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cinematic action that attracts us. Necromunda has always

seemedto me to be a good setting for this kind of gratuitous
fun, and so I starled thinking about a few scenarioideas,based
Hey kid, didn't think I'd see around some of my favourite B-movie cliches.
ya back hereso soon.Thought
'nough
ya had last time. So
what brings ya back down to
The best way to start if you want to create and play this sort of
the Badzones? Ahhh.,. I
scenario,is to watch a few appropriately low-budget fi1ms. Old
should've guessed. It's always the same. Someone starts
'bout a new 'techdome they've discovered black and white movies are always being shown on late night
spreadin'rumours
television (although you should only bother with the horror
and pretty soon every ganger and his rat wanna piece. Yastart
and science fiction movies, ignoring the Cary Grant comedy
imaginin' all those richesjust waitin'for ya, but there'ssome
romances and the subtitled French art house flicks), and these
places dotvn here that go beyond imaginin'. Places that even
can give you some great plot ideas.If you need some of our
1,anightmareshidefrom. Placesbest left undiscovered... personal recommendations,ffy the Thing from Another World
Among the many diversions that the White Dwarf crew find to or Fiend Without a Face (Adrian's favourites), the Thing (Ian's
entertain themselves. one of the favourites is "cult" science top choice) or the original Night of the Living Dead (my pick,
fiction and horror movies.There'sjust somethingabouta gang but only really suitable for our more mature readers).
of Mutant Radioactive Zombie Bikers from HeIl (or whatever) Forbidden Planel is anotherclassic that's well worth watching.
stomping their way through ninety minutes of roller-coaster A lot of the old episodesof programmes like Doctor Who or
the Twilight Zone can
also be excellent sources
for plot ideas.

Over the next few pages

I've taken some of my
favourite B-movie
themes and plots, and
suggestedways that they
can be used and adapted
for Necromunda. I've
also taken one particular
theme, the classic
Zombie fest, and
developed it into a full
blown Arbitrator
scenario, Hive of the
Living Dead. Enjoy, and
remember,be afraid...

The Goliaths look on

helplesslyas an unfortunate
Juve tries to fight off a huge
swarm of hideously mutated
giant spiders!
 HIVE OF THE truIIIG DEAD
Yeah,I remember the tirre, somepoor fools got 'emselves
trapped at Hive Bottom, worst pit of desolation this side
of hell. Wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, really I
wouldn't. Not only that , but as they tried to find their wuy
out theyfound themselyesbeing hunted down and eaten,
one by one, by a whole bunch of Zombies. Only one
escapedto tell the tale and he was driven stark, starin7
mad by the earcrience.

An individual or group who are suddenly isolated from

normal civilisation is one of the most common themes rn
horror B-movies. Frequently, the main charactersare cut
off from society as they know it, where they are forced to
confront their worst fears. My first scenario idea came about
from this type of theme. Many situations can adse which will
causegangersto become separatedfrom their gangs,and in the
Underhive this is not a pleasant situation to be in at the best of
times. Unfortunately, times have a nasty habit of seldom being
at their best when you want them to be...

IIUTO THE DEPTHS

There are several ways of getting into this scenario.The most many gang members will take
straightforward way is to simply grab one or more players who part in total. If you have more
want to take part. Roll a dice and add two to the result (giving than one player involved then
a value between three and eieht) to divide this number as equally as
determine how possible among al1 the players.
The actual gangers involved
should be determined randomly.

However, the second way of getting into this scenario is much

more interesting,and much more fun! Wait, and bide your time
until a suitable occasion arises. Many of the Hazardous
Conditions,especiallyHive Quakes,are excellentfor this. As
the ground begins to tremble and quake, gantries collapse and
great rends are tofir beneath the gangs' feet, plunging random
gang members into the depths of the Hive. Again, you can
decide the gang members randomly as above, or choose them
appropriately (for example, instead of gangers going out of
action from a Hive Quake, have them plunged into the horrors
of this scenario instead!) However they get there, the selected
gangers soon find themselves very lost, in a place they most
definitely do not want to be.

