Where & When
The story is set on the planet Marinus, which has no known connection to Earth. The world is barely even mentioned again, and never in any context that allows us to date this story. The implication would be that it’s a long way from Earth, probably in a different galaxy, but even that is supposition. Different fan theories and a comic story come up with wildly different answers from the distant past to the distant future. Without any connection to Earth, it honestly doesn’t matter.
Setting
Marinus is an Earth-like planet with similar gravity and atmosphere to our own. Neither the day nor the year seem to have a radically different length to ours, so the star it orbits is probably also sunlike. There’s no specific mention of a moon, but there are tidal pools on the beach some distance from the shore which suggests that the tides are due to more than just the sun. One or more decently sized moons are therefore likely.
The native sentients, not named in the TV serial, but called “Marinians” in the novelisation, are indistinguishable from humans. If the story is set in the far future, perhaps that’s what they are, descendants of some distant Earth colony, although this doesn’t necessarily follow and isn’t what’s implied by the presence of ancient, pre-industrial ruins on the planet.
The only map we see is very sparse on detail but seems to show a single continent wrapped around the planet dividing two oceans, one of which contains a significant island. This presumes it’s a map of the entire world, of course, but that seems implied by context since it includes the location of all four keys, one of which is in a subpolar region and another in the tropics. The dots are sufficiently randomly placed that we can’t tell which is which, and so can’t guess which side of the map is ‘north’ and whether the continental band is equatorial or meridional.
The TARDIS arrives on a small island in what’s described as a sea, but since we can see at least one other shoreline beyond, may just be a large lake. The beach is apparently made of glass, rather than sand, although glass is just vitrified sand, so it may be that the characters are referring to the few larger chunks that they find. It’s never explained where these come from, but they could be formed by lightning strikes, or, perhaps more likely, some high-intensity technological intervention.
The beach is described as lifeless and is covered with numerous sharp-looking boulders. Nonetheless, there does appear to be some vegetation here and there, in the form of scrubby, leafless, bushes. These may well be dead, although, if so, they have survived intact for a long time. Most significantly, of course, the ‘sea’ that surrounds the island is highly acidic, sufficient to destroy fabric in seconds and to dissolve away flesh to nothing given enough time. Although it’s not confirmed, the Doctor speculates that this is a defensive barrier around the island housing the Conscience, so it isn’t natural. This supports the idea that it’s a large lake (although sufficiently so to be tidal…) and that the rest of the planet, which seems far more hospitable, has perfectly normal seas allowing terrestrial-seeming life to arise and evolve.
The first location on the trip across the planet is the city of Morphoton. We don’t see this from the outside, so there is no way of telling where it might be in terms of climate or local terrain. Wherever it is, it must have been cut off from the rest of the world for a long time or Arbitan, at least, would have known more about it. That the Voord have so far ignored it when you would think it would be ripe for capture supports this.
The city is implied to have a decent population, all working as slaves of one kind or another. Most of them likely descended from the original inhabitants since the number of captured visitors can’t be all that high. From what we can see of the interior of what would probably once have been the government building, it’s mostly constructed of plain concrete albeit with a few decorations left over from its previous time.
The location of the second key is an even more obvious RPG location, being filled with dangerous traps and puzzles that need to be overcome. It’s set in a jungle, which we can assume is near the planet’s equator, in an isolated research outpost. This looks to have been constructed in an archaeological site, given the idols and the various pieces of ancient junk lying around outside. Even if the traps have been placed only recently building all the rest of it seems a bit too much effort and represents a technology way below that seen in the cities.
Next, we move to a mountainous pine forest in the dead of winter. The temperatures are well below zero so it’s either a high-altitude plateau and/or somewhere reasonably close to one of the poles – a Canadian or Siberian type of habitat shy of the true tundra. There are wolves here, indistinguishable from those on Earth – a GM could change these to alien creatures although if the Marinians look identical to humans, there’s no obvious reason that at least some of the other animals wouldn’t too.
One thing this demonstrates is that, unlike some alien worlds in mass-market science fiction, Marinus does have a wide range of terrestrial habitats. We see jungles and subpolar pine forests and a desert is also mentioned in one episode, not to mention the barren glassy landscape by the acid sea. Doubtless, there are also grassy plains, temperate forests and whatever else might be required for a setting, in addition to the arable land that must surround at least some of the urban areas.
