Originally posted here with full reviews of all the Doctor Who Doctor Sourcebooks: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2023/05/review-doctor-who-sourcebooks.html

Not content just to give us a great game and material we can use to make our own adventures, Cubicle 7 took a huge leap and gave us guides and sourcebooks for all Thirteen of the major versions of the Doctor that have aired since 1963.

The covers feature the Doctor with some of his (and her) enemies from their run. The Thirteenth Doctor is not pictured, played by Jodie Whittaker, only because it has not hit the stores yet. I will review the PDF here.

The logo on the cover of the first 11 is from the Jon Pertwee era (1970-1973) and for the 8th Doctor's movie in 1986. Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor uses the logo from Jodie's 13th Doctor era, and Jodie's 13th Doctor book uses the "new" logo which is the reuse of the old Tom Baker logo.

For this review, I am going to consider all the hardcover books I have, doctors 1 to 12, and the PDFs, Doctors 1 - 13.

All books differ in length but all have similar content. Each book begins with an introduction to that Doctor's era and some of the special things about it. For example, in the 3rd Doctor book we get a lot about his exile on Earth. Each book is filled with photos from that Doctor's time period, so a lot of black and white for the First and Second Doctor and of course ideas for adventures throughout.

If that is all it was, well, you need one book for that, and this is not what makes these books special.

Each book details every adventure that Doctor had on screen. While it is written from the point of view of the RPG (and this RPG in particular), the details are such that each one of these books is fascinating reading all on their own. This is great since so many of the early adventures/episodes are now lost and the old Target novelizations go for a king's ransom.

Also, each book details all the Doctor's companions and provides stats for them, the Doctor in question and most, if not all, the creatures they encounter.

Doctor Who - The First Doctor Sourcebook 160 pages. Black & White photos. William Hartnell as the Doctor.

The original, you might say! This book is a treasure. There are so many of the First Doctor's stories I have never seen, and some I have only caught in novel or audiobook form. Getting a full reading of them all here is worth the book's price alone. Getting RPG material is just a bonus.

Speaking of which there are plenty of stats for various adversaries here, as well as new gadgets, new Traits (both Good and Bad) and plenty of game seeds.

Inside the pictures of the First Doctor are all William Hartnell. The spine though features Richard Hurndall in his turn as the First Doctor during the 20th Anniversary special The Five Doctors.

All of these books are absolutely fantastic. Not just in terms of episode guides but also additions to the RPG (both editions). Kudos to Cubicle 7 for these.

Time-travel indeed, right back to the First Doctor (portrayed by William Hartnell) that started the whole thing off. I was pretty small then (and usually behind the sofa!) but I still remember those early days. The Introduction explains what you can do with this book, apart from wander down memory lane: as a GM you may choose to use adversaries or even whole plots in your game, or weave bits in as part of the growing history of the Doctor whether you have a Doctor (any regneration) in your party or not.

If you want to recreate the First Doctor and his companions, there are notes on style - and complete character sheets for them - which will help you get the right feel however you want to proceed: running the adventures as they were originally presented, or using some of the follow-up ideas to create your own adventures on similar lines.

Each adventure is presented in a common style. First there is a synopsis which explains what the situation was, who the adversaries were and what they were up to, and how the Doctor dealt with them. This is followed by notes on how to run that adventure 'as is', including how to run it with a different Doctor than the first, how to adapt it or just use selected parts in your own game. Then there are more notes on creatures (NPCs and monsters) encountered, interesting gadgets and so on - you might want to use some of them even if the adventure does not suit your needs. Finally, assuming that the adventure has happened, suggestions for follow-up adventures are provided. You might want to use these after playing the original adventure or - if you are taking a more 'canon' stance and hold that the TV adventures have already taken place - use the follow-up ideas whilst letter the Doctor 'remember' the original adventure. That works particularly well if you have a real Doctor Who enthusiast playing the Doctor, one who knows a lot of the adventures that occured in the show!

