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.....
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