Setting Up The Campaign
RAW ✔️ The Aranthian Succession – Cinderak Burning, p57
Setting up a Succession Campaign is a task that falls to the Arbitrator. To set up the campaign, the Arbitrator must make sure that all the players have founded their gang and been given their starting Sympathisers. This is best done in a single evening or session, where everyone playing in the campaign meets and goes through all the steps of setting up the campaign together, and generally gets excited about the fun ahead.
Gang Composition
As the Great Darkness draws in, without the power of the Imperial House to rein them in, the proxy war of the gangs escalates into open warfare as leaders able to keep their gang together, and even prosper, attract ever more support and resources. To represent the increased size of gangs at this time, when founding a gang for a Succession Campaign, follow the rules for founding a gang in the Necromunda: Ash Wastes Rulebook with the following changes:
- Instead of the usual 1,000 credits, Succession Campaign gangs have 2,000 credits available for their initial gang.
- Succession Campaign gangs gain an additional 400 credits when being founded that can only be spent on crew, vehicles or fighters that come by default with Wargear that grants the Mounted condition, or on Wargear that grants the Mounted condition (such as the Ash Waste Nomads Stormcaller, or the Escher Cutter). Any unspent credits from this allowance are lost after the gang is founded (note that credits may be spent from the gang's initial 2,000 credits on vehicles and Wargear that grants the Mounted condition as well).
Set Start and End Dates
The Succession Campaign is divided into six campaign cycles, separated by a single cycle of Downtime after the first three cycles, meaning the campaign will last a total of seven cycles. For ease, we have set each cycle as a week, as this is usually how often gaming groups or groups of friends get together to play; however, if the players choose, then a cycle can represent a longer or shorter period of real time. The first step in setting up the campaign is for the Arbitrator to determine the start date, the end date and when the Downtime cycle will fall. They then share this information with the players.
Territories In A Succession Campaign
In a Succession Campaign, players fight over a special kind of Territory called Sympathisers. When playing a Succession Campaign, the two terms can be used interchangeably.
Determine Sympathisers
During the Succession Campaign, each gang begins play with a randomly-determined Sympathiser and a Gang Sympathisers Territory.
The number of Sympathisers used in a Succession Campaign depends on the number of players committed to the campaign – see the following table:
| Players | Sympathisers Generated |
|---|---|
| 3 | 9 |
| 4 | 12 |
| 5 | 15 |
| 6 | 18 |
| 7 | 21 |
| 8 | 24 |
Sympathisers are generated by building a deck of Sympathisers (see page 58), shuffling them and drawing the required amount. All Sympathisers are then revealed to all players.
Making A Deck of Sympathisers
You can build a deck of Sympathisers by using half a deck of playing cards to determine the Sympathisers for a campaign. Remove all Hearts, Clubs and Jokers, leaving just Spades and Diamonds. Each card in these remaining suits corresponds to a Sympathiser, as per the table shown below.
| Card | Sympathiser |
|---|---|
| Ace of Diamonds | Promethium Guild Sympathisers |
| 2 of Diamonds | Water Guild Sympathisers |
| 3 of Diamonds | Slave Guild Sympathisers |
| 4 of Diamonds | Corpse Guild Sympathisers |
| 5 of Diamonds | Guild of Coin Sympathisers |
| 6 of Diamonds | Iron Guild Sympathisers |
| 7 of Diamonds | Imperial Imposter Sympathisers |
| 8 of Diamonds | Cold Trader Sympathisers |
| 9 of Diamonds | Narco Lord Sympathisers |
| 10 of Diamonds | Rogue Factoria Sympathisers |
| Jack of Diamonds | Fallen House Sympathisers |
| Queen of Diamonds | Psi-syndica Sympathisers |
| King of Diamonds | House Catallus Sympathisers |
| Ace of Spades | House Ulanti Sympathisers |
| 2 of Spades | House Greim Sympathisers |
| 3 of Spades | House Ko'iron Sympathisers |
| 4 of Spades | House Ran Lo Sympathisers |
| 5 of Spades | House Ty Sympathisers |
| 6 of Spades | Electro Guild Sympathisers |
| 7 of Spades | Air Guild Sympathisers |
| 8 of Spades | Venator Sympathisers |
| 9 of Spades | Dregs of the Hive Sympathisers |
| 10 of Spades | Wasteland Scrapper Sympathisers |
| Jack of Spades | Second Best Smuggler Sympathisers |
| Queen of Spades | Heretek Sympathisers |
| King of Spades | Explorator Sympathisers |
Issuing and Accepting Challenges
During a Succession Campaign, battles are fought on a challenge basis:
- During each cycle, each player may issue one
challenge to another gang to do battle over control of
a Sympathiser nominated by the challenger:
- In the first campaign cycle, challenges are made in a random order.
- In later cycles, they are made in ascending order of Gang Rating, starting with the gang with the lowest Gang Rating. If two gangs have the same Gang Rating, the winner of a roll-off makes their challenge first.
- During the Great Darkness phase, the challenger nominates one uncontrolled Sympathiser to be the stake of the battle. This is then removed from the pool by the Arbitrator until the battle is concluded. If there are no uncontrolled Sympathisers, the challenger instead nominates one Sympathiser controlled by the gang they are challenging to be the stake of the battle.
- During the Spark of Rebellion phase, the challenger nominates one Sympathiser controlled by the gang they are challenging to be the stake of the battle.
- If one of a gang's fighters has been captured by another gang, rather than challenging for a Sympathiser, a gang that has had one of its fighters captured by another gang may issue a challenge to that gang to play the Escape From Hive Zalktraa scenario (see page 88).
- When a gang is challenged, they may accept or decline. If the challenge is accepted, a battle is fought. If the challenge is declined, the Sympathiser is automatically claimed by the challenger.
- If a gang receives two or more challenges within a single campaign cycle, they may decline the second and any subsequent challenges without penalty.
- If a player has played all outstanding battles (including their issued challenge and any challenges accepted) and there is still time left in the campaign cycle, they may issue another challenge. The gang that wins the battle takes control of the Sympathiser (or retains control of the Sympathiser, as the case may be). If the battle results in a draw:
- During the Great Darkness phase, neither gang takes control of the Sympathiser if the Sympathiser is unclaimed.
- During the Spark of Rebellion phase, the gang that controlled the Sympathiser before the battle retains control of the Sympathiser.
Scenario Selection Table
When a challenge is issued, roll 2D6 on the table below to determine which scenario is used. If the scenario dictates there is an attacker and a defender, the player that issued the challenge is the attacker. Where there is a choice of two scenarios, the first scenario should be played in the Great Darkness phase and the second one in the Spark of Rebellion phase.
| 2D6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | The player with the greater number of Sympathisers chooses which scenario to play. If both players have the same number of Sympathisers, the winner of a roll-off chooses which scenario to play. |
| 4-5 | Play the Fall of Badzones Outpost or the Parley Showdown scenario. |
| 6-7 | Play the Gunk War or the Battle of the Riftways scenario. |
| 8-9 | Play the Out of the Storm or the Street Fight scenario. |
| 10-12 | The player with fewer Sympathisers chooses which scenario to play. If both players have the same number of Sympathisers, the winner of a roll-off chooses which scenario to play. |