Hi there. My name is Matt. I'm new here, but I thought I would introduce myself with what I do best: some home brew rules. (Some people may recognize me from some of my work with 40K Codexes, including Adeptus Arbites, Genestealer Cults, Harlequins and Exodites.)
What I have for you today is my home-brew rules for running a Genestealer Cult gang in Necromunda. You can download it from the link at the bottom of this post.
LAST UPDATED 01/17/2014
The reason I decided to create my own Genestealer Cult list is that I have never been satisfied with any of the previous versions I have seen, so I decided to toss my own version out there. Many versions I have seen before have the Cult gang being led by a Magus or even the Patriarch, and to me those guys are better left to a larger arena. I feel the focus of a Genestealer Cult gang in Necromunda should be a single sleeper cell trying to carve out a place for themselves in the Underhive in order to further the greater Cult's cause. To that end, I have the Cult gang being led by a Hierarch hybrid, with access to other hybrid types (Neophytes and Acolytes, representing early and late generation hybrids) as well as Brood Brothers who have more zeal than skill and one or two Purestrain Genestealers to make them really scary up close. (This is balanced by the fact that they don't have any Heavies, and only the Hierarch has easy access to Special Weapons - the rest of the Gang can only access Techno skills by rolling a 2 or 12 on the advancement chart.)
Another thing I have seen a lot is having the Cult gang start out as Outlaws or Outlanders. While this works OK, I don't think it really captures the feel of the Cult's attempts to secretly infiltrate all levels of society. If they are careful, a Cult cell could definitely pass themselves off as a normal gang. However, there is always a chance they will be exposed for what they are, and that is when things go bad. To represent this, I have them set up to play like a "normal" gang at the start of the campaign, but they are forced to roll on the Outlaw Table after nearly every battle (barring those fought against Outlaws or Outlanders), and with additional modifiers based on the number of Neophytes and Purestrains in their gang, as well as how connected they are in areas of influence (represented by their Gang Rating and the number of Guilder Contact Territories they have).
Of course, you can't have Genestealers without a chance of infecting others with their DNA, so Purestrains have the ability to attempt to implant captives which are not rescued or ransomed. This can allow them to quickly build up a large gang if they capture a lot of enemies, but of course larger gangs become more difficult to keep up with - especially if they are outlawed.
I tried to give some nice character to the Hybrids, with Acolytes playing much like normal gangers (representing their more human appearance) and Neophytes being more geared toward close combat - starting off with a better Move (5"), improved WS, I and A, but lowered BS and an inability to learn Shooting or Techno skills or use certain types of equipment. They gain even more character with the ability to purchase an extra arm, which can make them even more deadly in close combat. These benefits are somewhat balanced by the fact that Neophytes can't work certain types of Territories and can never go to the Trading Posts. (Also, the more Neophytes you have, the more likely you are to be Outlawed as noted above.) This makes the Acolytes and Brood Brothers more attractive and helps discourage the spamming of Neophytes without making it impossible by imposing artificial limitations. (The only limits are 1 Hiearch and 0-1 Purestrains!)
The Purestrains themselves represent a very different beast (pun intended). It is very easy to just say they don't gain any advancements and have them completely nasty to start with, but I would rather see them start out a little less disgusting and build from there. Thus, rather than having them roll for advancement as normal, I opted to give them their own advancement table and a single skill table with a selection of Genestealer-appropriate skills they can draw from. If they become sufficiently advanced (i.e. the roll an advancement grouping where all the stats are already at max, or roll up a skill they already have), they can then begin picking from a list of Biomorphs that give them some pretty unique and interesting abilities.
Overall, I think I've achieved an interesting flavor, but I know the list needs a lot more playtesting before I can really be done with it. I plan to do some myself, but if anyone has time to try it out, please let me know how it goes!
As always, comments and criticism are both strongly encouraged and greatly appreciated. If you notice something I missed, something you think I got wrong, or something that just doesn't make sense or could be improved, please feel free to let me know!
What I have for you today is my home-brew rules for running a Genestealer Cult gang in Necromunda. You can download it from the link at the bottom of this post.
LAST UPDATED 01/17/2014
The reason I decided to create my own Genestealer Cult list is that I have never been satisfied with any of the previous versions I have seen, so I decided to toss my own version out there. Many versions I have seen before have the Cult gang being led by a Magus or even the Patriarch, and to me those guys are better left to a larger arena. I feel the focus of a Genestealer Cult gang in Necromunda should be a single sleeper cell trying to carve out a place for themselves in the Underhive in order to further the greater Cult's cause. To that end, I have the Cult gang being led by a Hierarch hybrid, with access to other hybrid types (Neophytes and Acolytes, representing early and late generation hybrids) as well as Brood Brothers who have more zeal than skill and one or two Purestrain Genestealers to make them really scary up close. (This is balanced by the fact that they don't have any Heavies, and only the Hierarch has easy access to Special Weapons - the rest of the Gang can only access Techno skills by rolling a 2 or 12 on the advancement chart.)
Another thing I have seen a lot is having the Cult gang start out as Outlaws or Outlanders. While this works OK, I don't think it really captures the feel of the Cult's attempts to secretly infiltrate all levels of society. If they are careful, a Cult cell could definitely pass themselves off as a normal gang. However, there is always a chance they will be exposed for what they are, and that is when things go bad. To represent this, I have them set up to play like a "normal" gang at the start of the campaign, but they are forced to roll on the Outlaw Table after nearly every battle (barring those fought against Outlaws or Outlanders), and with additional modifiers based on the number of Neophytes and Purestrains in their gang, as well as how connected they are in areas of influence (represented by their Gang Rating and the number of Guilder Contact Territories they have).
Of course, you can't have Genestealers without a chance of infecting others with their DNA, so Purestrains have the ability to attempt to implant captives which are not rescued or ransomed. This can allow them to quickly build up a large gang if they capture a lot of enemies, but of course larger gangs become more difficult to keep up with - especially if they are outlawed.
I tried to give some nice character to the Hybrids, with Acolytes playing much like normal gangers (representing their more human appearance) and Neophytes being more geared toward close combat - starting off with a better Move (5"), improved WS, I and A, but lowered BS and an inability to learn Shooting or Techno skills or use certain types of equipment. They gain even more character with the ability to purchase an extra arm, which can make them even more deadly in close combat. These benefits are somewhat balanced by the fact that Neophytes can't work certain types of Territories and can never go to the Trading Posts. (Also, the more Neophytes you have, the more likely you are to be Outlawed as noted above.) This makes the Acolytes and Brood Brothers more attractive and helps discourage the spamming of Neophytes without making it impossible by imposing artificial limitations. (The only limits are 1 Hiearch and 0-1 Purestrains!)
The Purestrains themselves represent a very different beast (pun intended). It is very easy to just say they don't gain any advancements and have them completely nasty to start with, but I would rather see them start out a little less disgusting and build from there. Thus, rather than having them roll for advancement as normal, I opted to give them their own advancement table and a single skill table with a selection of Genestealer-appropriate skills they can draw from. If they become sufficiently advanced (i.e. the roll an advancement grouping where all the stats are already at max, or roll up a skill they already have), they can then begin picking from a list of Biomorphs that give them some pretty unique and interesting abilities.
Overall, I think I've achieved an interesting flavor, but I know the list needs a lot more playtesting before I can really be done with it. I plan to do some myself, but if anyone has time to try it out, please let me know how it goes!
As always, comments and criticism are both strongly encouraged and greatly appreciated. If you notice something I missed, something you think I got wrong, or something that just doesn't make sense or could be improved, please feel free to let me know!
