What do you think?
Rate this book
Blade Runner RPG: Starter Set
This is the Starter Set for the official BLADE RUNNER Roleplaying Game. A neon noir wonderland that will take your breath away, one way or another. An evocative world of conflicts and contrasts that dares to ask the hard questions and investigate the power of empathy, the poison of fear, and the burden of being human during inhumane times. An iconic and unforgiving playground of endless possibilities that picks you up, slaps you in the face, and tells you to wake up.
Time to live. Or time to die.
This starter set contains:
An 80-page condensed rulebook.
A 56-page full-length Case File for Blade Runners to crack.
Four pre-generated characters to play.
A huge full color map of Los Angeles in 2037.
26 full-color evidence handouts for the players to pore over, including crime scene photos, data files, documents, maps, and more.
A Time Tracker Sheet.
71 custom cards for non-player characters, chase maneuvers and obstacles, and initiative in combat.
CONTENT WARNING: The Blade Runner franchise deals with dark and existential themes, and this roleplaying game is no different. The stories told in this game can be violent, distressing, and raise issues relating to personal morals. This is not a game for children.
Time to live. Or time to die.
This starter set contains:
An 80-page condensed rulebook.
A 56-page full-length Case File for Blade Runners to crack.
Four pre-generated characters to play.
A huge full color map of Los Angeles in 2037.
26 full-color evidence handouts for the players to pore over, including crime scene photos, data files, documents, maps, and more.
A Time Tracker Sheet.
71 custom cards for non-player characters, chase maneuvers and obstacles, and initiative in combat.
CONTENT WARNING: The Blade Runner franchise deals with dark and existential themes, and this roleplaying game is no different. The stories told in this game can be violent, distressing, and raise issues relating to personal morals. This is not a game for children.
136 pages, Box
Published November 1, 2022
1 person is currently reading
26 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 26, 2023
Ring Side Report- RPG review of Blade Runner RPG: Starter Set
Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!
Product- Blade Runner RPG: Starter Set
System- Year Zero
Producer- Free League Publishing
Price- $$35.99 here https://miniature-market.sjv.io/nLo07a
TL; DR-Solid value for a solid adventure 95%
Basics- Can you find her in time and why did she run? The Blade Runner Start Set is a single contained adventure and all the materials you need to play the Blade Runner RPG. It comes with dice, four characters, turn and combat cards, a basic rule book, a scenario book, and a whole packet of handouts..
Mechanics or Crunch- Any starter set that comes with a rulebook and a whole adventure is built well. You get all the rules you basically need and you can honestly start playing after about 30 minutes of reading. There is one issue I have and that’s chase mechanics in this box. You get chase cards and scenarios if you drive, but the mechanics for just running are not covered as well. It’s small, but you’re playing cops pursuing escaping robots; running will happen! Aside from that, this will get you playing Blade Runner fast and with a surprising amount of depth for a starter set. 4.75/5
Theme or Fluff- While this starter set can’t build as much of the world as the core book, this set does give enough background and comes with an awesome story with lots of handouts to draw the players in. It's a mystery where a replicant goes missing and your job is to track her down. Along the way, there are twists and turns as well as corporate meddling, so it’s a standard cyberpunk story but a well done one. My one issue is that a character does something that the players might not understand, and I feel it’s not led up to enough. That said, it has enough of a hook and solid writing to make it a fun intro to the world. 4.5/5
Execution- Execution is the stand out section of the product. The box is well done, the books are well written, and the handouts, cards, and dice are all top notch. I absolutely loved all the pieces in this box, and it really helped draw my players in too. 5/5Summary-I do love me some cyberpunk noir. The Blade Runner movies did it well, and this starter set is a solid addition to those stories. There are minor issues like food, chase cards and mechanics and some minor story issues that I felt were not emphasized enough, but overall if you want to start playing Blade Runner, this might be a better start than the core book. The starter set adventure ends with teasing the next adventure, and I plan to buy and run that one when it’s out. 95%
Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!
Product- Blade Runner RPG: Starter Set
System- Year Zero
Producer- Free League Publishing
Price- $$35.99 here https://miniature-market.sjv.io/nLo07a
TL; DR-Solid value for a solid adventure 95%
Basics- Can you find her in time and why did she run? The Blade Runner Start Set is a single contained adventure and all the materials you need to play the Blade Runner RPG. It comes with dice, four characters, turn and combat cards, a basic rule book, a scenario book, and a whole packet of handouts..
