Your Red Dwarf Art

[Moonlight]

IF YOU’RE READING THIS, CAPPSY HASN’T FIXED THE POST YET TO LET THE VIDEOS THROUGH. EITHER THAT OR HE FORGOT TO ERASE THIS TEXT. IF I’M HONEST, I THINK HE JUST FORGOT.

Thought it’d be a good idea to make a thread devoted to creative projects themed around the show. I’ll start with a video I tweeted not long after TPL that Doug himself gave a like (fuck you, I win G&T) where I tried to replicate the grayscale effect as originally envisioned. 

Then we have an incredibly stupid parody of Remastered from a couple years back:

And finally for now, a CG Starbug fly-by I put together a decade ago (not my model):

I’m not crazy about the lens flares but I got the lighting pretty good in a way I’ve never since been able to replicate.

Topic

[Dave]

I laughed at Lewis Pemberton. 

[Technopeasant]

I laughed at Lewis Pemberton. 

You monster.

[Podey]

Here’s a 16-bit style version of the X bunkroom.

Many years back (around 2002) I was using some ancient game maker software to experiment with making a Zelda-style game and I wound making a Red Dwarf one. Not actually a “game”, I just basically made a level where you could walk around the ship as Lister. 

That’s long gone unfortunately but I have been feeling the urge to make something like that again… in the meantime I might have a go at making some sprite designs for the characters.

[Dave]

Ooh, I like that.

It reminds me of the aesthetic used for the Aliens game on the Amstrad/Spectrum/C64.

[Jimboid]

That game scared the ever-iving shit out of me as a kid.

[Dave]

That game scared the ever-iving shit out of me as a kid.

Fucking terrifying. The way the xenomorphs slowly approach you before you die. Chilling.

[Podey]

Here’s a 16-bit style version of the X bunkroom.

Many years back (around 2002) I was using some ancient game maker software to experiment with making a Zelda-style game and I wound making a Red Dwarf one. Not actually a “game”, I just basically made a level where you could walk around the ship as Lister. 
That’s long gone unfortunately but I have been feeling the urge to make something like that again… in the meantime I might have a go at making some sprite designs for the characters.

First attempt at a Lister sprite. Don’t love it but it was real fun to draw.

[Warbodog]

Can we have another technically playable but mainly theoretical card game, preferably more annoyingly convoluted this time? Alright, quiet down, you people on the forum saying those things!

High & Low: A Red Dwarf Tug-of-War Card Game

A tactical game in 18 cards for 2 players, based on the Red Dwarf episode ‘Demons & Angels,’ copied from Anthelion: Conclave of Power by Daniel Solis. The changes are mostly cosmetic, except I had to split/combine/reassign two characters and rebalance the points and factions, which has probably broken it.

Setup

Arrange the 5 “ship” cards* in a row in this order:

1. High Red Dwarf (leftmost)

2. High Holly

3. Starbug

4. Low Holly

5. Low Red Dwarf (rightmost)

Shuffle the 13 “character” cards* to form a deck and place 5 of them below the centre ship card (Starbug) to form 5 separate rows.

(You could also arrange it vertically rather than horizontally to better fit the ‘high and low’ theme, but that would be more annoying in every way).

* Holly is a ship card, not a character. The Triplicator is a character, obviously.

Goal

Recruit characters to your side to achieve a total score of 10 points by the end of a turn. I don’t really know how this relates to the plot of Demons & Angels, but they had a few more minutes to kill.

Gameplay

One player is High, the other is Low. This only relates to where you sit and the unique power your Red Dwarf card gives you, as you can use and recruit any of the character cards, confusingly. Oh, the High player also goes first.

Each turn, you must perform any 2 different Actions. These are the black text on any character card or planet card.

– You may not use the same Action twice.

– The High and Low Red Dwarf cards can only be used by their owners, but everything else is fair play (including High and Low Hollys).

– ‘Push’ means you move a character moves towards your opponent.

