Where & When
The story takes place on, and in orbit around, a planet somewhat strangely named the Sense-Sphere. This is at least in the same galaxy as Earth, but beyond the area of space governed/inhabited by humans at whatever the date may be. Maitland states that that is the 28th century but doesn’t give any more precise figure. If one has to pick a specific year, 2764, eight centuries after the broadcast date, is as good as any. Since it is the first story to be explicitly set in the future, rather than on an alien planet with no apparent connection to Earth, the date had, at the time, no larger context of future history to be placed in – it might as well be plucked from thin air.
Setting
The first part of the story is set on Maitland’s spaceship, in orbit around the Sense-Sphere. The ship is never named; for all we know it merely has an identifying number, like a modern jetliner. It is manned by a crew of three, but one of these is effectively a passenger (John, the mineralogist). Of the remaining two, Maitland is both the commander and the pilot, while Carol is described as a “co-astronaut”. This is intended to be a spacey-sounding version of “co-pilot” and, while all we see her do is operate the ship’s sensor systems, she must logically be able to take over full piloting duties when required. Since there’s nobody else to do it, both Maitland and Carol must also be able to perform at least basic repairs on the engines and other ship’s systems.
Internally, the ship consists of a bridge with two corridors running off it to the rear, flanked by a series of rooms, including cabins, a sensor suite, and what may be a galley. The only access to the ship from outside is via a loading bay, which we only see the entrance to. While there are a few other rooms that we don’t see, the sole exterior shot implies that the engines take up around half the interior volume and the inhabited section of the ship is very small. It’s unlikely to be able to carry many more crew in comfort than it actually does – four may be the maximum occupancy – although the life support system obviously has some extra capacity built in.
We can also say that, despite the small crew, the ship is built for long missions. It has been several months since it left Earth and it’s implied that there’s nothing unusual in that. Either the Sense-Sphere is a long way from Earth, or FTL travel is relatively slow and perhaps a little dangerous at this point in human history (at least compared with, say, Star Trek). Or both, of course.
Other than the FTL drive, the other technology we see has, unsurprisingly given the date of broadcast, an inconsistent feel from a modern perspective. For instance, we’re told that the crew wear self-winding watches, powered by wrist movements – which sounds futuristic in one sense but also implies that they are clockwork, not digital. The doors, which require you to wave your hand over a sensor placed high up on a wall to open them, also seem a rather strange design choice.
The purpose of the ship is apparently exploratory. The crew wear uniforms but don’t carry any weapons, so probably work for a peaceful scientific service of some kind, whether it be a private institution or (perhaps more likely, from other hints) one that’s government-funded. While there’s no wider context at the time for the date, stories in the Pertwee era would imply that it falls during the height of the Earth Empire, which would doubtless have an interest in seeing what lay beyond its borders.
The ship carries a heart resuscitator and must have other medical supplies given its intended long-term occupancy. The loading bay may also contain equipment for exploring planetary surfaces and the mineralogist’s lab/sensor suite likely has other facilities that aren’t relevant to the plot. One would expect, given the potential requirement to explore planets with hostile fauna, that there would be a weapons locker on board, but if there is, nobody ever thinks to use it.
As for the Sense-Sphere, we’re told that it’s an unremarkable planet apart from having a larger landmass than usual. That it has a “landmass” at all indicates that it must also have oceans, but that it’s “larger than usual” could mean that a smaller proportion of the planet is covered by water than on Earth and/or that it has a single supercontinent. If it’s the latter, we’d expect a vast rain shadow desert in the interior, similar to the Gobi Desert in Asia and this does, in fact, fit with what little we know of the geography.
Unsurprisingly, the planet has an Earth-like gravity and atmosphere. There is no mention of a moon, and none is visible when we see the planet from space in the first episode, although neither of these facts is hard evidence. On the other hand, if the world is indeed moonless it would prevent spaceships from hiding behind it, or otherwise utilising it in the early acts before the nature of the Sensorites becomes apparent – a feature that may be useful to the GM in a game based on the story.
A key point relevant to the story is the presence of high quantities of molybdenum in the planet’s rocks. This is an unusual case of the show using the name of a real element/mineral for this sort of plot device, rather than it being some vaguely defined unobtainium. It is, as stated, a key ingredient in high-strength steel alloys, and it’s relatively rare on Earth – more common than either silver or gold, but still, for example, less than half as abundant as uranium. It occurs as an ore, but it’s easy enough to mine and process if you can find a deposit, so if it were common on a particular planet you could see how that would be valuable.
