mad alien with a box

"if you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds, and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?" -the first doctor, an unearthly child

"there's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. warp drive, wormhole refractors. you know the thing you need most of all? you need a hand to hold." -the tenth doctor, fear her

mad alien with a box is a free fanmade doctor who story game, descended from the belonging outside belonging system by avery alder and benjamin rosenbaum, which sees a group of friends in turns telling a season of doctor who. unlike other games where each player has a designated character, in mad alien with a box players will take turns from scene to scene controlling different characters, monsters, and aspects of the story.

the game is meant to be played over the course of a season, with each play session comprising one "episode." each player will get a turn choosing the setting of a different episode, so that every episode is set in its own corner of time and space, just like in the show! ultimately, across the season one huge mystery will unravel and challenge the doctor and their companions with a great adventure of your very own.

the game lets you play as established characters like past doctors and companions or to invent your own incarnations of these characters, and the attached roles (playbooks, essentially, if you're coming from the pbta world!) provide evocative prompts to let you create your own characters and worlds all your own.

run across time and space from daleks, cybermen, and original monsters of your own making as you solve mysteries, save worlds, and tell the doctor who stories you always dreamed of.

changelog 5/29/24

• added the "technology" playbook
• added sections for "what you need to play," distributing roles, beginning and ending a season, and holiday specials
• clarified how to create a role on a notecard. there's a diagram now!
• bunch of small quality of life changes

changelog 7/24/24

• added a section for the "current player" token
• added a list of roles on the very final page
• removed the "3 or 4 players make a second role" rule in campaign setup