Where & When
The story is mostly set in Australia, with a significant diversion in the middle that takes place in Hungary. As confirmed by the newspaper visible in one the later episodes, it takes place in 2018… which would have been 50 years in the future at the time of broadcast.
Setting
The first question that likely arises when adapting this for a game is what we do about the date. It’s intended to be futuristic and must have seemed safely far away when the episode was written. Now, of course, not only is it in our past, but the series itself has gone beyond it (albeit with a 15-year pause). There are several options we can use to address this contradiction.
Firstly, of course, we could move it further ahead, into the mid to late 21st century. Depending on the wider setting we are using, this might imply permanent bases elsewhere in the solar system, or some other significant technological advance, but this wouldn’t make much difference to the plot.
Secondly, we could keep the date as is. This would require some changes to the details, but actually not very many. The existence of the ‘Zones’, for instance, while a key part of the futuristic atmosphere, doesn’t have any bearing on the events. Replacing “Australasia Zone” with “Australia” has essentially zero effect. We would need to figure out some other organisation for Salamander to be in charge of, but either a private company or a charity would make sense. Bruce is, perhaps, slightly more awkward, since it’s hard to see how we would have international authority, but this shouldn’t be impossible to adjust.
A more drastic solution is to place the story explicitly in an alternative timeline. In a one-off game, this just needs to be declared – we are, after all, seeing a 1960s view of what the 2010s might look like. In a campaign otherwise set in a universe closer to our own, we would need a hop like that of Rise of the Cybermen, but, as in that story, getting back at the end needn’t derail the larger plot. A fourth option, of course, is not to set the story on Earth at all; it could work perfectly well on a suitable world in Traveller or another space opera setting, and all we need to do is change the geography.
But let’s assume, to begin with, that we’re taking the world as presented to us in the serial. What can we say about it?
The world at this time is said to be divided into several Zones, which seem to have replaced our current nation-states. This is not, however, unambiguously the case, since it could be that the Zones are used for purposes of security and technical cooperation, rather than carrying out the full range of government functions. An argument in favour of this latter view comes from the fact that Hungary is still mentioned as existing – it could, however, either be a smaller district within a Zone, or just a convenient geographic descriptor with no administrative authority.
The only Zones named in the serial are the Australasian, North African, Central European, and Eastern European Zones. The first of those, according to the map on Astrid’s wall, consists only of Australia itself and not, for example, New Zealand or Papua New Guinea. It is divided into the same states that Australia is today, although whether this means that the Australian federal government still exists as a separate entity from the Zone, or that the latter is subdivided in the same manner as its predecessor, could be argued either way.
The existence of Central and Eastern European Zones implies that there is, as a minimum, also a Western one, and there may be more. We know that the headquarters of the Central European Zone is in Budapest, but the term is vague enough that we don’t know how far it may extend. A typical modern definition of “Central Europe” would include Germany, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and possibly Slovenia. However, a wider definition, including perhaps Romania and the western Balkans, is also plausible, depending on where the border with the Eastern European Zone is.
This also, of course, leaves open the question of how many other Zones there might be. That Europe is divided up might suggest that there is at least some attempt to keep the populations of the Zones balanced with each other. Even so, it’s hard to see why single nations would be broken up between multiple Zones, so China and India, for example, are likely each single, massive Zones. Using Central Europe as a baseline, this would allow for four Zones in Europe, three in North America, one in Central America (likely including the Caribbean), three in South America, around eight in Africa and nine in Asia, plus one low-population Zone each for Australia, the Pacific, and Antarctica, due to their geographic isolation.
The Zones are controlled via a United Zones Authority, which is headquartered at what is now the UN building complex in New York. On its behalf, Salamander addresses the ‘General Assembly’, meaning that this is likely either a replacement for, or an agency of, the United Nations, perhaps depending on how much governmental authority we wish it to have.
We are told that the TARDIS arrives “ten miles west of Cape Arid”. This is a real place, lying on the south coast of Western Australia and with long, sandy, almost entirely deserted beaches. As the name suggests, the area is barren, with just a few low-lying shrubs amongst the sand and dry earth – coincidentally, it looks not unlike what we see in the serial, although it has a warmer, Mediterranean climate.
Astrid’s bungalow, only a short trip away by helicopter or hovercraft, is in a place described as ‘Cedar District’. This is fictional, although there are a few inland farming villages not too far away that might serve the purpose if we want to use a real map. The closest of these is about 45 km (25 miles) away from the arrival point, with the coastal town of Esperance about the same distance again beyond it.