There’s also the matter of the local technology. Vasor states that the nearest village is three miles away, so he’s not that remote, but he has no electricity or other signs of advanced technology. The furniture and fittings in his home look manufactured rather than home-made, but, assuming we take that literally, rather than a result of the limitations of the BBC props department, it’s still well below what we see elsewhere on the planet. Battery-powered torches, perhaps powered by a wind generator, would seem a better bet than the candle-holding lantern he actually uses. Perhaps Marinus has a back-to-basics movement that eschews technology and has moved to remote parts of the planet to stay away from urbanites elsewhere.
When we move to the final location, the city of Millennius, variable technology is also in evidence, but this is easier to dismiss as limitations of the budget. So for instance, yes, they are still restricted to landline telephones and the one in the vault is clearly 1960s vintage, but the others are at least supposed to look futuristic. Signs of advanced technology include the ‘psychometric’ device for determining the last person to hold an object, a scanner to detect things being removed from the vault, and a laser pistol. Not to mention, elsewhere on the planet, the technology seen at Morphoton, the travel dials, and the Conscience itself.
Having said this, the inhabitants of Millennius, who are presumably typical of the larger parts of the planet that we don’t see, are entirely unfamiliar with the travel dials so, while Arbitan is clever enough to invent them, his are probably unique. The dialogue implies that the Marinians are aware of the existence of other inhabited planets but this may be indirect knowledge obtained from the Voord rather than evidence of interstellar travel.
If this were Star Trek (at least the ‘90s version) the Marinians would probably be distinguished from humans by having strangely shaped foreheads. Everyone seems to identify the TARDIS crew as outsiders anyway, and they already know of other planets, so this wouldn’t make much difference to the plot. It’s also worth noting that we are told “there are many races of men on Marinus”, despite the fact that we only see white people. We can put this down to the limitations of the 1960s BBC acting pool as much as anything else and say it’s different in our game.
The Voord may be a different matter. The way Arbitan describes them in the TV story they are a political movement that’s been around for hundreds of years, but no more than that. However, Darrius says that Barbara “does not look like a Voord” and, while he could be referring to her clothing, that seems a stretch. Here, it’s significant that in the original script, the Voord are stated to be alien invaders and that the Marinians turned the Conscience off specifically so that they could fight them. So, while they are obviously humanoid in shape, the difference might be much more apparent if we could see their faces.
Nonetheless, we only see the Voord wearing the acid-resistant suits they use to reach the island. Which, fair enough, they’re unlikely to have brought a fresh set of clothes with them on an infiltration mission, but you’d think they would at least take their helmets off. Another interesting point is that Yartek is stated to be the original leader of the Voord, so the one we meet is either named after the original or is hundreds of years old. The only weapons the Voord in the story have access to are daggers; perhaps this is a limitation of what they could bring through the acid sea, and the laser pistol Kala uses is of Voord manufacture and illegally obtained. Why else would she have one in a city said to be almost entirely free of violent crime?
Scenario
In the original story, the characters only agree to help Arbitan because he impounds the TARDIS, stranding them on the planet. It’s unlikely that many PCs will need that kind of encouragement – explaining the plot and pointing them at it should probably do the trick. They may have some qualms about a computer controlling everyone on the planet, and that’s certainly something that can be explored, but ignoring the big flashing sign with “Adventure This Way” written on it would be unusual for most groups. On the other hand, if we really need to do such a thing, anyone who can impound a TARDIS can also impound a shuttlecraft or a Free Trader.
The travel discs provide a straightforward means to get around across Marinus, but they aren’t something we’d likely want the PCs to keep and figure out how to reprogram so that they can avoid geographical challenges in future. Perhaps they have a limited charge that can only be refilled by something unique to Marinus, or perhaps they only work when within that planet’s magnetic field and are just too sophisticated to reverse engineer. On the other hand, if the PCs are working with Arbitan willingly, they might be able to use their own means of getting about and not have to use the travel discs. Star Trek transporters or the like are an obvious tool here, but a Traveller-style ship’s boat or shuttlecraft might do as well.