UI'HERE ARE THET?

After tumbling and falling through sewer ducts and air shafts,
down garbagechutes and sludge pipes, the gangershave ended
up in the depths of the Hive Bortom. No other life is visible,
and even by Necromundan standardsthe area they are in is
ruinous and inhospitable. As they begin to realise their
predicament, they notice shambling figures shifting though
the shadows.Things are about to get a whole lot worse...

The object of the scenario is for the players to fight their way
out, past the hordes of Plague Zombies that are closing in on
them, and escapeback uphive. This is not easy.Not only is no
one quite sure of the way, but for every Zombie blown away or
dismembered another two seem to appear to take its place.
Pustulant hands claw at the gangers' feet as they flee, the
rotting victims of the Zombie Plague eager to feed upon fresh
flesh.And the gangersonly have so much ammo...
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The Arbitrator should set up all the terrain for this scenario The gangers always get the first turn. lf more than one player
himself. There are several terrain features that should be is participating,then either let them sort olrt their own turn
placedduring this stage.Firstly, there must be an escapepoint sequence,or deciderandomly ifthey are unableto do this (tut,
somewhere on the table. This can be anything you like, tutl They'll have to learn to co-operatesooneror later... ). The
perhapsa hatchwayon a piece of tenain, or a large open pipe Arbitrator then takes his turn norma11y.However, at the end of
leading off out of sight. Make sure that it is something quite each Zombie turn the Arbitrator may ro11a dice and place that
definite,though,ratherthanjust a point on the table.This is the many extra Zombies on the table.Thesear"edeployedjust like
only way the gang members can escape.Unfortunately, at the the initial Zombies, anywhere outside the sanctuary,but no
startof the game,none of the playersknow where this point is. closerthan 8" to any gang member.In addition,they have the
Only when one of their modelsapproacheswithin eight inches extrarestdctionthat they must be placedwithin 8" of a Zombie
of the escaperoute should you reveal its exact location. Note already on the table. If there are no Zombies on the table
that there are no bottle tests in this scenario - none of the alreadythen the new onesmay ignore this restriction-
sangerswould know where to run. Neither can the gangers
The game continuesuntil all the gang membersinvolved have
escape off any tabie edge. The only way out is through the
either been taken out of action or have managedto escape.
designatedescaperoute.
Secondly,you shoulddefine a "sanctuary"in the middle of the At the end of the game, instead of rolling on the norrnal injury
table. This is an area that the Zombies are unable to enter. table fbr gangerstaken out of action, roll on rheZontbie Plague
Perhapslight shinesdown from uphive on this particularspot, Table below.
or maybe the strange, ancient looking obelisks that circle it Make no mistake,surviving this scenariois (or at least should
cLeate an aura that the Zombies fear. While we were be) very difficult. Anyone who survivesand makestheir way
playtestingthe scenarioI useda ruined templeas the sanctuary back uphive wil1, without a doubt, earn a reputationas one of
- I felt that this gave the right sort of feel to the game, creating
the most iron-hard, tough gangers in the Hive. Instead of
a sort of holy "sacredzone". acquiring experiencefor escapingfrom the Zombie lair, any
The playersmust deploy first. The unfortunatesmust be placed
anywhere inside the sanctuary at the start of the game. Roll a
dice to see how many Zombies the Arbitrator (or Zombie
player) startswith. These may be deployedanywhereoutside
the sanctuary,but no closer than 8" to any gang member.
 surviving gangmembersshouldmake a roll on
"'"1-$
i:-gLt$F-,:tfEl,i!i5,i:',::i:fir;ii:E
Tii$i:iit :1i1i'ili+1ffilli::ij''9
it,-,ll4i:E!i1J,i1"" the "I survived the Zombie /dirl" table to find
D6 Roll Result o u t t h eb e n e f i to
s f t h e i ro u t i n g .
1 Killer Rep. Stories of the gang member's brutal and bloody
escapefrom the Zombie lair quickly spread through the Hive. The gang ,' jri+fil.;ii,:1iir#s-"ijR,s'FlEitr
member automatically gets the Killer Reputatioizskill. As it stands,this scenariois designedlbr fairly
2 Discovery. Crawling their way back uphive, the gang member novice gangs.However,it is a simple matterto
stumbles upon an ancient and well-hidden opening. Roll another dice to rnakeit easieror tougherfor the players.If you
determine what sort of territory the opening leads to. The gang may add feel the need to make it easier, the most
this territory to those it already possesses. straightforwardway is to limit the maximum
