Free League announces Blade Runner RPG in 2022

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I would normally agree, but in this case the films themselves (and the extras on the DVDs) make explicit references to each other and were done by some of the same people. The "Alien" and "Blade Runner" universes and "Soldier" fit together really well, and there are some well done timelines that people have done that demonstrate that. "Outland" is its own thing, but it can be slotted in very easily, due to common themes and a similar look and feel.

Outland had many of the same individuals involved in set design, costumes, etc which is part of the reason it visually resembled Alien. Well beyond the fact they came out 2 years apart and both films were trying to capture a realistic image of working in space.
 
I expect there to be a lot more tie-in announcements now that Avatar has firmly earned All The Monies.
 
Wondering when Free League will announce The Fifth Element RPG.

Ok just starting rumors but I'd probably buy it. :tongue:
 
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I’m waiting with baited breath for Free League’s Saved by the Bell: The Bayside High Roleplaying Game announcement.
I hope the principal is a playable class and they have a whole faculty back story material, otherwise you're limited to just playing high school students. I definitely see a Beach Vacation expansion. :tongue:
 
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Meanwhile, over in the UK, what we really want, and no one will admit to it although it's self evidently true is...
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....the RPG.

Now that's what I call proper nostalgia.
To be fair, this would be right up my alley.

Ooh, double entendres, I love slipping one in when I can.

I don't know what the stat line would be, but I'd be disappointed if it didn't read something like 32-24-34.
 
It feels out-of-genre to me as well. Blade Runner understood that noir involves protagonists whose strength lies in their capacity to take a beating in pursuit of their goal, not in their ability to mow down mooks with a blade.

What an excellent explanation of the genre. I will remember this.

It really is. As an aside, one of the reasons I like seeing Bruce Willis in anything noir-ish is because of his ability to make you completely and utterly believe that he is getting the absolute dogshit being beaten out of him on a regular basis.
 
[Against the Darkmaster Cover]
I'm aware of vsDM, but that's like a Tolkien ripoff with some effort. I'm talking about literally taking the MERP core, search/replace "Dunedain"/"Dingading" etc., abrakadabra: Shannara the RPG.

Machine learning will make this even better: Upload a picture, pick some vowels for a name, and we'll match your face to some airbrused faux-Vallejo himbo, on your very own "Joe-nan the Barbarian" RPG. In just three payments of $29.99!
 
It really is. As an aside, one of the reasons I like seeing Bruce Willis in anything noir-ish is because of his ability to make you completely and utterly believe that he is getting the absolute dogshit being beaten out of him on a regular basis.
Agreed. Gabriel Byrne is also a master at it in Miller's Crossing.
 
I'll just talk to ICE whether I can just reprint MERP as is, replace the art with some very cheesy van-side images and call it the "Generic 80s Tolkien Ripoff Trilogy" game.

Ran a campaign in the 80s having stripped the Tolkien/LOTR out of Merp. Dropped the players in Karameikos/BECMI Land and one was supposedly a one off turned into a zero to hero campaign for many levels (into the teens if I recall, but it was a long time ago). The MERP combat system is superb for dungeon crawling and general gore splattered mayhem. It was such a breath of fresh air after years of BECMI and 1e AD&D that it was difficult to envisage going back to those games.

It's not all great - tables, page flipping etc compared to running the game without even bothering to get the books out (BECMI, you etched yourself onto my brain so much I can probably do a reasonable job of running you today, decades later) and the Mentzer set is just so easy on the eye. Overall though I have very fond memories of ditching Tolkiens Bilbo Baggage and we even decided to let the players have a go at playing bad guys gone rogue. Olog Hai PCs. That was skull smashing fun!
 
I just want to buy an artbook of Against the Darkmaster. I genuinely love the look of the illustrations.
 
That would have been my guess too, the name gives me a real duelling banjos/Deliverance vibe.
I’ve never paid any attention to it, as every time I hear the name I conflate it with The Hills Rise Wild, a game of Mythos hillbilly horror.
 
Against the Darkmaster has to be one of the worst names for an RPG ever.
I think the authors are Italian, and I guess there's something in the water over there that leads to more compound nouns in English than even Germans can imagine.


(They also had a shadowlord, which gets pretty close)
Ran a campaign in the 80s having stripped the Tolkien/LOTR out of Merp. Dropped the players in Karameikos/BECMI Land and one was supposedly a one off turned into a zero to hero campaign for many levels (into the teens if I recall, but it was a long time ago). The MERP combat system is superb for dungeon crawling and general gore splattered mayhem.
Yeah, Rolemaster (yet another master) is a pretty decent system and I liked most light version thereof even more. Sad that there's not more grognardism oriented that way. RM could do with some good table apologia and needless arguments whether Arms Law 1 or a reprint really reflects the true heart of the game ;)
 
I expect there to be a lot more tie-in announcements now that Avatar has firmly earned All The Monies.
Given the timing and Free League’s success with Alien, I would think this was well in the works before Avatar Legends dropped. Plus I am not sure anyone thinks that Bladerunner is an IP that will replicate what Avatar did.
 
Given the timing and Free League’s success with Alien, I would think this was well in the works before Avatar Legends dropped. Plus I am not sure anyone thinks that Bladerunner is an IP that will replicate what Avatar did.
Avatar is a great license for drawing in the younger crowd that started playing RPGs with 5E and are ready to move onto something new. People are always about that crowd fragmenting to go play other RPGs. I expect the people that do move on will mostly go to newer games like that than play our old games.
 
Thanks, I'm now going to be humming that song for the rest of the day. Lol
It's still in my head and I have watched the video 4 or 5 times since yesterday. Bunny being born in 1995 has never heard it before but she of course immediately fell in love with it because who wouldn't? My headcanon says the video is actually one of Geordi La Forge's holodeck sessions.
 
I was under the understanding - and I may well be mistaken - that while ATD may not be a direct clone, it is fairly heavily inspired by MERP and Rolemaster, rules-wise.
It is, and in a good way. Definitely fills a niche, as ICE apparently can't get their act together. Lightmaster is another newborn cousin of the RM family that I really liked, boiling everything down to a D20.

My joke was just that to get something that's closer to the plethora of 80s Tolkien-esque trilogies, such a labor of love would seem out of place and s search & replace of the actual MERP manuscripts would be closer. vsDM is at least on the Memory, Sorrow & Thorn level of things.
Or maybe there's a really good Italian Tolkien trilogia.
 
See, I view it as a positive wave. If the only games around are the ones we played as kids, that's a sign that we are taking RPGs into the grave with us. If I constantly see new RPGs that don't make sense to me, it's a sign that a new generation is at work in the scene.
 
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