Some of the most compelling Doctor Who stories are the ones that never got told. In his 13 year association with the TV show itself, Terrance Dicks wrote many scripts. Most made it to the screen, some were abandoned, and others changed radically during the development process. Now, Penguin Random House are releasing two of these infamous ‘lost’ classics in novel form, each adapted by another expert Doctor Who writer.
The Vampire Mutation and The Six Doctors finally reached screens as the radically different State of Decay and The Five Doctors
The Vampire Mutation was Dicks’ original attempt to bring the undead into the Whoniverse. In the spirit of the show’s beloved ‘gothic’ phase, it takes loose inspiration from Dracula, with the Fourth Doctor and Leela tracking the first segment of the Time Key to a world under the shadow of the sinister Council of Seven. Can the terrified locals be right that this really is the work of vampires? The Vampire Mutations was originally put aside and replaced in the Season 16 running order with Robert Holmes’ The Ribos Operation. Dicks later reworked it for Season 18 as State of Decay, but it changed hugely in development. The novel by Steve Cole finally presents the version of the story the writer originally wanted to tell.
Meanwhile, The Six Doctors represents Terrance Dicks’ original idea for celebrating the show’s 20th anniversary. In this version, a sinister force moves through time and space, not to kidnap the Time Lord’s different incarnations, but to destroy them. Only the Fourth stands a chance at survival, but at the price of betraying his other selves. However, one of them may not be what they seem. Few stories in the show’s history have had as complicated a development as 1983’s anniversary special, and Simon Guerrier’s The Six Doctors reconstructs one of Dicks’ early drafts after joining the project.
The Six Doctors is out on the 21st of January 2027, with The Vampire Mutation following on the 6th of March. Click the titles to get pre-order links for your preferred retailer.
Doctor Who: The Vampire Mutation (c) Penguin Random House Doctor Who: The Vampire Mutation
‘The conjunctions of the stars at last permit the awakening of the Dead One…’
Summoned by the White Guardian to a domain outside time and space, the Doctor learns that the lynchpin of the cosmos – the Time Key – has been stolen. He must recover its six components before a great darkness smothers the universe.
The first fragment draws the TARDIS to a remote, mist-choked planet. Captured by terrified locals, Leela hears tell of night-creatures that drink the blood of their victims… while the Doctor falls prey to the sinister Council of Seven.
Who are the Witch Lords? What is the terrible significance of the Thousand Year Sabbath? With the world on the brink of catastrophe, will the vampire mutation thwart the Doctor’s quest for the Time Key before it’s even begun?
Doctor Who: The Six Doctors (c) Penguin Random House Doctor Who: The Six Doctors
‘Play the game, Doctor. Destroy your other selves!’ Fireballs tear through time and space. Each one hunts down a different incarnation of the Doctor… ready to erase them in an instant. But one Doctor is offered a terrible alternative. He can not only survive but live forever – if he agrees to help destroy his other selves. One Doctor. One timeline. One victor. The Fourth Doctor would usually refuse without hesitation. But after escaping E-Space he feels his life running out and knows he is nearing the end of his time. With nothing to lose, he accepts his role in the deadliest game of all…
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Welcome to Day 7 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below. Check out that post for further details.
Today’s combination: Mercy (Prompt) + Intellect (Weekly Modifier) + Loving and Giving (Weekly Modifier) + Western (Genre)
Here is today’s NPC.
Sister Laila Casad (Fantasy Name Generator used for the name: Old West name generator)
Sister Laila joined the Sisters of Sienna after her husband, Mad Dog Casad, was hanged for his crimes by a Marshal in the territories. Seeking penance for his eternal soul—and perhaps her own—she joined the nuns, dedicating herself to protecting the defenseless and educating the young.
While she lacked formal religious training, she possessed a sharp intellect and knew how to survive. These skills helped keep her and the other sisters safe during their mission to build an orphanage where children could be taught the mercy of the Lord. Laila took her vows not long after the Sienna Orphanage was finished.
She proved to be a fast learner, letting go of past anger and old grudges to fully embrace the Sisters of Sienna’s mission of loving and giving unto others. She has since grown into a position of leadership at the frontier orphanage: teaching the children, guiding her fellow sisters, and protecting her home against bandits or anyone else who means them harm.
The Sienna Orphanage always offers hospitality to weary travelers in exchange for a small donation. Sister Laila keeps an open ear for rumors regarding travelers and ne’er-do-wells in the nearby territories, and she is always willing to share what she knows with friendly visitors. However, she won’t hesitate to pull a gun from under her habit and remind anyone with ill intent that she is still the widow of Mad Dog Casad.
Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.
A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.
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MooglyCAL2026 Block 16 is a stunning and stripey square by Stitches n Scraps! Pia Thadani has designed the gorgeous Honey I'm Comb Square for us, and it's got a mesmerizing texture with lots of color options. Get all the details for this free crochet along, and the free pattern link below! Disclaimer: This post includes […]
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0Welcome to Day 6 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below. Check out that post for further details.
Today’s combination: Reach (Prompt) + Intellect (Weekly Modifier) + Far to Go (Weekly Modifier) + Space Opera (Genre)
Here is today’s NPC… well, a sort-of NPC: an intelligent space opera artifact MacGuffin. I hope you find it useful.
Skull of Wisdom (Fantasy Name Generator used for the name: Artifact name generator)
The Skull of Wisdom was discovered by the first species to reach beyond their home world. The obsidian-colored skull of an unknown entity is oblong, polished, and crossed by reddish cracks. It lacks a lower jaw and does not belong to any species known to travel the stars.
Whatever its origin, the skull whispers to its owner in their sleep, regaling them with tales of past victories and achievements. Although these visions can be confusing at first, the Skull of Wisdom ultimately advises its owner on their most pressing matters. No one can tell if it possesses a single intellect or the collected wisdom of its many previous owners, but it can reach through the ages to find the exact parable or knowledge the current owner requires.
However, the Skull of Wisdom has a profound effect on its proprietor. While it offers counsel in their dreams, it also fosters an intense sense of wanderlust and ambition. It drives them to seek out discovery or conquest, constantly convincing them that their destiny remains incomplete and that they still have far to go.
Conquerors and explorers have sought and claimed the Skull of Wisdom throughout the ages, and it has guided them to forge galactic empires and plumb the unknown regions of space. Some seek to own it, while others wish to destroy it, but the voice of the Skull of Wisdom is always present, waiting for the next audacious being to hold it in their hands.
Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.
A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.
See you all tomorrow!
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This month’s Doctor Who Magazine, issue 632, brings Circuit Breaker to DWM’s comic strip. There’s also more coverage of the new multimedia event taking place across audios, comics, novels, audiobooks, and more this summer. Meanwhile, in DWM’s main cover story, they summons a panel of experts to discuss the show’s future. You can also listen to an audio drama from Big Finish, starring Alex Kingston as time travelling archaeologist River Song.
Highlights this issue:
Also this issue:
DWM 632 (c) Panini Doctor Who Magazine 632
DWM Issue 632 is on sale Thursday the 23rd of July from the online Panini store, TG Jones and other retailers priced £11.99 (UK). Also available as a digital edition from Pocketmags for £10.99. You can also save with a subscription, as well as receiving exclusive, text-free covers.
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August always goes too fast - wrapping up summer, back to school, the days are precious. So I'm grateful you've taken a little time today to join me for another Crochet and Catch Up with Moogly! Grab your current WIP and join me as we chat about everything happening on Moogly, from new patterns and […]
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09 nearly full pages of old-school mega-mega-mega-dungeon.
All created using the random tables on pages 170-172 of the AD&D 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide by Gary Gygax, published in 1979.
Why? Because drawing dungeons from just the scratch of my imagination has become kinda boring.
