BladeRunner RPG
I'm skimming through the FreeLeaguePublishing BladeRunner RPG game.
I'm up to Chapter 4: Combat & Chases.
One particular line in the chapter struck me rather profoundly.
Be warned though - combat in this game will take a heavy toll on your character and could even kill you... before getting in a fight, always ask yourself: Is it worth it?
In the movie, We see the impact of violence upon the main character, KD6-3.7 (Officer K), where the opening scene has him retiring an older model, Nexus 8 Replicant.
He is battle weary even before this encounter. He is doing the dirty work that a BladeRunner is hired to do.
As a, Replicant BladeRunner, he must pass a Baseline Test.
This is done by responding, without emotion or hesitation, to a sequence of statements.
This ensures that he is keeping in line with his programming and not "malfunctioning" as previous models tended to do.
His character is spiralling down into depression without really understanding it.
A conflicted existence.
It is very much reminiscent of the modern world's entrapment into a Corporate grind - how do you ever rise above it? How do you stop it from having an effect upon you?
I look at the movie through the lens of how violence has impacted upon the characters.
There is much evidence that warfare creates "Shell Shock" and PTSD upon Veterans.
Even though they are physically unscathed, the mental and emotional impacts torment them.
Even when Special K confronts Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) their meeting begins with violence.
I always disliked this scene as a wasted opportunity of using Harrison Ford.
However, through the communication of violence, it ends with them both resetting. A sort of finding common ground to begin a discussion.
All through the first BladeRunner movie, Deckard finds himself being pummelled all the way through it.
His Film Noir journey is a sequence of receiving violence as he tries to track down the Replicants.
Thereby, potentially destroying his "humanity".
The emotional impact affects a BladeRunner, regardless of being a Replicant, or a Human.
The outcome of violence has led to a tortured existence.
Referring back to the opening scenes, Officer K, twice made comments to Sapper Morton, the Nexus 8, regarding taking him in.
I prefer to keep an empty stomach until the hard part of the day is done.
Knowing that he will most likely have to use violence to take in this Nexus 8 Replicant.
but is hopeful to avoid a confrontation.
Mr. Morton, if taking you in is an option... I would much prefer that to the alternative.
Here, both know that there will never be a positive outcome for the Nexus 8 model.
Even if he came in voluntarily, he would be dismantled back at HQ.
Life striving to exist.
The violence that ensues forces Agent K to reflect upon the quote Sapper Morton stated; "Have you ever seen a miracle?"
I see this as geminating the seed that already existed within Agent K.
Perhaps, I am reading more into my little RPG book than is there.
But humanity has faced violence throughout its existence.
It seems a behaviour that we can never escape.
But, just like a raging forest fire, the violence propels our journey forward, to create, to review, and to evolve - perhaps more than just into something new.
Maybe, we always knew. We were just closed to the idea that was always there.
Violence forcing down walls quicker than erosion over time.
Either way, we all fail our Baseline Test as some stage.
Step forward beyond your progamming.
References:
https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/blade-runner-rpg/
https://bladerunner.fandom.com/wiki/Sapper_Morton
