Kick Murder - an alternative “Electric Sheep” game

[lategamer]

I was unimpressed with the Bladerunner rules shown by free league. Which is a shame because I love pretty much everything else they have produced.

So I decided to write my own. I have a system thought out and a play style planned.


Inspirations

Blade Runner
Blade Runner 2049
The Island
Equilibrium
Never Let Me Go
THX 1138
GATTACA
Children of Men

I’ll serialise it over the next couple of days.

 

[lategamer]

By 2030, due to pollution and contamination with chemicals and micro plastics, human reproductive capacity was at it's lowest ebb. Microplastics had contaminated the blood and organs of most human leading to widespread infertility and a proliferation of other health issues - cancers (with accompanying paraneoplastic syndromes), silicosis, and widespread gastrointestinal and respiratory issues. Autopsies routinely show lungs filled with microfibres, stomachs and intestines blocked by clusters of sticky plastics; we had literally starved and choked ourselves to death. There was food, but we couldn't eat enough; air but our lungs were too full to inhale. Life expectancy had already dropped below 60 in most developed countries and in developing countries, reaching adulthood became a celebration in itself. As a result, we were met with a vast labour shortage - people were just not healthy enough to work.

 

[Simlasa]

I'm feeling an overwhelming need to chime in and say that I hate the name 'Kick Murder'.
It's like, of all the things from that setting... was that really the one throwaway line you felt compelled to dwell on?
(sorry, I woke up cranky... after a day of dealing with 12yr olds who would LOVE a game called 'Kick Murder'... but be disappointed if it wasn't full of kicking people to death).

Otherwise, sounds interesting...

 

[Vile Traveller]

What in particular don't you like about the Fria Ligan rules, and how do you do it in yours? Only played Blade Runner once, at a convention, and am still trying to make up my mind about the system (the game was great, but not sure how much of that was referee vs. system).

 

[lategamer]

I'm feeling an overwhelming need to chime in and say that I hate the name 'Kick Murder'.
It's like, of all the things from that setting... was that really the one throwaway line you felt compelled to dwell on?

I mean there will be kicking (doors) and murdering people.

I chose it because out of the types of “replicant” available, it’s the one most likely to be picked. Open to suggestions.

 

[lategamer]

What in particular don't you like about the Fria Ligan rules, and how do you do it in yours? Only played Blade Runner once, at a convention, and am still trying to make up my mind about the system (the game was great, but not sure how much of that was referee vs. system).

I didn’t like how they handled the Blade Runners versus Replicants advancement. I found it quite repugnant (and said so in the previous main thread on BR).

I guess part of it is that, no matter how we dress it up, Blade Runners are not the good guys of the story. If people want to play murderous slave hunters, they can play the FL officially licensed game.

 

[lategamer]

Part 2


Of course, the future is not distributed equally. Some people are able to enjoy clean food, their air filtered, their water purified. Some of them stay on Earth and some depart Earth for the offworld Orbitals where their every whim is catered for.

We were capable of creating advanced robots, though they were decidedly inhuman and with the materials for them in scarcity, breathtakingly expensive. Everything from the advanced brains to the machines to manufacture them required rare elements, difficult and expensive to extract and bringing poisonous effluent.

With the desperate need for more humans, governments would incentivise human reproduction - paying women to have children. We needed workforce, we needed people!

 

[Simlasa]

Open to suggestions.

Something expressing other elements of the setting besides the ultra-violence?
'More Than Human' is taken... as is 'Human-ish'

Are We Not Men?
Bad Future
Neon Puddle-Zone
Regret & Retribution
Flesh Widgets Strike Back
We Refuse Service To Anyone

 

[lategamer]

More

Something expressing other elements of the setting besides the ultra-violence?
'More Than Human' is taken... as is 'Human-ish'

**More Human Than Human** would probably be more direct.

but wait and see. For now, the file I type everything into is called Kick Murder but as I have changed stuff a couple of times inside the lore, the name is flexible.

 

[lategamer]

Part 3


Yuteri-Malus was a small biotech holding company founded in the early 2000s which developed (through multiple strategic intellectual property purchases and aqui-hiring) a suite of cloning technologies; most notably the development of synthetic wombs. Initially introduced as a method for wealthy childless couples to incubate their embryos (without the physical and mental toil on the mother), it flopped on the market. There market research said there was demand and the company received billions of dollars in investment, but the human material was sufficiently inviable to make it a success.