From here, the action moves to Budapest for a while. This is said to be two hours flight from Australia by ‘rocket’ (likely a space plane). That’s compared with around 24 hours today, albeit that’s partly due to the lack of direct flights from Perth, which is presumably the closest major airport. But even assuming that there is a direct flight in this setting, we should account for getting to Perth in the first place, plus any time in customs, waiting for a flight and so on. (In this respect, it’s worth noting that the novelisation states that there is still some form of passport control for travel between Zones). All of which means that the story as a whole may cover a longer period than the 48 to 60 hours it appears to.
The section in Budapest takes place in the “presidential palace” and its grounds. From a modern perspective, this most likely refers to the Sándor Palace, although this would have been disused when the serial was made in 1968, as bomb damage from WWII had yet to be repaired. The official residence of the President of Hungary, it is a two-story neoclassical building fronting onto an open, grassy square. It doesn’t have its own grounds as such, but it does back onto a well-kept wooded area with stone-flagged pathways that could serve much the same purpose, and it’s about 200 metres (yards) from the banks of the Danube.
On the other hand, it’s much harder to argue that you would be able to see the volcanic eruptions from the palace – or, indeed, anywhere in Budapest. Here, something like television news coverage could suffice, but it’s still worth questioning where exactly the volcanoes are supposed to be.
We are told that they lie in the Eperjes-Tokaj range, consisting of dormant volcanoes that have not erupted since the 16th century. Eperjes and Tokaj are real places, but they are towns at either end of the Great Hungarian Plain, about as far from a mountain range as one could imagine.
When Salamander points at a map to show where these fictional mountains are supposed to be, he appears to be indicating the Carpathians. While these are mostly in Romania, the north-western end of the range does just about cross the Slovakian border into Hungary, so they are the best bet for where the volcanoes could be. They are about 150 km (90 miles) away, much too far to be visible from ground level at Budapest, and, while they are technically volcanic in origin, they last erupted about 10 million years ago, well before the first humans walked the Earth.
We might, perhaps, have to move the disaster elsewhere, or at least change its nature. Earthquakes, for instance, while rare and low amplitude in Hungary, are considerably more common and dangerous in eastern Romania, which could, theoretically, also be in the Central European Zone.
After Hungary, the story returns to Australia and, specifically, the Kanowa Research Centre and Sun Conservation Establishment. This, we are told, controls a satellite, or group of satellites, called ‘Sun Catchers’ that concentrate the sun’s rays, store them up, and beam them down to specific areas of the Earth. The implication is that this helps reverse agricultural disasters, such as one we are told afflicted Ukraine in 2016.
While this was also helped by “10,000 robot harvesters”, it’s not immediately obvious why it would help restore agriculture. The intent is likely just that it’s weather control, as much focusing rain when and where it’s needed as ensuring long growing seasons or burning away clouds to allow more sunshine through. The exact details, therefore, may not matter, especially in settings where advanced weather control is already an established concept (although, if so, presumably not on the world in question, or Salamander doesn’t have much leverage).
Kanowa doesn’t really exist, and there isn’t much in this sparsely populated section of Western Australia. However, there is a place called Kanowna about 600 km (375 miles) north of Cape Arid, in the depths of the Outback. This is about twice as far away as the fictional Kanowa is said to be, but it’s likely to be the inspiration for the name, if nothing else.
The real Kanowna is a ghost town, the site of old gold mines abandoned in the 1950s once the ore had run out. There is virtually nothing left of the original town, although it is a minor tourist site for anyone willing to travel out so far from the rest of civilisation. A new mine was opened nearby in the 1980s, well after the Doctor Who serial was written, extracting gold from a newly discovered lode with more modern technology. Nonetheless, it’s as plausible a place as any for Salamander’s research station, not least because it has old mine workings and tunnels that might make the construction of his secret base easier.
It’s about 20 km (12 miles) northeast of the nearest town, Kalgoorlie, but that itself is fairly remote, being 595 km (370 miles) east of Perth, with about half of that distance being occupied by all-but uninhabited Outback. The weather can be cool in winter, with daytime highs of only around 17°C (62°F), but it gets much hotter in summer, with midday temperatures over 30°C (86°F) for three months of the year. It’s considered a “semi-desert”, with about 26 cm (10 inches) of rain over the course of an entire year – about two-thirds of what you’d get in, say, Los Angeles. This is sufficient to support drought-resistant trees and scrubby vegetation, but there’s still rather a lot of bare earth.
The above-ground section of the Centre is entirely legitimate, operating the weather control equipment for the planet. It is, however, heavily automated and, despite its apparent large size, has a total complement of just six engineers and six guards on duty at any one time. Which, if true, may make sneaking in easier than it’s intended to be, if not necessarily to the most important areas. In addition to the research and operations sections, the Centre also has a dedicated interrogation room, which says something about their level of paranoia, as well as suggesting independence from the local police.
