''The Master'' is a supplement published by

FASA Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city date ...

in 1985 for ''

The Doctor Who Role Playing Game ''The Doctor Who Role Playing Game'' is a '' Doctor Who'' roleplaying game published by FASA in 1985. The game allows players to assume similar roles to the Doctor and his companions or as agents of the Celestial Intervention Agency. Set ...

'', which is based on the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''.

''The Master'' contains information about The Doctor's nemesis, The Master. The supplement is divided into two books: a 64-page

gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

's booklet with accurate background information about The Master, including history, background, and activities, as well as notes on how to give The Master an authentic feel, and statistics for some other opponents of The Doctor, including Daemons, The Nestene Consciousness, Axos and Ogrons; and a 24-page booklet with information for players titled "The Master – CIA File Extracts", supposedly written by the

Celestial Intervention Agency Celestial may refer to: Science * Objects or events seen in the sky and the following astronomical terms: ** Astronomical object, a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe ** Celes ...

. The information in the player's book may or may not be accurate. As reviewer Barry Bailey noted, "the players' booklet is carefully compiled as a mixture of truth, inaccuracies, lies,damn lies and statistics." Although these two booklets were originally sold together, they are usually found separately on the used book market. Since there have been more players than gamemasters, the player's booklet is rarer than the gamemaster's book.

Publication history

FASA published ''The Doctor Who Roleplaying Game'' in 1985, and quickly released two adventures, ''

The Lords of Destiny ''The Lords of Destiny'' is an adventure published by FASA in 1985 for ''The Doctor Who Role Playing Game''. Plot summary The Companions are sent aboard an enormous 10,000 km long World-Ship that is moving through space at near-light spee ...

'', and ''

The Iytean Menace ''The Iytean Menace'' is an adventure published by FASA in 1985 for '' The Doctor Who Role Playing Game''. Plot summary The player characters are assumed to be members of the Celestial Intervention Agency, and are sent to London in 1885 to inve ...

'', as well as several supplements about foes of The Doctor, including ''

The Daleks ''The Daleks'' (also known as ''The Mutants'' and ''The Dead Planet'') is the second Serial (radio and television), serial in the British science fiction on television, science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadca ...

'', ''The Cybermen'', and this one, ''The Master''. ''The Master'' was written by

J. Andrew Keith John Andrew Keith (August 31, 1958 – August 7, 1999) was an American author and games developer. Career J. Andrew Keith, and his brother William H. Keith Jr., responded to ads in ''Journal of the Travellers Aid Society'' for authors to wri ...

, with additional material by Michael P. Bledsoe,

William H. Keith, Jr. William H. Keith (born August 8, 1950) is an American author mainly contributing to military science fiction and military fiction and related game design, who writes also under several pen names, such as Ian Douglas, Robert Cain and H. Jay R ...

, and Tom Kokkelenberg. Artwork was by Jane K. Bigos, Todd F. Marsh, and Lucy A. Synk.

Reception

In the May 1986 edition of ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

'' (Issue #77), Barry Bailey reviewed both ''The Master'' and ''The Daleks'', which had been released simultaneously, and said of ''The Master'' that it "unaccountably has inferior production to earlier FASA ''Doctor Who'' products. Apart from the cunningly composed cover, the illustration is generally weak." Bailey noted that the statistics given for The Doctor's opponents in this supplement differed in format from those given in ''The Daleks'', commenting, "it would appear that the ''Dr Who RPG'' is very poorly co-ordinated as a project." He also disagreed with some reworking of the ''Doctor Who'' canon, calling it an "irritating rewriting of the ''Dr Who'' mythos." Bailey was ambivalent about the usefulness of either ''The Daleks'' or ''The Master'', and gave them both an average overall rating of 7 out of 10, saying, "If you intend using either of the two villains regularly, and don't feel you know enough from the series to be able to handle them, then you should use these supplements. Otherwise you'd probably be better trusting to your own judgement."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Master Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1985 Science fiction role-playing game supplements The Doctor Who Role Playing Game

Contents

Publication history

Reception

References