1-2 Old Ruins number of Zombies on the table at one time.
3 Spore Cave Making the sanctuary larger, or making the
4 Tunnels escaperoute closer to the sanctuary,or more
5 Vents obvious,are also effectivechanges.
6 Archeotech Hoard
Conversely, to make the scenario more
3 Archeotech. During the battle against the Zombies, the gang
difficult, you can make the sanctuarysmaller,
member stumbled across a strange and ancient looking device. The
and hide the escaperoute away in a distant
ganger may add this item of Archeotech to his equipment list. Roll on the
corner of the table. To make it more difficult
Archeotech table in the Outlandersrulebook to find out exactly what sort
still, you could tell the playersthat during their
of device it is.
tumbling journey into the Underhive,they lost
4 Iron Will. Having faced the horrors of the Zombie lair, little ammo supplies,so that they must now make
that the Hive has to offer now will perturb this gang leader. The gang ammo checkson a roll of five or six, insteadof
leader automatically acquires the Iron Will skill. Re-roll this result for just the normal roll of six. To nake it really,
any gang member other than the gang leader. really tough, you can always introduce some
5 ttl remember when...
" Your gang member now has some extra enemiesother than the Zombies.Perhaps
truly frightening first hand anecdotesto keep the Juvesin line. After each there are also someScavviesor Scalieslurking
game that this gang member participates in, instead of working for amongstthe shadows,or maybe even Karloth
income or searchingfor rare trade items, they may try and impress some Valois himself is guiding the Zombies?
Juvesenoughto join the gang.Roli a dice, and on a roll of 6 you may add Additionally, you can make the sanctuary
a new Juve to your gang just as if you had a Settlement teftitory. slightly less safe- maybe you could allow the
6 Cruel and Pitiless. Constantly haunted by nightmares of the Zombies to enter this area if they can pass a
fight with the Zombies, the gang member has been left cold and heartless. leadershiptest,or say that after a fixed number
The gangerhas becomecompletelycruel and pititess,and any time this of turns the Zombiesovercometheir fear of the
character takes out an opponent in hand-to-hand combat you may force sanctuaryand may then enter it freely.
them to re-roll their serious injury ro11if they make a full recovery.
Ihis scenario can also be played solo or without an
Arbitrator quite easily. Shuffle together eight or ten
playing cards, one of which is an ace. Scatter these at
suitablelocations around the table top. Whenever you
get within eight inches of one of these cards you may , , ; ' . 1=: : ;, ,; , : ;. . "':,:,1..,] : : , , . ,; : ' : : .: = , ,:,; , : ; , ' , , . . . .
rurn it over, the ace representing the escaperoute. Each turn
the Zombies will move at full pace towards the nearestganger. Of course,there are still countlessother variants and ideas that
When placing new Zombies, detemine randomly where they you can steal from your favourite B-movies. Rather than
are placed as follows: randomly select a Zombie already on the develop theseinto ful1 blown scenarios,I've just given some
table. Then roll a normal dice toqether with a scatterdice to basic plot outlines that
determinehow far and in which direction the new Zombie
is placed from the existing one. You can even team up
with severalof your mates to play the scenariotogether 1n
this way. You can each take it in tums to move and fight
with the Zombies. It helps if one of the players has a
Warhammer Undead anny, so that you can borrow all his
Zombiesto use! ?ER*o*
Remember that these events are terrifying and unusual tSiF$ rHH
rI
even by Necromundan standards,so they should only
really be run as a one off. This sort of scenario is much
*e,*xa*_-{tHpFRrtil;
oil*f,***o
too dangerous for regular play! Once you've played it .:,=:.:.ffry
through, you can always try and devise some follow on ,il"[,]#_jTJllituP#, q
scenariosto carry on the theme (yes, just like with the t"*'r,,*. o'i
"""mij "ji','fl'*11s.,t"
movies, you too can have several cheesy sequels!) iffi1frff.:Iffir:ffis,kr$l
Perhaps after retuming uphive the gang decides to
mount an expedition back down to the depths to *ffi.#l##ffffigy,;:;
recover any gang members who didn't manage to
escape.Or maybe the Zombies manage to follow the
gangers after they escape, finding a route to the
Gang's base! Pretty soon total carnage erupts as the
Zombie plague spreads throughout the hive, with
armies of brain-dead flesh-eatersfighting against the
massedgangsdefendingtheir homes...
 you can work up properly yourselves.You can ue Hive of the
Living Dead as an exampleof how to do this sort of thing. It's
really not very difficult to create your own scenariosonce you
get into it, so why not give it a go?