The city of Morphoton is initially experienced only as an illusion; the story consists of the protagonists figuring this out before they succumb to permanent mind control and then defeating their would-be masters. In the story, it’s pure fluke that Barbara’s disc falls off, allowing her to see through the illusion but, in game, it would make more sense to present inconsistencies (assuming the players aren’t already suspicious, as they may well be) that give the opportunity for saving throws of some kind. There may also be alternative solutions to killing the Morphos, such as jamming their technology, although unplugging them or smashing their glass domes is both effective and straightforward…
The section of the story in the jungle is the easiest to simulate in game, given that it’s structured much like an RPG mini-dungeon anyway. A minor point here is that the key is hidden in a jar marked with the chemical formula DE2O3 which Darrius partially passes on before expiring. Since his sudden death may be difficult to arrange, a possibility is to have him already be dead, and have left the clue somewhere. This requires the PCs to escape from any traps without his assistance, but that’s probably easier with a typically sized party than with just the two characters as seen in the story. A thorough search might locate it without his hint anyway, but a clue could be that the chemical formula given doesn’t make any sense – if it’s the only jar where that’s the case it might stand out.
The next part has two elements to it, of which the easier to focus on in a game is the exploration of the ice caverns under the mountain. This too, has the structure of a mini-dungeon, with obstacles, threats, and a minor puzzle in the final chamber, although, in this case, with “monsters” in the form of the knights rather than constructed traps. It would be easy to add other chambers or side-passages, perhaps even with some sort of cave-dwelling animal in them to add a bit more of that “dungeon crawl” feeling. What’s likely to work less well as originally written is the element with Vasor, since he’s unlikely to be quite so menacing to a full party of PCs. Not to mention that his implied motive of sexually assaulting any female PCs is not going to fly in a modern game. More subtle attempts at sabotaging the PCs’ plans or dividing them up to steal from them might be more effective.
This brings us to the final segment and the murder mystery. Having one of the PCs be the accused, as in the story, certainly adds to the drama, but there are a couple of problems with it. Firstly, you don’t want the PC to be locked up and unable to join in the investigation, unless the player is willing to take on an NPC (say, Sabetha) for the duration. But, secondly, it’s not going to be easy to frame them, since the villain only manages it in the story through a stroke of good luck. You’d have to ensure that the PC doesn’t see who attacks them, is on their own at the appropriate time, and gets immediately knocked unconscious. It’s probably better if an NPC takes the rap and is either already an ally of the PCs or, if not, that the PCs get a chance to interrogate them to find out what they’ve done with the key – before realising it wasn’t them.
How can we use the planet for other scenarios or in other Sci-Fi settings? It’s relatively easy to plonk Marinus down in Star Trek and one could well argue that the original story is about as “Classic Star Trek” as Doctor Who has ever been, what with the world-ruling computer and illusion-creating disembodied brains. For that matter, falling foul of wacky legal systems fits with some ST:TNG episodes. Other SF-RPGs with a significant element of exploring alien worlds would be similarly simple, perhaps with some modifications of what the Marinians and Voord look like. (Or not, if it’s in the style of, say, Stargate SG-1).
Fitting it into something like Traveller, with a well-defined set of Imperial worlds, would be trickier – there are later Doctor Who stories that would be an easier fit than Keys of Marinus is. Even so, the fact that the planet has a wide range of different ecosystems is something we don’t often see in Sci-Fi, Star Wars being particularly notable here, although in many cases it’s more that we don’t see enough of a given planet to know what else it has beyond the landing area.
In terms of stories that could be set entirely on Marinus, its peaceful society may limit options, although this is seen to already be changing in the story. There’s a potential threat from the Screaming Jungle, either of its effect being persistent and expanding elsewhere, or of needing to head into it to retrieve something else valuable – a crashed aircraft or an ancient artefact, for instance. And, for all that the Doctor believes that the Voord are defeated now that Yartek is dead, this is an optimistic reading. Terrorist organisations may be weakened by the loss of their leader, but it rarely leads to their elimination overnight. And they might, for example, want to get hold of the Morphoton technology, the secrets of which are plausibly still there somewhere.
Another key fact is that the Twelfth Doctor later cites Marinus as one of the planets on which Cybermen have arisen. There’s clearly got to be a story behind that… who knows, perhaps it was an attempt to replace the Conscience with pacifying technology that blunted negative emotions?
Even if we ignore Marinus itself as a setting, there is still the matter of the Voord, at least if they are alien conquerors rather than homegrown terrorists. We never see them again in the show, but while they pop up occasionally in comics and short stories, the only times we see them in full-length stories are a couple of audios, one featuring a crashed Voord spaceship and one an invasion of another alien planet. The former, incidentally, includes a female Voord as the main villain; all of the Voord we see in the TV serial are male but, in fairness, they are a small commando strike unit which might bias the odds.