– ‘Pull’ means you move a character towards yourself.

– You may not completely reverse the previous player’s Actions, but partial reversals are permitted (fiddliest rule).

Red text Attributes are ongoing effects that are always in play.

Green text Resources only come into play when you have recruited a character.

A character is recruited when they move off your edge of the playing field (left/right of your end ship card). They are now your guests/prisoners who can look forward to a poetry recital or other terrible… mmm… things. You earn their points and Resources.

I didn’t colour code the factions. If it says ‘High’ on it, it’s High. You can figure out the rest of the affiliations for yourself.

[Warbodog]

I forgot to say (probably among other things) that when you recruit or jettison a character, you replace them with a new character in the centre, so there are always five cards moving around until they run out.

There are five Faction Packs for the real game that replace its neutral characters and centre location with different zany races. I’m not going to adapt those to Red Dwarf. Surely.

[Warbodog]

Gloop Him!: Exciting Red Dwarf Salvage Adventure (in cards)

A two-player duelling race in 21 cards, ripped off of Dustbiters by Jan Willem Nijman, Robbie Fraser and Terri Vellmann, the humour sadly lost in anally-retentive adaptation.

Plot:

The Red Dwarf gang are looting a derelict, which turns out to be not quite so derelict after all when some Simulants appear! To make matters worse, they only have five minutes to get back to Starbug and escape before the derelict is pulled into a black hole! Fortunately, there are plenty of useful gadgets lying around and ship systems that could help them to advance and scupper their adversaries… unless their adversaries scupper them first, that is!

Goal:

As the Red Dwarf crew or the Simulants, get your ass to Starbug and try not to be swallowed by the black hole. Gather, carry and use supplies (cards) and be the one left standing (in the form of cards) at the end.

Setup:

Players sit opposite each other. Decide who is playing the Red Dwarf crew and who is the Simulants, and whether the left or right side of the playing field is designated the “front” (towards Starbug and escape) or the “back” (the encroaching black hole).

Shuffle the cards. Beginning from the “back,” place 4 cards in a horizontal line between the two players, facing the Red Dwarf player. Then continue to place 4 more cards in the same line, turned to face the Simulant player. The cards facing each player are the things in play that they can move and use on their turn.

Deal 4 more cards face down to each player. These are your starting hands. The remaining 5 cards are the (very small) draw pile. Leave a space next to the draw pile for a scrap pile.

Gameplay:

The Red Dwarf crew go first.

Players take turns to perform up to any 3 actions:

– Draw: Take the top card from the deck and add it to your hand.

– Build: Place a card from your hand at the front of the line (furthest from the black hole).

– Move: Move one of your cards 1 space forwards or backwards (swap positions with the adjacent card).

– Power: Use the special power (lightning symbol) of one of your cards in play, as explained on the card. Each card’s power can only be used once per turn.

(Some cards have passive powers or requirements that are always in play).

At the end of the player’s turn, the card at the back of the line is destroyed by the black hole.

When a card is destroyed for any reason, it’s placed face up in the scrap pile.

Question:

But if they have the teleporter, luck virus and other really useful things, why don’t they just escape right away rather than–

Because it was faulty, okay!

[Meteo]

Ah thanks, you’re very kind.
No sadly I’ve been rubbish at uploading stuff over the years apart from occasional bits and pieces like the ones I share here. Most of my art remains purely physical in a big portfolio that rarely sees the light of day!
As well as Red Dwarf stuff, a common recurring theme is Spider-Man – I must have drawn that character more than any other over the years.

Was that yER drawing, or is that just something you stole?

[Dave]

Yeah I drew that one.

[Podey]

Don’t think I’ve posted this here before this is a cardboard Red Dwarf model I made back around BtE. It’s about three feet long. 

[Dave]

Wow. I like the combination of different design elements from different Dwarfs.

[Podey]

Thanks, I think I was pretty much just sticking to the BtE design but it was lots of fun.

