This weekend, we celebrate the 62nd anniversary of Doctor Who (and I’ll be too busy to post this tomorrow so starting today).
It’s time for a bit of fun.
Way back in 2009, a Doctor Who fan called Simon Cogan invented the Doctor Who Solitaire Story Game. Since then it has added various expansions and gone through three editions (with a recent announcement of more updates coming in 2026).
It’s something I have played on and off for a few years and I thought the 62nd anniversary was a great time to share it with the community.
Although, ostensibly, it’s designed to be played by one person, I thought we could work together to make decisions - a bit like we do for the Decide Your Destiny Read Alongs. I’m going to go right back to the First Edition of the game as it is the one I’m most familiar with - and is the most simplistic rules-wise.
Over the next few days there will be a series of choices and dice rolls to make. I will post the results for each decision at intervals across the weekend (and probably beyond).
For anyone interested in diving into this more you can find the original edition’s files on Boardgamegeek. It’s all free and downloadable. (The second and third edition - and the many expansions are also available from the same site).
Evil events have overtaken the Universe! The Time Lords and your home planet of Gallifrey have been destroyed in the last, great Time War. You managed to escape just in time and now, in a new regeneration, are standing next to the central console of your TARDIS as it flies through the twisting miasma of the Time Vortex.
To start the game, first determine the Qualities and Traits of this regeneration by reading ‘Your Character’ (r301). Then return here to find if you have anything lying around the console…
If we’re beginning to play as Doctor Who, why all the votes for TARDIS? We all know that she does what she wants, regardless of what Doctor Who is doing
Luck points: You start the game with 4 Luck points.
These are used when you want to re-roll a dice after a failed Quality or Trait roll (or a roll that is linked to either – such as combat), or if you want to re-roll an Action result.
Simply lose a Luck point and roll the dice again. You may NOT spend another Luck point if you still do not like the result.
Beware using Luck points recklessly – the universe can be a dangerous place!
Your Luck total may never go negative. If you have rolled 2D6 for a Trait or Quality roll, or for an Action, then 1 Luck point will roll both dice again.
Note that you can use Luck points even if you (as the Doctor) are not involved in the event.
Luck points are gained through events, gaining a Companion and Defeating Enemies.
(Equipment) When someone views this slightly psychic paper, it projects whatever they wish to see onto it.
This makes it very useful to avoid unpleasant confrontations. You gain +1 to any Talk options or Charisma rolls when encountering Characters (not Enemies). It may not be used on any Machine or someone with Domination.
Your thoughts turn to your last companion – your friend who gave her life so that you could reach the TARDIS and escape and you lower your head sadly. But what destination co-ordinates did you set for the TARDIS? You shake your head to clear it – short term amnesia from your regeneration no doubt.
You watch as a loud wheezing, groaning sound suddenly fills the air as the TARDIS starts to materialise. As the sound dies away, you check the controls of the TARDIS to see where you are.
Basically we have 12 turns to defeat the Enemy. As we work through the turns we will reveal the enemy, what their goal is and, hopefully, meet some allies along the way.
Each turn we take an Action (which I’ll explain later) and then have an Encounter.
On arrival at a new Location we have an extra Encounter - effectively Turn 0.
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