Editing Red Dwarf - The RPG

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''"The universe is vast, and you have no clean socks. If Earth is a small coin on your dining table, then you are somewhere over here - just outside Guam. That is to say, you're a long way from home (unless you live in Guam, in which case... oh, just bear with the analogy). In all likelihood, you are the last of your species, or close to it. Your companions are a bizarre collection of losers, drifters, madmen... even accountants! Well, probably not accountants. This isn't a horror game, after all, but you get the idea. Before you start shaking your head and muttering, "but I already hang out with losers, drifters and madmen," just remember these are wholly and entirely different losers, drifters and madmen... in space."''
<br><small>-An excerpt from the rulebook's Introduction</small>

'''Red Dwarf – The Roleplaying Game''' was released in 2003 (despite the printed copyright stating 2002) by Deep7 LLC (which became [[Deep7 Press]], which then became a subsidiary of [[Despot Media]] in 2007).
A pen and paper RPG based on the popular BBC television program about the misadventures of a space-faring individual who is the last known surviving member of his race. ...No, not [[Doctor Who|THAT space-faring individual who is the last known surviving member of his race]], it's about some other bum!

Red Dwarf uses the [[XPG System]] used by other Deep7 games; a stat+skill roll-under system which uses 2[[dice#d6|d6]] with automatic success on snake eyes and automatic [[FAIL|critical failure]] on boxcars. Players are free to create original characters based on the creatures encountered within the Red Dwarf universe. Player characters can be human survivors, holograms, [[Furry|evolved house pets]], various types of [[Robot|mechanoids]], or [[Heresy|GELFs]] ('''G'''enetically '''E'''ngineered '''L'''ife'''F'''orms) -including "[[/d/|Pleasure GELFs]]"- and an additional supplemental called the ''Extra Bits Book'' added two additional choices.

Red Dwarf - The RPG is enjoyable for staying true to the comedic nature of the TV show, for its entertaining writing, and for the detail to which the background material is fleshed-out. However, the game's mechanics were simplistic compared to other science fiction and space roleplaying games on the market at the time. Some felt the game would have been better suited to a d20 system. Others disagreed, saying the minimalized mechanics work better for the [[lulz]] considering the overtly comedic source material. Either way, the game still became little more than a cult classic for fans of the show, but it is not without its wit and charm.

=Playable Races=
Red Dwarf: The RPG has a fair number of playable races, and as this is a classless game, that's going to be where you find the bulk of your initial character customization. Each race grants a +1 bonus to two skills, has its own special maximum values for ability scores, and usually has some kind of drawback.

'''Humans''' are the vanilla option, of course. Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 6, Strength 6, Perception 6, Intelligence 6 and Willpower 6.Their skill bonuses are +1 Resist and +1 Cool, and being the vanilla race, they get no unique drawbacks or further special abilities.

'''Holograms''' are computer-generated recreations of dead humans - cybertronic ghosts, basically. Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 6, Strength 6, Perception 6, Intelligence 6 and Willpower 6. Their unique trait is ''Intangible''; they can't be hurt by anything except melee attacks from a fellow hologram, cybernetic-based weapons such as the holowhip or computer hacking, or hitting their Light Bee, which requires a Called Shot with a -4 penalty or a really big splash attack. This trait is also their downside; they can't interact with the physical world unless upgraded with the separate Hard Light Holodrive tech.

==Cybernetic Organisms==
There are five playable cybernoid strains in Red Dwarf: The RPG. The Series 4000 Mechanoid, the Hudzen 10, the Simulant and the Wax Droid are all present in the corebook, whilst the Series 3000 Mechanoid is hidden in The Extra Bits booklet. This being the kind of rules-lite game it is, the game doesn't dwell too much on the innate advantages that all cybernetic lifeforms would realistically have, such as a greater resistance to being killed since you can simply weld them back together. There are, however, two optional disadvantages you can apply to any of these.

Firstly, there's the "Moral Restriction: Asimov's Law" drawback, which adds +1 to +3 free Character Points depending on how likely it is to come up in the game. This is your classic "obey humans, harm no humans, keep humans from danger" behavioral programming, you know the one. Note that by itself, this programming code is very strictly worded: it says humans and it ''means'' humans. Fellow Cybernoids, GELFS, Evolved Animals and Holograms are all perfectly viable for you to shoot, stab, bash, maul, mangle and mutilate! Of course, you could have a tweaked version of the code that adds one or more races to the "restricted targets" folder, or even replaces humanity with them, which of course would boost up the value. 