I marked my entry point in the center of a page and simply went with whatever happened. It was linear at first, but it soon expanded; side passages upon side passages, straight, diagonal, parallel, intersections -- 4-ways, Xs, Ys, Ts, all leading to chambers and rooms of all shapes and sizes (it's implied but never explicitly stated that rooms have doors and chambers do not). These tables are designed to go on and on and on; there are occasional dead-ends, but if you don't consciously stop it, it probably will not stop (25% of periodic-checks introduce side passages and 50% of side passages introduce multiple side passages).
I wanted every passage to take you deeper down the rabbit-hole, so no looping was allowed until deeply forward for every path. Every new corridor goes underneath any room or passage it crosses, but eventually loops do occur, plenty of them. At times, it's like solving a puzzle; decisions have to made, to connect or not connect? Sometimes I beg for a dead-end and sometimes I have no choice but to place one and sometimes a loop is allowed. This place is wild. I get lost just looking at it. If players were mapping it, they'd fuck up quickly, just as they would if it were a real place.
This process also reinforces the notion of space; not every room will be occupied (could/should still be interesting though) and there are many long, twisting corridors. Noise wouldn't travel here very well, not clearly. Certainly you might hear echoes and clangs and screams, but they would haunt like distant nightmares. It's easy to see adventurers snooping about, even fighting, without disturbing much of anything at all. What about the goblins in the next room? With Gygax's system, chances are, there are no goblins in the next room.
Eventually I came to the edge of the first page, all four edges, and thought, what the hell, let's keep going, and before long, it became clear that it would bleed over onto at least 9 pages. I configured entry points to align with Act III if I insanely go in that direction. Who am I kidding...
Some thoughts...
Wandering Monsters are built in. That's right, on the main d20 "Periodic Check Table" a roll of 20 results in a wandering monster, not a check, an actual random monster right then and there. So, I put an X on the map, always in a corridor. Sometimes they occur in bunches. So, what if wandering monsters were always handled this way, and, is that a repeated occurrence or just a one time thing? Just thinking out loud; one time occurrence is obvious to me, unless something (a glyph?) is spawning creatures.
Stairs... come up plenty of times, but there's no way I'm doing levels below this monstrosity. So, I simply put stairs in the corridor -- almost always going down. Combined with the fact that new passages go under already drawn ones, the farther out you go, the deeper underground you are. It's shaped like an underground hill. This could be how danger (dungeon levels) is measured. Center page -- dungeon levels 1 and 2; 8 pages surrounding the center page -- dungeon levels 3 and 4; 16 pages surrounding that -- dungeon levels 5 and 6, etc. So danger equals distance from the center as opposed to levels straight down.
Tricks/Traps come up as often as stairs and such; all in corridors. I've never been a fan of hallway traps because they're punitive and make the game an unfun slog. The players have no defense other than to check every 10' of the place. So whatever these turn out to be, there must be clues.
Special passageways... Rivers, caverns, chasms, streams, all come up periodically, but I've avoided all so far. I have a certain look in mind -- the cellar of Castle Dracula, complete with arched columns, vaulted ceilings, and at times, unfinished floors. I may add subterranean canals at some point, but I'll be damned if I taint this place with caverns.
This year’s multi-media Doctor Who adventure, Circuit Breaker continues with the second of two issues from Titan Comics. It’s already featured battles with Sontarans, Cyberman, and Daleks in audiobooks, magazines, and comics. Now, Circuit Breaker #2: Dawn of the Daleks arrives, as the Fugitive Doctor and Osgood head to the planet Skaro in the ancient past.
In 1975’s Genesis of the Daleks, the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry were on Skaro without the TARDIS. Worse still, Kaled soldiers confiscated the Time Ring – their only way off the planet. In Circuit Breaker the Time Ring has mysteriously materialised in UNIT’s Black Archive. Soon, its unstable energies threatening to destroy London. If the Fugitive can’t get it back where it belongs, her future will end in the Daleks’ past…
Dawn of the Daleks is written by Dan Watters with art by Sami Kivelä, the team behind Everyone Must Go!, and The Prison Paradox.
You can find links for buying in the US, or from Forbidden Planet in the UK here.
Dawn of the Daleks comes with five variant covers to choose from: Circuit Breaker #2. Cover by Nipuni (c) Titan Comics Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 Cover B (c) Titan Comics Circuit Breaker #2 Cover C by Kit Wallis (c) Titan Comics Circuit Breaker #2. Cover D by Flops Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2. Cover E by Flops
Circuit Breaker continues throughout August and September, in books, audios, comics and even more. Check here for the complete list of chapters, as well as release dates.
Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2
Dawn of the Daleks: The Doctor Travels To The War-Ravaged World Of Skaro As She Battles The Daleks With The Fate Of Their Kaled Forebears At Stake!
Circuit Breaker continues with Castling, from East Side Games on the 6th of AugustThe post Doctor Who: Dawn of the Daleks – Out Now! appeared first on Blogtor Who.
Welcome to Day 5 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below. Check out that post for further details.
Today’s combination: Burden (Prompt) + Intellect (Weekly Modifier) + Full of Woe (Weekly Modifier) + Fantasy (Genre)
Here is today’s NPC.
Inafarihm the Taciturn (Fantasy Name Generator used for the name: Wizard name generator)
It is said that when you need to find out the secret name of a baleful creature from the depths, or the formula to break a slumber caused by a fairy’s tears, there is no wiser or more intelligent sage to consult than Master Inafarihm. He is also known as Inafarihm the Taciturn, though never to his face.
The massive, balding man with a square jaw has a frame that must have once been imposing, but has grown rotund and sluggish in old age. His expression is locked in a perpetual scowl. His heavy eyelids hood clear blue eyes that appear far younger than the deep lines on his face would suggest. His huge, calloused hands seem ill-fitted for a sage’s work, and he relies on one of his many attendants to do most of the writing for his voluminous correspondence.
Those few who remember his youth confirm that this man once went by another name, and that the original Inafarihm was his companion, a wizard of some renown. The two traveled to far-away lands in search of treasure and adventure, but only one returned—a broken man, full of woe and regret, who retired to the wizard’s tower, never to sally forth again.
Despite his isolation, tales of his intellect brought adventurers and other sages to consult him, and his reputation grew. Quiet, reserved, and often surly, he can still be coaxed to answer a query or research a formula for the correct price or the right vintage. With good wine and enough time, one may earn the Master’s trust and learn the terrible truth: the burden of a wizard’s mind living on inside the body of the man who was once his friend, retaining his vast knowledge, but completely lacking the power to use magic.
Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.
A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.
See you all tomorrow!
The post Video of the Day – Doctor Who: Motivational Quotes, 2026 appeared first on Blogtor Who.
Welcome to Day 4 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below. Check out that post for further details.
Today’s combination: Charm (Prompt) + Intellect (Weekly Modifier) + Full of Grace (Weekly Modifier) + Horror (Genre)
Here is today’s NPC.
Mamaachik “Manny” Sihui Cuya (Name source: Fantasy Name Generator – Quechua name generator)
Mamaachik Sihui Cuya never uses his birth name these days. He goes by Manny. Originally from Peru, he admits to having once been a paqos, a type of priest, in his home in the Andes. But he hasn’t been one in a long time. At least that’s what he claims.
An amicable and charming old man with a penchant for fancy suits, Manny runs a local car service which employs a few other immigrants, and owes various vehicles, including a limousine, that he often drives. He is glib and can strike up a conversation with anyone. He seems to know a bit of trivia on almost any subject, and many passengers are awed by his incredible intellect.
But what he seems to know most about, but is often reluctant to talk about, is the dangers that lurk in the shadows where men do not dare look, of the invisible dangers of this world and beyond, of the ancient secret masters of reality.
If pressed, he admits to having confronted some dangers others might not have survived, but insists he only managed to do so by the grace of the balance and wisdom of the universe.
However, when people confront the unknown, and their concept of reality is frayed, someone may pass them a dog-eared business card for a car service and tell them to ask for Manny; he might be able to guide them out of this mess.
Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.
A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.
See you all tomorrow!
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