach makes a lot of sense: Torchwood has its own adult fanbase who'd appreciate their own version of the game, the Sarah Jane Adventures has a younger fanbase who might find a simplified version of the game more accessible - say, with more boardgame elements, a more limited GMing role (kids under 10 tend to power trip if you give them complete authority over their peers), and lots of pregenerated material in the box.
If I had to guess, in fact, I'd say that that the main problem the SJA game faces would be writing an RPG which an especially young audience would appreciate. Kids towards the upper age range of the SJA audience almost certainly watch Dr Who as well, and I suspect that given the choice they'd rather play the cool Dr Who game that their peers and the slightly older kids enjoy rather than the too "kiddie" SJA game. (Of course, the
really cool kids play Torchwood because it's more violent and the show has sex and stuff, only their parents get upset if they catch them watching it.)
Actually i would say that Dr Who is plainly a kids show. Certainly now they've hired this 26yo to play the part (and the actress playing the assistant). They've clearly found the demographic for the new who is the kids market. Whereas Torchwood, with its painful attempts at titillation, is aimed either at adults or people who are extremely sad.
Quote from: Ghost Whistler;310318Actually i would say that Dr Who is plainly a kids show. Certainly now they've hired this 26yo to play the part (and the actress playing the assistant). They've clearly found the demographic for the new who is the kids market. Whereas Torchwood, with its painful attempts at titillation, is aimed either at adults or people who are extremely sad.
I think Dr Who is pitched as a "family" show - in that it's meant to be suitable for and enjoyable by kids, but adults watching with them should also be entertained. Whereas the Sarah Jane Adventures is more explicitly for children and doesn't make much of an effort to appeal to adults.
It is enjoyed by many families, but IMO it's clearly, now, aimed more at the kids. I think that's where it's gravitated. Perhaps not as much as SJA.
now whether this rpg is the same, remains to be seen.
Quote from: Ghost Whistler;310279Dr Who isn't marketed to any bigger or different an audience at all. Both games are marketed to whomever wants to buy them. I see no evidence of a particular plan to sell Dr Who in a groundbreaking way for rpgs (unlike the proposed Dragon Age rpg thing that's coming out based on that video game). And it's not as if 40k isn't appreciated by largely the same audience anyway.
You might see Dr Who in shops like Waterstones but I think that'll be as far as it goes. Nothing new there, so was Dark Heresy.
That is not what the C7 people expressed to me in our conversations, or when I was part of the playtest process.
The whole idea (including the idea behind the design of the rules) was to make this a "gateway" RPG for new gamers, to appeal to all the 14 year old boys who love Dr.Who but never played an RPG before.
So if they now fuck up in the marketing or distribution (including the pricing), that will be a tragedy. Because this really could potentially be a game (moreso even than Dragon Age, and second only to Harry Potter) that could bring in a huge influx of kids (particularly in the UK) to the hobby. Its one of the last best hopes for the hobby.
RPGPundit
Quote from: SunBoy;310289Torchwood? Mmmh... Not really my thing, but that's a real smart move in C7 part...
(I wonder whether they'll go on to publish rules for Mr. Smith and sonic lipstick? :p)
Personally, I'd rather see a UNIT RPG.
RPGPundit
Quote from: Danger;310300Two things:
1. Yay! I digs this news!
2. What kind of system will this be using (if anyone knows that is)?
I was part of the playtest process (got quite a few of my ideas in there), but I'm not sure how much I can say that's outside the NDA.
Suffice it to say the system is relatively simple.
RPGPundit
Quote from: Ghost Whistler;310305Is the tone of the game written for youngsters?
Its written with the 14 year old new gamer in mind.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;310366Its written with the 14 year old new gamer in mind.
RPGPundit
Shit.
They got us pegged, eh?
Boobies :teehee:
Dr. Who is a WIDE market. It airs worldwide, both BBC and outside the UK, on various other channels. Star Trek, Dr. Who, Star Wars: all make markets outside traditional gamerdom in their prior iterations.
The new iteration of Dr. Who should do no less.
Me, I've only seen a few episodes, while lain up in hospital, but it didn't appeal to me... The other guys on the ward, however, put up with my BSG in exchange for my not complaining about their Dr. Who. (This was back in the late 80's.)
However, despite my lack of interest, it's got a HUGE following to tap into, and if simple enough for newbs, should do QUITE well.