Resurrection Packages
Source: Necromunda: Apocrypha Necromunda (2024)
Life is cheap on Necromunda and death is always waiting just around the corner – usually with a renderizer in its meaty fists. But, occasionally, dead isn’t dead, and when a ganger buys it, sometimes, just sometimes, they come back. For whatever reason, be it unfinished business, xenos tech, or warp sorcery, the ganger has clawed their way out of the grave and returned to their gang. Of course, no one comes back from the beyond without paying a price and none return quite the same as before.
Resurrection Packages are a set of optional campaign rules for Arbitrators to introduce into their campaigns. They give players an opportunity to bring valued fighters back from the dead and return them to the ranks of their gang – but at a cost. In addition to giving the fighter a second chance – especially if they have died ignominiously, perhaps even in their first battle – Resurrection Packages are great storytelling tools for the Arbitrator, and with a little bit of work, entire campaigns can be built around them.
Using Resurrection Packages
Resurrection Packages are a tool for the Arbitrator, and can be used whenever a fighter is killed (i.e., they roll a Memorable Death result on the Lasting Injuries table, or die because of an untreated Critical Injury). As a general rule, Resurrection Packages should be reserved for important fighters, such as gang Leaders and Champions. When the chosen Leader or Champion dies, the player can ask the Arbitrator if they can use a Resurrection Package, or the Arbitrator can offer the player a chance to bring them back. Either the Arbitrator or player then chooses what kind of resurrection has taken place and its effects are applied to the fighter. In all cases, the fighter is then restored to life and returned to the player’s gang roster ready for the next battle, just as if they had rolled an Out Cold result on the Lasting Injury table.
Unless the Arbitrator has a particular kind of campaign in mind, it is recommended that each player only ever have one fighter with a Resurrection Package at a time, and that each fighter only uses the option once. If one player in the campaign has access to Resurrection Packages, then all players should. Coming back from the dead, of course, is not without its consequences, and each Resurrection Package includes three special rules: the Benefits, the Price, and the End Game.
Benefits
Being resurrected by alien technology, warp energy or the neuron plague has its benefits. While the fighter might be changed in some irrevocable way, it does mean they are probably tougher, more frightening, or gifted with new and potent abilities. Each Resurrection Package bestows upon the fighter one or more Benefits, and they will be listed in this section.
Price
Returning from the grave always comes at a cost. The fighter might owe a powerful organisation a debt that can only be repaid in blood, or perhaps their body is no longer their own, their flesh slowly being consumed by ancient archeotech or a hungering warp entity. Each Resurrection Package comes with a Price that must be paid, and it will be listed in this section.
End Game
Resurrection is, at best, a temporary method of staving off the cold embrace of death. A fighter that comes back from the dead does so for a reason, and it is a reason that cannot be ignored. Whether it is getting revenge on their killer, spreading a zombie virus or sacrificing captives to the Dark Gods, each Resurrection Package has its own End Game and it will be listed in this section.
A Debt of Blood
There are few things that create loyalty like the gift of unexpected life. The moment when a soul believes they will plunge into the abyss but then finds themselves still hanging by a thread, is a moment that the powerful can use to forge servants who will be loyal for the rest of their lives. For some, it is a gunshot that they thought would end their life, but instead saw their killer dead at the hands of an angel with a smile and an offer. For others, it is the chirurgeon with silver-bladed fingers who saves them and then moves aside to let their benefactor lay out the terms of this good fortune. No matter what, a debt of blood is a path back to a life lived at the end of a string.
Benefits: When this Resurrection Package is chosen, the Arbitrator or the player must choose a Criminal, Guild or Noble ally. The fighter’s gang immediately enters into an Alliance with the chosen faction, forsaking all other allies. While the resurrected fighter is alive, the gang will always be allied to the chosen faction. In addition, extra fighters gained from the allies (e.g., Guild representatives or Criminal allies, etc.) ignore the A Band Apart rules, and so count as part of the fighter’s gang, can gain XP (using the gang’s Skill tables for skills and Advancements) and suffer Lasting Injuries. Note that, if they die, they are not replaced.
Price: The fighter’s gang must change their alignment to match that of their new allies (i.e., if they were a Law Abiding gang and a Criminal alliance was made, they must become an Outlaw gang). In addition, the fighter’s gang can never voluntarily Test the Alliance with their new allies.
