What does "a'rif kayf" mean? Google Translate is pretty good, but wasn't able to figure out that part of the phrase. My sense is something like "Don't tell me how to do my fucking job."

Yeah, 100%. One of the things I'm really enjoying about this setting is that it isn't just "cyberpunk with cops." It totally feels different than Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2077, Neuromancer, and Altered Carbon, mostly because I think it's asking a different set of questions altogether, right?

It's not really asking, "How do we hack the system?" so much as, "What kind of people have we become when the system trains us to call persons property, tools, threats, or evidence?" Starting out, not so much as rebels outside the machine, but part of the oppressive system, with the badge, the weapon, and the language of procedure and protocols, creates a different kind of hero/anti-hero... all of them tragic.

And honestly, one of the things that interests me most is how deeply theological Blade Runner feels. It keeps circling around Creator and creation, false gods, counterfeit life, manufactured souls, and creatures who look back at their makers and ask, "Why did you make me like this? Why did you give me desire, memory, fear, longing, and then deny me dignity?" Tyrell and Wallace don't just function like CEOs; they function like false creator-gods who want the glory of making life without the love, humility, or responsibility that should come with it.

100% agree that Blade Runner feels way more embodied than most cyberpunk settings. The main ad for the Nexus replicants ("More Human than Humans") gets at the theme well: Can something made still be someone real?

It's like noir theology with neon lights and synthetic blood.

Quote from: Posterboy on May 22, 2026, 05:33 PM<<Posted a cool picture of the crime scene>>

The picture is pretty much exactly what I had in mind when I've been trying to describe it, the only difference being that there's more crates - they're stacked up close to the ceiling nearer to the walls. 

Quote from: Posterboy on May 22, 2026, 05:33 PMLike you, Doug, read the Core Rulebook. I did find that helpful... and re-watched 2049... and then I discovered the animated shorts too. Apparently, Prime is supposed to be releasing a Blade Runner 2099 miniseries this year as well. Altered Carbon also feels (to me) close to the Blade Runner setting.

What's quite interesting about this game is how unlike a generic cyberpunk game it is.  For starters, you're absolutely on the side of the forces of oppression!  It's also far less computer-focused - Blade Runner is, and always has been, about biology and philosophy.  There's barely any gear porn, cybernetic implants as a bare afterthought... Not that I think you're wrong to compare it to things like Altered Carbon (and man do I have Opinions about that show, if anyone had several hours to listen to them) but Blade Runner is like cyberpunk from an alternate history where Gibson and Sterling had never come along and the movement went in a different direction. 

I'm an old school 'oldest post first' guy.  It lets me read back over the whole scene in order if I need to.  Finding the most recent post has never been an issue for me. 

While we're talking about stuff here, I'll just note that I'm tracking everyone's Promotion and Humanity points on the attached (very professional looking!) sheet.  I've obviously rephrased the criteria a little to fit them in, but the same sense is there I think.  I'm defining 'key clue' as 'piece of information that leads you to another scene'. 

Quote from: tomcat on May 22, 2026, 05:42 PMHere is a question for everyone:

Do you prefer that the forum threads read with the oldest first or the newest?

When I click on a thread, it usually jumps down to the last one (or maybe first post I haven't read yet in the thread?). Anyway, it's fine as is for me.

THE SHORT FILMS PRE-2049
Blade Runner 2022 - Black Out
Blade Runner 2036 - Nexus Dawn
Blade Runner 2048 - Nowhere to Run

Also, just discovered BLADE RUNNER: BLACK LOTUS (Set in 2032)
Episode 1

Here is a question for everyone:

Do you prefer that the forum threads read with the oldest first or the newest?

You might be able to set that as a personal preference, I need to look. Or it will be a general preference that I will need to set as the Admin.

Everyone let me know what you think.

You are kind, Paul.

But I've spent the last bunch of years reading all of your guys' fine writing for the Darkening of Mirkwood. I regularly tell my kids that you'd think you all were Tolkien scholars (or you should be!). The way you guys write, you'd think the spirit of Tolkien had anointed each of you personally.

Like you, Doug, read the Core Rulebook. I did find that helpful... and re-watched 2049... and then I discovered the animated shorts too. Apparently, Prime is supposed to be releasing a Blade Runner 2099 miniseries this year as well. Altered Carbon also feels (to me) close to the Blade Runner setting.

I'm making it up as I go! just jump in the pool.