Necromunda - Book of the Arbitrator; looking for Feedback and Critique

[Torben]

Greetings!

So, I've been rather busy hammering down some of my house rules for Necromunda (Underhive) and well, I'm done!

Go HERE to download it (warning it's a large file, and 99 pages long).

Cheers!

...

Oh, you might be wondering what it's all about?

Well, for a long time I've been looking at various RogueMunda and =I=Munda blogs around the web and was heavily inspired. However, I wanted to do more than simply kitbash some rules together and give it a go - so I changed around a whole lot of the basic rules for Necromunda, added detail here and there and before I knew it, I had over hundreds of pages of notes for the Dark Millennium.

So, what's included?

- An overhaul of some of the basic Necromunda mechanics (new turn sequence, new weapon system).
- A whole slew of archetypes and two campaign systems (territory based as Necromunda and exploration based as Mordheim).
- An attempt to squeeze in rules that allows for recreation of the actual setting material. Yes, Space Marines can possibly wipe out a whole planet (but they are not immortal)
- An open universe; although two sample settings have been included, they are by no means canon but more an example of what you can do with the rules.
- Simple yet effective vehicle rules
- Reworked psychic powers, chaos powers and waaagh-powers
- And a whole lot more...

So, if this has wetted your appetite then please download from the above link and tell me your thoughts; it would be highly appreciated.

Cheers!

[Jonas]

I have tried the game with Phoenikuz (don't know if it was finished yet?) and I quite liked it. It worked well on a skirmish level.

I must admit that I am not really a rules person, so I have not read the entire rules. I have tried playing this system only once, but it felt smooth and even though these are detailed rules it did not slow the game down.

I deffinately want to try it again.

[Argonor]

I shall take a look.

Have limited time, apart from reading on the morning and afternoon train atm, though. Just bought a house that needs a little attention before us moving in...

[Viper]

I'll start having a wee read myself too.
 

I assume it works okay with first edition Necromunda too?
Considering 1st ed had rules for the basic trooper of pretty much every race that was in the 40k world back then already.

[Dr. The Viking]

I am Senator Dopehat and I approve this message.



I had a very nice game of BOTA with Phonekrizu at a convention a few weeks back. I don't remember the details but what I do remember was rather good.

[Torben]

I assume it works okay with first edition Necromunda too?
Considering 1st ed had rules for the basic trooper of pretty much every race that was in the 40k world back then already.

Yes it should work with 1st edition of Necromunda; there might be some changes between the two editions, but I can't remember them offhand. I have tried to include as many races as possible in the document already; only lacking Necrons and Tyranids.

When adding stuff from other editions of Warhammer/Necromunda to the game, then all you really need is to give the new unit a secondary initiative value (easily done by rolling a d6), and split up Leadership into Nerve, Willpower and Leadership. Typically then replace the LD of the unit with Nv (i.e LD 7 = Nv 7); then subtract one or two for the remaining stats.

Oh and mind you that I've beefed up some units rather signifigantly... so you mind find Necromunda Space Marines rather tame

[turgid]

I'm going to organise a couple games in my necromunda group, I'm keen to see how these rules play.

[Argonor]

Have started reading on my morning and afternoon trips to and fro work.

I've reached the psyker rules and am about to compare them to the Rogue Trader rules. Just have to find my copy of RT...    well, it's here, somewhere....

Now, it's been quite a while sincethe last time I could be bothered to read the 40K rules, so I''m not sure if the vehicle movement rules are like the current ones or from an earlier edition, but, never mind, they seem to be nicely adjusted to the infantry.

A lot of the ideas in there are similar to stuff I created for my own little 'skirmish version' of 40K - I used the mechanics from 40K, but garnered with Necromunda stuff. For instance, I chose to let models activate on their inherent Initiative instead of having a secondary stat. I also made use of the Necromunda skill system (which you probably do, too - haven't reached so far, yet), an also invented some skills for drivers of vehicles. My thought was to make the equivalent of LotR Batle Companies for 40K, so this focused more on small, rag-tag groups of warriors than on character driven storytelling.

But enough of that. BOTA seems consistent so far, only thing that bugs me, that sometimes I don't understand a rule, because I cannot remember the Necromunda rule that it is an alteration of 

If painting the study/office/hobby-room of my soon-to-be home does not prevent me from doing so all weekend, I shall try to dig out RT and Necromunda for reference.

[Torben]

But enough of that. BOTA seems consistent so far, only thing that bugs me, that sometimes I don't understand a rule, because I cannot remember the Necromunda rule that it is an alteration of...

Hehe, I know where you're coming from. However, I'll be happy to note that up to the psyker-rules, then stuff have changed a lot, however the section dealing with psychic powers and everything past that point has little to do with how Necromunda used to do it. Okay, Psychic powers did require a Leadership roll sometimes, but not all the time...

Once imporant change (apart from the turn sequence) is when you are removing pinning. Nomrally in Necromunda you'd roll a standard Initiative check, but with BOTA you roll a Nerve check instead. A small, but subtle difference; It was something that came up when we talked about how everything in Necromunda seemed to rely on that single stat all of the time.

Again, looking forward to hear more from you! I'm currently painting up a couple of PDF's, Chaos-scum and a Space Marine scout for a game tomorrow (all mentioned characters not nessecarily included) and might be starting a fully fledged campaign. But anyway, time will tell tomorrow.

[Argonor]

I have read it through, and it seems nice. I already found myself thinking about which existing models would be nice for some adventurer/rogue trader type of 'gangs' 

I just gave my N1 rulebook a quick glance, and I think that I'll need N2 (the downloadable one), as the shooting rules in N1 are using the 'sustained fire dice', which I don't think N2 does?

I'll dig out the extra skills tables I wrote for my skirmish system, and see if they are compatible with this (they should be, they are made after the Necromunda-pattern), and then send them to you so you can have a look and see if they could be of use in the BOTA system.

[Cholly]

Great Stuff! Cool new options to set games almost anywhere. Already thinking of a Rogue Trader and xeno/human mixed crew. Thanks for all your work.
 

[Argonor]

Already thinking of a Rogue Trader and xeno/human mixed crew.

Heresy!! 

[Cholly]

Hell yes!! The more Heresy the Better!!

[Argonor]

One question: BOTA seems to use the rarity system from N1, rather than the version from the living rulebook?

It is mentioned, that it will be explained how to find rare items, but I could not find the spot? Must admit that I have not read BOTA thoroughly through a second time, yet.

EDIT: Hmmm... not the rarity system from N1... Mordheim, then...??

[abhorsen950]

I read a bit of it and it looks very good, well done!!