End Game: The cost levied by the allies is always a hefty one. After each battle the fighter’s gang wins, the fighter must either hand themselves over to their allies, or give up a gang member (not including Hired Guns or fighters gained through their allies). The chosen fighter is removed from the gang roster. This continues until this fighter surrenders to their allies, at which point the Alliance is broken.
Archeo-Rebirth
There are secrets that are best left in the past, secrets of iron and the turning wheel that belong to a long forgotten part of Mankind’s history. Once, there were machines that could ape the thoughts of humans, devices that could unravel matter and even halt the rotation of life into death. Such secrets exist now in only the most shunned scraps of techno-mythos. But down in the depths of Necromunda, where the past still dreams in the underworld, it is said that the machine spectres of bio-ferrum infusion, nerve tendril merger and Sarcosan wave generators can still be found.
Benefits: A living piece of abominable technology has affixed itself to the fighter’s body, burrowing mechatendrils deep inside their flesh. If the wearer suffers a Lasting Injury result of Humiliated, Head Injury, Eye Injury, Hand Injury, Hobbled, Spinal Injury or Enfeebled, they count the result as Out Cold instead. Each time the fighter avoids a Lasting Injury in this way, make a note of it.
Price: Whatever esoteric technology is keeping the fighter alive, it has also burrowed its way into their brain. Whenever the fighter activates, they must roll a D6. If the result is equal to or less than the total number of times they have avoided a Lasting Injury (see Benefits), they gain the Insane Condition.
End Game: Eventually, the fighter will become more machine than human. If the fighter has ever avoided 6 Lasting Injuries since taking this Resurrection Package (see Benefits), they vanish into the underhive never to be seen again, and the player must remove them from their gang roster.
Daemonic Possession
Beyond the veil of reality, Daemons swim in the great ocean of emotion and nightmare that is the Warp. Ever hungry for souls and the promise of reality, they seek for ways into the world of the living. Drawn to mortals, like an insect to a candle flame, the Daemon can use the moment of death to slide into a body, consuming the last shreds of soul as it does, like a hatchling feeding on the yolk of its egg. Such a possession cannot last, for the Daemon’s grip on dead flesh is weak, but while it does, they may walk in the realm of the living and sate their hunger for suffering and death.
Benefits: There is a supernatural horror that emanates from the fighter, infecting all around them. The fighter gains the Fearsome skill if they do not have it, and enemy fighters must pass a Cool test to target them with ranged weapons. In addition, they gain the Nonsanctioned Psyker special rule and may generate a random Wyrd Power from the Helot Chaos Cult Wyrd Powers list (see Necromunda: The Book of Ruin).
Price: The Daemon within the fighter demands souls if it is to get stronger. For as long as the fighter remains with the gang, during each post-battle sequence (whether the fighter was part of the player’s crew or not), the fighter decreases their Toughness characteristic by one, unless they performed a Coup de Grace action during the battle, or the player sacrifices one of their other fighters (a sacrificed fighter is killed just as if they had rolled a Memorable Death result on the Lasting Injury table). If the fighter’s Toughness ever reaches 0, they are dead for good!
End Game: Once the Daemon has consumed its fill, it will no longer need the fighter, breaking free of the weak mortal vessel. Each time the fighter takes a soul (i.e., performs a Coup de Grace action or a friendly fighter is sacrificed), make a note. In the post-battle sequence, before deciding whether or not to sacrifice a friendly fighter (see Price), roll 2D6. If the result is equal to or lower than the number of souls the fighter has consumed, they are immediately killed as the Daemon breaks free!
Dark Pact
There are things that listen to the dreams and fears of mortals, things that live past the shadow line that separates reality from that which lies beyond. Some call these things gods, others call them Daemons. In the depths of Hive Primus, there are those that whisper of the Seven Pale Spinners, the Burning Ones, the Lord of Skin and Sinew, and the Horned Darkness. No matter their name, or why mortals call to them, there is one truth – they listen. And should a lost soul desire to live beyond their allotted span, the Daemons and gods can grant that last wish… for a price.
Benefits: The fighter may perform a Dark Ritual during the post-battle sequence, just as if they were part of a Helot Chaos Cult gang (see Necromunda: The Book of Ruin). If the fighter is already part of a Helot Chaos Cult gang then they may add 2 to the dice roll when performing Dark Rituals. In addition, they gain the Non-sanctioned Psyker special rule and may generate a random Wyrd Power from the Helot Chaos Cult Wyrd Powers list.