It’s in a sorry state at the minute, the ram scoop broke off ages ago and is a bit bent, but I’ll have to patch it up and take some better pics.

[Podey]

Couple of quick pics, minus ramscoop.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

That’s incredible. I can’t even cut a sheet of paper in a straight line 

[International Debris]

Yeah, I was gonna say, I wouldn’t have the faintest idea where to begin making something like that. Fantastic!

[Dave]

Yeah, fantastic work. Even more impressive in those close-up photos.

[Ben Saunders]

I didn’t realise it was cardboard until the closeups, bloody hell. Nice one

[Warbodog]

[Moonlight]

Quick, get a green screen and let’s remaster Series VIII.

[Technopeasant]

Yeah, fantastic work. Even more impressive in those close-up photos.

And Bill Pearson was messing around with plastics like a fool.

[Kris ‘Drivaaar’ Carter]

I made this… (checks watch)… about 17 years ago. Fucking hell.

[RunawayTrain]

I enjoyed that, very much!

[Dave]

Great stuff. Wouldn’t be out of place in a revived Smegazine. 

[Kris ‘Drivaaar’ Carter]

Cheers peeps!

[Podey]

That’s aged very well! I like the motion blur on the ‘Kaboom’, not too overdone and just enough to show the force of the blast.

I managed to dig up some old process pictures of Cardboard Dwarf for those interested.

[Kris ‘Drivaaar’ Carter]

So good!

[Technopeasant]

Great stuff. Wouldn’t be out of place in a revived Smegazine. 

Remember a year ago when we were trying to make our own fan issue?

Probably as good a time as any to release my entry for that.

https://icculus.org/~graham/Not-This-Time.pdf

[Podey]

The Smegazine thing isn’t entirely off the cards – unfortunately I started it right before I left a job and then had to focus on my self-employment for the year and now I’m learning to drive, however I’m still tossing ideas around in my head. Just one of those things that might take a few years to manifest. 

I would want to get such a thing out before G&T finish their coverage of the magazine so we should have a good decade or two yet. 😁 

[Dave]

I’ve been percolating an idea for a one-pager that I think might be fun, so definitely still up for that.

[Warbodog]

Save Our Smeg: It’s Just Red Dwarf Solitaire!

A solo Red Dwarf card game based on SOS Titanic, which is itself just Titanic-themed solitaire with powers, except this isn’t about a real-life tragedy and you can play it for free using standard playing cards and imagination.

This has been refined through play testing and seems to actually work, whether or not it was actually worth spending my day on.

Premise

Lister has gone back in time to save Kochanski from the radiation leak, and realises he might as well try to save some of his other doomed shipmates while he’s there. Help Lister to evacuate the crew and help his AI-deaged younger self elope with Kochanski for the mega happy ending, or put Kochanski into stasis with him to see how that goes.

Setup

Place 2 Jokers (face up or down) to represent the stasis booths. Remove the 2 of Diamonds (AI-deaged Lister) from the deck and place it on a stasis booth.

Shuffle the deck and build 4 columns of face down cards, totalling 4, 6, 8 and 10 cards. Leave space for 2 extra columns to the right. These represent different areas of Red Dwarf. Reveal the front card of each column.

Place 7 tokens or something above the cards in groups of 2-2-1-1-1 as pictured (there may be a more ideal arrangement), with the last token above the first empty column on the right.

Gameplay

Each turn has two phases:

Phase 1: Organise the crew

Move any available face-up cards between the columns so they stack in exact descending order with no gaps, from King down to 2. A new column can only be started by a King, and only when a column is empty (unless it’s Ackerman – see later).

Red and black cards must be kept separate, as they’re evacuating from different parts of the ship or something, but suits of the same colour can intermix (Hearts with Diamonds, Spades with Clubs). But there are advantages to keeping suits together when possible.

When an Ace (Blue Midget, Starbug or other escape craft) is revealed, it forms a new pile below the columns. Crew cards can be placed onto these craft in ascending order, from 2 up to King. Once a card is safely on board an escape craft, it may not be removed.

