Necromunda Campaign ideas, thoughts, and resources

I wanted to expand on my thoughts from my last blog post about campaigns and give some ideas about how I want the next campaign to be run.

I also want to provide a list of resources for running a campaign.

Make sure you read my previous post (https://apostlesofcontagion.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-outlander-campaign-pictures-brunos.html) before moving on to my thoughts below.

The Outlander Campaign.

As I said in my previous blog post the Outlander Campaign I just finished running was put together by me with the full intention of myself playing in the campaign.  I had no dillusions of grandeur and I didn't care how many games my gang got in or if I was going to achieve any Triumphs. In fact by the time I was compiling the results I decided I would not have my gang be eligible for any Triumphs.  I think as an observation if you are going to play in the campaign as an Arbitrator make sure you can't win Triumphs and make sure your gang is not going to play an out-sized role in effecting others' gangs during the campaign.  Also make sure the campaign packet is distributed before the campaign starts and everything is very well codified so there's no or minimal disputes.

I modified the three scenarios in the Development Phase to include a fixed amount of Materials to ensure people could build Structures.  This ended up being too much and in the future I recommend leaving the Material rewards as they are written.

I also added additional Triumphs not in the normal Outlander Campaign.  Some were form the Dominion Campaign and one I made up.  I think this was a fine addition and I was hopeful that with the variety of Triumphs we would have most players earn at least one.  One issue is if one person is allowed to earn multiple Triumphs than one or two people could run away with all the rewards.  This didn't happen this time but it almost did.  Also multiple people could earn the same Triumph which I think is fine.  

When coming up with the Triumph Boons I tried to make them impactful but not overly so.  We shall see when they go into effect in the next campaign.

Since this is not a Dominion Campaign you don't earn Rep from fighting someone for the first time.  Also because the scenarios don't give out a lot of Rep then a lot of gangs ended up with only 1 Rep after the first Phase.  This was not expected.  Some ways people got around this was hiring Hangers-on that allowed more Rep to be earned.  I believe the Propagandist gives more Rep.  Also I entered into an Alliance which helped me offset a lack of capable fighters and a lack of Hangers-on because of lack of Rep.

I allowed Alliances but not Rackets, Territory Acquisitions, Territory Boon, House Favors, Intrigues, or the Underdog Cards.  I think in an Outlander Campaign the above changes make sense.  You are out on your own but you could still possibly make an alliance because there are un-tapped resources out in the Bad Zones.  We didn't use Underdog Cards because no one had them.  Underdog Cards would be great in the future though.  We also didn't use Resurrection Packages although I am getting the White Dwarf with those rules in the mail tomorrow and I want to use them in the next Campaign.

The Development Phase allows you to acquire a decent amount of Material and credits through the three new scenarios in the Book and I don't think those need to be looked at in any way.  Credits become hard to come by in the Expansion Phase, however, so building up a strong gang and using the 250 credits in the Downtime Phase appropriately is very important.

The Defense Structures that can be built in the Settlement can be very strong.  The Chasm, if built three times can completely stop an opponent from getting to you unless theey have a way across the Chasm like with Grapnels.  I bought 2 at the Trading Post before playing someone with Chasms because I knew I might need to them win the Settlement Raid scenario.

The Structure of the Campaign week was that each player could play a total of 2 games each of them had to be at the store on Thursdays.  At the beginning of each week the Settlement would make Materials and at the end of each week after the one or two games were played they could then build structures.  After each game they did everything in the post battle sequence except build structures.  

One thing I hadn't anticipated was that if one player played one game and another player played two  games in one week then the player who played one game may have gangers in recovery the next week whereas the other player may not because they already were in Recovery and then came out of Recovery after their second game of the week so they could have the advantage the next Campaign Week.  I am not sure how to remedy this situation other than maybe having a "Campaign Week" be longer than one actual week.  Maybe it is one month and you play mutliple games in that "Campaign Week" (month) and after each game you do the post battle sequence and players recover or maybe they don't until the end of the month.  I think a custom Post-Battle Sequence is necessary.

The Scenario Determination Chart I made based on the Outlander Campaign Chart.  I modified results 2-3 and 10-12 to allow any scenario in Necromunda to be played not just one of the three special Outlander Campaign Scenarios.  I think this was fine even though no one really did this.  I also allowed Challenges and if someone had captured a fighter then the Rescue Mission could always be played as a challenge disregarding the Scenario Determination Chart.

