RPG Nostalgia: FASA’s Doctor Who Role Playing Game

Who remembers FASA’s groundbreaking Doctor Who Role Playing Game? First released as a Boxed Set in 1985, it was written by Guy W. McLimore Jr. and William John Wheeler, the game featured art by a number of artists. 

They include FASA staffer Jane K. Bigos, David R. Deitrick (who describes his career as encompassing “artist, a soldier, a teacher, a missionary, an oil-field roustabout, a carpenter, and a dozen other professions”, and has dreamed up some stunning Fireball XL5 reboot concepts), artist and author William H. Keith Jr., who contributed heavily to the graphical appearance of that era of Traveller RPG releases and now writes under the name Ian Douglas; the game’s Art Director and Dungeons and Dragons and Star Trek game artist Dana M. Knutson, game developer Dave R. Marsh, creator of the Shadowgate computer game, and graphic designer Todd F. Marsh. 

More memorable, perhaps, are the art contributions of the late Jim Holloway, a name surely familiar to fans of other popular RPGs down the years: not just Dungeons & Dragons, but less well known games such as Gamma World and Star Frontiers. He provided art on the game’s supplements, his distinctive (if inaccurate) art for The Daleks cover still eye catching today.

Harry Quinn was another artist on the project, delivering the cover for The Legions of Death, a Third Doctor supplement. He painted also provided cover images for Doctor Who and the Vortex Crystal and Doctor Who and the Rebel's Gamble, but is still well regarded for his work on other fantasy and RPG books for FASA, TSR, and others. 

Cover art by Harry Quinn

FASA’s Doctor Who Role Playing Game, of course, was only the first RPG based on Doctor Who; Time Lord – Adventures through Time and Space, written by Ian Marsh and Peter Darvill-Evans, featuring cover art by Colin Howard, was published in 1991 by Virgin Publishing, and the Cubicle 7 incarnation of the game is now in its second edition. But there’s always something fascinating about pioneers, and FASA’s take was certainly that for many, and there’s clearly still plenty of love for it out there although, of course, tracking down a complete set is not an easy or inexpensive task.

Art by Jim Holloway

Comprising a 48-page Player's Manual, 82-page Game Operations Manual, and 64-page Sourcebook for Field Operatives, and dice, the first Doctor Who roleplaying game utilised a revised version of the system developed for FASA's Star Trek: The Roleplaying Game. The game allowed players to assume roles as Time Lords and companions, and to work as operatives for the Celestial Intervention Agency. 

Although FASA only published modules for it during 1985-86, it nevertheless generated three supplements and seven adventure modules, some of which contained lore from the TV series that was not readily available to fans in the United States, and, for some, was actually their first introduction to Doctor Who. 

Although Tom Baker and Louise Jameson had long parted the show, it’s little wonder the Fourth Doctor and Leela featured in the first edition, such was their popularity stateside.

Photo with thanks to Edwin Patterson

All the FASA supplements. Photo with thanks to Edwin Patterson

Even if you didn’t ever play the game, perhaps put off by the complexity of play (although hardcore RPG fans appreciated it), many Who fans, including myself, were avid collectors of the tie-in figures created by Citadel Miniatures, a subsidiary of Games Workshop: a set of 25mm miniatures co-branded with FASA sold in conjunction with the game. (For the US market, the sets were actually produced by RAFM Miniatures).

It’s great to see Cubicle 7 still flying the flag for Doctor Who RPGs, particularly at a time when the series TV future seems uncertain. But you can’t help but admire the work of those who got there first.

Head downthetubes for...

• Rolling Boxcars: Time Traveling to 1985 – FASA’s The Doctor Who Role Playing Game

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• The Other Side: FASA Doctor Who RPG: Part 1, Unboxing/Introduction by Timothy Brannan 

• The Other Side: FASA Doctor Who RPG: Part 2, Review by Timothy Brannan 

• The Other Side: FASA Doctor Who RPG: Part 3 - The Supplements by Timothy Brannan 

• The Other Side: FASA Doctor Who RPG: Part 4 - The Adventures by Timothy Brannan 

• The Other Side: FASA Doctor Who RPG: Part 5 - Jenny Everywhere by Timothy Brannan 

• The Other Side: Review: Time Lord the Doctor Who RPG Review by Timothy Brannan 

• The Other Side: Time Lord - Review by Timothy Brennan

• The Other Side: Review: Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Review by Timothy Brannan

• Citadel Miniatures - Doctor Who figure Checklist 

• Doctor Who (RAFM) Miniatures Checklist

• Facebook: The Art of Jim Holloway 

James Holloway, who died 28th June 2020, was an American artist of fantasy and science fiction illustrations whose work appeared in role-playing games, on the cover of Dragon, and on the covers of board wargames

• Wayback: "Jim Holloway :: Pen & Paper RPG Database" | Archived from the original on January 3, 2009

• Silver Key: A Tribute to Jim Holloway