gT {At$rH FF{*fin TF{E SttltftF

Another situation that arises as the central theme of countless
horor and sciencefiction movies is where the main characters
are trapped and hunted down, one by one, by something
deadly, huge, and usually unseen until the very last reel. The
Thingfrom Another World or Fiend without a Face areperhaps
the best examples of this sort of plot and, as we have already
seen,are particularfavouritesofAdrian's.

You can quite easily createa scenariowhere the players'gangs

are trapped in a secluded and abandonedsection of the Hive.
Abandoned, that is, except for a single horrific monster. The
gangerscannot know how it got there - maybe it was a genetic
experiment gone wrong, or perhapsit stowed away on board a
cargo vessel traveiling from a distant world. You can pick a
creaturefrom the Underhive bestiary section ofthe Outlanders
rulebook, or even just invent a monster yourself. This second
option is particularly good if you can convert a suitably
horrific model to use. I've recently been trying out using
creatures from Warhammer 40,000 in some Necromunda
games,and have even had a couple of gangsgoing up against
a Lictor(!). Rather than having to kill the monster, all the
gangershad to do was survive until a timelocked door opened,
sparing them a truly horrific fate. Perhapsin a future scenario
they'll get the oppoftunity to go back and finish the job off (or
perhapsthe Lictor will ger rhat EAN'TEO APF'E/TFIJTHCES
chance!)
\ You don't even need to create a full-blown scenario to be able
to capture the cult movie feel in your games. You can have
cameo type sub-plot that run through your campaign and find
their way into games when the players are least expecting it.
When Andy Chambers was running the Studio campaign we
had a sub-plot going on for several weeks with a Cyborg
Assassin hiding out in the Underhive. The Cyborg could
change shape freely, so you could never know who it was
disguised as at any one time. I've included the rules for the
Cyborg Assassin(on the previous page) just as Andy wrote
them, so you can seehow simple it is to work this kind of thing
into your games. The trade delegation bombing that Andy
mentions refers to an event that had happened the previous
week in our Studiocampaign.
There are also countless ideas that you can add to your basic
theme to add even more depth, and make it even more
tenifying. How about making a scenario where the gang,s
Juvesare cut off from the rest of the gang and forced to survive
against some truly terrifying monstrosity (maybe a Spyrer?).
Perhaps the gang's weapons have been rendered ineffective
for some reason,or the creaturethey face is simply immune to
them. They will have to improvise ways of fighting their way
out instead.
Just remember that there are hundredsupon hundreds of films
that you can take ideas from, and not nearly enough space
here to describe all of them. So if you ever need more
inspiration, then go and find yourself an old black and white
B-movie. Let's see,Fiend Withouta Face,I haven't seenthat
one yet... Gangersbeware!