Price: The fighter’s gang cannot sell Captives to the Guilders, and must instead sacrifice them to the Dark Gods, just as if they were a Helot Chaos Cult gang. If they are already part of a Helot Chaos Cult gang then this has no extra effects. In addition, the sinister reputation of the fighter has gotten around and the gang becomes an Outlaw gang.
End Game: It is the will of the Dark Gods to bestow terrible gifts upon their servant. Once the fighter’s gang has sacrificed three captives to the Ruinous Powers, the fighter is transformed into a Chaos Spawn and may be retained by the gang, whether or not the gang is a Helot Chaos Cult gang.
Ravenous Zombie
The dead do not rest easy in the underhives of Necromunda. Zombie plagues have spread and multiplied. From the Widow Walkers of Hive Primus and Hive Quartus, the Rattle Shrouds of the wastes, to the Pox Walkers that have all but overwhelmed Hive Mortis, all are hungering undead, driven to spread their curse to others. Such a fate is only to be feared, but a few desperate fighters might even seek to taint the flesh of a dying comrade so that they may walk again.
Benefits: The fighter cannot be pinned, ignores Flesh Wounds and automatically passes any Cool tests they are required to take. In addition, while weapons with the Blaze trait can set them on fire, while they are on fire they only suffer the additional damage component of the Blaze rule, and may otherwise act normally.
Price: The fighter becomes a zombie (see Zombies! as follows).
End Game: The fighter is inexorably driven to create more zombies. After each battle, one randomly determined fighter in the player’s gang becomes a zombie (see Zombies! as follows). Once a fighter is a zombie, they cannot be deleted from the gang roster during the post-battle sequence. Once every fighter in the gang is a zombie, it is disbanded as they wander off into the underhive looking for fresh meat…
Zombies!
Zombies in Necromunda are an all too common occurrence, each infestation created in its own unique way, though they all share certain traits. While a fighter is a zombie, they may only ever take a single action in each of their activations, suffer a -4 to the hit roll with all weapons that do not have the Melee or Versatile trait, treat the Charge (Double) action as a Basic action, and must perform the Charge (Basic) action or Coup de Grace (Simple) action, if able. They also cannot perform Group Activations with fighters who are not also zombies.
Revenant
Revenge is a power that can deny the dead the peace of the grave. Driven by immortal hate, the revenant is a figure who lives again to perform one deed alone – to pull those who wronged them into death with them.
Benefits: When this Resurrection Package is chosen, make a note of the enemy fighter responsible for the resurrected fighter’s death. If the resurrected fighter wasn’t killed by an enemy fighter (e.g., they fell to their death, etc.,), then choose the Leader of the enemy gang the resurrected fighter was facing when they died. Whenever the resurrected fighter faces this chosen enemy, they may re-roll failed to hit and to wound rolls, as well as the Injury dice, when making attacks against them.
Price: The fighter must try to kill their killer. Each time their gang doesn’t face the enemy’s gang in a battle (whether or not the chosen enemy is part of their opponent’s crew), they must roll a D6. On a 4+, their Strength characteristic is reduced by one. If they are reduced to 0 Strength, they die and are removed from the gang roster.
End Game: If the fighter ever kills their enemy (rolls a Memorable Death result on the Lasting Injury table, or sends them to the Doc and they are not saved), the fighter retires, and is removed from the gang roster. If their enemy is killed by someone else, or retires, they must choose a new fighter from the enemy fighter’s gang – this new fighter becomes their chosen enemy.
Skindeep Doppelgänger
The faces of the dead are a mask that can be worn by the living. Remorphic aliens, witch-bred assassins, neuro-mimic cultists and other shape changers may take the death of an individual as an opportunity to slip into the space left by the departed, wearing their face and life like a set of clothes while they pursue their own ends.
Benefits: The fighter is not quite the same. When they are resurrected, the fighter may alter any skill advances they have received. They remove all their existing skills and choose an equal number of new skills. When choosing skills, including their starting skill for being a Leader or Champion, they may choose from any skill category and not just those available to their gang or fighter type.
Price: Other members of the gang are a little unnerved by the Doppelgänger. The fighter cannot make or participate in Group Activations, nor can they use or benefit from the Leading by Example rule.
End Game: The fighter is following its own secret agenda. At the end of each battle, the fighter takes part in, roll 3D6. If a double is rolled, the fighter disappears for a battle (effectively going Into Recovery). If a triple is rolled, they vanish entirely and are removed from the gang’s roster.
