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Yes, I agree that just focusing on Rep-Detects and Replicants only would be too limited. But how would it be possible to expand further without loosing the core of the setting? Well, I’d bet my money on L. A. as a neon noir metropolis. That’s actually a third more or less mandatory element in the Bladerunner setting. If you still want a case structure of the scenarios, you could play as either private detectives or as another LAPD unit (homicide?). I’d actually put that possibility in the basic rules since those options are just as noir as the Bladerunners. I guess the LAPD will have to be included in the game anyway.

Another possibility could be to work with a couple of noir style locations instead of working with a group premise. It could for example be a gambling den, a shady strip bar, the Bradbury Building (where J. F. Sebastian used to live), a local police station, or an entire neighbourhood like Little Tokyo (I just assume it’s still there because I think it would fit the setting). Places or neighbourhoods like that could be modular like the adventure sites in Forbidden Lands or the zonesectors in MYZ. The PCs would then be involved in some kind of events, just because they are the kind people who are around in those places. They wouldn’t need to be together in a group or crew.

A third and perhaps more vague city based concept, would be people who spend a lot of time in their spinners (flying cars). You would then get into action while driving, and the drama would be either along the road (spinner chase could be cool) or at certain reoccurring noir style locations that could be spread out along your route. I imagine this would be more of a sandbox take on the setting. The PCs could for example be cops, taxi drivers, car thieves or maybe replicants on some kind of rescue mission. They wouldn’t need to be in a tight crew or unit to make it interesting. It could be a cool premise where you should be able to repair and upgrade your spinners. Or just buy or steal a new one. And driving is for sure a noir thing to do. I actually think the basic rules will need an entire chapter about spinners, driving and roads (routes?). That’s how you are supposed to get around in L.A.

Regarding inverstigations. Baker Street - roleplaying in the world of Sherlock Holmes, got some innovative rules for investigation styled adventures if I remember correctly (have not played it though), with clues, timing, bad happenings if delays/mistakes etc, with minimum prep and not detailed plots. Maybe something in that direction for this game is what is planned?

Those of us who are Swedish probably know the Swedish RPG Noir. It’s not set in the future, but it’s a really good example of how the film noir genre could be useful in an RPG. Personally, I would have prefered L. A. as the main location for that game (instead of the fictional Sandukar), but that could be done right in the upcoming Bladerunner RPG instead.

There was even a 16-page Blade Runner-hack/conversion of Noir included in Speltidning Fenix.

I think that Tomas mentioned ”Baker Street - roleplaying in the world of Sherlock Holmes” as an inspiration. But is Bladerunner really about looking for clues? I get that it’s something playable and such a premise might be interesting. Still, I’d prefer a more Marlowesque approach. I’d like to see cases involving corrupt cops, decadent socialites, femme fatales, gambling dens, opulent mansions, con men, corporate spies, rough gun fights, and car ”spinner” chases in neon light. I love Sherlock, but Philip Marlowe (Deckard is more or less a copy of him) is something completely different.

As I’ve already said, I think this game will need an entire car (spinner) chapter with a road (route) map. Driving is essential for using L. A. as the main scenario location. How should you get around without a spinner? And of course, Marlowe had a car (at least in the movies). It’s a part of his role.

(And yes, I know the Bladerunner Noir article from Fenix. Interesting, but I think this game should be something else.)

I think that Tomas mentioned ”Baker Street - roleplaying in the world of Sherlock Holmes” as an inspiration. But is Bladerunner really about looking for clues? I get that it’s something playable and such a premise might be interesting. Still, I’d prefer a more Marlowesque approach. I’d like to see cases involving corrupt cops, decadent socialites, femme fatales, gambling dens, opulent mansions, con men, corporate spies, rough gun fights, and car ”spinner” chases. I love Sherlock, but Philip Marlowe (Deckard is more or less a copy of him) is something completely different.

Ok, but Baker Street showed a way to deal with the "absense" of the iconic Sherlock, and how to play other roles in such a setting. I hope and believe an investigative/clue-based approach TOGETHER with the more noirish elements of the source material might be what FL is striving for here.

For certain, a part of the story in the original Bladerunner is about following a chain of clues — the address Leon gives Holden leads to the "snake scale" leads to Taffey's leads to Zhora — but OTOH, the chain of "clues" leading to the discovery of Pris and Roy (J.F.'s body left in Tyrell's bedroom) is ... hardly even a clue.
Therefore, I don't know if it's fair to say that your typical Conan Doyle-esque "sleuthing" really is or should be a major portion of the Bladerunner setting. For instance, I feel Leon's "precious photos" has other, more important implications to the story than merely a link in a chain of clues. I suppose the sequel does a bit more of it, but still...

However, I still believe there is so much more to this setting — meaning specifically this world's version of L.A.; I see no reason to leave the city — than investigations. For instance, there are the Off-World Colonies. Without the game ever needing to go there, or even tell us anything at all about them, they are still there, and people are clearly leaving the planet for them en masse — reason why all the sizeable Bradbury Apartments has exactly one resident: J.F. Sebastian. And his "toys". The rest of the complex is abandoned. So, how does the reality of the Colonies affect the world for those who choose to stay, or like J.F., have no choice?
We clearly have an entire ecosystem around the manufacturing and trade of synthetic animals. What wider implications does that have?
Who are those little people that start dismantling Deckard's car with him still sitting in it? Does L.A. have its own version of Jawas?

Sir Ridley show us mere glimpses of a vast, wonderfully rich and diverse Neon-Noir world, replete of interesting question marks and story hooks around every corner, that could be used to build all kinds of fascinating role-playing characters and stories around, without anyone needing to go follow up on a single clue.

Sure, I agree that element should be there as one option, but I don't feel it's right if it's the only option the game caters for.

