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Something I've been tinkering on to create a co-op experience with some friends. And this could work with something like Kill-Team as well. Anyway, I want the whole thing to be two or more players, whether allied or against each other- to have to contend with these NPC enemies. Hell, ideally- you could do this alone by yourself. You could take a few guys, or maybe just one "hero". Bring on a badass Space Marine with insane stats if you want, or run some Arbites and go clean up the streets, go nuts. Necromunda is pretty flexible like that.

Let's just say I've got some models and stats for "bad guys"- random henchmen, some tough guys, and a boss- maybe a super-monster. I've even got some that may not even be 'hostile' by default, depending on your actions- I'm considering working on behavior tables for other NPC's.

The steps I'm taking are:

Step 1- I make henchman 'squads'- and a 'squad' is 3+D3 henchmen, with 5 or more including a 'henchman squad leader'. Each squad is assigned a number. If the henchmen are equipped in different ways, I suppose I'd have to make a randomizing system to determine which ones go into a squad- should be simple.

Step 2- Assign "tough guys" a number, tough guys get D3 henchmen supporting them.

Step 3- Assign "boss" a number", he gets D3 henchmen unless he lands a '1'- which gets him a 'tough guy' to hang with him.

Once all these have been assigned different numbers, they become a "unit". So let's say I've assigned all my numbers and hypothetically I have 10 "units". What I'm thinking is that I can get some tokens with 1-10 on one side, the other side marked with an arrow (there's a reason), and lay them face-down- "blips" on your Auspex or something, I suppose.

Every 'room' on the board tiles, or a certain section of a terrain table can have a center point- I designate that, I roll a scatter dice, add a number of D6 that makes sense (indoor would be 1D6, outdoor terrain table could be 2D6) and then that's where I place that face-down token, with the arrow pointing toward the center of that room or 'sector' of the board.

So now I have a board or tabletop covered in these "blips" that could be any of the "units" from before.

The direction of the arrow on the token is the 'facing' of that "unit". I'll set a limit on visibility range for 'outdoor' terrain tables, probably not a concern for indoor room-to-room games.

Now, I'm thinking that these "blips" may act like sentries and patrol around and shuffle about- so every turn, I roll a D6/2D6 and a scatter die to determine which way they wander and which way they're facing- they'd always follow the results of that roll, up to the point where it doesn't make sense like standing facing in a corner, walking off a ledge, walking off the board/tabletop, etc., and then instead do what makes the most sense. So, you could very well be stealthy and stay out of line of sight but they could still walk up on you.

I'm also factoring in 'noise' range, and haven't quite come up with the distance for sound- I am thinking there's a way that your noises will attract certain other "units" who start running your way- so you'd want to take out your enemies quickly. Working that up is easy and I think the work has already been done on that in 'Sentries' missions in Necromunda. Guns and chainswords and various other activities would obviously create noise- but also, there could be things that appear on the board that generate ambient noise that drowns out and creates kind of a 'line of sound blocking bubble'.

Now, as far as enemy 'behavior' goes, I think they'd always try to do what makes sense. Guys that can shoot will move into the most effective range to shoot you, prioritizing the best cover they can get to. It's common sense- he's not gonna go stand in the open just to get into 'good range' with his gun, he'll always default to getting into the best cover possible to shoot. Melee guys will always try to charge you if you're within range, and will always try to get into range to do so- all while prioritizing cover, just like the shooter guys. Hybrid guys will go with whatever is 'easier' for them to pull off.

Since this is Necromunda- I've got more stats to play with, and the enemy NPC's could very well have to take checks of Leadership, Initiative, Cool, and Willpower. I could get clever and work that in to their behavior tables. It could be funny if you walked up on a group of enemies and they... failed their checks and ran away. Or if they failed a check and did something stupid, I could work with this and I'm open to hear some ideas.

So far, this is what I've got. Obviously I need to work in 'mission objectives' because "Kill all the bad guys" is gonna get boring really fast. And I have some ideas I'm working on that form a narrative. The other thing I'll need to do is test this and see how it balances out- maybe adjust the number of 'bad guys' or beef up their stats depending on the number of players or what kind of 'hero' they want to use.

Any suggestions would be great, I'm open to hearing this.

I would inspire myself on the Blackstone fortress AI rules

wacherax wrote:
I would inspire myself on the Blackstone fortress AI rules

Some of that is being taken into consideration. At least for dealing with an 'alerted' force.

Sounds good.
Here's some more random thoughts.

The old disguise- one of your fighters can try posing as a "tough guy" and seeing if you can make a squad do what you say. If the NPC's fail an initiative test you can misdirect them to run away out of the game.

Decoy- you can lay a decoy to lure a blip toward in the same way as the alarm would. A boobytrap decoy explodes when contacted by a blip. A camera decoy reveals what the blip is.

False readings- blips turn out to be rats or ripper jacks or some other unexpected critters but not the guys you were looking for.

While the cat's away- inside information has reliably informed you that some of the "tough guys" are out of town on business. You can downgrade the first D3 tough guys revealed to be lowly henchmen.

Where did that come from?- a randomly selected member of your gang takes a S3 hit from long range fire. Resolve the hit as normal then roll to see if anyone spotted the shooter. A successful roll will reveal the shooter at long range with line of sight to the model who was hit as close to a blip as can be located.

Surprise attack- the member of your team most isolated from the rest (or a random member) is assaulted by a lurking henchman. Resolve the combat as normal in the combat phase.

It's a trap- one of the blips is revealed to be a decoy. Instead of Placing the revealed unit where you expected them to be they are placed in ambushing positions around the figures who uncovered the blip.

The enemy of my enemy- you find a captured and desperate man- he's subject to the rules for D6 1-3 Stupidity 4-6 Frenzy and is willing to fight for his freedom. Give him a weapon if you like and take him along.

Tough guy types- the tough guy is actually a... D6
1 Heavy weapon toting fella
2 preacher- and all henchmen in the unit are frenzied
3 Wyrd- pyromaniac
4 hideously scarred and causes fear
5 Wyrd telepath
6 bounty hunter

Thats all I've got for now but this sounds like a great plan and I'd be interested to see how it play tests.