“Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder rolled around their shores; burning with the fires of Orc.”
An Interview with Joe LeFavi, writer for the Blade Runner Tabletop Roleplaying Game
In my last piece, I spoke with Tomas Harenstam, CEO of Free League and Lead Designer of the Blade Runner TTRPG. This time out I’m connecting with Joe LeFavi, lead writer on the game and the McCartney to Harenstam’s Lennon.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have what others considered a ‘dream job’ and know how much work it actually is, but I’m nonetheless envious of Joe. If you have to work hard, what could be better than working on something you love, like the Blade Runner franchise? And Joe’s love of Blade Runner is pretty obvious, as is his commitment to his craft. The effort that went into creating the game’s story is obvious on every page.
Joe was kind enough to share some of his time and provide some insights and behind-the-scenes details on the development and production of Blade Runner The Tabletop Roleplaying Game.
The Adjacent Possible: First, tell me about your relationship to the Blade Runner franchise:
Joe LeFavi: HA. This is going to be a LONG answer. Apologies in advance.
As a fan, Blade Runner is one of my biggest influences. Fortunately, I was allowed to watch whatever I could find on TV or discover at the video store as a kid. And I somehow found Blade Runner at a very early age. It was probably the first film that I acknowledged as ART. It made me realize that I appreciated film and science fiction differently than other kids I knew. That it was important to me. And the artistry of Blade Runner intoxicated me and made me want to do this for a living.
I started professionally working with Blade Runner back in 2016. I was hired by Alcon to embed into the post-production crew of Blade Runner 2049 for nearly a year — mining over 70,000 assets, curating their mythology, and capturing their creative process to ultimately produce the 2017 art book, The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049. It was just me, the writer, and two other book designers working in a tiny office on the Sony lot, wedged in between film editors, special effects, the director himself… It was insane. I literally watched that film come to life right before my eyes. Shot after shot. Surrounded by the best in the business. Working 24/7 on nothing but that art book and getting utterly lost in that world.
No exaggeration, the experience changed my life. Immeasurably. I’d spent about 15 years working in Hollywood as a Film/TV development exec and creative director by that point, but I’d never witnessed the creative process as I did on BR2049. Seeing what Denis did in the way only he could. And in the tiniest of ways, I became a part of it all, and it made me realize how desperately I needed that inspiration in my life. How honored I felt when I could, in my very small way, celebrate these IP and help their legacies to endure.
So long story short, that’s how my company, Genuine Entertainment, started back in 2016. The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049 was our first production, and it’s served as my north star ever since.
How did Free League and I become friends? Well, as luck would have it, I was obsessed with Tales from the Loop, so I went to Gen Con ages ago to meet Tomas and find a way to work with Free League. As soon as Tomas heard that I worked on Blade Runner, he asked if I could help him to get the rights to make an RPG. Through my work on BR2049, I basically knew everyone to call… so the stars just aligned.
The AP: As a writer, how do you deal with the shadow of PKD looming over this IP?
JL: Crippling imposter syndrome, mostly. And I wish that it was only the shadow of PKD looming overhead. I took it as a humbling obligation to pay tribute to not just PKD, but also Ridley Scott, Hampton Fancher, Denis Villeneuve, Michael Green, Alcon, the fans… everyone who has made Blade Runner something I care about so much. After all, the responsibility I was given on this game could’ve been someone else’s dream gig. So I took accountability for that, and I’ve tried my best to be worthy of it. I confess I refreshed my browser a thousand times waiting to read those first forum posts and reviews.
The AP: What are the challenges of telling a story through an RPG as opposed to a piece of literature or other content formats?
JL: Well, for starters you’re actually not in control of the story. I can’t tell a linear story like any other literature. It’s not my place to say what choices you make. It’s just my responsibility to determine what kind of choices you could make, and then provide whatever is necessary for players to tell the story they want to tell in ways that feel authentic to Blade Runner. So it’s kinda like writing a choose-your-own-adventure story, except you never get to really know how it ends, because it ends in a different way for everybody. So you just write 300 pages of possibilities, then hope it’s enough for players to take it from there.
The AP: Blade Runner fandom may not be as large as Star Wars or Star Trek, but it is possibly more rabid. How do you balance fan service, incorporating elements from the books, movies, and comics, and telling a story that is uniquely your own voice as well?
JL: As odd (or pretentious) as this might sound, I tried very hard to NOT write Blade Runner in my own voice. When you read the Core Rulebook, the voice of the setting material comes from one distinct, consistent source from cover to cover. And that source is not me. It’s a Blade Runner. The way they talk. The way they see the world. See themselves. I challenged myself to roleplay as a Blade Runner while writing the game. To empathize with a Blade Runner, look around the city as they might, and relay only the information they would feel is crucial for you to become a Blade Runner on your own terms.