The invasion story, however, Domain of the Voord, is another good template for an RPG scenario featuring as it does a resistance movement with plenty of opportunity for action – some of it underwater. It also provides an insight into the titular villains, significantly (if non-canonically) expanding on the TV serial.
Here, we discover that Voord commanders communicate silently with their subordinates and are able to keep control of them. This is described as telepathy, but it employs equipment inside the helmet/mask and can be boosted electronically, so one could argue for a different terminology. The mask, it turns out, is physically bonded to the Voord’s head and cannot be removed without killing them. Furthermore, the Voord act like Cybermen, ‘converting’ humanoids into new Voord by fixing the helmets to them. The helmet detects any disloyalty in the victim’s mind and kills them if they can’t remove it quickly enough - taking their skin with it in the process and leaving them horribly disfigured.
This may, of course, have something to do with Cybermen arising on Marinus. While this connection has been drawn in the comics, it does require the Voord on Marinus to have the ability and resources to upgrade themselves in that manner and to either not be invaders or have broken with their leadership elsewhere.
Rules
As noted above, we can put down much of the apparently low-tech equipment to the fact that this was made in the ‘60s and adjust the world accordingly for our own games. While the fur trapper leads a primitive life, and the travel dials are beyond the world’s normal tech, there’s no clear authorial intention that, say, Millenius has a variable tech level. The presence of the Conscience, the psychometric devices, and the Morpho’s technology, however, implies something a couple of steps beyond our own world. Aside from the probable absence of FTL travel, this equates to 9 in GURPS, while it’s 5 in Doctors & Daleks and 8 in Traveller.
In Traveller, Marinus’s UWP comes out at
The glass submarines don’t play any active role in the original story, only being discovered after they have beached and the Voord have disembarked, but this could be different in a story featuring the Voord in another context. (Admittedly, on a different planet, they won’t be made of glass, but it’s worth noting that Domain of the Voord takes place on a world that’s about 90% water-covered and features some submarine combat). In at least some systems, it may therefore be useful to provide them with statistics:
Savage Worlds: Size 2, Handling 0, Top Speed 20 mph, Toughness 8, Crew 1
BRP: Pilot skill, Rated 6, Handling -, ACC 2, MOV 67, Armour 6, SIZ 30, HP 40, Crew 1
GURPS: Size 2, Top Speed 20 mph, Accel. 5 mph/s, Decel. 7.5 mph/s, Duration 2 hours, Crush Depth 300 yards, MR 0.75, SR 2, HP 150, DR 5, HT 12, Crew 1
The traps and obstacles in the jungle and subpolar sections are nothing unusual in fantasy games, and so should be easily defined in any generic RPG, although their low technology might require some fiddling in a system specifically designed for high-tech SF. The Screaming Jungle itself is also a threat, albeit one that’s not a regular ‘monster’, and wolves are a common enough thing in generic RPGs.
For the Morphoton illusions, the main issue in rules terms is the nature of the roll used to resist them. Since, in the story, Barbara only resists the illusion through sheer luck, which is not going to fly well in a game, this is a matter of interpretation. It could be force of personality – Will or Charisma, say – or it could be related to the ability to notice inconsistencies – Wisdom or Intelligence in 5E. In many systems, there may be something specifically used to resist psychic attacks that would be more appropriate, such as POW in BRP.
The roll should probably have a reasonable difficulty, sufficient that there’s a decent chance one or more PCs will resist but that not all of them are likely to do so at first. If everyone fails, repeat chances should obviously be offered, as oddities show up in what they’re expected to believe, or just at regular time intervals (as is often the case in 5E with mind-control attacks) or we could have an effective TPK.
Finally, we have the Voord themselves. In their basic form, these are going to be indistinguishable from humans – individuals could be mooks, commandos, terrorist leaders or whatever. They wear tough wetsuits that, apart from being acid-resistant, probably only offer 1 point of armour, although the mask/helmet may be tougher in systems with hit locations. If we go with the “conversion” theme from the audio, the least bad outcome for a character fitted with the helmet is to have their face ripped off, so it’s probably best to avoid that happening to PCs. In some settings, advanced medical technology (i.e. beyond the Voord’s putative low-interstellar tech) might be able to reverse the effect less violently.
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