Vader, I agree. There is a lot in this setting, but it’s kind of hard to deal with from a game point of view.

You can’t create a new RPG without answering a very fundamental question: what are you supposed to do in the game? Without a good answer, the game will be a mess. And if you just say ”but you can do whatever you like”, the game has a concept that’s too vague. In all Free League games, this fundamental question has been answered very clearly. It’s a part of their design concept. Everything in their games is there to support what you are supposed to do.

When it comes to Bladerunner all this becomes a bit tricky. The movies have a quite limited premise: what you see is Bladerunners and replicants, even though there are some other less important characters too. So what should you do in this setting when it becomes a game? So far, the answer has been more limited than in most other FL games: you are a Bladerunner looking for clues and dealing with relationships. I’d say it’s more interesting to interpret the setting premise slightly wider: it’s a game set in a dystopian neo noir L. A.. You CAN for sure play as Bladerunners and replicants, and game should support that. But also other things.

So am I suggesting that this game should be just another generic cyberpunk game? No! It’s a genre game: what you do in this game should be a part of the neo noir premise. That’s also specific, but not as limited as Bladerunners and replicants only. So what other possibilities could you pick from the genre? Well, I’d probably go for: a cop unit (homicide), a crime syndicate (Yacuza or other), and a corporate spy ring. And to that I’ll add various styles of solo play, such as running your own bar, detective bureau or gambling den.

As I’ve kind of already said, L. A. will be very important for this setting. The neon noir version of the city more or less IS the setting, so I think there should be several chapters to describe it. Not just describing and mapping many locations (but that too). I’d rather see a quite extensive support for USING THE CITY when playing. I’ve already mentioned cars (spinners) and roads as cruisal details. To make the city more interesting from a game point of view, I would also add stuff like: LAPD corruption, a couple of crime syndicates, a huge black market (bazar style), slum areas (a garbage suburb?), a red light district, a couple of very rich areas (both mansion style gated communities and skyscrapers), some ethnic neighbourhoods (Little Tokyo, Chinatown etc). All that stuff could be included in talents, memories, skills, relationships, recourses etc.

Of course, L. A. is the main location for the franchise, even though you don’t really see a lot of the city in the movies. It just seems very big. To develop L. A. further, as I think will be needed to make the game interesting, I would try to pick up details from various noir movies, but adding a layer of cyberpunk. I don’t think the game will need any other cities than L. A. (perhaps Las Vegas, because it’s in the second movie). In future supplements, I’d rather focus on some other areas or aspects of L. A.

I also hope they stay (mostly) in LA for the setting, and by all means keep the Off-World colonies well off!

As for Bengt-Petter's idea for solo play, such as running your own bar, detective bureau or gambling den - this could be done for group play as well - sort of like the Castle in Vaesen or the ark in MYZ. Player will be more invested in the setting that way than the usual murder hobo style.

Byrax, it’s certainly true that you can run a bar or some other business (maybe a boxning club or a small hotel could be cool as well?) as a group. And yes, you could get inspiration from base building concepts in the other YZ games. As you probably know, there are tools for running your own business in Mutant Hindenburg, even though I think that a Bladerunner business concept should be more about noir drama than dealing with finances (like paying your rent etc.). I also like the idea of describing an entire neighbourhood. In this case, it could be modular. Perhaps a street you put where ever you like.

I’ve also thought about the types of characters that would fit the setting. As Vader said above, just being a Bladerunner cop or a replicant rebel is a bit too limited. If you instead see this as a game about a dystopian noir L. A., it would make sense to add the following types: LAPD homicide detective, private detective, business owner, corporate agent, socialite, prostitute/stripper, gambler, taxi driver and criminal. It’s the kind of people you find in many noir movies. Most of these types are obviously quite broad, but it should be possible to make them more specific with various options (for example deciding that the business owner is running a bar). Of course, there are plenty of other people in a big metropolis, but I picked the ones that I think would fit the setting best. Picking playable types are a kind of world building, and a way to decide what the game should be about.

A relevant side note: I wouldn’t see femme fatales or replicants as types in this sense. Both a femme fatale and a replicant could be any of the types mentioned above.

And Technoir

http://www.technoirrpg.com/

One of the most amazing games I’ve played. Sci-fi cyberpunk detective noir “ high-tech, hard-boiled roleplaying”

But the film noir aspect isn’t even mentioned once in this 36:24 long interview with Tomas. Maybe there is a lot of film noir themes in the game anyway, but it’s hard to know from what’s been said so far. I did hear that Tomas said a few things about what could happen during a case, but what I’m looking for is the specific ”Marlowesque” aspect of the setting. Ridley Scott has mentioned it in several interviews. By Marlowesque, he obviously meant in the style of Philip Marlowe, the main character in several of Raymond Chandler’s novels.

The Noir influence in Cyberpunk is of course indisputable. Interestingly enough, one might even claim it's the theatrical release of Bladerunner (with Deckard's voice-over and the whole kaboodle) that bears some responsibility for bringing it in — bearing in mind that Bladerunner is very much "proto-Cyberpunk", as it predates the genesis of the genre by several years — as the movie heavily influences, perhaps even defines, the genre once it coalesces.

Somewhat perversely though, the only Cyberpunk TTRPG I can off-hand recall seeing to date that really makes a big point of bringing in Noir as a central element into the game's style and narrative is the Altered Carbon RPG, which dedicates several pages to discussing Noir themes and characters.

It would certainly well behoove a Bladerunner TTRPG to do likewise, I feel.

EDIT: And cigarettes and bourbon. Definitely cigarettes and bourbon.

EDIT 2: Or rather, "Johnnie Walker Black Label", of course. And cigarettes.