I added optional rules for playing in the Bad Zones with Bad Zone effect from the Book of Peril.  This would give players additional 2d6x10 credits for playing with these special rules.

I also made two reporting cards that needed to be handed in at the end of the night.  One card was a weekly update card and the other was a scenario report card.  Each player in a scenario needed to fill one of these out after each game and hand them in.  I think I wasn't clear about what to fill out on the cards and they weren't organized as well as they should have been. I will need to modify them for the future.

The Campaign Packet.

The Campaign Packet had the reporting cards so they could be removed from the packet and used in a pinch or photocopied and printed out.  I printed a bunch of these separately before the campaign started so we wouldn't need to wreck the packets.

I also included the Format of the campaign, including the three Phases and descriptions of them.  I also explained how the campaign was organized in the Format section, replicating with modifications what is in the Book of the Outcast's outlander Campaign.

I went over the Pre-Battle Sequence in detail, again repeating with modifications the Outlander Campaign's Pre-Battle Sequence.  I included the modified Scenario Determination Chart.

I also included the custom Post-Battle Sequence.

I included all the rules for the Settlements and Structures from the Book of the Outcast.

The next Section was about the Triumphs but I didn't list the Boons gained by accomplishing the Triumph.  This will be different next time around.

I included the Gang Roster and the Settlement Roster sheet so the players could have everything organized without having to go to YakTribe or have the Book of the Outcast.

I included Outlander Terrain rules including rules for the Gang Stronghold.

I also included the rules for the Marketplace.

And finally I had all of the scenarios from the Book of the Outcast.

Basically I wanted to make sure everyone who wanted to play could play without needing to buy the Book of the Outcast.  I wanted to make sure they could look at the packet between games at home and have all the info they needed.

I feel that all of the above is required for a Campaign Packet and I think in the future I will add a few additional things.

I want to add in any optional rules like using Bad Zones rules, and making Alliances.  I didn't mention that there were no Rackets allowed.  I also didn't list the Triumph Boons in the packet.  In future packets all of these things will be spelled out in addition to how to report weekly results and results from games.

The Next Campaign.

There are two or even three other campaigns happening before the next codified, packet-driven campaign but I want to discuss the possible next campaign and how it could be organized.

I think having a "Campaign Week" be a month of real time would be good.  I think a specialized pre- and post- battle sequence because of this organization is required.

I want to include Rackets in a limited way possibly giving player the option at the start of the campaign to pick one from a limited set and then slowly introducing new ones each "Campaign Week".

I want to include special scenarios that everyone plays in one real-time week and a special multiplayer scenario to end each "Campaign Week" perhaps.

I also think using LD in the Post-battle sequence to allow gangs to add more rep or get access to other things could be interesting.

Intrigues should be used but only for specific scenarios or specific weeks and only certain used for certain gangs.

Adding new weapons and items to the trading post as well as new hangers-ons, brutes and bounty hunters would be really fun.

Resources.

I have found several websites and a Youtube video to help anyone wanting to run a campaign.  

This is a Store-run campaign that I am going to steal a lot of ideas from: https://sentrybox.wordpress.com/2022/03/05/maximum-arbitration-part-1-pre-necromunda-action/

This site has a really cool way to run campaigns that are narrative (I found out about this from the Eye of Horus Podcast):  https://www.alwaysstrikesfirst.com

This is GoonHammer's article on starting a Campaign:   https://www.goonhammer.com/necromunday-starting-a-campaign/

Here is a great video on Youtube from Commander Cheapskate on how to be a Campaign Arbitrator:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTjM-Ccupso&t=570s

Next time I will discuss the Sump Sea Adventures Campaign.....

The Outlander Campaign: Pictures, Bruno's Gang update, Triumphs Awarded and thoughts on campaigns

This past Thursday we wrapped up the Outlander Campaign I had been running for the last two months.  I put together this campaign based on my excitement for Outcast Gangs and the newest Necromunda book; Book of the Outcast.

Since I hadn't been documenting this campaign on here as I should have been this will be one large post trying to summarize the whole thing with pictures and my thoughts on how it ran, the scenarios, the Outcast Gang structure and then also ideas about running future campaigns.