There is a wealth of information here, whether you are looking for plot ideas or just revelling in detailed analysis of the early Doctor Who adventures. Everywhere is filled with snippets of use to GM and quite often to players - for example, ideas on how to play the Doctor (if you have him as a player-character) or the various companions. The GM will need to consider carefully what, if any, access he permits to this book, or it might be preferable to read certain portions to players as appropriate rather than letting them loose on the entire book.

So here we have the very first meeting with the Doctor, the first encounter with the Daleks, several historical episodes and more, all illustrated with photos from the revelant TV adventure. Alas, these are all uncaptioned although it is usually possible to figure out what they are depicting. Even if you don't intend to run any of the adventures, the comments and suggestions make it well worth reading through the lot. Of particular use to those who weren't around in 1963 to watch these adventures as they were broadcast, they are still fascinating if you do remember them (or have been watching archive re-runs).

However you use this book, it will help you to steep your game in the lore and mythology that goes to make up 'Doctor Who' in all its glory, that undefinable something that has made it endure for over fifty years. There are 28 adventures here, any one of which could keep a group entertained for several sessions.

Read my full review on my blog: http://ofdiceandpenblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-first-doctor-sourcebook.html

This book is not what I expected. To be honest, however, I’m not entirely sure what I expected. I figured there would be information on the first Doctor and all his companions, probably also the key aliens and villains from that era. There would probably also be advice about playing during the first Doctor’s time along with some adventure ideas. Most of these things are present in The First Doctor Sourcebook, but they take up only a very small portion (maybe 30 pages or so total) of the book. Beyond these things, I don’t really know what I expected, but I certainly didn’t expect what the book delivers. The vast majority of this 160-page book is devoted to presenting each of the first Doctor’s television stories as adventures that people can play out in their Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space games.

There are a lot of different ways you can play Adventures in Time and Space. You can play as one of the Doctors and any of his companions. You can create unique companions to travel with the Doctor. Or you can create your own original Time Lord characters to use instead of the Doctor. Alternatively, you can play the game without a Time Lord at all and have an all-human group, perhaps a UNIT or Torchwood group, or a group of time agents from the 51st century. There are limitless possibilities, but one possibility I never once considered was playing out a television story as a game adventure. And honestly, after reading the book, I would still never consider it.

It has a lot of black & white pictures from the series which help add to the classic feel of this period of the series. Most of the material is more geared toward setting up the campaign feel, the campaign elements, and a handful of write-ups and rules-related material to help run the game using the DWAITAS system (easily translatable to other systems).

Chapter One really focuses on the overview and setting the tone for a First Doctor era or First Doctor-esque campaign. Really useful for planning key elements and themes of what is essentially a romp through various mini-settings and genres.

Chapters Two through Ten are a set of synopses plus game mechanics and character write-ups for twenty-eight First Doctor adventures, with pictures from the episodes. And it takes us from the beginning of the First Doctor's documented career to the end. We are introduced to well-known villains like the Daleks and the Cybermen as they first appeared, along with some less popular but important characters like WOTAN, a Timelord known as the Meddling Monk, and The Celestial Toymaker.

Recommendation

Buy this book if you're a compleatist fan of Doctor Who, or want to run a First Doctor campaign, or really want to do your own take on a new Timelord exploring his corners of the galaxy, out from under the shadow of the Doctor!

(for a slightly longer review, check http://armchairgamer.blogspot.com/2013/04/armchair-review-dwaitas-first-doctor.html)

Those of us who enjoy (and some - whisper it! - prefer) the classic era of Doctor Who have been waiting for this (and - hint! hint! - others like it) since the Doctor Who RPG was first in our clammy, excited hands.

Whether you intend to use it to re-enact the First Doctor's adventures, or to 'fill in the blanks', this volume is invaluable. It is filled with useful information, copious (black & white) illustrations, many of which I don't remember seeing before, and statistics for the Doctor, his companions and all his opponents.

Indeed, even if you don't intend to run games with the characters, this is worth having for the nostalgia alone: the reminder of the days when the Doctor was a sometimes infuriating, often irascible, good-hearted meddler, rather than the superhero he has since become.