baldrick0712
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Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Sat 14 May 2022, 09:01

You are a Nexus-9 replicant in a military unit being raised in LA to be sent to investigate a colony to which all communication has been lost for some mysterious reason.
 
Vagrant
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun 23 Jan 2022, 12:55

Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Sun 15 May 2022, 12:03

The system mechanics do differ a bit.
Aliens has the stress pool mechanic, Blade Runner only uses two dice (three if you have advantage, one with disadvantage)

Corporate Espionage would seem to be a potential theme as both IPs heavily feature a monolithic corporate entity.
Weyland-Yutani trying to undermine Tyrrell's dominance in replicant supply to outer colonies so that their synthetics can be deployed.

Research and Development might be another angle. A research division is conducting off the book trials in the urban sprawl of LA (maybe a Predator 2 vibe going on here)

Continuing the R&D and Corporate Espionage angle. Tyrell has acquired some unique samples of off-world origin. Using their proprietary fast prototyping they've incorporated some of the alien DNA into a stock replicant to study (think the reincarnated Ripley from Alien Resurrection).
 
CitizenZero
Posts: 33
Joined: Wed 11 May 2022, 15:09

Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Wed 18 May 2022, 14:23

Yeah, I think Weyland-Yutani -- Tyrell Corp. industrial espionage has a lot of potential. I have an idea I'm playing with that goes a little further with established IP...

In Blade Runner, there is a strong 'dream' theme (Deckard's Unicorn dream, the original book title). What other IP has a sci-fi setting and utilizes dreams?

Peter Weyland hires a Blade Runner to track down and capture a Tyrell Corp replicant. Not a combat unit, but a special one that has access to executives, like how Rachel did (or Luv for the Wallace Corp). Once captured Weyland plans to implant an idea in the replicants mind that will in some way hurt the Tyrell corp. How do you implant an idea in a replicant's mind? Well, you're going to need a crew of experts in inception and a PASIV device. Your Blade Runner comes along as muscle for the job in case the replicants subconscious starts to get violent.
 
Bengt Petter
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Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 11:27

Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Wed 18 May 2022, 15:55

Sorry for being a party pooper, but if you look at the two corporate timelines, they simply don’t match. Weyland-Yutani was founded in 2099 while the remains of the Tyrell Corporation were purchased by the Wallace Corporation in 2028. So there is a huge time gap. However, the Weyland and Tyrell Corporation coexisted, if you look at canon. But you’ll also need to explain how and why replicants and androids coexist.

I do know the two franchises are merged in some Blue Ray DVD, but I wouldn’t take that too serious. Of course you can do whatever you like in your own campaign. Personally, I don’t think it makes sense at all, but I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and that’s just fine...
 
CitizenZero
Posts: 33
Joined: Wed 11 May 2022, 15:09

Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Wed 18 May 2022, 16:33

Of course you can do whatever you like in your own campaign. Personally, I don’t think it makes sense at all, but I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and that’s just fine...
You're not being a party pooper at all. I totally respect the position of adhering to canon timelines and overall fidelity. In a lot of instances I fall into this camp. Right now at least, I'm taking a looser approach and am willing to fudge somethings for the sake of story. At least in this pre-game availability, just blue sky thinking stage.

And it may be a matter of looking more closely (as you did). Perhaps it's Wallace (Senior) or Weyland involved.
 
Bengt Petter
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Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 11:27

Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Wed 18 May 2022, 16:43

Of course you can do whatever you like in your own campaign. Personally, I don’t think it makes sense at all, but I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and that’s just fine...
You're not being a party pooper at all. I totally respect the position of adhering to canon timelines and overall fidelity. In a lot of instances I fall into this camp. Right now at least, I'm taking a looser approach and am willing to fudge somethings for the sake of story. At least in this pre-game availability, just blue sky thinking stage.

And it may be a matter of looking more closely (as you did). Perhaps it's Wallace (Senior) or Weyland involved.
Yeah, there are a few possibilities you could work with. I’d just put a Weyland HQ in L.A. and go from there. It could be a huge facility, although not too similar to the Tyrell pyramid. Or you make LAPD a key player with some kind of off world interest through some really powerful boss.
 
Vagrant
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun 23 Jan 2022, 12:55

Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Wed 18 May 2022, 19:34

Sorry for being a party pooper, but if you look at the two corporate timelines, they simply don’t match. Weyland-Yutani was founded in 2099 while the remains of the Tyrell Corporation were purchased by the Wallace Corporation in 2028. So there is a huge time gap. However, the Weyland and Tyrell Corporation coexisted, if you look at canon. But you’ll also need to explain how and why replicants and androids coexist.

I do know the two franchises are merged in some Blue Ray DVD, but I wouldn’t take that too serious. Of course you can do whatever you like in your own campaign. Personally, I don’t think it makes sense at all, but I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and that’s just fine...
I was more throwing the names into the mix as they are the most iconic to the IPs.
I would see any combination of the two IPs as a homebrew with its own alternate timeline to justify their coexistence.