The most important area to the plot, however, is the Records Room. This has doors made of an “X-structure alloy” that renders them resistant to blow torches, and locks that can only be opened or closed from the inside. This is because, unbeknownst to those working there, in addition to the computers that hold the facility’s records, the room also allows access to a secret chamber containing the one-man capsule that descends to the secret base via what may be an old mineshaft.
The base can also be accessed through a horizontal mine gallery or cave tunnel that opens out to the surface behind concealing vegetation, likely some way outside the complex proper. This is apparently how the food gets in, being placed on a conveyor belt somewhere close to the base. Both the tunnel and the shaft lead into the base’s power room, which also contains a fake decontamination device triggered by a light beam. This room is locked and inaccessible to those elsewhere in the base, although it does have an intercom.
The shelter itself contains the operating equipment for whatever devices have been creating the natural disasters up above – volcanoes, earthquakes, and ‘monsoons’ are listed as among their achievements. Monsoons are natural, recurring phenomena, so this last must be in the figurative sense of a heavy downpour leading to floods; presumably, droughts are equally achievable and would be more suitable for certain parts of the world. Hurricanes aren’t listed but, again, if you have control of the weather more generally, you can create these too, especially since you won’t need to aim them precisely to cause significant damage somewhere.
We see fifteen staff living and working in the shelter, almost evenly divided between men and women, and of a range of ages. However, there’s enough food being delivered for seventeen, assuming Benik doesn’t count against the twelve official staff we are told about – so there may be more, or perhaps a surplus to account for visitors to the surface facility.
Either way, we are told that there were once more people in the shelter than there are now, since Salamander has had to kill a few off over the years, presumably when they became suspicious (as Swann does in the story). While we only see the operations control room, there must be living quarters down here, too – some of which will be empty, and some of which are probably shared even if they weren’t originally.
The people in the shelter are wearing light clothing, with the men in what are basically pyjamas and the women in miniskirts. It’s hot down mines, so this makes sense, especially given that it would be very difficult to include any form of air conditioning. Air can be supplied through filtered ducts to the surface, and there is probably a supply of subterranean water, but food is obviously in short supply. Having been down here for five years, the people in the shelter are likely at least slightly malnourished, and they will certainly be suffering from vitamin D deficiency if they don’t have regular supplements in their diet.
Scenario
In the serial, the protagonists become involved in the plot because Kent and Astrid rescue them from mysterious attackers and then persuade them that Salamander is a danger to the Earth. In many games, this may not work well, especially as a group of PCs are unlikely to need rescuing from a threat of this nature and may feel railroaded if they have to be. However, the nature of the story is such that it’s easy to come up with alternatives.
In a one-off game, they simply start off as members of the resistance, essentially taking the place of Astrid. In an ongoing game, Kent is the patron, hiring them by whatever means is most common in the game to carry out his mission. In both cases, Astrid would probably be cut out of the story, since she’s unlikely to be needed given the skills at the disposal of a typical PC party. We can, nonetheless, still start off with the scene at the beach, with the PCs being ambushed on the way to meet Kent.
From here, the scenario is relatively straightforward. The characters have to infiltrate Salamander’s staff in Budapest, getting some clues about his manipulation of natural disasters as they do so. They may also try to rescue Deneš – who may be one of their contacts – and hopefully with more success than the time travellers in the story.
A key element of the original serial, however, is the fact that the Doctor is a visual twin of Salamander. This can easily be justified in a one-off game, where one of the pregenerated PCs is hired specifically because of the resemblance. However, in many ongoing games, it may stretch the players' credulity, or at the very least send them down a dead-end rabbit hole when they assume the similarity has some deeper meaning. There may also be a further disadvantage if we follow the original plot and have that player forced into the sidelines for the Budapest sections.
Assuming that none of the PCs is a shapeshifter, one way around it may be to have Kent acquire a perception filter or holographic disguise that can alter the appearance of a PC with the right build and height. How plausible that is will depend on the setting. In a space opera setting where such technology exists, but the planet the scenario is set on doesn’t normally have access to it, there’s no real problem. But otherwise, we may have to come up with more exotic explanations or ditch that element of the story.
Eventually, the PCs have to break into, or otherwise infiltrate, the research centre, and discover what is going on beneath it. In the serial, Astrid randomly comes across Swann just outside the tunnel entrance and then casually walks into the underground lair – although not without encountering difficulties once she gets there. In a game, we would probably want the tunnel to be better protected and concealed, and perhaps have Swann’s body inside it, giving a hint as to what might be happening.
One way to have the PCs work this out is to have someone point out that the research centre is built above old mine workings, and suggest that this might be a way of breaking in undetected. This assumes that the mine entrance is outside the security perimeter, which would make sense if Salamander has to keep sneaking goods in that way without the guards noticing. The PCs would also need a reason to suppose that the mine workings connect to the lower levels of the research centre, but there may be ways to have them find that out.
If they don’t take that approach and get into the centre another way, then they will have to find the access point by investigating the Records Room, which is more difficult, but not necessarily impossible, even without imitating Salamander.
We don’t need to change the details much if the story is set on some other planet in a space opera setting, rather than on near-future Earth. The key requirement, other than that the planet be habitable, is that the local level of technology should be insufficient to allow what Salamander is doing. In the serial, a key element in why nobody suspects him of causing the disasters (rather than merely profiting from them) is that they don’t believe it would be possible for him to do so.
This obviously raises the question of how he is doing it, and while this isn’t addressed in the serial itself, players are likely to raise the question in any setting. The most plausible answer is that the technology comes from offworld, and the GM will need to come up with at least a general idea of how this has been achieved. In an Earthbound setting, it may be recovered alien technology, but in one such as Traveller, it merely needs to have been secretly imported somehow.
Either way, this opens up the possibility for other adventures in the same setting. After all, if there is one piece of alien technology, there could be more, and some of it could be potentially dangerous. Or the original owners might either want it back or need to be assured it has all been destroyed. If it were imported from another world, in the Imperium or elsewhere, who did the selling, and what else might they have sold elsewhere?
In many settings, there is a good chance that any such smugglers were doing something illegal, and there might be a reward for finding them. In a Star Trek setting, for example, where the planet in question is some pre-warp world inhabited by people with bumpy foreheads, there is an obvious breach of the Prime Directive. If the PCs have been tasked with tracking down the technology by infiltrating the world, there will be less of a surprise for the players when they discover what’s happening, but many of the investigation elements as to who and where could still remain. We will need some way to justify why the PCs can’t pinpoint the technology from orbit and beam an away team into Kanowa, but that sort of thing is common enough in the TV series.
Rules
The tech level of the setting is debatable. The story is set in the near future, but aside from whatever Salamander is using to cause the natural disasters, it isn’t especially futuristic. In fact, there are only two pieces of technology in the story that are obviously ahead of that at the time of broadcast – and one of those is the existence of Zoom calls, which we have now. The other is the space plane, which must achieve an average speed of just over Mach 5 to get from Perth to Budapest in the time stated. That’s over double the speed of the fastest passenger plane ever built (Concorde) but below the record for manned flight, so technically possible.
Depending on how much importance we want to put on these features, the technology is either close to that of the present day or just beyond it. That’s tech level 7 or 8 in both GURPS and Traveller, but it’s 5 either way in Doctors & Daleks, since that doesn’t hit 6 until the development of faster-than-light travel.
The guards in the serial use rifles with enlarged cylinders attached to the end of the barrels. It’s unclear what these are for, other than to make the weapons look futuristic and/or less realistic, but, from the evidence on screen, they appear to be regular semi-automatic ballistic rifles rather than, say, blasters. Everyone else uses modern-looking pistols.
The tech level of the equipment causing the disasters, should we need to know it, is going to be significantly higher than that of the setting. How high may depend on other details of the wider setting, and what exactly we want to claim it does. Even affecting the weather on the scale required is TL12+ in Traveller and likely at least 10 in GURPS or 7 in Doctors & Daleks. Causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions may be higher.
One feature of the setting that’s intended to look futuristic but doesn’t, in itself, require advanced technology is the widespread use of hovercraft. It’s not merely that the only vehicle we see is a 4-man civilian hovercraft, since we are on a beach, and that might be justifiable. The security vehicle scheduled to take Deneš into custody is also described as a ‘hovercar’, implying that such things are ubiquitous. While Astrid’s helicopter is no different from anything we have today, given some of the action beats in the story, there’s a good chance we may need statistics not just for it, but for hovercars as well. The following is based on the one we see in the opening episode, which I assume to be high performance compared with the modern sort:
Savage Worlds: Size 4, Handling 0, Top Speed 80 mph, Toughness 11 (2), Crew 1+3
Traveller: TL7, Drive (hovercraft), Agility +0, Speed Medium (slow), Range 400 (600), Crew 1, Passengers 3, Cargo 0.25, Hull 12, Shipping 2 tons, Armour 2
Star Wars (FF): Silhouette 2, Speed 2, Handling 0, Armour 0, HTT 5, SST 5, No sensors, Crew 1, Passengers 3, Capacity 20
BRP: Pilot skill, Rated 8, Handling -5%, ACC 2, MOV 100, Armour 10/2, SIZ 60, HP 40, Crew 1, Passengers 3, Cargo 20
GURPS: Size 3, Top Speed 80 mph, Accel. 0.3, Decel. 16, MR 4, SR 2, HP 267, DR 5, HT 12, Crew 1, Passengers 3, Cargo 20.
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