The sections of the story on the planet are entirely restricted to a single, unnamed, city. The impression given is that this is literally the only city, although the existence of some outlying towns is hinted at, and, judging from the meals they provide, the Sensorites are herbivores with a high proportion of fruit in their diet, so there must be extensive agricultural land and orchards around the settlement. A culture having developed to this high level of technology without their population growing enough to establish more than one city seems unlikely, but we don’t know anything about their planet’s history. A long lifespan and slow reproduction rate might be a factor – and aren’t explicitly contradicted.
The race not being very adventurous and being disinclined to head off and forge new settlements might also be relevant, but it’s not as if the city has grown to any great size as a consequence. It can, after all, be supplied by a single (admittedly large) aqueduct, which makes it unlikely that the total population is in the millions. Beyond the city and whatever agricultural land may surround it, is a vast desert and the Yellow Mountains, the (presumably snow-capped) range from which the aqueduct draws its water. The Sensorites describe the desert as being inhabited by ‘fierce’ animals although, for all we know, this could just mean something that roars loudly.
We are told that the city is divided into ten districts, but the only inhabited part that we see is that containing the Palace of the Elders. This is surrounded by courtyards with fountains and a view out over the desert. For obvious reasons, we only see a limited number of interior rooms, but there are probably a large number, with living quarters and offices as well as the reception room that forms the main set. The laboratories where the research is carried out into the ‘disease’ afflicting the race are in a separate building, but one that’s evidently close by, within the same city district.
The other key location we see is, of course, the set of tunnels around the terminus of the aqueduct. A plan visible in one scene shows that this has a grid-like layout, perhaps as a means of distributing the water to the various districts. Inside are dark, unlit tunnels filled with piping, while the entrance is in what looks like a cliff face. The aqueduct itself must be miles long, but we don’t see it, or the spring that supplies it at the other end – where there must surely be some kind of inhabited facility, if only for maintenance work.
What we see of the Sensorite technology indicates that it is advanced from our 21st-century perspective. It is also likely more advanced than that of the humans in the story, although there are some gaps such as the lack of FTL travel – which the Sensorites probably have no interest in developing. They do have orbital spaceflight, including one-man ships that can carry warriors and a larger shuttle that carries the protagonists down to the surface. Why they might have developed such things is an interesting question. Perhaps they normally help maintain weather satellites, since it’s hard to see what else you would need to have in orbit if you only live in one city – GPS and intercontinental communications being redundant in such circumstances. (Of course, if there is a moon, and they are mining it, that might explain things, too).
The Sensorites’ ability to take control of the human spacecraft implies mastery of computer science as a minimum, but we don’t get any detail of how this is achieved. Three pieces of their advanced technology are, however, more visible. Their primary weapons are described as “hand-rays” and are capable of stunning at a range of 30 metres or of emitting a laser beam for heat-cutting. In this respect, they are much like Star Trek phasers despite their very different physical appearance.
The other weapon in the story is the disintegrator, which requires a large immobile base station. We never see it in use, but the description implies that it can direct an invisible beam through solid walls and other objects and only destroy whatever is at the focal point – which they can define with considerable precision. Given their generally peaceful lifestyle, while the hand-rays may help to defend against the ‘fierce beasts’ of the desert, it seems more likely that the disintegrator is intended as an industrial device used in mining and similar tasks instead of noisy explosive charges. Notably, the operator we see is a technician, not a warrior.
Which brings us to the matter of Sensorite society. They have three castes, membership of which is chosen based on whatever the individual is best suited for. Or, at least, so the Sensorites believe; we don’t know whether they have something equivalent to SATs, are pandering to some unspoken bias, or are somewhere in between.
The existence of the warrior caste is perhaps a little surprising, given the Sensorites' peaceful nature and the fact that (so far as we know) the city doesn’t have any rivals. They are probably more accurately described as a police force – since the actions of the City Administrator imply that crime is more common than the Elders are letting on – although they would surely also provide security when teams need to head outside the city and risk facing the ‘fierce beasts’. Even so, they don’t seem terribly competent as warriors by human standards and it’s hard to see that they would be very numerous.
The largest of the three castes isn’t named in the story, but we’re told that their function is to ‘work and play’. The technician is the only speaking part in the story who belongs to this caste (as indicated by the fact that he wears no insignia) although there are also some servants, citizens passing through the courtyard, and so on. They must have a wide range of job roles and make up well over 90% of the population. There’s every indication that they are well treated and the fact that they are all in one caste likely means that they are all considered more or less equal to one another, whether they’re a skilled technician or a cleaner.
