Blade Runner: The Next Million Dollar Kickstarter?

Free League's Blade Runner Kickstarter has just launched, and is tearing through stretch goals after funding in just 3 minutes. It looks very likely that this will be the company's second million dollar Kickstarter (following last year's The One Ring campaign, which raised over $2M). It will also be the third million dollar Kickstarter in the last month, following Matt Colville's Flee Mortals!, and Monte Cook Games' Old Gods of Appalachia.

Blade Runner was voted the Most Anticipated TTRPG of 2022 by readers of EN World right here.

Free League's other million dollar Kickstarter, The One Ring, did $521K on the first day and finished with $2M. Compared to the other million dollar campaigns in the last few weeks --

• Flee Mortals! did $788K on the first day.
• Old Gods of Appalachia did $679K on the first day.
• Only one campaign has done $1M+ on day 1, and that was Avatar Legends with $1.15M on the first day.

Check Out These Bladerunner RPG Previews

Free League has shared some previews of its Bladerunner RPG, which comes to Kickstarter next week on May 3rd and looks very likely to be the third million dollar Kickstarter in the last month.

www.enworld.org

BLADE RUNNER – The Roleplaying Game

Walk the neon-noir streets of Los Angeles 2037 in the official BLADE RUNNER RPG from Free League Publishing and Alcon Entertainment.

www.kickstarter.com

 

[schneeland]

I think people mainly ask for this on the basis that Free League was willing to do it for previous campaigns, and without spending too much though how it would happen. I tend to agree that it would not be a good fit and that you'd be better off playing it as a one on one game.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I've put this in my KS "reminder me". I love the Bladerunner franchise, including the PKD source material, and I'm very curious about Year Zero as a system, but it'll probably be something that just sits on my shelf. Too many cool games to play and not enough time to play them!

Also, not a deal breaker, but I'm not really crazy about the custom dice in the Stretch Goals. Numbers are too small next to the image on each face.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

This assumes that the game only plays in hand out find clues investigative mode. If its that simple, I think its missing greatly on the thematic elements of even the films.

Right, but it's a noir game. It's about mysteries. Someone has to adjudicate whether you've cracked the case. A chapter on solo play isn't going to do that, in the way that Twilight 2000 is already built around random encounters, and comes with a bunch of distinct sites you can visit, each with statted-out NPCs and agendas. You'd need an entire book of Starforged-like oracles to come close to doing GM-less investigation.

 

[payn]

I've put this in my KS "reminder me". I love the Bladerunner franchise, including the PKD source material, and I'm very curious about Year Zero as a system, but it'll probably be something that just sits on my shelf. Too many cool games to play and not enough time to play them!

Also, not a deal breaker, but I'm not really crazy about the custom dice in the Stretch Goals. Numbers are too small next to the image on each face.

You could just go with the PDF only option.

 

[payn]

Right, but it's a noir game. It's about mysteries. Someone has to adjudicate whether you've cracked the case. A chapter on solo play isn't going to do that, in the way that Twilight 2000 is already built around random encounters, and comes with a bunch of distinct sites you can visit, each with statted-out NPCs and agendas. You'd need an entire book of Starforged-like oracles to come close to doing GM-less investigation.

Again, if its singularly focused on just being a mystery solving game, then it will be a poor choice for solo play. Though, there is so so much more to BR than noir detective theme. I dont have any knowledge on the game modes and content of this RPG currently other than stress mechanics. I have played other FL games and believe that there can be room for this game to go beyond a singular board game like detective function.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

Again, if its singularly focused on just being a mystery solving game, then it will be a poor choice for solo play. Though, there is so so much more to BR than noir detective theme. I dont have any knowledge on the game modes and content of this RPG currently other than stress mechanics. I have played other FL games and believe that there can be room for this game to go beyond a singular board game like detective function.

If the solo mode for a game means you aren’t doing the core play mode for the game, that’s just asking for a different game. That’s like asking for a solo Call of Cthulhu game where you don’t investigate Mythos stuff. Look at what they’ve already revealed for this RPG. It’s an investigation game. You’re in the Rep-Detect squad. There are tools for GMs to create Cases, not general scenarios. It’s very focused. Anything else you want to do is homebrew for now and outside the scope of what they’re publishing.

 

[overgeeked]

Always interesting to see how many Kickstarter commenters ask for a solo mode in Free League campaigns. Seems way more common there. Anyone know why? Did they open the floodgates by doing/promising some solo stuff in the past? Or is it something else?

Asking for a solo mode in an investigative noir game is pretty wild stuff, though. There are ways to do GM-less gaming, but when it's so clearly about gathering clues, interviewing subjects, etc... how in the world do people think that's going to work?

ETA: I meant to say is it because they opened the floodgates with past solo stuff (since they did, with The One Ring and Forbidden Lands, and maybe Vaesen?) or is it something else.

Well, not to point out the elephant in the room, but D&D utterly dominates the market and mindspace of the hobby. Getting much attention focused on anything but 5E is incredibly hard, to say nothing of getting gamers to agree to play a game that's self-billed as about existential angst, empathy, and questions of humanity. Despite the clear success of the Kickstarter, that's not your typical RPG fare. The player base of this game is going to be small. Wanting to not pay money for another pretty picture book that collects dust on your shelf is a very real concern. I'm surprised solo play isn't bog standard for RPGs, honestly.

Right, but it's a noir game. It's about mysteries. Someone has to adjudicate whether you've cracked the case. A chapter on solo play isn't going to do that, in the way that Twilight 2000 is already built around random encounters, and comes with a bunch of distinct sites you can visit, each with statted-out NPCs and agendas. You'd need an entire book of Starforged-like oracles to come close to doing GM-less investigation.

Not really. Mysteries are nowhere near that complicated. Especially if you're willing to gamify the setup a bit.

 

[overgeeked]

Nine hours and $750,000...damn.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

Well, not to point out the elephant in the room, but D&D utterly dominates the market and mindspace of the hobby. Getting much attention focused on anything but 5E is incredibly hard, to say nothing of getting gamers to agree to play a game that's self-billed as about existential angst, empathy, and questions of humanity. Despite the clear success of the Kickstarter, that's not your typical RPG fare. The player base of this game is going to be small. Wanting to not pay money for another pretty picture book that collects dust on your shelf is a very real concern. I'm surprised solo play isn't bog standard for RPGs, honestly.

This makes a lot of sense.

Not really. Mysteries are nowhere near that complicated. Especially if you're willing to gamify the setup a bit.

I agree, when the mystery is prewritten. But I still think they’re hard to pull off in a procedurally generated way—unless you include a storygame mechanic where there’s no “true” solution. I don’t see that working with BR’s seemingly trad, zoomed-in, let’s-play-every-round-of-combat approach.

But wait, I just realized how dumb I am. FL is already in the middle of figuring this out for Vaesen, since the most recent campaign for it included that as a stretch goal. I guess we’ll see if it actually works!

 

[overgeeked]

But wait, I just realized how dumb I am. FL is already in the middle of figuring this out for Vaesen, since the most recent campaign for it included that as a stretch goal. I guess we’ll see if it actually works!

Not dumb, just forgot you knew a thing. Like in a mystery.

I agree, when the mystery is prewritten. But I still think they’re hard to pull off in a procedurally generated way—unless you include a storygame mechanic where there’s no “true” solution. I don’t see that working with BR’s seemingly trad, zoomed-in, let’s-play-every-round-of-combat approach.

Yeah, that was my thought. Procedurally generate a mystery as you play through it. Very much a storygame mechanic artificially pushing the solution out. It might not be satisfying for all gamers, but it would work and generate something rather close to a mystery plot.