Xenos Resurrection
There are creatures who walked the stars when Mankind was less than a dream in the eye of ancient gods. To such beings, death is a puzzle long solved, and a gift that now tempts humanity. From the Halo Devices brought from the planets Calixis and dread Mandragora to the flesh mastery of the Drukhari Haemonculi and the metallic Solar Worms found in the black sands of dead worlds, there are many ways back from death open to those who are willing to leave their humanity behind.
Benefits: The fighter is not entirely human anymore. Each time the fighter suffers a Lasting Injury, the fighter counts the effect as Out Cold unless a Memorable Death or a Critical Injury was generated. When the fighter avoids the effects of a Lasting Injury in this way, however, the player must make a note.
Price: Each time the fighter avoids a Lasting Injury, they permanently become more alien. All effects are cumulative. If they have survived one Lasting Injury, they cannot use or benefit from the Leading by Example rule. If they have survived two Lasting Injuries, they cannot make or take part in Group Activations. If they have survived three Lasting Injuries, they cannot be the target of friendly gang tactics. Finally, if they have survived four or more Lasting Injuries then friendly fighters may never voluntarily be deployed or move within 3" of the fighter.
End Game: Eventually, the fighter’s humanity is consumed by the alien within and they become something else entirely. Once the fighter has ignored the effect of four or more Lasting Injuries since taking the Resurrection Package, each time they would suffer the effect of a new Lasting Injury they must roll 2D6. If the result of the dice roll is equal to or lower than the current number of Lasting Injuries, they have ignored the effects of, they immediately transform into a Beast’s Lair (or a creature chosen by the Arbitrator), and will always move towards and attempt to attack the nearest fighter on their activation if they are a creature. After the battle, permanently remove the fighter from the gang roster.
The Stranger’s Gift
Sometimes, just when they are needed, a stranger appears, bearing the solution to an impossible problem. Even when on death’s door, the wise do not accept such gifts of resurrection lightly, for some fates are far worse than death. However, in the depths of the underhive, the wise are hard to come by, while eager fools are everywhere.
Benefits: The fighter has been brought back for a specific purpose, part of which includes getting some potent firepower to get the job done. They may choose up to 250 credits worth of weapons and Wargear from either the Trading Post or Black Market, ignoring restrictions for Rarity and Illegality.
Price: The fighter is pursuing their own agenda now, but may help out their old gang, and will do so on the cheap… for old times’ sake. They become a Bounty Hunter who will only work for their old gang, but must be hired if their player wants to include them in a crew. However, they may be hired for half their total cost in credits (rounded up to the nearest 5 credits).
End Game: Eventually, the fighter will have to do the job they were paid for. After each battle the fighter took part in, roll a D6. If the result is less than the number of enemies Seriously Injured or taken Out of Action by the fighter during the battle, the player must immediately pay credits equal to the fighter’s hiring fee, or permanently remove them from their gang roster.
Divine Intervention
Miracles abound across the Imperium, if the rhetoric of the Ministorum is to be believed, and the Imperial Creed is built upon a belief in the divine power of the God-Emperor and his power to protect his people. True miracles are seldom seen, and it can be difficult to tell the hand of the Emperor at work from more nefarious powers, especially in the shadowy depths of the underhive where the price of faith is often an eternity of servitude.
Benefits: The fighter has been restored to life by a miracle. Others see the hand of the God-Emperor at work in them, and it rightly makes them fearful while some divine hand does seem to protect them from the powers of the Warp. The fighter gains the Fearsome skill if they did not already have it, and a special 2+ Save against any Wyrd Power that targets them.
Price: The fighter hears the voice of the God-Emperor in their dreams and is driven to do his bidding. If there is a fighter with the Non-sanctioned Psyker special rule, or their gang is facing a Helot Chaos Cult, Genestealer Cult, Corpse Grinder Cult or a Chaos Corrupted or Genestealer Corrupted gang, they must seek out and take out of action the Non-sanctioned Psyker or the most powerful fighter (i.e., the highest credit cost) in the opposing gang. If they fail to do so before the end of the battle, they feel they have failed the God- Emperor, fall into a deep depression and must go Into Recovery.
End Game: Eventually, the fighter will be called away to serve the God-Emperor or taken by the Ministorum for ‘testing’. At the end of each campaign cycle, they must roll 2D6. If the result is equal to or lower than the number of battles they have fought in since their divine intervention, they must make a Willpower test. If this test is failed, they must be removed from the gang roster.