baldrick0712
Topic Author
Posts: 672
Joined: Fri 28 May 2021, 12:29

2037 Default Setting Date

Sat 14 May 2022, 08:50

The default setting start date of 2037 is a year after "2036: Nexus Dawn", For anyone unfamiliar with the three short story prequels to "Blade Runner: 2049", here they are in chronological order...

Prequels

So, what does the start date of 2037 mean for GMs and players? It's literally a new dawn for replicants. The prohibition on the manufacture of replicants instituted over a decade ago was lifted last year after Niander Wallace proved in somewhat gruesome fashion that his new replicants, the Nexus-9 series, were totally obedient. Nexus-9s now even work as Blade Runners as per the sequel movie "Blade Runner: 2049". The players will therefore be able to play human or replicant Blade Runners working for the LAPD. Their chief role will be to "retire" older generation Nexus-8 replicants that went rogue following the 2022 moratorium on replicant production, but they will presumably also perform other detective work as well. Meanwhile in the wider Blade Runner universe, Wallace Corporation is expanding the Off-world Colonies with its new slave workforce of Nexus-9s.

Here are some gameplay ideas that spring immediately to mind from this start date. If you play as a Nexus-9, you are literally an obedient slave who must pass regular "base-line" psychological tests or be "retired". Humans still regard replicants with fear since the events of 2022, and routinely subject Nexus-9 "Skin Jobs" to what amounts to racial abuse. If you play as a human, you are living in a world that has a replicant slave cast. What are your feelings towards them? As they are manufactured, not born, maybe you tell yourself they aren't human so it doesn't matter that they are slaves. Or maybe you support the replicant emancipation movement, secretly or otherwise? What are your goals? Earth is dying. It's at the brink of environmental and ecological collapse. Mass starvation was only averted by Wallace Corporation's protein farm technology. Perhaps you are saving up for a ticket to the Off-world Colonies to begin a better life? Perhaps you were in love with a Nexus-8 that went rogue and you just have to find them, before another Blade Runner does. What do you do for fun? Los Angeles has plenty of things to distract you, moral and immoral. Slaves fought to the death for the amusement of Ancient Romans, so maybe replicants are used in the same way in LA, either openly or in the underworld economy. Life can be lonely in LA. You could always spend the night with a replicant prostitute, or maybe purchase an AI like Joi, to ease your loneliness. If you're not careful though, you might run into secret operatives of the replicant emancipation movement. Will you help them, or turn them in? If all else fails, you can always jump in your "spinner" flying car and go for a joy ride, although LA and its environs aren't exactly "scenic".
 
Vagrant
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun 23 Jan 2022, 12:55

Re: 2037 Default Setting Date

Sun 15 May 2022, 11:41

While I love the original Blade Runner (Final Cut), I've found the subsequent returns to the world of Blade Runner don't hit the mark. 2049 is an especially low point for poor world building and story telling in my opinion.
(Don't confuse world building with production design, the level of detail put into the visuals and sound of 2049 is exceptional)

I'm looking forward to the RPG for the fantastic visuals and a different viewpoint to the established time lines.

For my actual games I'm toying with a number of one shots set in the leadup to 2019. Each one shot highlighting a divergence from our own timeline so there doesn't have to be a huge exposition drop when the main campaign starts.

2019 will be the point at which my campaign world diverges from that of the main Blade Runner property.
 
CitizenZero
Posts: 33
Joined: Wed 11 May 2022, 15:09

Re: 2037 Default Setting Date

Wed 18 May 2022, 14:32

The 2037 date offers a lot of flexibility. Do we know when (in canon) the first Nexus-9 joined the LAPD? Maybe the PC in your campaign can be the first?

Do we know when the baseline test was introduced? Perhaps in 2037 the V-K is outdated, but the Baseline test isn't yet industry standard. Create your own test.

I think the entertainment industry of LA has great potential as well. What kind of movies could be made if you had access to Replicants, but didn't feel they were humans?

