Blade Runner TTRPG will ask players to grapple with their own humanity

Crowdfunding campaign Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game, one of Polygon’s most highly anticipated tabletop RPGs of 2022, launches Tuesday. Developed by award-winning publisher Free League in collaboration with Alcon Entertainment and Genuine Entertainment, it sends players into the streets of Los Angeles in the year 2037 as members of the LAPD’s Rep-Detect Unit — better known as Blade Runners. We spoke with lead designer and Free League co-founder Tomas Härenstam to learn more.

“A lot of the surface gameplay is investigation,” said Härenstam. “Players will be going to places, talking to people, collecting evidence. Inspiration was a big part of the game. Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, and other classic mystery-solving games.”

Every Blade Runner story must have its characters confront existential questions in between cases.

“It’s a point that the source material makes,” said Härenstam, “that your humanity isn’t decided by whether you’re human or replicant. It’s not defined by your origin. It’s in your actions and what you choose to do, and that’s really the path that we’ve followed in designing the game.” That path is clear in the process of character creation, which asks players to generate a Key Memory and define a Key Relationship, both of which shape how their character engages with the world. Players can earn Humanity points by interacting with and grappling with the Key elements in sessions. These points can then be used to increase their skill level.

Martin Grip/Free League

Image: Margin Grip/Free Leauge

Martin Grip/Free League

Players will be spending a lot more time in the game doing Down Time activities, as opposed to morally unclear casework. This narrative will give characters the opportunity to explore their personal lives and go on their own. “It gives us a spotlight into the personal lives of these characters,” Härenstam said. “[Down Time] is where mechanics like Key Memory and Key Relationship come into play, and those function in the same way regardless of if you’re a human or a replicant.”

The The Core RulebookThere are over 200 pages worth of world-building and immersive details. The official Blade Runner ruleset is included as well. Martin Grip has beautiful art. His distinctive style will be recognized by fans from the other Free League projects such as The One Ring: Roleplaying the World of The Lord of the Rings.

The fans of Alien: The Roleplaying Game, Tales from the LoopAnd Forbidden Lands will recognize the game’s Year Zero Engine, which appears in a new and developed form tailored to the neon-noir setting. For each roll of the original Year Zero Engine, a pool six-sided dice is used. A six indicates a successful roll. More sixes indicate a greater success rate. As attributes and skill levels improve, so does the pool.

Free League

Blade RunnerThe mechanic was simplified. The players are provided with only two dice, one for each skill or base attribute. Variations in dice type reflect player proficiency, which can range from d6s up to d12s. Härenstam says this was to keep the game rules light.

“We didn’t want the rules and the dice to dominate the table too much,” he said, “so we decided to scale down the feel of the dice and the mechanics so that they’re a little more in the background than in some other Year Zero games.”

In the Kickstarter materials, you will also find the first Cinematic module. Blade RunnerElectric Dreams, an adventure.All the information needed to make a Case File for Game Runners is provided by the The Core RulebookElectric Dreams, however, is an excellent introductory module that helps players and Game Runners get settled into the game.

“We didn’t want to railroad players,” said Härenstam. That’s why players can interact with the materials presented to them in Electric Dreams and other Case Files in any way they’d like. “Every Case File is an interconnected web of clues — locations, NPCs, evidence — but players will have a lot of freedom to go where they want and talk to whoever they want, and in how they arrive at a solution.”

Grid View

Backers who pledge more than $55 The Core Rulebook tier or higher within the first 24 hours of the Kickstarter’s launch will also receive an exclusive art print by lead artist Grip. Rep-Detect Bundle ($95), contains standard. The Core RulebookThe Blade Runner Starter SetThis includes a simplified rulebook, an electronic version of Electric Dreams and four pre-generated characters that players can use to get started. Additionally, there are a variety of handouts for data, photos and evidence which will be useful during investigations.

Also exclusive to the Kickstarter is the deluxe collector’s edition of the The Core RulebookAvailable in the Off-World Bundle ($140). This special edition boasts a faux-leather cover embossed with a holographic stamp of the Japanese kanji for “Origin” and will not be printed again. Diji Bundle ($35), which contains the PDF version of the core rulesbook and Electric Dreams, is available to players who lack Chin-Yen. All backers of higher levels will have digital versions available shortly after the Kickstarter closes.

Stretch goals can be used to increase the effectiveness of your existing programs. Starter SetThese include custom dice, an init card deck and a full-color map showing future Los Angeles.

Players hoping for a cut-and-dried mystery game should definitely look elsewhere, Härenstam says. “It’s not just going to be ‘solve the case, go home, and be happy’; that’s never going to happen in this game. It’s always going to be more complicated than that.”

Kickstarter for Blade Runner RPG is open until May 29.