Did I pull from a variety of sources outside the two films? Of course. Unabashedly so. The comics. The anime. The art books and making-of books. Previous screenplay drafts. Souvenir magazines. Puff PR pieces. You name it. I had over 100 pages of notes, cataloging every little kernel of canon that might one day factor into gameplay. I planted so many deep pulls, it’s equal parts obnoxious and obsession.
If you want to call that fan service, so be it. I just wrote what I’d want to read as a fan. And for me, I always adore the tiny details, because they make the world feel more real. Knowing what utensil they write with. Knowing how they cook their food. Knowing what they take when they get a headache. It makes the world feel more lived in. I hope other fans feel the same. The superfans will catch the deep pulls. The rest probably think I made it all up, but that’s okay. In the end, that’s the kind of “fan service” that resonates with me. You don’t need to give me what I want. You just have to give me what I need to appreciate it on my own terms.
The AP: At this point, let me just step in to give you my favorite example of a “deep pull” Joe included which is absolutely incredible. On page 141 in the Core Rule Book, there is a sentence that mentions “…Niander Wallace’s Dix Huit inner circle…”
Now, I’m a pretty big Blade Runner fan, but this reference completely stumped me. What on Earth (or Off-World) could this be referring to? Literally, months went by and I couldn’t figure it out. Then, I was looking at the Blade Runner Encyclopedia (get the app here) and there is an entry for Dix Huit.
Apparently, in the February 1981 version of the script, Dix Huit (which means 18 in French) was a security clearance level at Tyrell Corp. that was only given to J.F. Sebastian, Hannibal Chew, and a Dr. Hermann Schlecht (who was never even mentioned in the final version(s) of the film!). That, my friends, is a deep pull. And it gives you an idea of the level of research Joe put into this work.
The AP: When writing the story, how much of it is done with Tomas? By that I mean, are you taking game mechanics and gameplay into consideration?
JL: For the Core Rulebook, I was responsible for writing all the setting material. Basically any time you’re learning about the Blade Runner universe or we’re pulling inspiration from the fictional universe during gameplay. So if it’s learning about the different divisions at the Rep-Detect Unit, fleshing out the main Sectors of the city, exploring what weapons, tools, and vehicles are within reach, even plotting maps or dissecting how to work a crime scene… all that took years of research and regular sessions with Tomas to make sure that the game had all the thematic framework necessary to build the game. It was incredibly fun, honestly. Asking myself what I’d do in any given situation, then workshopping with Tomas to see how we could build mechanics behind it.
For the Case File, that’s all Tomas. He wrote the narrative for Electric Dreams, and I was only there in his corner to share ideas, fact-check canon, and help to craft the initial archetypes. Beyond that, Electric Dreams is Tomas’ baby and a very personal contribution. So if you love that Case File, thank Tomas, not me.
The AP: Are there non-Blade Runner books or movies you used as inspiration that you think people should check out?
Few could argue that Blade Runner is one of the greatest influences on science fiction, but I’d argue that Blade Runner is a seminal contribution to film noir as well. So when I was looking for inspiration, I went no further than my film noir collection. LA Confidential. Gone Baby Gone. Chinatown. Double Indemnity. Dark City. Memento. Body Heat. Touch of Evil. The Third Man. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang even. I studied them all, watched for patterns, and identified what core settings and corners of the city were crucial for a noir crime investigation. What tools, allies, antagonists, and informants did they need to piece together the puzzle? Once I built my toolkit, I then dove back into Blade Runner and mined those same crime-solving components straight from canon. Given that Blade Runner is such a rich noir playground by design, you’d be surprised how quickly the puzzle came together.
The AP: The city of Los Angeles is essentially a character unto itself, especially in the first film. How did you approach building the city into the game’s story?
JL: Exploring the city of Los Angeles 2037 and building a functional sandbox was one of the greatest challenges in making this game. The mythology is imbued with so many big ideas and themes that it’s a challenge not to make the city the star of the show. To me, it always felt larger than life, where every sector is this dizzying neon melting pot all its own. And yet Blade Runner has never answered all the questions, so the hardest part was leaving so much left unsaid on purpose. To keep enough mystery in shadow and allow the mist and your own imagination to fill in the blanks and make the city feel as big, alive, ever-evolving, and incomprehensible as it’s meant to be. Trying to achieve that goal without the setting feeling too undefined or unfinished was… difficult. I hope we did enough. And not too much.
Final question: When you get up in the morning, what setting do you tune your Penfield Mood Organ to?
I’ve never gotten the setting quite right, but my favorite thalamic stimulant in the morning can best be described as “Savoring espresso and a freshly baked pastry in an Osaka cat café.” That’s pretty much my happy place in a nutshell.
If you enjoyed this piece, you may also be interested in my Q&A with Tomas Harenstam of Free League, as well as my complete overview of the Blade Runner IP.