LA has such incredible ethnic diversity, but we never get a sense of what Af-Am, Asian, Latino, etc. humans think of Replicants. Or what would it be like to be a black replicant in LA in 2037?
 
Bengt Petter
Posts: 772
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 11:27

Re: 2037 Default Setting Date

Sat 21 May 2022, 18:12

While I love the original Blade Runner (Final Cut), I've found the subsequent returns to the world of Blade Runner don't hit the mark. 2049 is an especially low point for poor world building and story telling in my opinion.
(Don't confuse world building with production design, the level of detail put into the visuals and sound of 2049 is exceptional)

I'm looking forward to the RPG for the fantastic visuals and a different viewpoint to the established time lines.

For my actual games I'm toying with a number of one shots set in the leadup to 2019. Each one shot highlighting a divergence from our own timeline so there doesn't have to be a huge exposition drop when the main campaign starts.

2019 will be the point at which my campaign world diverges from that of the main Blade Runner property.

Why do you think ”2049 is an especially low point for poor world building and story telling”? I actually think that the sequel is a better movie than the original. I really like stuff like K:s identity issues, the memory designer, the orphanage, the ruins of Las Vegas and the visit att the corporate archive. All that stuff would be very useful in scenarios. Much of that could be useful also in 2037.
 
baldrick0712
Topic Author
Posts: 672
Joined: Fri 28 May 2021, 12:29

Re: 2037 Default Setting Date

Sat 21 May 2022, 18:37

Why do you think ”2049 is an especially low point for poor world building and story telling”? I actually think that the sequel is a better movie than the original. I really like stuff like K:s identity issues, the memory designer, the orphanage, the ruins of Las Vegas and the visit att the corporate archive. All that stuff would be very useful in scenarios. Much of that could be useful also in 2037.
Whilst this question wasn't aimed at me I have read one comment that claimed that the plot of 2049 made no sense. Their argument was that replicants manufactured and birthed fully grown from an artificial womb made far more commercial sense than ones born naturally, so why was Niander Wallace trying to recover the secrets of the Nexus-7 series that could produce young naturally? And wouldn't it be a whole lot more unethical to breed slaves rather than manufacture them? I guess that does need answering.
 
Bengt Petter
Posts: 772
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 11:27

Re: 2037 Default Setting Date

Sat 21 May 2022, 18:50

Why do you think ”2049 is an especially low point for poor world building and story telling”? I actually think that the sequel is a better movie than the original. I really like stuff like K:s identity issues, the memory designer, the orphanage, the ruins of Las Vegas and the visit att the corporate archive. All that stuff would be very useful in scenarios. Much of that could be useful also in 2037.
Whilst this question wasn't aimed at me I have read one comment that claimed that the plot of 2049 made no sense. Their argument was that replicants manufactured and birthed fully grown from an artificial womb made far more commercial sense than ones born naturally, so why was Niander Wallace trying to recover the secrets of the Nexus-7 series that could produce young naturally? And wouldn't it be a whole lot more unethical to breed slaves rather than manufacture them? I guess that does need answering.
That’s a very specific detail. I don’t think it makes 2049 ”an especially low point for poor world building and story telling”.
 
paladin2019
Posts: 434
Joined: Mon 07 Dec 2020, 09:16

Re: 2037 Default Setting Date

Sun 22 May 2022, 00:08

Whilst this question wasn't aimed at me I have read one comment that claimed that the plot of 2049 made no sense. Their argument was that replicants manufactured and birthed fully grown from an artificial womb made far more commercial sense than ones born naturally, so why was Niander Wallace trying to recover the secrets of the Nexus-7 series that could produce young naturally? And wouldn't it be a whole lot more unethical to breed slaves rather than manufacture them? I guess that does need answering.
Because it's one more way the movie references the institutionalized misogyny, specifically that which is directed at female model replicants. If replicants can reproduce, then they can possibly be artificial wombs for humans. Surrogates you don't have to pay or even be that concerned with them surviving childbirth. It's another layer of the setting's darkness.
 