I started by creating a Campaign Packet.  I took the Outlander Campaign and modified it by changing the rewards in the first three scenarios to fixed amounts of Materials that you would get as opposed to random amounts.  I really wanted people to be able to build lots of structures and I thought that giving everyone fixed amounts of Materials would allow everyone to definitely build something.  Just the idea of someone rolling a 1 when determining the amount of <aterials at the end of a scenario made me cringe and I didn't want "feel bad" moments in the campaign to be the result of a bad roll after a scenario.

Here is a link to download the Packet: 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8oyw5zzuriobgbv/OutlanderCampaignWinter_2022.pdf?dl=0

I ran a 7 week campaign that ended up being 8 weeks since we decided to split week 3 into two weeks.  The reason for this was that some people couldn't make it on the first week 3 so I decided that the next week would also be week 3.  The reason this mattered so much was that I put a cap of 2 games per week and that all games must be played at the HW Store.  

I put a cap on the number of games that could be played per week and I also limited play to the store because I didn't want gangs to get out of control by allowing people to play as many games as they wanted each week.  I learned this lesson from the previous campaign I played in.

Another change was that there would be no Rackets although Alliances were acceptable.

The final change was what the Triumphs would be.  I used Triumphs from both the main rulebook for a Dominion Campaign and Triumphs from the Book of the Outcast and I made one up as well.

The idea of using the Triumphs is that someone could pick a Triumph or two at the beginning of the campaign and focus on getting that triumph through their actions during the campaign.  Each Triumph will also grant that gang benefits for the next campaign that gang plays in.  More on this later.

The first three weeks saw people playing the Gunk Tank, The Mining Expedition, and The Big Score.  My goal with this campaign was not only to run an Outlanders Campaign but also play in it and play every mission.  The reason I made such a large Campaign Packet was so that I had all the rules codified before the campaign so I could play in it without people saying I was making biased decisions to benefit my gang.

I played the Mining Expedition on week 1, The Gunk Tank week 2 and the The Big Score on week 3.  

I thought the Mining Expedition was probably the best of the three scenarios.  I felt it was the most balanced of the three scenarios.  It allowed people to achieve the objective and still interact with the opponent.  It was the most normal of the games if that makes any sense.  

The Gunk Tank I thought was the most problematic because there was just the one objective in the middle of the board.  If one person got there first and could hold off the other then it was very difficult for one player to actually accomplish anything.  

The Big Score was a scenario that encouraged the players to have a truce and just each grab an objective and end the games, gaining Materials and not engaging the other gang at all.

We had a Downtime Week where we played two multiplayer games with different games set in the Sump Sea.  It was the beginning of our once-monthly Sump Sea Adventures Campaign.  I will be doing a series of Sump Sea Adventures posts starting soon since this week Thursday is the second Sump Sea Adventures campaign week.

The Expansion Phase lasted only two weeks instead of three and then the final week we played a modified Highway to Hell mission; which I will go into detail with later.

I played the Stealth Attack mission first in the Expansion Phase.  The Sump Whispers Delaque Gang challenged me.  I was the defender and he schooled me.  I started off ok but eventually because he outnumbered me and I had to have several gangers be sentries and not respond normally to his gangers right away, I was at a big disadvantage.  It was an ok scenario but I feel like the defender either needs more sentries or the reserves need to be dealt with differently where the defender gets more reserves sooner.

The next mission I played was in Week 6 and I had challenged the Cawdor gang.  I had some bad luck but I lost it mainly due to poor planning and tactics on my part.  Cawdor are also very tough.

The final week we played the Highway To Hell scenario from the White Dwarf that had End Campaign Scenarios. The idea was that the gangs were trying to escape out of the hive to the Ash Wastes through the Ash Gate.  Each gang had 8 gangers because that was the size of the smallest gang in the campaign at that point.  Each gang deployed in a tile with them deploying in a random order based on a dice roll.  Each turn, each gang would activate all at once and operate at the same time.  The NPCs controlled by me would activate after everyone else did each turn.  Each turn the turn order was also randomly determined.  I think the game actually played out very well.  Three gangs escaped to the Ash Wastes and three did not.

