Planning a Campaign. Help?

[hendybadger]

Hi all,
Our gaming club has recently picked up Necromunda again. Had our first game for months and really enjoyed it. Already got more planned.

This has given me the idea of starting up a campaign.
But not really sure where to start.
At the moment I know I want to add in some odd things at some point.
3 Predators and Dr.Who. (got some nice minis)
Lost on rules for them though.

What would you put together for a campaign?
How would you run it?
What sort of things would happen?
And how would you use the 4 above minis?

Thanks in advance

[Comp]

I guess you could have a Xenos hunt mission where the gangs try to hunt down the predators picking off hivers - give the Predators immunity to pinning, several wounds, and stats equivalent to a high level Spyrer or something

Does the Dr.Who miniature actually have to be Dr.Who?

A campaign needs a list of gangs. And, uh, some terrain . You could spice things up with a random events table and maybe arbitrator scenarios for when lots of people are together in the same place.

To go further than that you could make up an underhive settlement or region to base the campaign around, I guess. Have a noticeboard on facebook or at the club informing people of conditions during that particular period of the game - say, a blackout (all games that week fought in nighttime conditions) or infestations of giant spiders or rising sludge or all sorts...

[hendybadger]

My first thoughts for the Pred were S6, 2 swords, Plasmagun + Red dot sight.
The no pinning and several wounds works aswell. What about in game healing?

It doesnt have to be the Doctor but I would like it to be.
I like the noticeboard idea. I was thinking of maybe doing weekly email newsletters with abit of fluff, events ect.

What a good price to start with?
I know 1000 is the norm but I have had people suggest 1250 to make it abit more interesting from the start.

[simonr1978]

My first thoughts for the Pred were S6, 2 swords, Plasmagun + Red dot sight.
The no pinning and several wounds works aswell. What about in game healing?

Assuming you want them to act roughly like the original movie Predators. I'd give them 2 knives rather than swords to represent the wrist blades and sheathed knife/knives, I agree with the plasma pistol and red dot sight for the shoulder cannon/laser sight combo, I'd add a web pistol for that nasty net thing from Predator 2 and maybe something to represent the spear too (I'd be tempted to count it as a power sword which can be thrown 4 inches too). For ingame healing I'd give each Predator both a Medipack and the Medic skill as standard and to represent the visor/helmet/faceplate a Photovisor and Respirator. (Edit: Did they carry both netgun and shoulder cannon at the same time? Maybe make it an either/or option, edit to the edit, yep I can recall the start of P2 he had the net launcher and the shoulder cannon there). Don't give the Predator a bonus in HtH because the shoulder cannon and net launcher aren't hand held, they don't seem to use them in hand to hand combat anyway.

For Stats, I'd go M4 WS5 BS5 S4 T4, A2, I5, W2, Ld9.

I'm not sure how you'd represent the invisibility field, maybe say that enemy fighters have to pass an Initiative test in order to target or charge the Predator, with a +1 bonus at a close range, maybe 4 inches or less. Of course this can be disabled if the Predator wishes (i.e. for a one on one face off). Unless you just wish to allocate an Armour save equivilent to it, but an initiative test would seem a bit more fluffy.

Immune to Pinning seems right too.

As for allocating a cost to them... A ganger would need 241XP (If I've counted right) to get those stats and skill, plus an initial hiring cost of 50 plus a 290 Credits base (Not counting random factors) for the Necromunda equipment listed above for a total gang rating equivilent of 581+ per Predator (Plus 40+4D6 Credits if you were to count the spear as a power sword) plus a premium for the Invisibility field (I've no idea how to factor that in, an extra 100 wouldn't seem unreasonable), factor in the Immunity to Pinning too and I'd start with a round figure of about 700-750 per Predator to be adjusted up or down depending on playtesting. I'd go with 700 to start off with and err on the side of caution, there's a fair bit of redundancy in the Predator's total kit list that I listed so it might make them seem a bit underpowered.