The Elder caste consists of the “thinkers” and uses more varied insignia than the warriors. In addition to the politicians, the scientist in the story is apparently an Elder, and there must be others in engineering and administrative roles; including medics would also make sense. While we don’t know what sort of privileges (if any) the warriors get compared with the workers, we do know that the Elders have access to special water and, since they live in a ‘palace’, presumably superior living quarters to their fellows.
The First Elder is the head of government and is elected by some means that may or may not be what we would think of as truly democratic. For instance, it might be that only the Elders have a vote; we certainly know that only they can be candidates, although since membership of the caste is (theoretically) merit-based, the Sensorites wouldn’t see that as a limitation. The Second Elder is the chief advisor and is appointed at the sole discretion of the First. One would imagine that, in the event of the First Elder’s incapacity, he takes over, if only to supervise whatever elections there might be for a proper replacement.
The other key figures that we see are the First Warrior and the City Administrator, both of whom are likely also appointed by the First Elder.
Despite their protestations of being peaceful and having a society based heavily on trust, the Sensorites do have a criminal justice system. While we don’t know how trials work (if, indeed, they have any) we do know that there is a prison since the technician is locked up in it twice. He is eventually sentenced to death for murder, so capital punishment is also a thing. The City Administrator, despite being equally complicit and breaking numerous taboos about trust, is merely banished; either this is worse than it sounds, or Elders get some consideration that the regular workers do not.
We can also briefly discuss Sensorite biology, although much of this is a mystery. They appear humanoid, although their hearts are located in the centre of their chest, which indicates some minor deviation from human internal anatomy. They don’t have eyelids, although it’s plausible that they would have nictitating membranes like lizards and snakes to keep sand out of their eyes. They live in ‘family groups’ but how these are structured is not explained.
All of those we see look and sound male from a human perspective but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, especially if they are not mammalian. If the females are elsewhere, then they must surely be in subordinate roles, or we would see some. On the other hand, the way they refer to the human characters means that they understand the difference between the genders. It's possible, however, that they worked this out using internal scans on the spaceship crew during the months they were in orbit, so it doesn’t follow that they instinctively recognise women as such because their own females look similar. For all we know, the sexes are, at least when fully dressed, indistinguishable to human eyes and ears. In this case, they would be entirely sexually egalitarian, which makes sense when neither sex has any physical superiority.
None of the Sensorites in the TV serial are ever given names, instead being referred to by their titles. If this is universal, it would cause a lot of confusion when referring to the worker caste. This is explained in the spin-off media by stating that the Sensorites have names that consist of thought patterns with no vocal counterpart.
On a similar note, there is the significant plot point that the Sensorites cannot tell each other apart visually. Although often said about the serial, this may be slightly exaggerated – the City Administrator argues that he can pass himself off as the Second Elder only because most other Sensorites haven’t seen him up close, and don’t know what he looks like. While he does seem to fool some people he probably shouldn’t using this reasoning, at no point does he, for instance, try to do so to the First Elder. In a game, we’d probably need to assume that they really do look indistinguishable if we’re following the original plot (or he’d get away with a lot less) but be free to go with a more relaxed interpretation otherwise.
Scenario
It's worth noting here that the Sensorites have to have some way of entering the ship after the PCs have done so – which is not an issue if they and/or the Sensorites can beam in, but may require a second point of ingress if the PCs’ ship has to be docked with Maitland’s. In this case, the addition of an airlock as well as the loading bay door mentioned in the original is entirely reasonable.
Once on board, the PCs will discover the crew apparently dead. This illusion is unlikely to last long if they have a sophisticated medical tricorder or the like, or just get a decent Medicine roll, but it helps to set up the creepy atmosphere. There’s also a question of how long it will take them to discover John; they may already know that the ship is carrying three people, although (depending on how the relevant tech works) scanning for ‘life signs’ from a nearby ship may not work while the crew is in the suspended animation state.
After hopefully being spooked and realising that John is entirely off his rocker, the next part of the story sees the Sensorites come on board. The reaction of at least some PCs to this, in a game that isn’t otherwise based on Doctor Who themes, is likely to be more confrontational than we see in the serial. Shooting the Sensorites at this point, while it does solve the initial problem and allow Maitland and the others to be rescued, would make the later parts of the story problematic. So, ideally, the GM should drop hints that they aren’t as hostile as they might appear and could be open to negotiation. Even setting phasers to stun (or equivalent) should be a valid approach, although it would naturally make the Sensorites more wary afterwards.