Secondly, there's the service mechanoid hierarchy. Basically, Service Mechanoids - the 3000, 4000 and Hudzen 10 - are naturally inclined to look down upon their previous models and will typically try to boss them around. Simulants, of course, don't care, and neither do Wax Droids.

The '''Series 4000''' is, of course, the most iconic cybernoid model in the setting, since, y'know, Kryten WAS a main character and all that? Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 6, Strength 7, Perception 5, Intelligence 8 and Willpower 4. They start with +1 Culinary Arts and +1 Trivia as bonus skills. Their racial drawback is ''Negadrive'': basically, all a Series 4000's anger and spite is stored in a special unit in their head, which has to be manually cleared out when it gets full (games master tells you when this has happened). If you don't clear it out, you gotta take a Cool test; success gives you time equal to the margin of successes in hours to clear out your Negadrive - if you don't get it dumped before that time is up, you gotta make another Cool test, and so on until either you finally clean out that drive or you fail your Cool test. When that happens, your head explodes. Literally. It goes '''bang''', motherfucker! You are outta the game until your buddies can clean out the Negadrive and hook you up with a replacement head.

The '''Hudzen 10''' was created as an improved successor to the Series 4000, and in a lot of ways, it worked. Pity they cheaped out on the damn sanity chips, however... which isn't the brightest move to make in a model intentionally designed to be more combat-capable than its predecessor. Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 6, Strength 8, Perception 4, Intelligence 7 and Willpower 5. They get +1 Culinary Arts and +1 Self-Defense. Their racial drawback is ''Dodgy Sanity Chips'' (you knew that was coming, admit it). In any situation that the games master deems sufficiently stressful, you gotta make a Cool check; fail and you gotta roll on the SPACE MADNESS table!

''Wax Droids'' are an entertainment model; a basic cyernoid endoskeleton encased in a wax-like structure to resemble a historical figure. Whilst they can break their encoded programming and attain full sapience, Wax Droids will always think of themselves as "their character" first and foremost. Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 6, Strength 6, Perception 7, Intelligence 7 and Willpower 4. They get +1 to two skills of their choice (or +2 to one) based on their base character - you'd expect a Wax Droid of Elvis to have SOME musical talent, after all. They get a unique racial bonus in their malleability; with successful Computer Operating and Craft: Sculpture checks, they can be remodeled into a new base character, which can be used to alter their personality and shuffle their skills around. A Mechanics check with a -2 penalty may also be required if the change requires drastic structural changes. Their drawback is, of course, ''Vulnerable to High Temperature'': a Wax Droid will melt and become inoperable if exposed to temperatures over 100F (38C), and have to be rebuilt almost from scratch.

''Simulants'' were combat droids created for a war that never came, and that then escaped the recall. They are perpetually pissed off against humanity and generally won't play well with others, even with some extensive reprogramming. Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 6, Strength 7, Perception 5, Intelligence 7 and Willpower 5. They get +1 Self-Defense and +1 Intimidate. They also get a racial bonus; ''Fearless''. They don 't have to make Resist checks against Fear or Panic unless the games master says so. Their racial drawback is ''Bloodthirsty Machismo''; when presented with the possibility of combat, you gotta make a Cool check (-1 to -3 penalty, depending on how suicidally dangerous it is; the nastier the threat, the more you want to scrap and so the higher the penalty) to be able not to fight. If you do succumb, however, remember you want to ''beat'' the threat, not just hurl yourself blindly into danger - you'll insist on fighting, unless knocked out by your party, but you'll still do your damndest to win.

Lastly, there's the Blade Runner-homaging '''Series 3000 Mechanoids''', which look perfectly human until you open them up and find they're full of circuitry. There are four options for identity - genuinely oblivious to being a droid, vaguely aware that you're not really human, aware of your droidhood but covering it up, and openly a droid. Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 6, Strength 6, Perception 6, Intelligence 6 and Willpower 6. They get +1s to Con and Empathy, but no racial advantages or disadvantages, unless you want to count the generic "cybernoid toughness" and potentially the option to successfully dupe others that they are humans. And, of course, there's the Service Mechanoid Hierarchy and/or Asimov's Laws to consider.

