New Necromunda RPG

[schoon]

Newly announced here, it looks like GW has decided to throw their hat into the RPG ring, something they haven't tried since the old Black Industries days.

 

It seems they've decided to go with a Percentile resolution system based on a mix of 1-100 and 1-10 stats. Seems very similar to Imperium Maledictum from [Cubicle 7.

 

I'm a sucker for any 40K RPG, so I'll be picking this one up as well.

 

Thoughts on what we've seen thus far?

[BadgersinHills]

Quite excited for this! Will try to pick up a box and press gang some friends to play it 

[schoon]

Thankfully, I have a built in game group that's played off and on since the old Black Industries days. We've been playing Wrath and Glory for a while and will skip over Imperium Maledictum, straight to this.

[Griefbringer]

There was also a thread about this on the News and Rumours section, though admittedly the discussion there may have focused on other things than the actual roleplaying aspects of the game.

 

 

[Trokair]

 

 

I am slightly confused by the preview and these two stats pages in particular, as some stats a are now out of 100, but others seem to still be normal GW table top range (S and T for example). The skills section however appears to have stats out of 100 again, even when refereeing back to stats that on the stats line are single digits.

[Mazer Rackham]

It's a hybrid d100/d10 system, AFAIK.

 

Why not go the whole hog for percentile, I'll never know. Maybe it was to keep the boardgame feel?

 

It does remind me strongly of Advanced Heroquest, so there's that.

[Xin Ceithan]

On 9/27/2026 at 11:06 AM, Mazer Rackham said:

…

 

It does remind me strongly of Advanced Heroquest, so there's that.

There is certainly more of board game feel to it from what we have been shown so far.

it is certainly no surprise that they would focus on a game that requires miniatures for both heroes and minions. It’s what their business is all about after all.

 

But I won’t complain tif the mini is are nice and it means they continue to support the the setting , maybe even expand on the fluff for Necromunda. 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

1 hour ago, Xin Ceithan said:

it is certainly no surprise that they would focus on a game that requires miniatures for both heroes and minions. It’s what their business is all about after all.

 

I dig that, and that didn't really tingle my jingle at all, because when I'm running a session at a table, we use 40k Minis and terrain all the time. The guys made minis the same way as some of the Nookies do.

 

It's just that board is a bit...small? I mean even Heroquest had a bigger board than that. In the Forty-First-and-a-half Millennium things don't fold? ;p

[Griefbringer]

The boards (7 x 10 squares) look a bit on the small side, and they do not look like they would pretty conveniently lock with other boards. That said, there is a chance that the game is actually rather RPG-ish, and that there is an actual investigative element that happens "off the board" which is then only borken out for the action.

 

On another note, is that "Luther Pattern Excavation Automata" something that actually exists in Necromunda, or a new addition? The idea of mating a powerful cyborg body with the brains of an Ambull is wonderfully grimdark concept (though seiously lacking in work safety department).

[Xin Ceithan]

9 minutes ago, Griefbringer said:

…. That said, there is a chance that the game is actually rather RPG-ish, and that there is an actual investigative element that happens "off the board" which is then only borken out for the action.

This where I am hoping  that they expand on the „daily routine\ off combat“ side of the setting.  But in the end I see no problem for anyone with even a little GM experience to get some RP‘ing happening between the shooting. 
 

19 minutes ago, Griefbringer said:

..On another note, is that "Luther Pattern Excavation Automata" something that actually exists in Necromunda, or a new addition? The idea of mating a powerful cyborg body with the brains of an Ambull is wonderfully grimdark concept (though seiously lacking in work safety department).

Yup. That beauty has been in Necromunda for a while. And among maypole of shame…looks like I‘m getting a another shove  to finally put some paint on it 

[Mazer Rackham]

2 hours ago, Xin Ceithan said:

This where I am hoping  that they expand on the „daily routine\ off combat“ side of the setting.  But in the end I see no problem for anyone with even a little GM experience to get some RP‘ing happening between the shooting. 

 

'Deer die-ary, 

 

Tooday, me an Gobber went splunging in the sump, but I put a bit of grox in Gobber's swimmin' kicks, and the sump croc chased us all the way down the chube! Was such fun, two-morrow, me and some of the lads are going to get one of the wooden doors and tie Gobber to eet, and float it for Crocidilus Maximuth. Or sommat. And then we's gonna set fire to the mattress we stick him on!

 

N.e.way that's wots were going to do morrow.

 

My quiff is looking proper manky by the way, probly all the carsingenic in the water.