As to why replicants and androids coexist I think that's pretty easy. It's just a reflection of a deeper world build with competing technologies trying to leverage the market to purchase their product. It's pretty common to see this sort of competition in our world, the larger the market the more probability there will be a diverse range of competing products

I actually find it more distracting that Tyrell is the only provider of replicants. I would think rival corporations or governments would be highly active in reverse engineering and bringing their own versions to market.
It's one aspect I'm still exploring with my alternate Blade Runner timeline.
 
Bengt Petter
Posts: 772
Joined: Sat 09 Apr 2011, 11:27

Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Wed 18 May 2022, 21:39

Sorry for being a party pooper, but if you look at the two corporate timelines, they simply don’t match. Weyland-Yutani was founded in 2099 while the remains of the Tyrell Corporation were purchased by the Wallace Corporation in 2028. So there is a huge time gap. However, the Weyland and Tyrell Corporation coexisted, if you look at canon. But you’ll also need to explain how and why replicants and androids coexist.

I do know the two franchises are merged in some Blue Ray DVD, but I wouldn’t take that too serious. Of course you can do whatever you like in your own campaign. Personally, I don’t think it makes sense at all, but I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and that’s just fine...
I was more throwing the names into the mix as they are the most iconic to the IPs.
I would see any combination of the two IPs as a homebrew with its own alternate timeline to justify their coexistence.

As to why replicants and androids coexist I think that's pretty easy. It's just a reflection of a deeper world build with competing technologies trying to leverage the market to purchase their product. It's pretty common to see this sort of competition in our world, the larger the market the more probability there will be a diverse range of competing products

I actually find it more distracting that Tyrell is the only provider of replicants. I would think rival corporations or governments would be highly active in reverse engineering and bringing their own versions to market.
It's one aspect I'm still exploring with my alternate Blade Runner timeline.
But what is really the big win in mixing the two franchises? Is it just bringing Tyrell next to Weyland or is it putting xenomorphs in a neo noir L.A.? To me, all this is just out of focus, in terms of genres.
 
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Grimmshade
Posts: 209
Joined: Wed 05 May 2021, 23:15

Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Wed 18 May 2022, 22:25

I'm a huge fan of both franchises, but I've never really liked the ideas of mixing the two. The timelines step all over each other. Same with throwing Terminators and Predators into the mix.
Some of the basic ideas carrying across the franchises are pretty interesting though.
 
Vagrant
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun 23 Jan 2022, 12:55

Re: RPG campaign ideas for Alien and Blade Runner

Thu 19 May 2022, 00:03

Sorry for being a party pooper, but if you look at the two corporate timelines, they simply don’t match. Weyland-Yutani was founded in 2099 while the remains of the Tyrell Corporation were purchased by the Wallace Corporation in 2028. So there is a huge time gap. However, the Weyland and Tyrell Corporation coexisted, if you look at canon. But you’ll also need to explain how and why replicants and androids coexist.

I do know the two franchises are merged in some Blue Ray DVD, but I wouldn’t take that too serious. Of course you can do whatever you like in your own campaign. Personally, I don’t think it makes sense at all, but I know a lot of people will disagree with me, and that’s just fine...
I was more throwing the names into the mix as they are the most iconic to the IPs.
I would see any combination of the two IPs as a homebrew with its own alternate timeline to justify their coexistence.

As to why replicants and androids coexist I think that's pretty easy. It's just a reflection of a deeper world build with competing technologies trying to leverage the market to purchase their product. It's pretty common to see this sort of competition in our world, the larger the market the more probability there will be a diverse range of competing products

I actually find it more distracting that Tyrell is the only provider of replicants. I would think rival corporations or governments would be highly active in reverse engineering and bringing their own versions to market.
It's one aspect I'm still exploring with my alternate Blade Runner timeline.
But what is really the big win in mixing the two franchises? Is it just bringing Tyrell next to Weyland or is it putting xenomorphs in a neo noir L.A.? To me, all this is just out of focus, in terms of genres.
I imagine it depends on the players around your table.
Some might enjoy the callouts to other franchises without necessarily going to the extreme of trying to fuse two IPs with their own differing timelines into one.

Then there's the sort of cross over where you just blatantly steal plots from another IP and swap out the names.
A long, long time ago I played in a Star Wars campaign where the players were all survivors from the destruction of Alderaan. They'd been lucky enough to be on a Cruiser that was about to be decommissioned when the Death Star warped in. So essentially Battlestar Galactica dressed up in a Star Wars flight suit.

And some games, notably computer games, try to squeeze in as many pop culture references as they can.
Such as Fallout putting a pretty obvious reference to Deckard's pistol into the game.

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