Free League announces Blade Runner RPG in 2022

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It is a notable feature that the science fiction genre in roleplaying tends to get more TV/movie licenses than any other genre.

The fantasy and horror genres tends to stick with original or literary sources, while superhero games might include Marvel or DC if they can stay in print, but science fiction currently has Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Alien, Tales from the Loop, The Terminator, Altered Carbon and now Bladerunner. One could also mention Dune as it is probably more a tie in with the movie release than it has to do with the book. Previous releases include Firefly/Serenity and Stargate.
 
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Malleustein said:
So now we can combine ALIEN and Blade Runner into the single universe that Prometheus/Alien: Covenant hint it!
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Weirdly enough, there was a quite popular German BRP-ish game that basically was a mashup of Aliens and Blade Runner, with a thin veneer of WH40K (the "space marines" were templars).

I'm mostly interested in having yet another Syd Mead art book and some more background info (guess they're allowed to make up a lot, WEG-style).
 
I like the original movie, was 'meh' about the Ryan Gosling stare a thon and must admit the premise of a Blade Runner game seems pretty narrow. Something happens, replicants are blamed, Blade Runner investigates scene, talks to people, travels to places, investigates scene, goes to a place, uncovers replicant and a fight takes place.

Playing as a replicant might be more interesting though. You have some goal or other (get to professor XYZ to unlock the code you need to extend your life by a certain amount, break into lab, find nasty stuff in lab and goes from there as you wrestle with what you need/want vs something you consider to be the right thing to do despite all other concerns) and are being hunted by cops and Blade Runners, or other Replicants. Or maybe as a Replicant you are dropped onto planet XYZ to check out a derelict spacecraft and find something man was not meant to know about. Or found out about and is doing stuff that you need to stop. And so on.

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe,”

“Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

"Time to die.”

Blade Runner? Hmmm.

Replicant? Sounds like a lot more fun.

rutger.png


RIP Rutger.
 
Jenx said:
I like the original movie, was 'meh' about the Ryan Gosling stare a thon and must admit the premise of a Blade Runner game seems pretty narrow. Something happens, replicants are blamed, Blade Runner investigates scene, talks to people, travels to places, investigates scene, goes to a place, uncovers replicant and a fight takes place.

Playing as a replicant might be more interesting though. You have some goal or other (get to professor XYZ to unlock the code you need to extend your life by a certain amount, break into lab, find nasty stuff in lab and goes from there as you wrestle with what you need/want vs something you consider to be the right thing to do despite all other concerns) and are being hunted by cops and Blade Runners, or other Replicants. Or maybe as a Replicant you are dropped onto planet XYZ to check out a derelict spacecraft and find something man was not meant to know about. Or found out about and is doing stuff that you need to stop. And so on.

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe,”

“Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

"Time to die.”

Blade Runner? Hmmm.

Replicant? Sounds like a lot more fun.

rutger.png


RIP Rutger.
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POV: Watching one of your players try to pull off the Tears In The Rain speech:

2B5B63DF-692E-423F-A1F3-50BAC3C6B1A9.jpeg
 
hmmmm whilst I love sci-fi future-noir stuff, I'm not sure I would want to play in one if the main focus is hunting down Replicants
For many people, being just mundane 'future detectives' may not be enough to hold interest
I love the idea of tech like cyberware or bio-stims, so they would need to amp it up a bit to compete with other cyberpunk rpg settings out there
I guess if done right, this may appeal to players who enjoy the investigative elements in rpgs like Call of Cthulhu, as opposed to those who like more action-orientated rpgs

mmm maybe they might take the angle that you are Replicants being hunted, that may be interesting (or depressing)

I'm not feeling the hype yet. This could be an interesting game, or it could just be another franchise cash-grab...
The book's art direction will be quite beautiful however
 
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Jenx said:
Something happens, replicants are blamed, Blade Runner investigates scene, talks to people, travels to places, investigates scene, goes to a place, uncovers replicant and a fight takes place.
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To be fair, that’s the plot structure of most American mystery movies (replace “replicants” with “person, group, faction”).

Even movies based on books (or movies from other countries that didn’t originally have a fight scene!). Always have to shoe-horn in a fight at the end.

For a while France took inspiration from the USA and put spinning martial art fights in ridiculous settings (Brotherhood of the Wolf anyone?).
 
Mankcam said:
mmm maybe they might take the angle that you are Replicants being hunted, that may be interesting (or depressing)
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Yeah they mention in their brief description that this will be a viable campaign option.