 

Anyhoo, off to grab some grub and gonk, and then maybe play 'shoot the lice of Gobber's nut' with Flex's laspistol.

 

Night.'

[Griefbringer]

The provided character sheet for the Escher Assassin includes Tracking and Intimidate in the skill, both of which sound like something that would be useful primarily outside a combat situation. Though I guess a succesful series of Tracking test might lead to things escalating into a combat - and the same might also happen after a badly failed Intimidate test with the wrong person.

 

And of course, once the characters have tracked down and beaten the target and collected bounty, it is time to head to the local watering hole for a bottle or two of Second Best!

[Mazer Rackham]

4 minutes ago, Griefbringer said:

...once the characters have tracked down and beaten the target and collected bounty....

 

Depends on who your GM is...

 

5 minutes ago, Griefbringer said:

...it is time to head to the local watering hole for a bottle or two of Second Best!

 

Sounds like the capture and payday are the 'downtime' because that watering hole sounds like a good place for a punch up!

[Griefbringer]

A proper punch-up with Gobber and his sump-sucking mateys is just part of the relaxation for a bunch of serious underhivers!

 

As for the "depends on your GM" aspect, if the brave (?) bounty hunters can afford to get a bottle of Wildsnake with their barbequed rats when it gets dinner time, then the GM has been rather generous with the payments...

[Griefbringer]

More seriously, it seems that the weapon ranges in the rules are given in what I presume to be meters (ie. in-universe units), which sounds seriously RPGish, compared to measuring things in squares (board-gamish) or in table-top inches. The humble laspistol in the hands of Escher assassin is given rather respectable 120m (*) long range for the weapon. And the melta and grav cutters on the Ambot have 60m and 120m long ranges. In the often cramped underhive conditions, those kind of ranges are often more than enough (**).

 

(*) Actually, in proper metric notation there is a space between numerical value and unit (120 m). Which to my knowledge is also standard practice for Imperial units (2 in, 4 ft, 5 lbs, 15 cwt), with the exception of the shorthand ' and " notations for feet and inches respectively.

 

(**) Lice shooting games with laspistols are probably better played at relatively short ranges, though a lot depends on how badly mutated the lice in question are - some of the species infesting ogryns can be easily the size of a thumb.

[Mazer Rackham]

56 minutes ago, Griefbringer said:

As for the "depends on your GM" aspect, if the brave (?) bounty hunters can afford to get a bottle of Wildsnake with their barbequed rats when it gets dinner time, then the GM has been rather generous with the payments...

 

Depends on the wildsnake.

 

Is that fungus brew that's three coppers a time out of Huckster's Rough Corner Shop (Cos the corners are rough!), or is it the real stuff made from Endymion Constrictor that runs for forty-eight Thrones a glass?

 

17 minutes ago, Griefbringer said:

More seriously, it seems that the weapon ranges in the rules are given in what I presume to be meters (ie. in-universe units), which sounds seriously RPGish, compared to measuring things in squares (board-gamish) or in table-top inches. The humble laspistol in the hands of Escher assassin is given rather respectable 120m (*) long range for the weapon. And the melta and grav cutters on the Ambot have 60m and 120m long ranges. In the often cramped underhive conditions, those kind of ranges are often more than enough (**).

 

Interesting little crossover there from other ranges (and showing the Black Industries roots methinks), a Laspistol has 50m with long being twice that, and extreme being three times that, so 100m and 150m are fairly standard it seems.

 

I always found the 'Yards' from Inquisitor charming, and of course, the correct measurement for all Imperial weaponry.

 

17 minutes ago, Griefbringer said:

(*) Actually, in proper metric notation there is a space between numerical value and unit (120 m). Which to my knowledge is also standard practice for Imperial units (2 in, 4 ft, 5 lbs, 15 cwt), with the exception of the shorthand ' and " notations for feet and inches respectively.

 

I did not know that. Hmm. Interesting. I just mash it all together for speed.

 

17 minutes ago, Griefbringer said:

(**) Lice shooting games with laspistols are probably better played at relatively short ranges, though a lot depends on how badly mutated the lice in question are - some of the species infesting ogryns can be easily the size of a thumb.

 

Lice in this instance is actually a misnomer. Flex has a pet, albeit midget millosaur, (she calls him Mr Biscuits) which is just called worm, lice, grot, etc by the crew.

[Griefbringer]

12 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Lice in this instance is actually a misnomer. Flex has a pet, albeit midget millosaur, (she calls him Mr Biscuits) which is just called worm, lice, grot, etc by the crew.

