Necromunda RPG? Thoughts and Feelings...

I like Necromunda. I first played it when it was originally released in the 90s, stopped when I moved away from minis games generally, and came back to it a few years ago. 

I have always thought that Necromunda was probably the best of the Games Workshop games to turn into a role playing game (well, that and Mordheim). And lo and behold, it has been revealed in the Big Autumn Preview from Games Workshop, that they are releasing a Necromunda role playing game. As a fan of role playing games, and as a fan of Necromunda, I should be excited, but instead I have mixed feelings, like I've ordered something new off the menu at a favourite restaurant. I'm keen to learn more, but reservedly keen. This isn't what I'd normally order, feels a little outside their wheelhouse, and I'm not 100% confident in the chef's ability to carry through, but I have to admit, I'm curious...

From the Warhammer Community Announcement

The 40K universe has been the reliable heart of Games Workshop since it's conception. But 40K as a role playing game is less interesting, to me in any case. The setting of the 40K universe, from the 40K lens, is militaristic and soaked in themes that started out as parodies of issues in the real world, like facism, but which I feel translate less well into a narrative game where one's avatar in the game participates in the narrative machinery that was originally written to mock those issues. Maybe I am not giving that lens on the setting due consideration, maybe I am overthinking it, or maybe I don't understand it well enough. But I don't feel that the heavier and more satirical aspects of the setting translate well into a role playing game, and that you can often end up like that classic Mitchell and Webb skit, asking: "Are we the baddies?" Maybe that's the point, but it doesn't feel like it's sustainable.

I do feel that from an RPG perspective, Necromunda is a better lens on the 40K setting, funnily enough, than 40K. Necromunda is connected to the military-industrial complex of the universe, but it is also separated from it. It feels like a setting where more is possible, particularly from the point of view of having characters change social position, question and act upon their own evolving morality, be elevated by their successes, and so on. This allows it more room, in my mind at least, for the characters to have the freedom to act, grow, explore, and step outside the boundaries to observe the system from without. It feels, in short, like a setting where a greater variety of stories is sustainable.

Games Workshop have mentioned a little about the system. It'll feature a D100 roll under system, characters will have skills, talents, and aptitudes. It looks like skills are standard RPG skills, Talents are special abilities, and Aptitudes look like they are divided between skill categories and stats, and if I was to guess I'd say they are probably linked to character development. It looks like the system will have some level of transfer from the minis game to the RPG, and perhaps back the other way. Combat will use a board, and miniatures, and perhaps some level of transfer with the Zone Mortalis rules will come into play here.

Content shot from the Games Workshop preview article.

So why the hesitation? I like Necromunda, I like the setting, I like role playing games, so what's the issue?

The first issue is that Games Workshop have positioned this game (so far) as a game master representing an Arbitrator, and the player characters representing bounty hunting Venators. I wrote a lot for the Infinity RPG, published by Modiphius, which elected to place the characters into the role of O-12 Bureau Noir agents, and that, I feel, was an unnecessary limitation. Similarly the decision to position the game as one where the characters are bounty hunting Venators seems to cut off some of the flexibility in the setting that I feel it has over other brands in the same universe. But... this may just be the window dressing for the starter adventures, I hope so.

I suppose for me the biggest issue rests on the reliance on miniatures. When I play RPGs I don't tend to use boards and figures, and when maps are required it tends to be illustrative. I prefer games that are theatre of the mind. I don't like tactical combat in my RPGs, that is why I play games like Necromunda, Mordheim. 

I'll be keen to see if there are rules or suggestions for playing the RPG without maps, but I can also understand Games Workshop's design goals here: they manufacture miniatures. It makes sense to create a game system that is going to ask players to buy more stuff, and the more stuff that Games Workshop already create and are good at creating is miniatures.

I tend to play most of my RPG games with friends online. I like getting together face-to-face, but it's so much easier to coordinate our schedules when we can simply jump on the computer, as opposed to physically meeting somewhere, especially when we all have families and children.

How well will the Necromunda RPG translate to theatre of mind? Hopefully Games Workshop will explore this more when it comes to the next update, which they suggested would be soon. Until then I am guessing: probably not that well. I imagine that a good number of the Talents in the game will draw directly from the Skills that gang members in the Skimish version of Necromunda can gain, as seems to be supported by the character sheet image they used in the preview. These 'Skills/Talents' are built for a skirmish game, and while they have no doubt been reimagined for the RPG, the question remains, how much of the skirmish game was altered to be RPG like, or how much of the RPG was designed to be skirmish like. From what we have seen so far, the answer seems to lean toward the latter.

A mock-up of the cover for Necromunda 'Roleplay', from the Preview article.

Games Workshop get a lot of stick for their pricing, and often rightfully so. But one thing I think they tend to do well, and despite the high cost (believe me, as an Australian, it is a high cost), is put value for money into their boxed sets. We don't know what Necromunda the RPG will retail for, but for a box containing a hard cover rules book, dice of many kinds, two battle mats, 11 player hand outs (which feels like too many), a pad of character sheets, a GM Screen, and 18 miniatures (which look amazing I might add) feels like pretty reasonable value if they keep it to a similar price as say the Blood Bowl or Necromunda boxed sets (which is what I imagine it will be, if not a little cheaper).

Time will tell on all of these things are issues I guess. All said and done, I have long felt that the messy and conflicted world of the Underhive would make the perfect setting for an RPG, how will this one fare? We shall see.