In 2040, Yuteri-Malus announced the synthetic ovary, capable of producing thousands of unfertilised eggs per day. Their breakthrough was based on years of screening donated eggs (which they paid bottom dollar for) until they found the human material they believed could be viable in the rigours of artificial implantation. Diversity in the genetic material was provided by a small selection of fathers, dubbed Patrons, allowing the customer to have some choice in the genetic makeup of their artificial progeny. Again the market was lukewarm - people, particularly fathers, wanted their own genetic material in there.

By 2042, Yuteri-Malus found their market; the military. They had thousands of fertilised "Patronaged" embryos which could be accelerated to parturition within a month within synthetic wombs, grown to adolescence within a year. These 'Repros" would be trained and sent to fight in various territory wars across the globe as corporations lobbied government support in resource acquisition. No-one would mourn their death if it kept natural-born humans (Naturals) alive. Yuteri-Malus quickly became a supplier to all governments and corporations across the globe. The customer would license however many wombs they needed and Yuteri-Malus would send them vats containing thousands of frozen embryos.

 

[Vile Traveller]

I have to say I agree about the name. I dunno ... how about Time to Die?

So are your protagonists clones rather than replicants? Is there anything to distinguish them from natural-born humans, i.e. are they faster-stronger-tougher or basically the same?

I didn’t like how they handled the Blade Runners versus Replicants advancement. [...] I guess part of it is that, no matter how we dress it up, Blade Runners are not the good guys of the story.

I see, I didn't see that part of the rules as it was a one-shot.

I ran a long Blade Runner campaign in the 80s (using RuneQuest 3 rules), and a core part of that was the slow and traumatic transformation of the Blade Runner PCs as they first realised they were not the good guys, tried to change the system from within, were discovered and became fugitives, were rejected by the replicants they were trying to help, and so on and so forth in an ever-deepening spiral of despair. We could do that sort of thing in our 20s, we'd all be on antidepressants if I tried that now.

 

[lategamer]

I have to say I agree about the name. I dunno ... how about Time to Die?

I might be better off with Prodigals, orYou See A Tortoise

So are your protagonists clones rather than replicants? Is there anything to distinguish them from natural-born humans, i.e. are they faster-stronger-tougher or basically the same?

It’ll come more in the serialised content but they are human base DNA manipulated for rapid gestation and growth with unfortunately rapid onset of senescence. They are faster, stronger, tougher and in some cases smarter.

One thing that doesn’t work for them well is that they only have about thirty faces to choose from.

I see, I didn't see that part of the rules as it was a one-shot.

I ran a long Blade Runner campaign in the 80s (using RuneQuest 3 rules), and a core part of that was the slow and traumatic transformation of the Blade Runner PCs as they first realised they were not the good guys, tried to change the system from within, were discovered and became fugitives, were rejected by the replicants they were trying to help, and so on and so forth in an ever-deepening spiral of despair. We could do that sort of thing in our 20s, we'd all be on antidepressants if I tried that now.

Yeah, I’m not going down that route. Players are replicants (Repros). I might allow some Naturals to be players but they’re really quite disadvantaged.

 

[lategamer]

Space Colonisation


Only a tiny percentage of Naturals would have the requisite fitness for space travel and it would be wasteful to use them for dangerous jobs or manual labour. This role was perfect for Repros - they could be shipped in shielded tanks directly to the Orbitals and decanted there, able to work in the menial jobs required by the industries within the year.
Offworld colonies are the future of humanity. An automated vessel would be sent, containing a 'crew' of vat-grown embryos which would be rapidly matured before arrival ahead of the colonist vessel. By 2060, humanity had four Orbitals, each containing around 50,000 Natural Humans and 500,000 Repros.

 

[Vile Traveller]

I like Prodigals! With detractors calling them Repros you immediately outline the conflict without even needing lengthy exposition.

 

[Silverlion]

Why not just "Replicant" as a title.

 

[lategamer]

Why not just "Replicant" as a title.

Because I don't like it?

 

[lategamer]

Part 4

The Planets

Mercury and Venus are primarily solar observation points, with orbiting satellites and no persistent human presence.


Earth, the birthplace of humanity, has around 18 billion inhabitants, Natural and Repro, spread across the globe. Many are concentrated in sprawling coastal metropolises - though many would not be recognisable to people of the early 21st Century. Climate disruption and rising seas have re-shaped the coasts of many recognisable places, with huge displacement of people and capital. The seas around these cities are considered to be mutagenic causes of cancer and even in more far-flung locations the presence of chemicals and reactive microplastics has caused catastrophic ecosystem collapse.