EDIT: SORT OF:

...giving players the choice to play as either human or Replicants. Although the game makes it possible to play any kind of character, the main focus is on playing Blade Runners.
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Free League have stated in the blurb that, "The core game and its line of expansions will push the boundaries of investigative gameplay in tabletop RPGs, giving players a range of tools to solve an array of cases far beyond retiring Replicants. Beyond the core casework, the RPG will both in setting and mechanics showcase key themes of Blade Runner – sci-fi action, corporate intrigue, existential character drama, and moral conflict – that challenge players to question your friends, empathize with your enemies, and explore the poisons and perseverance of hope and humanity during such inhumane times."

This would suggest that they're cognisant of potential limitations and are planning to open the horizons. Fingers crossed, because that broadening will probably be the main determining factor of whether I take the plunge into a purchase.
 
I am actually quite curios to see what Free League does with the mystery mechanics. A lot of games don't handle them in a way that makes me happy, and I've mostly been pretty impressed with the mechanical tweaks and adds to FL's various Y0E games.
 
Ralph Dula said:
POV: Watching one of your players try to pull off the Tears In The Rain speech:
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I don't know if I pulled it off (I probably didn't), but a long time ago I did perform it to a coworker. I forget the context. It was probably something about the kinds of common reports we saw from users. So, I do the whole "i've seen things you people wouldn't believe..." speech.

She had no idea what I was talking about. After I was done, she said, "Is that from Star Trek?"

I told her yes. I told her it was something Doctor Spock told Luke Skywalker on his birthday.
 
Fenris-77 said:
I am actually quite curios to see what Free League does with the mystery mechanics. A lot of games don't handle them in a way that makes me happy, and I've mostly been pretty impressed with the mechanical tweaks and adds to FL's various Y0E games.
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Yeah I'm curious about that too. The Gumshoe system had some interesting ideas (investigators always FIND the clues associated with their expertise) but, like, you could wing that in ANY system, really.

Then again, I haven't played or read many mystery RPGs that had any mechanics beyond the usual stuff (like Call of Cthulhu).
 
Necrozius said:
Yeah I'm curious about that too. The Gumshoe system had some interesting ideas (investigators always FIND the clues associated with their expertise) but, like, you could wing that in ANY system, really.

Then again, I haven't played or read many mystery RPGs that had any mechanics beyond the usual stuff (like Call of Cthulhu).
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I really like what Jason Cordova did with the mystery mechanics for The Between. The players gather clues as part of their investigation, and each clue is a evocative 'thing' in keeping with the feel of that threat, but the GM doesn't write the outcome of the mystery. The players do that part - when they have enough clues they roll and if they succeed they decide together how to answer the questions presented by the threat. The clues aren't tied to a specific location or person, but are doled out based on fictional positioning, i.e. this one makes sense here, or that would be cool now etc. It took me a while to wrap my head around the idea, but it works really well and completely obviates the usual problem of players not following the bread crumbs.
 
Necrozius said:
Yeah I'm curious about that too. The Gumshoe system had some interesting ideas (investigators always FIND the clues associated with their expertise) but, like, you could wing that in ANY system, really.

Then again, I haven't played or read many mystery RPGs that had any mechanics beyond the usual stuff (like Call of Cthulhu).
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As someone that runs a lot of investigative games, I'm very curious to see what mechanics they come up with too.
under_score said:
That looks weird. Pop music, kung fu and katana fighting isn't really what I think of with Blade Runner.
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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.

It now makes Free Leagues promise to draw upon all Blade Runner works look like a threat.
 
How many games have really “pushed the boundaries” on mechanics?
 
I confess I'm getting a bit tired of getting fed with 80s pop culture (I'm 48). What's next? Robocop rpg? Breakfast Club PbtA? Mythras Max Headroom? Phantasm 5e?

I'm craving for something new (something based on Kameron Hurley's or Joe Abercrombie's books if you want a licensed setting? Want to keep with Ridley Scott? Why not pick Raised by Wolves? ). Corporate-sponsored boomer fan-fiction really rubs me the wrong way. If Star Wars was a human being, I'd shoot it in the head to end its misery (same goes for anyone going "But the Mandalorian is cool!")..

Well, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade though, I wish them well but I had to get this off my chest.
 
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Kobayashi said:
I confess I'm getting a bit tired of getting fed with 80s pop culture (I'm 48). What's next? Robocop rpg? Breakfast Club PbtA? Mythras Max Headroom? Phantasm 5e?

I'm craving for something new (something based on Kameron Hurley's or Joe Abercrombie's books if you want a licensed setting? Want to keep with Ridley Scott? Why not pick Raised by Wolves? ). Corporate-sponsored boomer fan-fiction really rubs me the wrong way. If Star Wars was a human being, I'd shoot it in the head to end its misery (same goes for anyone going "But the Mandalorian is cool!")..

