INTRODUCTION - PHASE 2.5: PREMISE

As a group you need to decide who will take what initial role in the upcoming drama (don't worry, as the campaign progresses, the spotlight will shift).

• One of you chooses to play the last remaining human (the nominal 'star' of the series);
• One of you chooses to play the holograms of a deceased crewmember (whose primary raison d'etre is to keep the 'star' in line, somewhere between a bullying older brother and a nagging mother-in-law);
• One, or more, of you choose to play anthropomorphised descendants of the star's (smuggled) pet (you will need to agree between you what kind of pet it was - the rules contains guidelines for cats, dogs, rabbits, rats, mice, and iguanas, but I'm sure we can come up with something if you want a different animal); 
• One, or more, of you can play a surviving service mechanoid, a waxdoid etc;
• And the rest of you can play random alien lifeforms that have strayed aboard the ship and - for whatever reason - have decided to stay!

None of you are rocket scientists or starship captains: the Red Knight campaign revolves around lowly 'everyman' survivors, clearly out of their depth, struggling to survive and find their place in a vast, unfriendly, universe.

INTRODUCTION - PHASE TWO

Welcome to the world of the RED DWARF RPG.

It's a retro-futuristic world of cathode-ray tube (CRT) screens, chunky keyboards, floppy discs, Betamax video cassettes, boom boxes, Digital Audio Tape (DAT), and no Internet.

And the human race is extinct. Probably. They had their chance 3,000,000 years ago and blew it.

Time moves on.

However, at least one of you is/are the last human(s) alive, stranded and lost on a massive mining ship in the butt-end of space; the rest of you can take the roles of:

• Holograms (accurate representations of deceased colleagues)*
• Mechanoid companions/servants;
• Evolved household pets (e.g. cats, dogs, ducks, rats, mice, rabbits etc);
• Waxdroids (animated entertainment units with the appearance and mannerisms of famous historical figures - e.g. Elvis, Hitler, Nelson, Trump, Churchill, Homer Simpson etc)

* The ship's A.I. only has the capacity to run one hologram at a time, as well as all the other ship's systems (life support, engines, lighting, vending machines etc).

For more ideas and to get the gist of what we're aiming for, check the Inspirations Information Screen.

Basic System Guidelines:

Task Resolution:

• Roll under STAT + SKILL on 2d6 - the larger the margin of success, the greater the achievement.
• A natural “2” is always a critical success and adds 1d6 to the margin of success.
• A natural “12” is always a critical failure - no matter how high your Target Number.

Combat:

• As above.
• Damage = (Margin of Success x Weapon’s Rating {WR}) + Damage Bonus {DB}
• Wounds = If Damage is greater than SHRUG value, then one wound, if twice SHRUG value then two wounds etc. If Damage is less than SHRUG, then target suffers -1 on all rolls for next round.

Now go to Phase Three