You can also move 1 card on or off the spare stasis booth at this time. Lister can only be moved if placing him on the escape craft with Kochanski (see later).

Phase 2: Draw cards or use abilities

When the crew can’t be organised any more, if at all, you can draw cards from the deck or use an available ability.

Draw between 1-5 cards and place only 1 of them in a suitable column, escape craft or empty stasis booth if possible. The rest go into the discard pile. Once the deck runs out, the discard pile is shuffled to form a new deck. The same draw action can continue between the old and new deck.

Instead of drawing cards, you can use any available abilities (see later).

Radiation leaks

Any time you can’t place a crew member during a draw action, or when you need to shuffle the discard pile to make a new deck, the radiation leak spreads. Remove the left-most token above the cards.

If all of the tokens above one column are removed, this area of the ship becomes uninhabitable and any crew present rush to the next area on the right. Shuffle all the cards from both of these columns to form a new, longer column and reveal the new front card.

Division abilities

If you place 3 cards of the same suit (division) onto an escape craft in a row, you immediately trigger a loosely thematic special power:

– Officers (Hearts): Inspect all the cards of 1 column. Select a new face up card for the front and re-shuffle the face down cards.

– Prison Guards (Clubs): Discard all the face up crew cards from 1 column and reveal the new front card.

– Miners (Spades): Search either the deck or discard pile to retrieve 1 card of your choice and play it (or remove a token if nothing can be placed).

– Technicians (Diamonds): Look at the top 5 cards of the deck (or fewer). Put them back in any order, whether that’s on the top, bottom or middle of the deck. They don’t have to be together.

These abilities can only be used at the time they’re triggered. You can turn over any face down cards at the front of columns as cards are removed, but you can’t move cards around until the next organisation phase. You can ignore an ability if it’s not helpful.

Character abilities

Some characters (cards) have unique abilities:

– Hollister (King of Hearts): functions as the King of Hearts unless a red Ace (escape craft) is available. He then functions as the 2 of Diamonds and jumps the queue to board the ship. The next card placed on Hollister should then be the 3 of Diamonds or 3 of Hearts, and you can choose either suit for Hollister if activating an ability (this is all so counterintuitive when looking at the King of Hearts that it can be hard to remember, but it covers for Lister’s absence and frees up Kochanski’s movement at the top).

– Kochanski (Queen of Hearts): functions as the Queen of Hearts until Hollister flees, then she serves as the highest ranking Heart and can form a new column.

– Ackerman (King of Clubs): whether alone or with his stack of guards, Ackerman can move to any occupied column to discard all the other cards there. Since there’s no limit to legal movements during the organisation phase, he can even do this multiple times if you want. (Ackerman is deliberately overpowered in order to free up cards, replenish the deck and avoid the game crashing. If your deck runs out, you probably didn’t use Ackerman enough).

– What other characters could there be? Maybe there could be something with an automated Rimmer (3 of Diamonds) that works against you by trying to replace Lister in stasis. I’ll just leave it there.

The End

The game most likely ends with you failing to save everyone, but every life counts. In this case, 1 point.

If Kochanski doesn’t get to an escape craft or stasis, this is the sad ending. Future Lister can go back in time and try again.

If Lister and Kochanski are both in stasis at the end, this is a better ending.

If Kochanski gets to an escape craft, Lister can free his younger self from stasis to join her there for the happy ending and possible space-time cataclysm.

[Technopeasant]

Someone give Warbo a job please…

…possibly making card games.

[Warbodog]

[Moonlight]

Someone give Warbo a job please…

…possibly making card games.

Are we totally sure this can’t be solved with medication?

[Technopeasant]

Medication? You know what that shit costs?!

[Warbodog]

Medication? You know what that shit costs?!

Hmm… I can probably DIY it using the energy counters from Pocket Mars.

[Author]

Replies