The change in sea levels happened over decades and this meant the loss of huge amounts of real estate in expensive regions such as New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong - and huge loss in fortunes for wealthy and poor alike due to displacement. The weather patterns in the northern hemisphere have taken a turn for the worse - with almost constant cloud cover and frequent storms. Southern Florida is almost uninhabitable due to the frequency of life-threatening Category 7 hurricanes - making it too expensive to build. Across on the continent of Africa, the Saharan desert has claimed most of the northern continent and southern Europe is also experiencing persistent summer heatwaves that have devastated economies in Spain, Italy and Greece. Further east, rising sea levels and flooding during the rains have made coastal areas of India and Pakistan only habitable to the poorest and the death tolls during the last two Category 7 tropical cyclones in the area claimed the lives of tens of thousands.


Air quality within 100 miles of most cities is described as "dangerous" and within the borders of cities, it becomes difficult to breathe within minutes of inhaling outside air. Respiratory dysfunction is common from birth as a result.


Outside the cities, perhaps hundreds of miles from the nearest skyscraper, it is possible to breathe the air and know the wind on your face may not be laden with chemicals. However, it is ill-advised to drink any water that has not been filtered for human consumption.

If you have wealth, you are unlikely to be living in a city. Why would you choose to be sardined into dirty streets and never see the sun. Far from the skyscrapers, nature is still on the decline but things still grow. You can't be sure of the water and you daren't grow your own vegetables in the contaminated soil or hunt for your own meat from diseased and poisoned animals.

There are extensive climate-controlled Biospheres for the very wealthy where they are not subject to the rigours of a dying ecosystem. The first of the private Biospheres was opened in southern England after decades of research. Their model was copied across the globe for the very wealthy to remain in their own private Eden. Within these enclosed biospheres, Natural humans unlucky enough to be born poor compete alongside Repros for work, some of them going so far as to emulate Repro behaviours. Everyone has to pay their way or be removed.

Those who have the means may also escape to the Orbitals.

 

[lategamer]

Part 5

The Orbitals

The Orbitals are extra-terrestrial habitats - some are free-floating space stations and some are anchored onto natural satellites. To live on an Orbital is expensive as everything has to be supplied for you. There is no air other than that which is sold to you, no freestanding water, no natural food. Naturals who live on Orbitals are usually attended by multiple Repros (whose air and food also have to be paid for too). Labour aboard the Orbitals is provided by corporate-owned Repros who work long hours in return for food and air. As they don't need to sleep, these Repros produce inhuman amounts of value for their owners.

Transport to and from Orbitals for Naturals (and grown Repros) is by long range shuttle. The journey takes three months to Mars at an average speed of around 100,000 kph, and is only available when Mars is close to its perihelion and Earth close to it's aphelion. This window occurs once every two years (actually 26 months).

The fastest human-occupied transports to Mars can make the journey in two weeks, but are incredibly expensive and extremely limited in cargo.

For non-living transport (or the transport of Rembryo vats), slower alternatives are used. The most energy efficient is the Slingshot. Only available from Earth and Mars orbits, this is a mass accelerator which puts the cargo under extreme forces to get it to the outer planets. Needless to say this would be fatal to human cargo. The journeys take many more months as the cargo is catapulted between the planets with only minor course corrections provided by on-board computers.

Transport to Jupiter takes around 2 years and Saturn 3 years. The distances are so vast that the crew and passengers spend much of their time under sedation with artificial nerve and muscle stimulation. Repros are not used as crew on these voyages due to their limited lifespans.

TyCo (properly known as Tianhe-Cooper Station), is the Earth orbital and differentiates itself from other smaller space stations in Earth orbit by being the only one with a Yuteri-Malus installation. From here, millions of "Rembryos" are nurtured, packaged into vats and deployed wherever a Yuteri-Malus Artificial Womb is located.

The security around TyCo is very tight but as has been proven, it's not impregnable. TyCo has so much traffic in and out it's almost impossible to fully police. Every week, security catches people who are hanging onto the outside of spacecraft coming in to dock, their suits often with minimal air and life support as they attempt to smuggle themselves from where they've stowed away and into other parts of the station. TyCo is the main point of entry for Prodigals (Repros ...and sometimes Naturals) who are trying to escape the Orbitals and return to Earth illegally.