Now on to an update on Bruno's Gang.  There were some changes from the Ultrathon Gang to the one I used in this campaign.  In the Ultrathon we were able to have Specialists from the get-go so I had a guy with a long rifle; Zexx Marquis, and a guy with a flamer; Thor Gothod.  Well this was a straight-up regular campaign and when building a gang for a campaign you don't get to start with specialists in an Outcast Gang.  So those two had to go.

 

 In their place I added Korgan Manix and Big Cercadian.

 

After a game with Manix and Cercadian I added a Rebel Lord; Lady Delfinax and a Hanger-On Fixer; Mando Delar.  

The fixer allowed me to subtract 2 from the die roll when testing alliance so it was really easy to have the Rebel Lord each game.

After a few games I came back from the down time with 4 new gangers.  I knew I was going to need some chaf because Eth had challenged me to Sneak Attack and I was rather nervous.  I wanted to make sure that after that game if any of my fighters went into Recovery or were killed I would still have a decent number.

From left to right: Allara Nehome, Nero Horn, Karl Feuge, and Guillermo Odenforge.

These four fared ok but in the second-to-last game of the campaign and in Bruno's last Campaign game, Guillermo Odenforge died.  He was the only member of Bruno's gang to die during the Ultrathon or the Outlander Campaign.

 

In the final game of the Campaign we played the Highway to Hell scenario and I played the NPCs.  There was an Ogryn, a Goliath Zerker, and 2 squads for Enforcers that showed up via reserves from the opposite sides of the table.

Here are some pictures of the game:

The board setup.  The Great Ash Gate is on the right.

                                        The Enforcers arrive chasing the Roided out Zerker!

                                The other squad of Enforcers arrive trying to find the Ogryn.

 

The Ash Gate opens and the gangs start their mad dash to escape the Hive.

 The Ash Gate is wide open and the first gang attempts to escape.

In the end three gangs escaped to the Ash Wastes form the Hive through the Great Ash Gate.  The three gangs that escaped were: The Reliquariate (Cawdor), The Sump Whispers (Delaque), The Rebels of the Sacred Heart (Cawdor).

The final results along with the awarded Triumphs of the Campaign are below:

Here are the Triumph Boons:

Lord of the Badzones: +1 Rep

Outland Raider: +1 to first Priority Roll of each game when you are the attacker to a max number of 6

Outland Defender: Subtract 1 from Bottle Rolls when Defending

Scavenger: +2d6x20 Credits at start of next campaign

Master of Coin: -1 when testing Alliance with the Guild of Coin

Slaughterer: -1 when testing Alliance with the Noble House Greim

Power Broker: -1 when testing Alliance with anyone

Survivor: re-roll one die when recruiting from settlement or add one additional Hanger-on or Brute slot

The above Boons will be applied to the winning gangs at the beginning of the next Campaign that they use those gangs in.

Some thoughts on campaigns.  

I think after running this Outlander Campaign and playing in two Dominion Campaigns and a one-day event, I think I have some ideas about what is good and what is not in campaigns.

I like having a document that lays out all the rules of the campaign at the beginning.  I like the idea of having phases and "weeks".  

Modifying the first three scenarios in the Outlander campaign to have fixed rewards instead of random rewards combined with the ability of everyone to play more than one (in this case 2) games in a week was too much.  Everyone had tons of structures by the end of the campaign and many people had built themselves into a corner where they couldn't possibly build anything else.

I think having each campaign week be spread over multiple weeks may actually be a better way to do things.  Create a new post-battle sequence and a different post-week sequence would probably be good.

If the "Campaign Week" was multiple weeks and each "Campaign Week" consisted of multiple games, maybe one week everyone plays the same game and another week its rolled on a chart and then at the end of the "Campaign Week" is when you can go to the trading post and recruit new fighters and get out of recovery, the campaign could deter certain gangs getting way too powerful way too quickly.  Having everyone play on the same night helped control how many games were played also.

Also making the Triumphs mean something with specific boons granted by them at the end of the campaign would be a good motivation and a way for gangs to try for certain goals.  

A challenge was having everyone show up every week.  I think having a "Campaign Week" last for several real weeks might help mitigate this.

Next time I will be talking about the Book of the Sump and the Sump Sea Adventures Campaign and I will show off pictures of my Pirates of the Seven Sump Seas and their Ship, until then...