If this fails, and things get lethal, or the Sensorites otherwise have no reason to trust the PCs, then the story changes to one of discovering the existence of the holdouts in the aqueduct tunnels and trying to rescue them without the locals’ cooperation – a valid plot, but a different one. In the course of this, the PCs should discover the atropine poisoning and have an opportunity to set things right.
If we manage to stick to the original plot, however, the PCs will eventually be invited down to the planet’s surface. In the original story, one of the first things that happens here is that Ian is poisoned. In a game, an NPC would be a better target here, since we don’t really want a PC out of action while the others try to find a cure. Many of the other machinations against the protagonists take place away from them (the disintegrator for example) but their efforts to find a cure, and to track down the source of the poison should both be faced with obstacles until they can pinpoint the culprit.
Eventually, we need to enter the aqueduct. This is another opportunity for a sinister setting and it will likely work better in-game if there really is a monster of some kind in there. Perhaps it is a predator from the desert that the holdouts have somehow tamed as a guard animal, or at least can keep penned up when they aren’t setting it loose on intruders. Although we don’t see any, it’s also logical that they would have set up traps to foil anyone entering the tunnels and they already have an ‘alarm system’ in the story, perhaps using trip wires.
With the poisoning averted, one way or another, the original story comes to an end. The generally peaceful nature of Sensorite society limits the sorts of new stories we can tell in the setting in some respects; it’s notable that only one audio (about the Time War), and no novels attempt to do so. However, there are a couple of reasons why the outside universe would find the Sense-Sphere a worthwhile place to explore.
The first of these is, of course, the molybdenum. Once Maitland’s ship returns to Earth, humans will know about the rich deposits, and it seems obvious that people will want to exploit them. Some might try to initiate diplomatic relations with a view to agreeing a trade deal, but with only one city on the planet and a ‘large’ land mass, there are bound to be bad actors trying to sneak in and dig up deposits illegally. This could lead to fraught human/Sensorite relations, even outright conflict, that a team of PCs, perhaps with some Sensorite allies, might be hired to fix by dealing with the interlopers. Once again, there may be some among the Sensorites who share the ex-City Administrator’s opinion (after all, it will have happened twice by this point…) and try to drive all humans off the planet in a more dramatic manner, giving the PCs enemies to fight from both sides.
The other interesting feature about the Sense-Sphere, however, is that it has “frequencies” that enhance telepathic abilities. Transplanting the world to settings other than Doctor Who may therefore have different implications depending on that new setting’s attitude to telepathy. This is often referred to in games under the umbrella term “psionics”, an invented term used in various science fiction stories of the ‘50s and ‘60s, but that now survives largely in the context of RPGs.
In the case of the Traveller universe, were a world such as the Sense-Sphere to be discovered, the Imperium’s fear of psionics would lead to it being rapidly interdicted and most contact with the Sensorites banned. For that to be meaningful, the world would probably have to be inside, or at least close to the borders of, the Imperium, but with the value of the molybdenum, there is once again an opportunity for clashes between agents of the Imperial Navy and/or Scout Service and space pirates or unscrupulous entrepreneurs. But, this time, with a different and (from the human perspective) higher stakes context.
Other settings aren’t always so negative about telepathic abilities. In Star Trek, for instance, while races such as the Nausicaans could fill a “space pirate” niche, the Federation itself would be far more positive. One could easily imagine the Vulcans would be interested in the world and its properties and might get on quite well with the locals – until something else goes wrong. For that matter, PCs themselves might be interested in discovering if they can develop new or existing psychic abilities, as might a research outfit from some other space opera setting.
But perhaps what’s safe for Sensorites isn’t for humans, or for some specific alien race from the setting, such as Irari or Rakashans. Even normally telepathic races, such as Vulcans or Lashunta, might find their powers warped in unpredictable ways due to some incompatibility with the Sense-Sphere’s “frequencies”. This could lead to a breakdown similar to that experienced by John in the story, only with a powerful rogue psychic as the mentally unstable individual and the Sensorites unsuited to deal with the issue until they are somehow subdued. In the right sort of setting, there’s also the possibility of some more powerful psychic entity taking over some of the Sensorites, in a similar manner to the Ood in The Impossible Planet.
The fact that the Sense-Sphere’s land mass is so large and yet apparently only contains one city also opens up possibilities. For one, perhaps there are other communities out there with divergent and possibly hostile cultures that PC explorers might run across. But there’s also the issue that, at the end of the original story, the City Administrator is banished to the ‘outer wastes’.
