Blade Runner rpg - having trouble getting sucked in

[payn]

For the record, you are playing VtM my preferred way. I just don't think it's the way most VtM player do it.

Being an awesome sexy vampire killing machine is, for better or worse, something with broader appeal than "vampire rapist."

From my brief time with vampire there were three types of player. Creeps, edgelords, and folks who wanted vampire D&D.

I'm hoping to avoid Blade Runner D&D. As for the other two, always want to avoid them.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

From my brief time with vampire there were three types of player. Creeps, edgelords, and folks who wanted vampire D&D.

I'm hoping to avoid Blade Runner D&D. As for the other two, always want to avoid them.

IME, there were also a weird number of people who viewed it as a way to try to get laid, presumably because it was the first RPG with a large number of female players. (For the record, I don't know anyone that worked for, although there were apparently some very horny LARP groups out there. Viva la Toreador.)

 

[dragoner]

In at least one of the 10,000 official cuts of the movie, Deckard also has the eyeshine that replicants have. Scott clearly thinks Deckard's a replicant, although Harrison Ford apparently disagrees.

I understand why people want Deckard to be human, because all the other humans we see in the film have problems, like Tyrell with his glasses, or Gaff with his cane. While Deckard is a "one man slaughterhouse" taking on the replicants, we're not dying out, these are not our replacements, more human than human ... the film is beautifully done, it has a lot of layers. Batty is like Mercer, the way he sticks a nail through his hand, real stigmata.

 

[aramis erak]

I think a lot of people miss that Deckard is a replicant, even after Scott said it with Gaff leaving the origami unicorn on the landing. I guess maybe Gaff could also be a Blade Runner, though like most healthy humanity had fled the Earth. He could be a detective, and Deckard is just wielded as a weapon against other replicants, which is the story of the second movie.

Given the timespan that the movies are set, the sequel pretty much proves Deckard is NOT a replicant. He's still going a decade plus... After all, Deckard is a major secondary character in the second movie.

I understand why people want Deckard to be human, because all the other humans we see in the film have problems, like Tyrell with his glasses, or Gaff with his cane. While Deckard is a "one man slaughterhouse" taking on the replicants, we're not dying out, these are not our replacements, more human than human ... the film is beautifully done, it has a lot of layers. Batty is like Mercer, the way he sticks a nail through his hand, real stigmata.

For him to be replicant, it would mean he's been built to a different self-destruct standard.
If BR2047 is canon, then either there's a subset without the four year limit, and Deckard was one such, or Deckard is human.
And I don't see a long-life replicant dumped into the LAPD in the timeframe of the first film; in 2047? maybe... Nah, still not likely; the company cannot afford for a replicant in LAPD to live a full lifespan, as LAPD are quite likely to overreact, and the 4th b-day is celebrated with either shutdown of organs, or a bullet..

 

[payn]

Given the timespan that the movies are set, the sequel pretty much proves Deckard is NOT a replicant. He's still going a decade plus... After all, Deckard is a major secondary character in the second movie.

For him to be replicant, it would mean he's been built to a different self-destruct standard.
If BR2047 is canon, then either there's a subset without the four year limit, and Deckard was one such, or Deckard is human.
And I don't see a long-life replicant dumped into the LAPD in the timeframe of the first film; in 2047? maybe... Nah, still not likely; the company cannot afford for a replicant in LAPD to live a full lifespan, as LAPD are quite likely to overreact, and the 4th b-day is celebrated with either shutdown of organs, or a bullet..

IDK, its a really interesting thought exercise. If Deckard is designed for longer life span (nexus 7 like Rachel), and to pass as human, he could learn a lot about going undetected by being in the LAPD and detecting replicants himself. Hiding in plain sight if you will. It also has interesting implications in the second film if Deckard is a replicant and he and Rachel were able to reproduce (could have been a long term goal of the Nexus 7?) that is even more existential to humanity. The possibilities and ambiguity are definitely interesting parts of this story.

 

[overgeeked]

Got my set and book. Good system, but thematically I'm having trouble getting sucked in. In fact, I have this odd feeling that something is turning me off. Something isn't sitting right. I keep stopping reading the adventure.

Partly, it is the 6 point body text font which is a huge mistake for GMs reference and prep in an adventure, but thats my only presentation complaint.

Something else is bugging me though. Rep-detect officers are about retiring homocidal and defective/problematic models (e.g. n-8). All models have the potential to be problems (Wallace's big secret no matter the model anyways..as they can have their own emotional response in addition to reps being innately narcissistic.
There are groups of people who are organized to hate or always-give-a-pass to reps. This rpg really plays up for rep sympathy and youre a crap person if you think otherwise.
It smacks too much of today's popular extremism news trends. Every criminal/shoplifter/murderer is misunderstood, drow/orcs arent really evil, and every policeman is a bigot, etc.

Am I not seeing this correctly? Help me understand how I'm supposed to enjoy a game that feels like a mirror of the worst un-fun current news tripe and just more cop-trauma rather than cop-drama.

We played it at a recent convention and the themes were presented accurate to the rpg. Now Im prepping to run for my group. I get that youre supposed to be conflicted, but this seems a bit cliche, depressing, and I worry about redundancy during multiple adventures on the 'fun' factor. Inflicting real-world ptsd on my players seems like a pretty miserable way to spend my gaming time.