==Evolved Animals==
The widest variety of playable races, the evolved animals are former animals who have developed into a human-like form, simple as that.

'''Evolved Cats''' should need no introduction. Their maximum stats are Agility 7, Dexterity 6, Strength 5, Perception 7, Intelligence 5 and Willpower 6. They get +1s to Awareness and Athletics, and suffer the racial drawback ''Self-Centered'', which gives them a -2 penalty to Empathy checks.

'''Evolved Dogs''' are the lowbrow roughnecks to the prissy primadonna cats. Their maximum stats are Agility 5, Dexterity 6, Strength 7, Perception 7, Intelligence 5 and Willpower 6. They get +1 Awareness and Empathy, but their racial drawback ''Unrefined'' gives them a -2 penalty to Social checks.

'''Evolved Rabbits''' are basically one half lapine [[Nazi]]s and one half militant Bugs Bunny cultists. Their maximum stats are Agility 8, Dexterity 6, Strength 4, Perception 8, Intelligence 5 and Willpower 5. They get +1s to Awareness, Aesthetics and Seduction, but suffer the racial drawback of being ''Assholes'', which gives them a penalty to any Empathy check; -3 for humans, -1 for other evolved rabbits, and -2 for anything else. Seriously, you're better off staying away from the Smeghead and Gimboid flaws if you don't want your party to space you.

'''Evolved Rodents''' covers rats, mice and hamsters. Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 7, Strength 4, Perception 7, Intelligence 5 and Willpower 6. They get +1s to Awareness and Stealth, but have the racial drawback of ''Mirror Phobic''; if you spot your reflection in a suitably large form, you have to pass a Cool test not to freak out and attack the "doppelganger".

'''Evolved Iguanas''' are basically an entire culture of reggae-loving stoners. Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 5, Strength 6, Perception 6, Intelligence 5 and Willpower 8. They get +1s to Cool, Resist and Climb. They have the racial advantage of ''Unflappable'', which means they auto-pass any fear-related Resist checks that they don't roll boxcars for, and the racial drawback of ''Exothermic''. Basically, you need to keep warm; if the temperature drops belowe 65F (15C), you suffer a -3 penalty to all Skill checks (stacks with wound penalties), and if it drops below 55F (13C), you'll start freezing to death, taking 1 Wounde level every (Str value) minutes. You can, of course, ward off the cold with envirosuits and thermal underwear, but even these will only work for (Str) hours.

==GELFS==
Then there's genetically engineered bastard children of humanity...

'''Kinatawowi''' are everybody's favorite BBC-knockoff [[Star Wars|wookies]]. Their maximum stats are Agility 6, Dexterity 5, Strength 8, Perception 7, Intelligence 4 and Willpower 6. They get +1s to Bargain and Intimidation, and the racial drawback ''Berserker Temper'', which gives them a -2 penalty to INT and PER skill-checks when angry.

'''Pleasure GELFS''' are genegineered sex-toys, and understandably a little bitter about their lot in life. Their maximum stats are Agility 4, Dexterity 6, Strength 5, Perception 8, Intelligence 6 and Willpower 7. They have no skill bonuses, but the racial advantage ''Seduction Field'' (+2 to all appearance-related Skill checks, including Seduction and Social, when it's active) and the racial disadvantage ''Hideous'' (when Seduction Field isn't up, -3 penalty to all appearance-related skill checks, including Seduction and Social).

'''Vindaloovians''', as depicted in The Extra Bits, are cyclopean, egg-shaped humanoids with a deep love of Indo-British takeaway food and a culture based on 20th century war movies. Whilst most despise humans (and were only slightly less genocidal towards other races), there is a small population of breakaway rebels and dissidents. Their maximum stats are Agility 5, Dexterity 7, Strength 5, Perception 7, Intelligence 5 and Willpower 7. They get +1s to Intimidation and Self-Defense, but have ''two'' racial drawbacks; ''Hostility'' (-1 penalty to Empathy checks) and ''Waddling'' (-1 meter penalty to movement).

[[Category:Roleplaying]]