Mechanics or Crunch- Any starter set that comes with a rulebook and a whole adventure is built well. You get all the rules you basically need and you can honestly start playing after about 30 minutes of reading. There is one issue I have and that’s chase mechanics in this box. You get chase cards and scenarios if you drive, but the mechanics for just running are not covered as well. It’s small, but you’re playing cops pursuing escaping robots; running will happen! Aside from that, this will get you playing Blade Runner fast and with a surprising amount of depth for a starter set. 4.75/5
Theme or Fluff- While this starter set can’t build as much of the world as the core book, this set does give enough background and comes with an awesome story with lots of handouts to draw the players in. It's a mystery where a replicant goes missing and your job is to track her down. Along the way, there are twists and turns as well as corporate meddling, so it’s a standard cyberpunk story but a well done one. My one issue is that a character does something that the players might not understand, and I feel it’s not led up to enough. That said, it has enough of a hook and solid writing to make it a fun intro to the world. 4.5/5
Execution- Execution is the stand out section of the product. The box is well done, the books are well written, and the handouts, cards, and dice are all top notch. I absolutely loved all the pieces in this box, and it really helped draw my players in too. 5/5Summary-I do love me some cyberpunk noir. The Blade Runner movies did it well, and this starter set is a solid addition to those stories. There are minor issues like food, chase cards and mechanics and some minor story issues that I felt were not emphasized enough, but overall if you want to start playing Blade Runner, this might be a better start than the core book. The starter set adventure ends with teasing the next adventure, and I plan to buy and run that one when it’s out. 95%
Read
January 7, 2025How? Free League had a sale.
What? I got the Blade Runner core rules, the starter set, and case #2: Fiery Angels (which is a slim box).
Like a lot of other Free League RPGs this is
a) a variation on the MYZ system (4 stats, 3 skills per stat, and some personality or other issue that allows for some mechanical effect -- in Twilight 2000, it was your dream; here, it's your core memory);
b) a very nicely put together set, with a lot of evocative art (that gets a little repetitive);
c) a nice examination/exploration/expansion of the original IP (here, you are cops looking for rogue replicants, but there's been some advances so some replicants are legal and can even be cops, which raises all sorts of Foucauldian horrors);
d) and has a campaign that really bugs me.
Yeah, so? I would definitely play this game, but -- and here comes some spoilers -- as much as I like the adventure sets, since they come with some nice handouts, I'm not sold on the frame. In the first episode, you find out that one replicant has been given a traumatic core memory and is now out to kill the designer of that memory. That's fun.
Then in the second, we learn that the designer of that memory was actually a replicant, and that the original person is planning a replicant revolution. I don't mind that replicant revolution, but why make the twist that the memory designer in the first episode wasn't actually the original?
What? I got the Blade Runner core rules, the starter set, and case #2: Fiery Angels (which is a slim box).
Like a lot of other Free League RPGs this is
a) a variation on the MYZ system (4 stats, 3 skills per stat, and some personality or other issue that allows for some mechanical effect -- in Twilight 2000, it was your dream; here, it's your core memory);
b) a very nicely put together set, with a lot of evocative art (that gets a little repetitive);
c) a nice examination/exploration/expansion of the original IP (here, you are cops looking for rogue replicants, but there's been some advances so some replicants are legal and can even be cops, which raises all sorts of Foucauldian horrors);
d) and has a campaign that really bugs me.
Yeah, so? I would definitely play this game, but -- and here comes some spoilers -- as much as I like the adventure sets, since they come with some nice handouts, I'm not sold on the frame. In the first episode, you find out that one replicant has been given a traumatic core memory and is now out to kill the designer of that memory. That's fun.
Then in the second, we learn that the designer of that memory was actually a replicant, and that the original person is planning a replicant revolution. I don't mind that replicant revolution, but why make the twist that the memory designer in the first episode wasn't actually the original?
July 1, 2023
Great rules brief. Two sets of beautiful dice. The future LA map. Useful cards and props. And one of the best goddamn RPG adventures ever done. I'm no big fan of boxed sets, but this is a luxury, a wonder, a beauty. I LOVE this one.
Read
May 12, 2024It's one of the best starter sets I've ever read and played. From the fabulous design of the handouts and maps to the case script. It has many references to film scenes but in a different tone to achieve its own personality.
January 4, 2026
Stellar material. Very faithful to the original universe (especially the films). Excellent.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews