Playing Doctor Who Solo

Why Doctor Who Works Alone

Plenty of Doctor Who stories follow one traveller: a companion separated from the Doctor, a lone Time Lord, someone who stumbled into something strange. Playing solo, you take that role and let the dice answer the questions a gamemaster would. The tool is the one you already know: two six-sided dice, where a 6 makes things better and a 1 makes them worse.

The Second Edition has no official solo rules, so everything on this page except the core rules is a house rule: the oracle, the scene check, the villain's-plan clock, the attitude roll and the sparks are tools for solo play, not part of Cubicle 7's rulebook.

What you need

• A character built with the normal rules (see Character Creation), with their Focus and Story Points.
• Two or three six-sided dice, or the Solo Tool below.
• Somewhere to write: a notebook, or the session log built into the tool.
• A mystery. One line will do: where and when you've landed, and what's wrong there.

The Oracle

When you want to know something a gamemaster would tell you ("Is anyone else in the museum?"), phrase it as a yes-or-no question and decide how likely a "yes" is. Roll 2d6, add the modifier, and compare the total with 7. Then read the result the way the game reads any roll, using the 6s and 1s on the dice.

• Brilliant (7+ with a 6, or double 6s): Yes, and… Better than you hoped.
• Success (7+, no 6 or 1): Yes.
• Barely (7+ with a 1): Yes, but… It's true, with a catch.
• Almost (under 7 with a 6): No, but… Not what you asked, but something useful.
• Failure (under 7, no 6 or 1): No.
• Disastrous (under 7 with a 1, or double 1s): No, and… Worse than you feared. The villain's plan moves on (see below).

As in the game, a 6 and a 1 together cancel out. Because of that, "but" answers turn up mostly when the odds are lopsided: likely things tend to come true with a catch, and unlikely ones tend to fail with a silver lining. That feels right for Doctor Who.

Don't spend Story Points on oracle rolls. They belong to your character's real rolls; the oracle is the universe.

Exact odds

Worked out from all 36 ways two dice can land.

Scenes, People and Sparks

Scene check and the villain's plan

Every Doctor Who story has someone or something with a plan. Track it as a clock from 0 to 6. Add 1 whenever an oracle answer is "No, and…", whenever one of your real rolls comes up Disastrous before you spend any Story Points, and by hand whenever you waste time or draw attention. When the clock reaches 6, the plan is complete: something terrible happens, and the rest of the story is about stopping it or putting it right. A toss-up question comes up "No, and…" one time in four, so the clock moves fast; if you'd like a slower story, advance it only for real rolls and by hand.

At the start of each scene, say in one line what you expect to find, then roll one die. If it is equal to or under the plan clock, the scene is interrupted: the villain, their agents or the consequences of the plan arrive. Otherwise a 6 means the scene is altered: one important detail is different. Anything else and the scene is as you expected.

NPC attitude

When you meet someone and their reaction matters, roll 2d6 against 7 and read it like the oracle. Add +2 if you've already helped them, −2 if you've given them reason to be afraid of you.

Attitude is where the conversation starts, not where it ends. Changing someone's mind is a real roll: Presence + Convince against a Difficulty you set first.

Sparks

When the oracle says "but" or "and", or a scene is interrupted, and nothing comes to mind, roll two dice and read them together: an action and a subject.

Playing the Gamemaster's Part

Real rolls

Anything your character does that could fail is a real roll: Attribute + Skill + 2d6 against a Difficulty that you set before you roll. Twelve is a typical Difficulty; 15 is tricky and 18 hard. Use Advantage and Disadvantage, Focus dice and Story Points exactly as the rules say. The Dice Roller does all of this and keeps track of your Story Points.

Story Points alone

With no gamemaster to award them, give yourself Story Points for the things the rules reward: doing something heroic, playing your Focus flaw when it makes life harder, getting captured. Take them away for terrible acts. Be honest, and remember that taking a worse result to gain a point is always an option when you can afford the trouble.

Talk first

The game resolves Talkers before Movers, Doers and Fighters, and solo play should too. When a scene turns dangerous, ask whether your character can talk, run or think their way out before reaching for a fight; Conditions add up fast when there's nobody to help.

Solo Tool

Your First Solo Adventure

1. Make a traveller and a landing. One character, one place and time, and one thing that's wrong there.
2. Frame each scene. One line of what you expect, then a scene check.
3. Ask and explore. Use the oracle for what a gamemaster would tell you, and the attitude roll for the people you meet.
4. Roll for real when it matters. Set the Difficulty first, then roll Attribute + Skill + 2d6.
5. Watch the plan. Every disaster moves the villain closer. Decide early what happens if the clock fills.
6. End with a choice. Doctor Who stories end with someone making a hard, kind decision. Make sure yours does.

An Example of Play