Well, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade though, I wish them well but I had to get this off my chest.
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It’s high time we moved on to 90s nostalgia anyways. Really we should be starting the 00 nostalgia soon. Although if we could just skip remaking and reimagining and in the process ruining everything that came out during those decades like what had been done with the 80s that’d be good.
 
raniE said:
It’s high time we moved on to 90s nostalgia anyways. Really we should be starting the 00 nostalgia soon. Although if we could just skip remaking and reimagining and in the process ruining everything that came out during those decades like what had been done with the 80s that’d be good.
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Exactly
 
Fenris-77 said:
Abercrombie is a case where Mythras would be a good pick. An OSR approach of some sort could work very well too.
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Yeah I was being glib but I do think it would be a great pick for a campaign based on Abercrombie's works. On OSR, I guess it depends on which OSR system is used.
 
Kobayashi said:
Mythras Max Headroom?
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O-o-obviously Paranoia.

The sequel was quite recent. And I don't see a big difference between rehashing specific properties than more "generic" concepts like vikings, Robin Hood or King Arthur. Or friggin zombies. That gets stuffed down RPGdoms collective throat, too.

And at least this has Vangelis music.
 
Necrozius said:
That's a good point. At least with a broader system/setting like Cyberpunk Red, you can do Blade Runner, Deus Ex, Akira, Ghost in the Shell... hell you can even do some Mad Max because of the apocalyptic wastelands outside of the Mega Cities.

Unless they show us how the game goes beyond what we see in the movies, I may just stick with Cyberpunk Red for this sort of thing.
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I'm hoping to learn something about the off-world colonies.
 
under_score said:
That looks weird. Pop music, kung fu and katana fighting isn't really what I think of with Blade Runner.
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Yeah, if it weren't for the spinners and the tagline, I wouldn't have thought that was Blade Runner.
 
Baulderstone said:
The angle of hunting replicants would make more sense if it was based on the book, where Deckard develops sympathy for the replicants, but ultimately realizes that they are completely incapable of empathy or compassion for other living things. I doubt they will go that way though.
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It would be neat if they somehow are able to incorporate that self-doubt about whether of not a replicant knows it is a replicant. It has been years since I read the book, but I remember there being some question if the main character is human or not, and some of the replicants he uncovers honestly believing they were humans.

Dan Davenport said:
I'm hoping to learn something about the off-world colonies.
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Yes, they mention LA, but I hope they go far beyond that. I'm a sucker for Blade Runner so I'm going to have to get this, but there needs to be a lot more to it than just hunting down replicants in LA.
 
FL's approach seems to be a focused idea with options in the corebook and then a few supplement books with clear, focused expansions for alternate play, so MtZ had books for playing animal hybrids, robots, etc. The Marines book for Alien, etc.

So I wouldn't be surprised of they had rules for rebel replicant play either in the core or a quickly released follow-up supplement.
 
Sosthenes said:
O-o-obviously Paranoia.

The sequel was quite recent. And I don't see a big difference between rehashing specific properties than more "generic" concepts like vikings, Robin Hood or King Arthur. Or friggin zombies. That gets stuffed down RPGdoms collective throat, too.

And at least this has Vangelis music.
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It is quite different though.

First a genre can be redefined, rewritten or twisted in many ways, even with a very limited genre like zombies you can have World War Z, Last Train to Busan or Shawn of the Dead. Vikings? Pick one: Norsemen, Erik the viking or Valhlalla rising? And the same goes with rpgs, Gamma World isn't Mutant Year Zero which isn't Twilight 2000. Let's not even try with fantasy or sci-fi.The sheer creativity of the OSR scene is quite humbling in that regard.

The reason some genres are rehashed is quite simple, the main pillar of any rpg is shared imagniation. That's why it's so hard to run a truly original setting.and why some genres keep being explored (and not only "shoved" in our "collective throat", we actually need them)..

I have nothing against licensed products but I have the feeling it's always 1980s properties which I find tiresome as if nothing else has been created/written since, it doesn't aim for creativity or familiarity but merely nostalgia (and as always, we have exceptions, I found that Dark Crystal Age of Resistance was very good and I'm glad to see we'll have an rpg out of it. Never say never I guess).

But well, it was more of a rant than a valid criticism. I won't elaborate further (so as to avoid derailing the thread as well).

Staying on topic: I find that a good mash-up of Blade Runner and Paranoia is actually Neurocity, which was a pretty fun read for me.
 
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Endless Flight said:
Putting franchises in a shared universe is not always (mostly never) a good idea.
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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.
 
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