CitizenZero
Posts: 33
Joined: Wed 11 May 2022, 15:09

Re: 2037 Default Setting Date

Sun 22 May 2022, 04:23

Whilst this question wasn't aimed at me I have read one comment that claimed that the plot of 2049 made no sense. Their argument was that replicants manufactured and birthed fully grown from an artificial womb made far more commercial sense than ones born naturally, so why was Niander Wallace trying to recover the secrets of the Nexus-7 series that could produce young naturally? And wouldn't it be a whole lot more unethical to breed slaves rather than manufacture them? I guess that does need answering.
Because it's one more way the movie references the institutionalized misogyny, specifically that which is directed at female model replicants. If replicants can reproduce, then they can possibly be artificial wombs for humans. Surrogates you don't have to pay or even be that concerned with them surviving childbirth. It's another layer of the setting's darkness.
In addition, I would imagine you need lots of special equipment to make adult artificial humans. If you've got Replicants that can breed, you can more easily create new Replicants in all sorts of remote locations without anything more than what you would need for a regular childbirth.
 
Vagrant
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun 23 Jan 2022, 12:55

Re: 2037 Default Setting Date

Sun 22 May 2022, 13:30

While I love the original Blade Runner (Final Cut), I've found the subsequent returns to the world of Blade Runner don't hit the mark. 2049 is an especially low point for poor world building and story telling in my opinion.
(Don't confuse world building with production design, the level of detail put into the visuals and sound of 2049 is exceptional)

I'm looking forward to the RPG for the fantastic visuals and a different viewpoint to the established time lines.

For my actual games I'm toying with a number of one shots set in the leadup to 2019. Each one shot highlighting a divergence from our own timeline so there doesn't have to be a huge exposition drop when the main campaign starts.

2019 will be the point at which my campaign world diverges from that of the main Blade Runner property.

Why do you think ”2049 is an especially low point for poor world building and story telling”? I actually think that the sequel is a better movie than the original. I really like stuff like K:s identity issues, the memory designer, the orphanage, the ruins of Las Vegas and the visit att the corporate archive. All that stuff would be very useful in scenarios. Much of that could be useful also in 2037.
As i said just my opinion.
There have been very few films that i've had such a strong negative visceral reaction to on first viewing, Blade Runner 2049 is one of them.
It just didn't deliver for me.
A few of the issues I had, but in no means all ;)

In November 2019, a small team of Nexus-6 Replicants steal into the Tyrell HQ on earth and kill the CEO of the only company apparently able to manufacture Replicants. The response to this assassination is to rush out a new version, the Nexus-8, without a lifespan restriction, that is actually prone to personality formation and rebellion faster than the Nexus-6?
If you take the three mini films (2022, 2036, 2039) as canon, you have Nexus-8 models with an incept date before the events of the original Blade Runner. Sapper Morton for example was 22 Mar 2019. Trixxie from 2022 has gone rogue within a year of her incept date (5 May 2021).
Not only does this seem a ridiculous progression it suggests that within the Blade Runner world ALL manufacture and data regarding Replicants is based within the Tyrell facilities on Earth specifically LA. If this is indeed the case then it also suggests that space-travel is far easier and mundane for Replicants to be taken from the surface of Earth to any of the off world colonies.

While I'm on Replicant development, 2049 feels the need to upgrade Rachel to a Nexus-7 , why?
In Blade Runner she is clearly referred to as a Type 6, there is nothing to dispute this in the original other than she has been exposed to the new advancement of burning in a real persons memories.
When Tyrell rolls out the Nexus-8 product line don't you think people are going to ask where are the Nexus-7s?
And on a similar note, given the imagined horrors and loss of life that is likely to occur from a prolonged power outage and the complete destruction of Tyrell's databases, why on earth would Wallace want to promote his replacement product line of Replicants as the direct descendants of Tyrell technology?
As an aside, and this is likely to be a production oversight, the Replicant Wallace displays to the authorities of LA. in 2036 is clearly identified as a Nexus-8 and not a Nexus-9. If this is indeed the case it suggests the biological component for control is not the Replicant model but instead the Memory implants.

