Virtual Screening

The Red Dwarf Roleplaying Game has a new addition - the AI Screen.

2 May, 2003

Fans in the USA who've already picked up the critically-acclaimed Red Dwarf Roleplaying Game ('A benchmark by which similar efforts should be judged,' according to Andy Vetromile at the notoriously hard-to-please hobby website Pyramid) will know that it's only the tip of an iceberg of possibilities.

Now available, and about to hit the Red Dwarf Shop is the brand new AI Screen, a nifty bit of kit that aids play and expands on the whole experience. Deep7's Todd Downing explained it all to reddwarf.co.uk - without even having to draw diagrams.

"One of the issues faced by referees in roleplaying is keeping their dice rolls and game notes secret, and it's hard to keep them secret if everyone at the table can see them. So we've provided a useful screen, not only to keep notes and dice hidden from those sneaky bastards round the dining table, but that has all sorts of handy data at the ready."

But the product is more than just the screen. "The Extra Bits Book is kind of a mini-supplement booklet containing an overwhelmingly disproportionate amount of content for its short page count. There are new character types to play (including the Series 3000 mechanoid), stats for Selby, Chen and Petersen, a whole new setting to explore (War World, as per Stoke Me a Clipper), pages of new gear, a Very Important Item Generator, Creature Design Toolkit, and new adventure seeds for the Scenario Generator. Quite simply, odds are there is something in there you'll find valuable as an AI. Maybe even a few somethings."

"The Bits Book is black-and-white to kind of look like a mass-produced Space Corps handout or VCR instruction manual, complete with pictures 'clipped' to the front. We've even added finger smudges and coffee mug stains to the cover to save the owner time and trouble. Who's got time to spill coffee? I certainly don't. I have a game to run, thank you very much!" There's a unified design to the Deep7 Dwarf range, too, so everything looks like it belongs together. "The main book and AI screen look like twin parthenogenimorphs from the same pod."

So, with the AI Screen following so hot on the original game book's heels, we take this as a sign of the success of Dwarf in the RPG arena? "To be quite honest, we'd planned the release of the AI Screen long ago, but seeing the initial success of the RPG has certainly made us feel better about producing the supplements!"

Better yet, it's encouraged progress on Deep7's next phase. "We've just assigned the workload for the Red Dwarf RPG Series Sourcebook, wherein we deconstruct every single episode into playable elements for the game. That's got a November release, and will rock like nobody's business. We've brought back some of the RPG alumni for that one, including veteran author John Sullivan, British game designer [and Dimension Jump attendee] Andrew Kenrick, my brother (and Farscape RPG alum) Gavin Downing, plus the co-author of Cartoon Action Hour, Eddy Webb. And yours truly, just to maintain a 'hack quotient'."

The Red Dwarf Roleplaying Game and supplement is available from the USA Red Dwarf Shop.

You can read more about the game in the Deep7 Mr Flibble interview.