Remember 1981’s Scanners? The king of cinematic body horror David Cronenberg wrote and directed Scanners, a film about psychics employing their telepathic and telekinetic powers to dominate, or defend, the world. The film and its titular scanners are best-known for their ability to cause human heads to literally pop, which was an iconic horror visual in the early 1980s. Four Cronenberg-less sequels followed during the first half of the 1990s. Five films about drug-fueled telekinetics fighting other telekinetics bent on taking over the world sounds like a great idea for a tabletop roleplaying game. However, there is not an official game, which brings us to the question, where is the Scanners RPG?
The five Scanners-related films are divided into two series: Scanners and the spin-off series Scanner Cop. Each story is rooted in a fictional drug, ephemerol. Administered to expectant mothers, the side effects of the drug results in the birth of scanners, psychics that can override the nervous systems of humans and certain types of electronics. Scanners are not inherently good or evil, but their extraordinary perceptions and connections make their interactions with the world different, often painfully due to the sensory overload of the mental “voices” inundating them. However, when treated with a specific drug, or fierce adherence to strict mental discipline, they can function in our world. When a scanner is in control of their powers, their abilities present powers few can resist ranging from mind control to making heads explode.
The movies ranged from the original body horror cult classic to low-budget IP exploitation. Each focuses on the horror of the powers through their bloody special effects.
Despite the films and novels, there aren’t any official TTRPGs based on the series. Though, there is a strong homage that I’ll get to after we discuss homebrew hopes.
Looking at the broad range of TTRPGs from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, few offer the right focus on telepathic control, isolation, drug abuse, and the various ways that power corrupts. The idea behind this world is internalized challenges, more personal struggles. Any game version of this setting needs to account for the powers of this world as much as the tone and setting itself, which is a world… of darkness.
Still, many systems provided rules and, in some cases, entire settings for this one set of powers. GURPS, Hero System, Traveller, and TORG have psionic options while The 23rd Letter, 2nd Edition, PSI World, Psi*Run by Meguey and Vincent Baker, and World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness display some degree of influence from Scanners and, to a certain extent, Stephen King’s Firestarter and Carrie. In other words, all of those systems have a touch of psychic powers among their influences.
Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, Kobold Press Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, Kobold Press, and Amazon.
THE SCANNERS MOVIES, WHAT ARE THEY?
The five Scanners-related films are divided into two series: Scanners and the spin-off series Scanner Cop. Each story is rooted in a fictional drug, ephemerol. Administered to expectant mothers, the side effects of the drug results in the birth of scanners, psychics that can override the nervous systems of humans and certain types of electronics. Scanners are not inherently good or evil, but their extraordinary perceptions and connections make their interactions with the world different, often painfully due to the sensory overload of the mental “voices” inundating them. However, when treated with a specific drug, or fierce adherence to strict mental discipline, they can function in our world. When a scanner is in control of their powers, their abilities present powers few can resist ranging from mind control to making heads explode.
The movies ranged from the original body horror cult classic to low-budget IP exploitation. Each focuses on the horror of the powers through their bloody special effects.
- Scanners (1981, written and directed by David Cronenberg)
- Scanners II: The New Order (1991, written by B.J. Nelson and directed by Christian Duguay)
- Scanners III: The Takeover (1992, written by B.J. Nelson and directed by Christian Duguay)
- Scanner Cop (1994, starring Sam Staziak)
- Scanners: The Showdown (aka Scanner Cop II) (1995, starring Sam Staziak)
Despite the films and novels, there aren’t any official TTRPGs based on the series. Though, there is a strong homage that I’ll get to after we discuss homebrew hopes.
THE HOMEBREW DISCUSSION
In this article series, I’ve looked at The Beastmaster and Deathstalker. Those movies exemplified 1980s sword-and-sorcery tropes, meaning their stories could be recreated using numerous tabletop roleplaying games, especially that era’s editions of Dungeons & Dragons. The Scanners series is science fiction dealing with psychic powers, drugs, men in dress suits causing heads to explode, and the then modern 1980s and 1990s. I’m about to commit heresy and suggest that Gary’s game isn’t ideal for a particular property, but Scanners isn’t going to make for the best D&D homebrew. Admittedly, D&D has presented psionic options since 1976’s Dungeons & Dragons Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry making it possible to create Dungeons & Scanners. But considering the fiction of the Scanners story, would the D&D ruleset make for a good game of this property? While mileage may vary, I think it’d be suboptimal, but feel free to disagree and state your case in the comments.Looking at the broad range of TTRPGs from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, few offer the right focus on telepathic control, isolation, drug abuse, and the various ways that power corrupts. The idea behind this world is internalized challenges, more personal struggles. Any game version of this setting needs to account for the powers of this world as much as the tone and setting itself, which is a world… of darkness.
SCANNING FOR AN EXISTING RPG SYSTEM
Scanners’ fiction centers on powers, drugs, and feelings. Depending on the player, a hypothetical game based on the Scanners films might be a spy-esque tale of combat-centric action or a story of trying to make your way when you can’t shut out the thoughts of others, both good and ill. While psionic powers have been part of TTRPGs from almost the beginning, they weren’t always the focus. Stories involve mental violation and brainwashing as scanners move the NPCs around the board like a game of chess in which they control everyone they meet, setting them towards any task including combat. Other gamers might look towards the interpersonal conflicts that these stories present and gravitate towards character emotions and the wild states of mind as much as psychic powers. What game engine is right for this world? That will depend on who you want at the gaming table. Since these movies dropped in the 1980s and 1990s, it’s reasonable to expect the movies’ fans to be gamers familiar with that era of gaming, but do games from that time do justice to Cronenberg’s vision?Still, many systems provided rules and, in some cases, entire settings for this one set of powers. GURPS, Hero System, Traveller, and TORG have psionic options while The 23rd Letter, 2nd Edition, PSI World, Psi*Run by Meguey and Vincent Baker, and World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness display some degree of influence from Scanners and, to a certain extent, Stephen King’s Firestarter and Carrie. In other words, all of those systems have a touch of psychic powers among their influences.
SCAN YOU LATER
Of those many options, there are two Scanners-influenced games that I’ll spotlight in the next article. Tune in then to learn about some of the potential psionic options and a list of Canadian publishers.Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, Kobold Press Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, Kobold Press, and Amazon.
)
