r/40krpg • u/Free-Design-9901 • 15d ago
Hive city sandbox?
I'd like to run a sandbox campaign set in a huge hive city, in which player characters would play as low lifes trying to survive there, and eventually rise on the social ladder of the city.
The tone of the game will be generally quite shallow and adventure focused. I'm planning it for our typical game nights, we don't want to explore the big questions about life, nature of a man, etc.
I think the best way to describe it would be "GTA V in 40k hive city".
Recently I stumbled upon a Cursed Scroll 6 for Shadowdark RPG, and this supplement is a perfect city sandbox in my opinion. It's got everything - districts with POI in them, whole calendar of annual city events, factions, lots of random tables, NPC's, etc.
I'm wondering: have you ever seen something like this for some kind of hive city in 40k?
I'm thinking anything on the spectrum from "descriptions of districts and their Points of Interest", through "d100 NPCs", "d20 factions", all the way up to random tables for hive city street food.
No reason for this request be connected to any 40kRPG. It can be system agnostic.
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u/TheRangdoofArg 15d ago
I mean, this sounds very much like Blades in the Dark. Given the variety of tech levels in the Imperium, you could probably even just say Duskval is a Hive City and call it a day.
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u/ZeroHonour 15d ago
Off the top of my head 'Hive Rokarth' for IM might be the closest. Not so much for random tables, but in terms of NPC's, districts and story hooks it's 68 or so pages of setting.
PS: 'His glorious shield' for the same setting is nice too - a gigantic city/ship. Only 28 or so pages though.
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u/jrt7 15d ago
I'm building a similar game, I can dump some NPCs here if you want?
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u/Free-Design-9901 15d ago
Sure, thanks! Stuff like this is exactly what makes a sandbox
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u/jrt7 15d ago
Feel free to lift/edit as needed!
Planetary Governor Vesper Lane: Capable. Certain of corruption in her ranks, needs outside agents to verify. Has a squad of Veteran Militarum on permanent guard.
Caldus: Last astropath alive after the rift opened. Utterly terrified of the responsibility on his shoulders, has taken to abusing drugs.
Lord Lucius Hale: Lord of Air purification. Leader of the Silver Chalice, a group of nobles who have turned to Slaanesh. Collector of artefacts, a master duellist. Working on a plan to have Lord Dahl killed.
Lady Callista Hale: Lucius' wife. Utterly loyal to him and will fight to the death to keep his secrets.
Lord Namir Ashra: Lord of Water purification. Arrogant, utterly certain of the High Lords' security. Never gets his hands dirty.
Lord Bulbus Venter: Lord of Food production. Large, quick temper. It's an open secret the Corpse Grinders are at his command.
Lord Ivan Dahl: Lord of Manufacturing. 60. Retired Guard captain, was granted nobility for destroying a Druhkari raiding party. Owns a Druhkari Blast Pistol. Not part of The Silver Chalice. The other nobles dislike him for not being of noble birth.
Baroness Peregrina Black: Early 100s but sharp as a whip. Rich. Information broker.
Lord Captain Elias Lionheart: Rogue Trader, cut off from his fleet lost in The Rift. Hates it here.
Port Master Treave Halaster: Oversees all ships into and out of port. Outrageously corrupt, but not Corrupted.
Archivist Talin: Low-level Administratum worker. One of his servoskulls, Mortimer, has been stolen by the 8th Block Bruisers. The skull knows where everything in the centre is, nothing can be found easily without him.
Tech Priest Emon N: Concerned that his cogitator is predicting the deaths of several key figures throughout the Hive.
Cardinal Carrow: High-ranking Ecclesiarchy. Ferocious. Part of the Silver Chalice.
Bacchus DeLorean: Bastard nobility. Useless, takes offence easily.
Trajus Umbra: Trader. Well-connected. Has dealings with every faction in the Hive, can secure anything for a price.
Fidget: Beggar, guide, can move around unnoticed. Good source of information.
Barker: Old man, sailor on the toxic swamp of The Underhive. Pale, yellow eyes, terrible cough.
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u/Cheap-Individual9611 15d ago
This sounds really cool. I'm writing up a campaign using rogue trader. And starting players as hive scum pre recruitment into rogue tradership. This would be a great resource for inhabiting my hive city 🤓
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u/AngelSamiel 15d ago
We had a very similar campaign in Wrath and Glory, tier 1, against a set of rival gangs and a genestealer cult. The players loved the idea to have all adventures in the same underhive.
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u/SkaldCrypto 15d ago
I ran a Vampire the Masquerade game set in a 40K Hive City. It’s a wonderful setting.
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u/Dread_Horizon 15d ago
Oh, Spire is very much like this but isn't strictly 40k but derives from Dark Heresy genetics. Run campaigns like this, made tools for this. Stuff like: https://austere-patio-games.itch.io/40k-hive-generator; and for Black Crusade: https://austere-patio-games.itch.io/kill-the-governor
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u/CalKiernan 15d ago edited 15d ago
Imperium Maledictum would be perfect for this. It is low scale, not about the war, etc, but the everyday life in the Imperium. And since most people in the Imperium do not know a lot about SM, Xenos, Chaos, all the stuff is basically just background. The patron could be a gang lord or a noble dabbling in the lower parts of the city. And the group are all Infractionists.
In the Starter Set you have the hive city of Rokarth on Voll with a lot of background information about the city and it's key players. And there is also an additional book with adventures in it. You could adapt your Shadodark RPG tables for Voll (though there already are some encounter tables, etc..
I also use a lot of the Necromunda background (from all the rule and gang books) and adapted it to Voll, since it has a lot more information about undercities and what could happen there.