Reverb Gamers 10 - Doctor Who?

Have you ever played a character originally from a book/TV/movie? How did the character change from the original as you played? If not, who would you most like to play? (Courtesy of Atlas Games. Visit us at www.atlas-games.com)

The most recent time that I played a character originally from a book/TV/movie was at last year's Dead of Winter Invitational(it's a local horror RPG gaming convention in the Bay Area put on by the Terror Rabbit). I was asked to play The Doctor. Who? Oh you know...

It was the morning game at the very beginning of the convention. Everyone but one other person was already around the table waiting. I took the empty seat closest to the door and waiting for me there was a fez(fez's are cool. I wear a fez now), a sonic screwdriver(a replica prop of the 11th Doctor's "magic wand"), and a picture of Matt Smith. So I sat don't and thought "Geronimo."(see I'm already getting into character). The GM felt it was important for his story that The Doctor be played by one of the players. We had the options of all the canon characters from Season 6 Doctor Who including (Spoilers!). No one had seen a lot of the show except for me, I was the person at the table with the most Whovian cred.

I think the major difference for me playing the doctor is that I had absolutely no idea what was going on in the story and was essentially winging it by making stuff up and trying to sound like I did(okay, it wasn't different at all). It was a lot of fun. We were playing the cubicle 7 role playing game which means that the Doctor is capable of anything and everything put has no plot points and really has to rely on the Companion players to move the story along, even when it means watching other players fail rolls that the Doctor could easily make. It is a strange balance that replicates the TV show well I feel. It is a little unusual for an RPG though, for one player to have all the skill power(I guess it's akin to high level 3.5 D&D in that way but in this case the skilled character isn't driving the story at the expense of other players).