Energy Drinks

All that cleaning and scrubbing making you feel a bit tired and run down? Then pop round to the nearest vending machine and treat to yourself to a shot of revitalising energy from our selection of canned drinks.

Xpress Lifts

As opposed to the standard JMC Elevators (for travelling short distances between levels of Red Knight), the Xpress Lifts are designed specifically for long journeys up and down the massive starship.

Labelled in both English and Esperanto, an Xpress Lift is the size of a room, and comes complete with several comfortable chairs, a water cooler, a fully stocked magazine rack, and a food vending machine.

In-lift video entertainment is available, or travellers can simply enjoy the piped muzak.

The automated hostess will direct users to the Black Box emergency pack, in case anything goes wrong, which includes facilities for recording last will and testament, as well as a supply of cyanide pills.

The standard JMC Elevators (or lifts) come in all shapes and sizes, and have their own basic A.I. operating system.

The final public transport system on The Red Knight is the metro (or shuttle train), a rapid transit-style type of transportation even faster than the Xpress Lifts.

There are several routes spanning the length and breadth of The Red Knight, wrapping inside and outside the craft, each one names after a London Underground route.

Crewmen, even the captain, are required to pay a fare to use the metro.

Shuttle Train

Vending Machines

The Red Knight is well stocked with vending machines that, when properly maintained and supplied, are capable of producing a wide variety of food and drink to suit (nearly) all tastes.

Many of the vending machines have their own artificial intelligence, independent of the ship-wide A.I., Tim.

However, this means that many of them have lost their minds after three million years without human contact.

Here are a few examples of the machines and their services:

JMC Cola

Looking for a less alcoholic accompaniment for your curry? Then try JMC Cola, a sweetened, carbonated soft drink available from many vending machines around the Red Knight.

Selection From The Book Dispenser

Specially selected by the literature vending machine as suitable Earth Day reading material

INTRODUCTION - PHASE FOUR

First things first, get yourself a Character Sheet and then come back here ...

If you decide to play one of the last surviving humans, or even a hologram of a not-so-lucky human, bear in mind you are not a superhero, rocket scientist, or colonial marine.

Instead, decide what menial role you filled as a lowly drone in Sector 7B, before the "big sleep".

Some suggestions are:

• Telephone Sanitiser
• Chicken Soup Vending Machine Technician
• Refuse & Recycling Operative
• Laboratory Technician, Third Class
• Public Relations Advisor
• Hair Stylist
• Insurance Salesman
• Security Guard
• Personnel Officer
• Management Consultant
• Interior Designer
• Estate Agent

etc

Now you can start to fill in your character sheet -

STATISTICS: 20 points to distribute between them.

SKILLS: 30 points to distribute between them.

ASSETS, LIABILITIES & BEHAVIOUR TAGS: These help define your character by giving you little quirks, personality drawbacks (that earn you more points for skills), and special abilities (such as Courage, Dumb Luck, Rank etc)

VITALS: Flesh out your character with details of age, height, weight, appearance etc

BACKGROUND: Craft a background for your character, including place of birth, life story, family connections, lost loves, deepest darkest secrets, fears and phobias, pets, favourite food etc

DERIVED STATISTICS:

• INITIATIVE = PERCEPTION + AGILITY
• SAVE = STRENGTH + WILLPOWER
• SHRUG = (STRENGTH + WILLPOWER)/2

Your character also automatically gets 1 DESTINY POINT - which can be spent to reroll botched rolls (e.g. crucial skills rolls or key saves).

The AI (gamesmaster) will be able to guide you through all this, tell you how much things cost, update you on the state of the Solar System as it was in the 23rd Century and so on.

Now go to The Conclusion.

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