Does Necromunda have to be on a planet?

[nooker]

Riding on the heals of does Necromunda have to be on Necromunda, does it even need to be on a planet? I just finished The Trials of Azreal (for the second time, I highly recommend it). At one point early on Azreal finds himself in the bowls of an Emperor Class battleship. The adept he's talking to says that he's in a section of the ship that has been abandoned for years (might have been decades). She also told him that there were a lot, hundreds, of deserters from the Cadian regiment they were transporting that probably fled down there. It sounded like there were some 50 or so decks that were completely unused and unmonitored. Since the ship is 6km long and probably at least 1km tall, that would lead to a lot of space to fight over.

I think this would lead to an interesting setting for a skirmish game like Necromunda. The dynamic would really change. A lot of tunnel fighting. Weapons lists would be different as shotguns and lasguns would be a lot more common than pistols I would think. Instead of Arbites you'd have the crew come in occasionally to deal with unruly gangs. The economy would be very different with territories and such. Treacherous conditions would have to take into account being in space and what that could mean.

Very different, but seems like it could happen and could be fun.

 

[cardyfreak]

That does sound like a cool setting. Fighting in cramped corridors and rooms and open loading bays would be really cool. I'm in.

 

[katfezza]

Sounds like a fun idea. If you invested in the Battlesystems terrain Kickstarter then you'd have ideal scenery to fight over. Certainly something I'm going to look into when my set of the stuff arrives.

 

[ntw3001]

It sounds implausible on a ship of that size, but I love the idea of using a space hulk as a setting.

 

[Ambience327]

There are mentions of some crew vs. crew skirmish battles going on in one of the Gordon Rennie novels. (Execution Hour or Shadow Point - don't remember which one, but they are a two-part series.) Some of the Imperial battleships and such are truly massive, and I think that pitting various press-gang groups against one another in a Necro-style campaign, especially if there were possibilities of reprisals from the Officers and their Enforcers, could work well.

The same books also have an instance of some form of Daemonic presence that infiltrates the ship and begins multiplying, and with other stories that include Daemonic incursions, that could make for some interesting skirmishes as well.

What you really need to figure out, though, is exactly what the press-gangs are fighting over. Influence with their overlords? Some sort of black-market goods and trade circuits?

 

[cardyfreak]

Why not have a daemonic entity on board the ship, something that is either trapped in an item in the cargo hold and has escaped somehow, or is attracted to the ship from the warp via an artefact in the hold. It's influence has corrupted the people closest to it, like the menial cargo loaders and low level soldiers and what not. They are basically possessed and are doing the creatures bidding. Perhaps it's a khornate daemon and delights in the violence it is causing so wants the ship to year itself apart and bathe in blood. This setting would allow numerous factions with different objectives, weapons, and play styles to emerge. We have a few possessed groups who are mindless, violent zombies who may have some form of daemon presence to back them up in a pinch. These could be low level dock and cargo hold workers, low level admin and other menial workers. A few guards could also be included in this, representing heavies as they would have relatively better weapons compared to the hand to hand focused style of the others. Then, we could have gang members representing press gangs or mercenary groups who were protecting different cargos in different holds, or perhaps have stolen aboard the ship overtly or covertly to recover aforementioned artefact. Then we could have the imperial guard who are protecting the ship, arbite style enforcers who haven't realised what's going on yet and so only appear as small, heavily armed groups. Then there could be an inquisition style group, who have manoeuvred their way onto the ship with the intention of retrieving the artefact without the authorities realising what they are carrying, but have either released the entity or have revealed their true intentions after the beast escapes. I think it could be quite a rich and exciting tapestry to create a narrative from.

 

[Tulkas]

Sounds really cool, this! But it doesn't all have to be cramped tunnels etc. What about large cargo areas? Basically that could be a room without any interior walls but just crates and containers, perhaps different platforms and levels around the sides. Territories could be anything from water purification units to air filtration stations to an engineroom (not "the" engine room) that provides power for that section of the ship the fighting's all about.

Furthermore, I would think long range high damage weapons would/ should be forbidden, for dangers of risking a hull breach. I mean, a heavy bolter or Stubber would be really appropriate, but las-/ autocannons?

As for factions or "houses", I think different regiments of IG could represent different skillsets. Alot more creative freedom even, if you want, mostly modelling wise.

 

[cardyfreak]

For the mercenaries though you could mix up your favourite necro models to form a mercenary band. A delaque leader, some Cawdor shotgunners, some Orlock lasgunners, some Goliath heavy weapons guys etc. You could even have it where the different houses bring different starting stats or abilities. Like Goliaths can wield heavy and special weapons, cawdor can re roll nerve tests (making them good shock troops), orlock could be demolition experts, van saar can re roll ammo checks (making them an excellent support class), delaque have stealth and ambush abilities, Escher are agile close combat masters. So you can really customise the play style of your mercenary warband. And you get to use a variety of models from your collection!

 

[Tulkas]

A setting like this could also be much more "reasonable" to have all kinds of Xenos etc. on it without drawing the direct attention of the Space Marines. I'm interested to aid in developing this, if people want to.

 

[Nevie]

Kinda like Gangs of Nu 'Ork?

 

[theAkwa]

This idea has inspired me to make some space hulk style terrain.

 

[AndyT81]

This idea has inspired me to make some space hulk style terrain.

I started- used guttering for corridors. It's on the back burner at the mo but is on warseer: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=378230


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Tulkas]

Like I said on Warseer, nice looking stuff Andy. This is about the same idea I was talking about @cardyfreak when I mentioned gutters in your plog thread.

 

[LordAlisk]

Hello all - sorry for a year(ish) long hiatus, I've mostly been playing Warhammer Fantasy...

Anyway, a space ship setting would work really well. For those interested, it might be worth checking out one of the sections from the fantasy flight Rogue Trader campaign 'Lure of the Expanse' - http://store.fantasyflightgames.com/productdetails.cfm?SKU=RT03

This had a section set on a long derelict Emperor Class battleship, which had broken down and was orbiting a long-lost planet somewhere. It was inhabited by the descendants of the original crew, which had broken down into factions depending upon what role they had had when the ship was still operational, so the descendants of the gunners were all brawny and liked fighting (a bit like Goliath, I guess). There were various other factions in there anyway. I was the GM, and I found it an immensely rich and rewarding setting for our adventure. It would certainly work very well indeed for Necromunda.

OK, to get the most out of the setting, you'd probably have to tweak the weapons and equipment available (lots of naval weaponry, shotguns/cannons, cutlasses, pressure suits for space walking, for instance), dangerous terrain being changed (de-pressurisation, for instance), but if you spent a weekend setting things up, I don't think it would be any more difficult to organise than an RPG and could be immensely rewarding.

 

[scavvyjay]

I think this is a rather cool idea.

 

[Malika]

Little bit of tweaking and you could play Necromunda anywhere, I mean it doesn't have to be in Hive Primus or on Necromunda at all. Look at the whole =I=munda movement who've been taking narrative driven skirmish gaming to the next level!

 

[gubbinz]

Love this thread. Reminds me of the book "Orphans of the Sky", a great read if you can find it.

 

[nooker]

Read that when I was young and listened to it about a year ago. A setting like that would be cool to play Necromunda in.

 

[Malika]

By the way, I thought this post (read the background idea between the spoiler tags) might be quite a fitting inspiration for this thread:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/390/584689.page#7739515

 

[horundwar]

SpaceOmunda , well using the Necromunda rules for any skirmish setting should work I think so why not. My only suggestion would be playtest anything that is not a direct cutnpaste from the regular rules.