This presumably refers to the desert and mountains beyond the city, or perhaps to some region on the far side of the mountains. Given the Sensorites’ physical weakness and reliance on civilised amenities, this is likely a harsh punishment, but it’s not necessarily a fatal one. One could imagine that, out there in (or beyond) the desert there are small communities of banished renegades, plotting their revenge and developing their psychic powers for ill.
Rules
In all but the most rules-lite of systems, we will need to quantify how Sensorites differ from humans. In general, they appear to be physically weaker and even the warriors aren’t very impressive in this regard. We’re specifically told that they are slower, which is hardly surprising given their wide, splayed feet. (Which, incidentally, might be more effective for walking on soft sand, suggesting that the species originally evolved in the desert). In systems that go into detail for NPC stats, we might need to add a mild phobia of loud noises and an inability to see in dim light.
In Traveller terms, the UWP of the Sense-Sphere is B-86558A-8.
This assumes a population for the city that’s large, but not true metropolis size, since it needs to be fed by a single aqueduct, and assumes that only the warriors carry weapons. The tech level and starport are a little harder to define, but we know that they have in-system space travel and not FTL technology; their psionic technology may be more advanced than the overall tech level may suggest. In GURPS, where such things have a greater rules effect, they are plausibly TL9, just like the humans – only, again, without the FTL.
On the subject of the humans, if we’re using something akin to the original story, we would also need deck plans of Maitland’s ship, although most of its other features are unlikely to crop up. For what it’s worth, as a small exploratory craft with a crew of three, it’s pretty much exactly a Traveller Type-S scout ship, one of the most common designs in that game setting.
In terms of the Sensorite’s own technology, we need rules for the hand-rays. These have two functions – as short-range cutting devices and as stun weapons. The former function can be used in combat, although the Sensorites don’t like doing this.
Savage Worlds
Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min ST Weight
3/6/12 2d6 2 1 20 d4 2
5/10/20 (stun) - 1 50 d4 2
GURPS
Damage Acc Range Weight RoF Shots ST Bulk Rcl
3d(2) burn 2 5/10 1 1 20(10) 4 -2 1
HT-4(2) aff 2 15/30 1 1 50(10) 4 -2 1
BRP
Base Dmg Attk Special Range Hnds HP S/D Mal Ammo Enc
20% 1D8 1 impale 10 1 12 5/5 99-00 20 1.0
20% 2D6 stun 1 knock. 30 1 12 5/5 99-00 50 1.0
The disintegrator is a different matter. Although we never see it used, the implication is that it’s just flat-out deadly – as one would expect if it just atomises your internal organs. If we need a damage rating for applying against solid structures or the like, it’s probably equivalent to, say, a charge of C4 plastic explosive but without the blast radius. While the hand-rays would require whatever skill is used for regular handheld laser weapons in the system (possibly with an unfamiliarity penalty for their unusual shape) the disintegrator would use either a high-tech heavy weapons or artillery skill or, alternatively, Demolitions.
The symptoms of atropine poisoning are essentially as described in the story, although they can also include convulsions, which was understandably ignored. The toxin is being administered by being dumped into the water supply, so realistically it would be at a low dose, if likely problematic with the repeated exposure described. Either way, most systems already have rules for poison, and we merely need to assign a target number, potency, or equivalent figure at whatever level feels appropriate for the story and not worry about the fine symptoms.
Finally, we come to the telepathic powers themselves. Again, most science fiction systems already have rules for ‘psionics’. The primary ability we see used is sending telepathic messages to specific individuals but they can also implant feelings of fear and, if an individual is primed for long enough, send them into a catatonic state difficult to distinguish from death. While some systems (e.g. Traveller and BRP) treat Telepathy as a broad-range ability that allows users to both transmit and to read the thoughts of others, many regard these as separate, which is more appropriate here – for example, ‘Telesend’ in GURPS, Mind Link in Savage Worlds, and the Message and Fear spells in 5E.
The discs the Sensorites use to send messages over long distances are described as ‘mind transmitters’. In game terms, their only effect is to boost the range of the sending form of telepathy – something that’s usually limited in game rules, but with this device can reach orbit over a hundred miles up. This requires close knowledge of the person being transmitted to, and it’s possible for them to identify the voice. If it makes sense for a roll to be required to use the device in a game, it would use whatever the psychic powers are based on, whether that be a specific Telepathy skill or something like a POW or Wisdom roll. Other than the device only being able to work when within the Sense-Sphere’s “frequencies”, more detailed rules are unlikely to be required.
No comments:
Post a Comment