Harmonia - the third Martian satellite, named after the mythological sister of Phobos and Deimos, is a international and interglomerate collaborative research orbital and the seat of government on the Martian sphere. Harmonia also has a Yuteri-Malus installation; between here and TyCo, Yuteri-Malus is able to supply Rembryos to any part of the solar system.

Europa station is not strictly an Orbital but a station on the icy moon of Jupiter. Gravity on Europa is too low (1/6 of Earth standards) for long-period human habitation. They receive their Repro vats via interplanetary slingshot.

Saturn-VI is on Titan, a desolate and cold planetoid orbiting Saturn, is the fourth and most remote Orbital from Earth. It has a particularly low Natural:Repro population with natural humans numbering less than 10,000. Repros on Titan have increased autonomy as a result and some have been promoted to Level 2 administration functions. Like Europa, they receive their Repro resupply via interplanetary slingshot.





Time aboard Orbitals is still measured using Earth-standard days and hours. At the outer reaches of the solar system, the days and hours of the planets are meaningless to humans. Artificial lighting provides a day and night cycle, changes in colours and angle provide something approximating seasons.

 

[lategamer]

>> At 8 am, I start to prepare breakfast. Lena will wake soon. She likes it when her breakfast is fresh but she doesn't use an alarm clock. I have to be dry precise. While she eats I prepare her clothes for the day and help her dress. Then I tidy the home and replace her bed dressing. Sometimes she goes out and I wait by the door for her next instructions. Sometimes she stays home and I perform whatever tasks she has for me. Often she doesn't need anything so I return to the seat by the door and wait to be called. At 5 pm I start to make dinner. After dinner, I prepare her bed again and wait until she calls me to turn out the lights. I return to my seat.

>> I remember one night she came back from a party and was intoxicated from drinks with her friends. As I helped her into bed she reached up, touched my face and said I was beautiful. I don't think I had changed my appearance but I went to the mirror to look. I looked the same but also different, I felt different because someone said I was beautiful. She fell asleep soon after. In the morning she was very clear that she had been drunk and I was to forget anything she said. But I just can't.

>> Lena took me to the Yuteri-Malus Hub on Harmonia today. She's very cross at me for breaking the rules. I don't know what rules I broke but I felt bad and said I was sorry. She got even more cross. A man in a black suit with a badge saying XEKA asked me some questions and wrote down my answers. Then Lena left. I don't know what's happening and I feel quite frightened.

 

[lategamer]

The Repro
Repro (short for Re-production) are a humanoid construct. Their growth in a vat environment is artificially accelerated in synthetic wombs meaning gestation can be as low as a month. Further hormone stimulation can have the infant Repro grow to adolescence in less than a year, receiving visual and auditory implants for rapid skills development. The result is an adult human-like being, with malformed emotions and rapid conditioning to provide basic skills. The flip side, and some would say a deliberate move by Yuteri-Malus is that Repros seldom live more than 7 years. The same genetic manipulation and trigger hormones which cause the Repro to grow so fast, also cause rapid onset senescence. A 7 year old Repro will already have greying hair and possibly a terminal diagnosis of cancer. By their eighth birthday, they are routinely euthanised.
Repros are slave labour. They are a rapidly available, easily disposable and quickly replenished labour supply for a human population that is no longer able to look after itself.
Repros have a lot of physical similarity. There are a lot of choices in selecting a Repro, but ultimately it comes down to the original cloned egg and the choice of Patron fertilisation. For mass production the Patron is selected for physical and intellectual qualities, resulting in most Repros having small variations on around 30 faces. For specific individual orders, the genotype can be edited or recombined to present something more unique.
MOTHER OF ALL
The baseline for all Repros is an egg harvested from a young woman in 2032. Little is known about the woman except that her name was Ellen F., she was 22, had a university education and her cells showed remarkable resistance to microplastic infiltration. She was paid $220 for her egg harvesting sessions and disappeared.

 

[lategamer]

 

[lategamer]

OK, the rulebook is cooked and playtesting is on the go.

Planning three scenario books with it.

1. The Prodigals (a group of Repros tries to escape the Orbitals to Earth)
2. Furukontakudo (a group of Kick Murder Repros are tasked with finding a serial killer in a dirty earth city)
3. AD TERMINUM (a group of Repros are sent on a one way mission to see what's happened at a gene research black site at the edge of the solar system)

Prodigals is cooked. Furukontakudo is halfway there. Ad Terminum is still on the drawing board