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Has anyone thought about ways to introduce a secret replicant character among your characters for future case files? Or even the alternative, a character who thinks they're a replicant but really aren't?
There are obviously some influences from the films, but curious how others have fit this idea into their games within the context of the N9's and working on the force.
Curious to hear!

Ok here's mine;

I told my player her character is a human. What she does not know is that she is a replicant. Here's her story that she (the player) does not know yet:

She is a Tyrell N-7. Same generation as Rachel. No expiration. No eyeball serials. Only way to be found out if via a Critical Success on a V-K test. (Remember it took over a hundred questions for Deckard to out Rachel when it should have only taken 20-30). Or having bones examined for microscopic serial numbers (again Rachel in 2049).

She was given memories of graduating with top marks from a tough but geographically distant high school. Fake transcripts to go with the memories. Physically and mentally tough.

2017 she applied to the police academy with academic credentials forged by Tyrell agents. After graduation, her mission was to go under deep cover and into the LAPD/RDU to determine what methods they use for detection and if there were any methods unknown to Tyrell for detection. This clandestine research could give Tyrell an edge in making future Nexus models that would be even less detectable by the latest methods. She was to be seasonally debriefed using sleeper commands that would compel her to seek out a debrief session that would then be forgotten after completion by her. This was done periodically for a few years until the Black Out hit in 2022. At that time, all of her intelligence gathered, the sleeper command codes, and the very existence of her mission itself were lost by Tyrell's agents. Paved over everything... That and with all the other difficulties that Tyrell had, the very few agents who had personal knowledge of her simply left her in play as she was and then just moved on, died or forgot about her. Even before the blackout, her existence as an N-7 was extremely compartmentalized as a corporate secret. Thus her info was redacted from the database that Tyrell released to the UN in the early 2020's.

Now she works and lives as an old timer Blade Runner. 16 years on the force exactly at age 39.
Her key memory is of a N-9 Replicant partner that she had for the last year. They fell in love, but they only had sex once about 3 weeks ago and then after he failed his baseline, and then his next one and then the next. He was sent to Wallace and failed again and was retired all in the space of 48 hours.

Cut to the end of the Electric Dreams case file.. Now she is in her bathroom and she accidently knocks over a full box of tampons. As she picks it up, it occurs to her... she has missed her latest period. She never misses her period...

Wow that's a pretty detailed backstory and integrates with the lore pretty well, a good way to introduce a secret replicant for sure. Have you thought about how you're going to tease out some clues? Or is it going to be a huge surprise at some point and just drop the bombshell?

Thank you and excellent question. The pregnancy alone will be the first bombshell hit. This should cause both player and the player's character to start to wonder about themselves. Can a human female conceive with a replicant or is that evidence that the female must also be a replicant? Who knows? (remember there is a huge school of thought that Deckard is a replicant, a school that includes Ridley Scott)

At some point there should be a huge reveal that confirms she is a replicant (2nd bombshell) and an immediate reduction of her resolve coupled with probably 3 stress points. ie. she SHOULD be broken by stress right then and there for a bit.

How to do the reveal;
Since she has been on the force so long, her significant relationship is actually Holden who has been like a father figure to her. The reveal could come in the form of a VK test by Holden or another RDU veteran or old timer. Also it could come from the OBGYN seeing serial numbers on her when examining her for the pregnancy. She might initiate the test to see if she is a replicant. Maybe she approaches Wallace or the Replicant Underground?

Much will depend on her reaction to her pregnancy, which I don't know what that will be. Like a real person, she has to decide if she will carry it to term or terminate it. LAPD is open minded enough to grant her leave and she can afford daycare if she keeps it. If she does not keep it, someone is going to find out because I am a GM who likes to see a crisis.

The big conflict for her in the immediate is the fact that she knows that the baby is at least half rep. What happens if others find out? How would Holden react? What happens when Neander Wallace finds out? (which he will and Quell will return to cause trouble). What will the reaction be from the Replicant Underground that already knows about Rachel's child? Afterall, as Yoda said; "There is another..."

I am not sure what her end story will be. She and her child may not survive or they may disappear. Wallace will realize that N-7 reps have the ability to reproduce and that will cause Wallace to flag any inquiry into an N-7 serial number (this dovetails with BR2049 when K brings Rachel's DNA)

Some of the possible events could drive this campaign out of the movie Blade Runner canon completely, which I am prepared to let happen.

In the meantime, until another entity besides herself learns the truth, she is covered and can work case files normally. I will keep you posted on this thread of course.

You've really thought this out! This is great stuff.

At first I was questioning the significance of her missing a period, but now I'm following the N-7 connection with Rachel and 2049. That's a great way to tie a character's personal story into the lore as its written without going too far out of the realm of possibility. If it goes off the rails and out of canon, I don't think that's such a bad thing (and since the canon is so limited, probably impossible to not do lol).

And if your players end up getting taken in by the Replicant Underground, you can turn the campaign around when the new sourcebook comes out!

It does seem like the easiest way to have a secret replicant would be by using older Nexus models that either were never informed of being replicants or that somehow had their memories altered post-incept (this is a thing they say happens in the Edge of Human novel, but I know that's not canon).

I'd also be interested in trying the other way, a human character who thinks they are a replicant. Not unlike K, but an actual human who somehow managed to be convinced that their memories were implants and that they are actually a replicant. I'm not sure what type of trauma or indoctrination would need to be inflicted on someone to convince them they're synthetic; but i'm sure Tyrell or Wallace could/would have thought about it.

I finally made it back on the forums and read your last. Thank you!

Current Update:
So, she knows she is pregnant at this point but not a replicant. She just completed Electric Dreams.
Something I should have pointed out, this scenario for a secret replicant is working great for a single PC game. I don't know how I would work it for a 2+ PC group. It would be a bit of a stretch to have them all be replicants in secret but conversely, if you just have one be a secret replicant, it might seem like unfair attention on just one of the PC's. You have to gauge it based on your players.

Also, the content of the pregnancy of a PC is a delicate matter as well. A given player may not appreciate a GM using that as a plot device on their character. In my case, my one PC player is also my fiancé, and so I have a very good read as to how this would be received.

I like the idea of a human who thinks they must be a replicant. It could be that they suspect this because they meet a replicant that looks just like them. (possibly because the human character is the "templant" for the replicant. To make it plausible, you might need to give the human character all the advantages/disadvantages of a replicant; increased attributes, decreased resolve. Not sure how to handle the replicant ability to convert physical stress to emotional stress. If your player does not know about this rule, you could simply ignore it and pretend replicants don't have it (but track it secretly on your NPC's). If your PC does know about this rule, then it gets a bit tricky, but not impossible, to manage.

The real question might be; will the player think it is cool that they turn out to be human after all? This might be a better twist for an important NPC that the PC's know well.