If you wanted to reduce the rating, maybe make some of the kit optional rather than standard issue, perhaps figure out a cost reduction for making the web pistol single use (I can't recall a Predator using it more than once in a single engagement).

That's what I'd go with as a rough starting point.

I've got really no idea how to even go about using Dr Who in a Necromunda campaign as far as stats or equipment go.

My guess is that the best use for the Predators would be as either campaign master's NPCs to cull overly successful gangs, or have one present in every game waiting in the wings to join in if the battle favours one side, the Predator will attack the stronger gang as they seem the more worthy opponent. I'd also have a special rule that Predators don't take captives, just trophies. If you're caught, you're boned. Literally... Maybe try an extra rule based on a Predator's sense of honour, that if a model only has CCWs, the Predator can only use CCWs against them. That could knock a bit off his rating. If you did both, I'd drop his rating by around 50 to 100 to start off with

For Dr Who... It might seem a bit boring but I think he'd be best suited as a character to being an NPC to be protected and kept safe by a particular gang whilst he does whatever he's there to do. Give him a specific point to reach, a particular bit of kit to recover, a device to destroy, etc, all the while the host gang tries to stop him from being killed.

As ever, just my tuppence, but that's what I'd do in the same situation.

[Comp]

My guess is that the best use for the Predators would be as either campaign master's NPCs to cull overly successful gangs

I thought about that myself but to be honest I think that would actually diminish people's enjoyment of the game - people do put lots of time and thought into their gangs and success isn't necessarily something to be punished.

Actually, I do think campaigns require a good "ending". When people are beginning to cross the 4000 gang rating point is a good time to have some kind of big finale. It can be a little annoying when they just go on forever and everyone is on completely unwieldly 5k gangs...

[Griffsnog]

I was thinking for the Dr. His sonic screwdriver should do something. But I dunno what. Also Daleks would be awesome.

[simonr1978]

I thought about that myself but to be honest I think that would actually diminish people's enjoyment of the game - people do put lots of time and thought into their gangs and success isn't necessarily something to be punished.

Actually, I do think campaigns require a good "ending". When people are beginning to cross the 4000 gang rating point is a good time to have some kind of big finale. It can be a little annoying when they just go on forever and everyone is on completely unwieldly 5k gangs...

It's not so much punishing success as an option for levelling the field a bit if one gang in particular gets a little too far ahead of the others for the good of the campaign. They've still got a fighting chance, so it's not like you're just saying "you've got too good, 3 randomly picked gangers die in a tunnel collapse", that would tick me off no end.

Although I have to admit it would probably be better to come up with something a bit more imaginative for the Predators than just the Arbitrator's giant killers.

[Askil the Undecided]

I made a leveller scenario if anyone is interested, the setup in particular could be handy for a twist on a Predator 2/Predators theme.

The fugitive

[hendybadger]

This is some great advice and thoughts. Thanks to you all.
Going to pool it all together and do some play testing at the next club night.

[Comp]

It's not so much punishing success as an option for levelling the field a bit if one gang in particular gets a little too far ahead of the others for the good of the campaign. They've still got a fighting chance, so it's not like you're just saying "you've got too good, 3 randomly picked gangers die in a tunnel collapse", that would tick me off no end.

Yeah, I get your point. For my money though I think the experience system already does that fairly well. Maybe if you added some kind of major "weird" reward as a pay-off for getting involved, a piece of archeotech, an outlanders weapons or whatever...

[hendybadger]

That could work well

[projectscourge]

Im gonna be a bit boring and practical: the most important thing for a campaign I think is player involvement. Make sure you talk to the players beforehand and understand their commitment and wishes, and plan accordingly. Also, get to the point asap - I recently played a campaign that ended up lasting 6 months, and already after 5 weeks players were dropping out, losing focus (so we just recruited other players :-). Point is, get your players onboard