How is it that Cyberpunk and Judge Dredd can be fun themes and this seem so icky?

If you’re looking for a pure shoot-em-up, this isn’t the game for you. It’s specifically a game about empathy and what it means to be human and blurring the line between human and robot. And empathizing with the Other. That’s the point.

"The guard captain from Kergan Trading company will give you 200 gold if you take care of the goblin tribe in Wusswood that have been attacking their caravans."

Now add in empathizing with and humanizing the goblins and having some in the town and on your team.

It's pretty much what I expected from Blade Runner. Are cyberpunk and Judge Dredd fun, really, unless you squint hard? All three are classic dystopias - individuals might try to do good and even succeed on a small scale (or not, depending on player preferences), but they're unlikely to ever change the system.

Most cyberpunk is fun, to me, because it’s a hard-scrabble fight against the system. You’re the underdog and you can’t win, but it’s still fun.

Judge Dredd is an odd one because it’s such a subtle parody of fascism a lot of people treat it as being pro-fascist. It’s basically copaganda at that point. You’re the big bad untouchable lawman and you get to be the boot on the neck. Sure, some people think that’s fun. I guess. But it’s about as opposite to what I find fun that I can’t see it as anything other than ick.

 

[overgeeked]

Batty is like Mercer, the way he sticks a nail through his hand, real stigmata.

There’s so much they left out if the adaptation. Such a great book. I just finished it for the second time this year a few days ago. Mood organs. Buster Friendly. Mercerism. Electric animals. The replicant police station. Pris being Rachel. The wives. Finding the frog. On and on.

 

[dragoner]

Given the timespan that the movies are set, the sequel pretty much proves Deckard is NOT a replicant. He's still going a decade plus... After all, Deckard is a major secondary character in the second movie.

For him to be replicant, it would mean he's been built to a different self-destruct standard.
If BR2047 is canon, then either there's a subset without the four year limit, and Deckard was one such, or Deckard is human.
And I don't see a long-life replicant dumped into the LAPD in the timeframe of the first film; in 2047? maybe... Nah, still not likely; the company cannot afford for a replicant in LAPD to live a full lifespan, as LAPD are quite likely to overreact, and the 4th b-day is celebrated with either shutdown of organs, or a bullet..

Though when Tyrell is asked about Rachel, he doesn't say she has a time limit, and she asks Deckard if he had taken a Voight-Kampf, and the deal with memories, it's about him finding out who he is, as much as the externalities. He could indeed only be three, we never know, and in the end Gaff says it's too bad she won't live, but who does? Also Gaff says "you did a man's job", the chief has a sort of fetish for him, and yet calls him little people. He fights with Leon and walks away, Batty lets him live, etc.. A lot of little clues besides the Unicorn; though it is ambiguous on purpose, that is the point of the film.

I love BR 2047, it is also about what it means to be human. You're right in that it could be a retcon him being human, though he beats K in a fight again like K beat Sapper in the beginning, and look at how easily Luv dealt with humans, as we are "fragile" and so.

 

[dragoner]

There’s so much they left out if the adaptation. Such a great book. I just finished it for the second time this year a few days ago. Mood organs. Buster Friendly. Mercerism. Electric animals. The replicant police station. Pris being Rachel. The wives. Finding the frog. On and on.

True, though I think the whole suppressed religion part might not have played so well in the theater. He had a reoccurring theme of ancient Christians vs the Roman Empire. Same as I doubt the game has people rolling up disabilities if human, it would probably be accurate to both the book and film, people would have a fit though. PKD did do a twist on human vs android in Second Variety, so it wouldn't have be out of character for him. The citadel press versions of his stories are really great, because they included his commentary. What would be a great film is his entry from Dangerous Visions, "Faith of Our Fathers" and that could be also be made into a SFRPG as well.

 

[billd91]

IDK, its a really interesting thought exercise. If Deckard is designed for longer life span (nexus 7 like Rachel), and to pass as human, he could learn a lot about going undetected by being in the LAPD and detecting replicants himself. Hiding in plain sight if you will. It also has interesting implications in the second film if Deckard is a replicant and he and Rachel were able to reproduce (could have been a long term goal of the Nexus 7?) that is even more existential to humanity. The possibilities and ambiguity are definitely interesting parts of this story.

I think Deckard's presence and interactions with Wallace suggest Deckard isn't a replicant. Wallace desperately wants Replicants to be able to have offspring, and so he wants to know more about Rachel and her child. He has some info about Rachel as a replicant - enough to make a physical duplicate. But if Deckard is also an experimental replicant from the Tyrell Corporation, Wallace seems to know absolutely nothing about it. If he did know, he'd be a lot more careful about him since he would have half the pair of replicants that produced viable offspring.

Same with the replicant liberationists. They seem to think he's human too or they'd be less willing to have him killed. At the very least, they seem to think he's not crucial to the idea of replicants potentially having offspring.

All of this suggests to me that Villeneuve wasn't that interested in continuing to interact with the issue of Deckard as a replicant/human. I think he's strengthening the implication he's human.