If Nexus-9 control IS purely a factor of the memory implant process surely this would be under tighter controls and oversight than allowing an outside contractor to provide memories for Nexus-9s in sensitive roles. If Wallace Corporation are the sole providers of Replicants then they are the sole marketplace for the creation of memory implants. All they would have to do to buy out independent providers is to cancel their orders and financially cripple them. That is if the technology of memory recording and burning, something that seems just as important (if not more so) than Replicant production would be available outside of Wallace Corps to begin with.
While I'm on Memory Implants, what's the deal with that character? Okay she has a rare (made up) genetic disorder that compromises her immune system which triggered on puberty (very handy, at least it allows her to build up some memories). But, why would it confine her to a facility? We know the world of Blade Runner has expanded to off world colonies through faster than light space travel, and yet at no point has the Environmental Suit been developed?
And, she works from yet another example of a huge, brutal, industrial sized building that is staffed by one, apparently with no security.

This is a part of the world building that really bugs me. Given the overcrowded population all of the vast facilities have no staff. Or if they do they have to cover multiple roles.
Take Luv, Neander Wallace's right hand Replicant, not only is she head of security, and seemingly his personal assistant, she is also part of the sales team.
The vast files archives, inhabited by a single clerk.
This vast building that relies on construction methods that dwarf the already oversized, but just about believable Tyrell pyramids, suggests that vast construction projects are fairly easy.
Remind me again, why is Wallace Corps HQ on Earth given Neander and Luv's seeming hatred of having to return to search for Rachel's child? Surely it would be on one of the nine colonies Neander has already set up, somewhere with little if no oversight from meddling Earth authorities.
But this ease of construction also undermines Neander's whole drive.
Why would you want to reinvent a biological process that takes nine months before a physically risky birth, followed by years of maintenance to raise the child to adulthood?
The only example so far, was in a Nexus-7 that killed the mother and resulted in a child with a life impairing genetic mutation.
Or, he could invest the time and resources into production facilities on colonies that are able to churn out adult Nexus-9s with long lifespans, all to a preset and controllable template.
Of course Neander's whole being just seems to be to reduce women to a physical product, if they can't create life, or they don't look a specific way, they are disposable. In as cruel and graphic way as possible.

Don't even get me started on Joi.
Or K.
Or the Replicant uprising XD
Last edited by Vagrant on Sun 22 May 2022, 15:14, edited 2 times in total.
 
Vagrant
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun 23 Jan 2022, 12:55

Re: 2037 Default Setting Date

Sun 22 May 2022, 15:07

As I typed in my original message I'll have my world diverge from the 2019 point.
All real world Blade Runner media will be used as Game-World movie releases. So they will have an element of visual fidelity but the actual information they contain is less reliable.
So think along the lines of CSI with regards to real world forensics ;)

Blade Runner
A popular film that depicts a fictional romance story set around the collapse of the Tyrell corporation.
While it gets the visuals spot on, after all it's filmed on the streets of LA, some of the technical aspects are a little off.

I will probably lean into the disappearance of Tyrell and the subsequent stock crash of the corporation as the result of infighting. Off World divisions of Tyrell seeking to throw off the substantial oversight and financial drain by the Old World branch.
The result is a complete collapse of the monolithic Tyrell Corporation and a proliferation of the breakaway divisions. In the ensuing conflict as the Old World remnant of Tyrell tries to reassert dominance many of the proprietary technologies become widely available.
By the time my game picks up replicant technology can be found in seedy backstreet bodyshops, and there is a surging market for untracable Replicants.
An overstretched and under resourced civil Blade Runner department struggles to keep on top of the ever rising use of Replicants for crime, the corporate cold war, and the emerging memory core dependency.
Last edited by Vagrant on Mon 23 May 2022, 20:07, edited 1 time in total.

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