 

Good point, ogryns can be quite fond of some of those things crawling on their skin, and consider them as pets. Others they may simply treat as snacks when they manage to locate them. In either case, it is better not to use them for laspistol target practice, as an ogryn can get quite miffled to see its favourite pet getting scorched to ashes - and they can be equally affected by anything that affects their food supplies. So better stick with shooting the lice you find infesting Gobber - he is less likely to miss them.

 

PS. Speaking of food supplies, if the underhive PCs are able to afford to eat real grox steak (never mind to stick leftovers inside Gobber's pants), then the GM is likely way too lenient with the rewards. Those grox steaks consumed uphive are expensive off-world exports, and even finding real one in underhive would be a special occasion. Then again, your average underhiver probably has very little idea what real grox steak tastes like, so enterprising merchants might be able to push well-marinated sump croc meat as grox (after all, the live critters share a similar look).

[Mazer Rackham]

3 hours ago, Griefbringer said:

PS. Speaking of food supplies, if the underhive PCs are able to afford to eat real grox steak...

 

Afford?

 

That's a funny way of saying 'redistribute', but ok. 

 

[Griefbringer]

Admittedly, there is a whole lot of stuff that happens to "fall off the back of a transport" in Necromunda, though not everybody tends to be happy about it...

 

Speaking of transports, the news blurb also mentions the prospect of the brave venators venturing outside the hive to the ash wastes in the search of their prey.

[Lathe Biosas]

I'm waiting for the inevitable "Most Dangerous Game" expansion.

 

Where my rich noble friends eat lavish meals, gossip endlessly, discuss the latest fashions in court and then go slap on Spyrer armour and hunt poor people for sport.

[schoon]

On 9/27/2026 at 1:18 AM, Trokair said:

I am slightly confused by the preview and these two stats pages in particular, as some stats a are now out of 100, but others seem to still be normal GW table top range (S and T for example). The skills section however appears to have stats out of 100 again, even when refereeing back to stats that on the stats line are single digits.

 

They did something similar in the early days of the Dark Heresy line.

 

In that case, all the stats were 1-100, but all but WS and BS had the option of just using the first digit for many rolls that didn't need the full 1-100 granularity.

 

I get the feeling they used the same concept for the new game.

 

Personally, I may go with an all 1-10 set of stats so you only need a d10 to resolve things. Won't really know until we see the book (or at least another preview with more info).

[Griefbringer]

Running a Spyrer hunter team might be something better fitting to the skirmish game - as a roleplaying theme it sounds a bit shallow. Granted, there is plenty of roleplaying potential in the scheming of the uphive fops, but less room for action - going slumming downstairs in spyrer rigs is a once-in-the-lifetime initiation rite for the young fops, not what adult fops are supposed to do.

 

That said, Spyrers might make challenging adversaries in the roleplaying game.

[Arikel]

1 hour ago, Griefbringer said:

Running a Spyrer hunter team might be something better fitting to the skirmish game - as a roleplaying theme it sounds a bit shallow. Granted, there is plenty of roleplaying potential in the scheming of the uphive fops, but less room for action - going slumming downstairs in spyrer rigs is a once-in-the-lifetime initiation rite for the young fops, not what adult fops are supposed to do.

 

That said, Spyrers might make challenging adversaries in the roleplaying game.

Not sure about munda but on many planets it’s seen as a pleasurable activity with just a hint of danger, as well as a way to keep up survival, fighting and shooting skills, much as hunting is today.

 

While it would be likely be considered eccentric and perhaps uncouth to spend all your time on it, I could definitely see noble families staging a hunt every few months, much as they would plan feasts and other parties to both impress and embarrass other noble clans.

[Lathe Biosas]

As for a Spryer game, you could set it up as a cross between Fantasy Flight's Rogue Trader and Deathwatch RPGs.

 

☆

 

As for bored nobles having fun, the Questoris Imperialis Knight House Cadmus likes to hunt mutants for sport... using Knight mechs.

[schoon]

8 hours ago, Griefbringer said:

Running a Spyrer hunter team might be something better fitting to the skirmish game - as a roleplaying theme it sounds a bit shallow. Granted, there is plenty of roleplaying potential in the scheming of the uphive fops, but less room for action - going slumming downstairs in spyrer rigs is a once-in-the-lifetime initiation rite for the young fops, not what adult fops are supposed to do.

 

That said, Spyrers might make challenging adversaries in the roleplaying game.

 

A Spyrer game need not be all about what they do with the rigs on.

 

There's inter-family rivalries, social challenges, missions to embarrass or implicate others in crimes, bribing the local Palanites, etc. and that just scratches the surface.