Running A Campaign
RAW ✔️ Source: Gang War
How A Campaign Works
A campaign can be run with as few as two players, but is at its best with six or more. Each player founds a gang, then they all play games against each other. After each battle, there is the chance that gangs will. claim new territories or steal them from each other; expanding their turf and pushing out their rivals. During battles, gangers might gain experience and become better fighters, or might suffer debilitating injuries that last for the rest of the campaign. Campaigns are divided up into rounds, called Turf Wars, each of which usually lasts several weeks, separated by periods of Downtime which let the players take a break and play other games for a while The start of a Turf War is a great chance for new players to join in, and for existing players to start a new gang or step down entirely.
The Arbitrator
Every Necromunda campaign needs to be run by an Arbitrator. This is often the person whose idea it was to play a campaign in the first place, and it helps if they have a good knowledge of the Necromunda rules. They will be responsible for organising the players, keeping notes and records, maintaining any central resources, and so on. The Arbitrator is the uitimate power in the campaign, and their word is final. If they wish to adapt any campaign rules, they can do 50. If they wish to add their own bespoke rules, this is also fine, In short, they're the ones who put the hard work in, so their word is quite literally the law. The one exception to this is with regards to the Arbitrator's gang. Most Arbitrators will want to play in the campaign as well, and will have a gang just like any other player. Their gang does not get any special bonuses, and the Arbitrator is expressly forbidden from abusing their position of power to give their gang any advantages
Although the Arbitrator is responsible for keeping the campaign running smoothly, organising individual battles is down to the players themselves. They must ensure that the results of the battle, including any changes to Reputation, Gang Rating and Turf Size, are reported to the Arbitrator as soon as possible.
Player engagement is key to running a successful campaign, and one of the best ways to keep everyone involved is to run a campaign newsletter. This is admittedly another job for the Arbitrator, but it's an incredibly rewarding one! A good rule of thumb is to send out newsletters on a regular basis, for example once a week. The contents of a newsletter can vary, but it's good to include a summary of recent events (for example, which gangs have faced off and how those battles went, a leaderboard of sorts (maybe ranking the gangs by their Gang Rating, or their Turf Size), and some gangs of note (e.g, biggest expansion this week, most kills). The most fun part of running a newsletter is the chance to include brief in-character stories, threats and obituaries for lost fighters; players can contribute these when they submit their battle results, or the Arbitrator can come up with them based on anecdotes they've heard. Don't worry if your technical skills are lacking, either; some Arbitrators will no doubt make works of art, but just text in an email does the job nicely!
Zones
In smaller campaigns, all of the gangs are assumed to occupy the same Zone, vying for territory in a contained area. In campaigns with more than eight players, it is recommended that multiple Zones are used, dividing the gangs between them as evenly as possible - ideally, there should be between four and eight gangs per Zone, It goes without saying that each Zone should be given a suitable name!
During the campaign, gangs will be able to seize territory from other gangs in the same Zone as them, and fighting gangs in their Zone will increase their Reputation. They can also fight gangs from other Zones, but doing so cannot expand their territory and will have a lesser impact on their Reputation.
It is up to the Arbitrator how they divide gangs between Zones. It could be a completely random draw, it could be done based on real-world concerns (for example, if four of the players in a campaign already meet up regularly to play games, putting them in the same Zone is an obvious choice) or it could take certain things into consideration - for example, not wanting to have more than one gang of a given House in a particular Zone. As before, the Arbitrator's decision is final.
Zone Names
Zones, much like the settlements within them, can take their name from any number of sources - their founder, a landmark, local resources, flora or fauna, and so on. Arbitrators should always name their Zones, and the list below is included to give some inspiration:
- Brunner's Dome
- Chem Falls
- Dead End Pass
- Misfortune
- Irontree
- Oil Springs
- Old Bay
- Raffik's Folly
- Rust Sprawl
- Spoilheap
- Starcher's Rise
- Steelgate
- The Tangle
- Toxic Shore
- Vat City
Turf Wars And Cycles
A campaign can potentially run forever, but to keep things focussed campaigns are divided into Turf Wars. This is a period of continuous time during which the campaign is active - for example, a Turf War might last for six weeks, with players facing off one or more times per week. Once the Turf War is over, there is a period of Downtime, during which players can take a break and play some other games, and then a new Turf War begins.
Over the course of a Turf War, gangs are fighting to become the top dog in their Zone. This is measured by more than the size of their Turf, to make it to the top they will need to show their superiority over the other gangs, represented by their Reputation. When it comes to the Apotheosis at the end of the Turf War, Reputation is the metric that is used to determine the overall 'winner', so players should push to increase their Reputation wherever possible.
Turf Wars are further divided into Cycles. Necromundan culture is built around industry, and with the lack of natural light within the Hive, its habitants use work shifts to measure time, in the same way that the people of others planets use days. These shifts are then grouped into Cycles, each roughly the equivalent of a Terran week. During a campaign, each Turf War lasts a number of Cycles, and several rules apply to them - for example, gangs collect income once per Cycle.
When setting up a campaign, the Arbitrator should decide how long they would like each Cycle to run for, and how many Cycles there will be in the first Turf War. There is no correct answer here; the Arbitrator should consider how many players they have, how often they are likely to play games, and so on. As a rule of thumb, a Cycle should last long enough for most players to be able to play one or two games. A campaign of between four and six Cycles is a good place to start, but again this is not set in stone, and the Arbitrator should adjust it to match the wants and needs of their players. Whatever the case, it is important that the Arbitrator makes it clear to the players when each Cycle begins and ends.
Apotheosis
Each Turf War ends with an Apotheosis - a climactic series of battles to determine which of the gangs comes out on top. Apotheosis is described in more detail on page 26.
Although it might be tempting to run an extended campaign that lasts several months - or, indeed, runs indefinitely - we don't recommend t. In our experience, campaigns that don't have a definite end point only run until players get distracted, or until one player gets so far ahead that they are nigh unbeatable! This is never a good way to end a campaign, especially if the Arbitrator's been putting a lot of work into it, Trust us - keep your campaigns short, snappy and action-packed, and players will be crying out to start a new Turf War!
Example: Starting A Campaign
Charlie is preparing to run a Necromunda campaign with seven other players. As this makes eight players in total, he notes that the campaign will take place in a single Zone, which he names Irontree. Most of the players are part of his regular gaming group, which meets at their local club every Thursday evening, and after having a chat as a group, they decide they'll be able to get at least a couple of games in every session. They also agree that they'd like the campaign to run for a couple of months at most, as their Blood Bowl League is due to start up again soon.
Bearing all of that in mind, Charlie decides that the campaign's first Turf War will last for six Cycles, with each Cycle lasting one week (starting on a Thursday and running to the following Wednesday).
Campaign Battles
Playing a game which is part of a campaign has a few more steps than a skirmish battle - for a start, the choice of scenario and the fighters in each crew mean a lot more in the context of a campaign. Immediately before playing a Campaign battle, players must follow the pre-battle sequence as detailed on page 20. Then, once the battle has been completed, they must follow the post-battle sequence as detailed on page 22.
Gangs In Campaigns
Each player taking part in a campaign controls one gang - although the Arbitrator may be tempted to allow players to control more than one gang, this generally leads to complications down the line. Each gang is a living thing - it will gain and lose fighters, and those fighters will learn new skills or suffer crippling injuries. Should a player wish, they can retire their gang during Downtime and start with a new gang for the next Turf War.