Horror in Your Hand
Necropolis is a game of tabletop horror designed to simulate the situations that commonly arise in horror films. One player takes the part of the story’s protagonists and the other plays the role of the bad guys.
Being a minitures game, Necropolis is played over a table filled with scenery, using miniature figures to represent the forces involved. Usually, games take place within the sprawling nightmare city of Necropolis itself and as such are conducted over urban terrain: buildings, ruins, streets and parks. Horror isn’t restricted to the hell city however. It can rise anytime and anywhere and Necropolis can be played over any available terrain as the forces of the damned shamble out across farmland, deserts, forest or even in deep space.
Necropolis is very diverse, potentially covering every aspect of the horror genre and allowing players to recreate any element of horror they wish.
Most importantly, these rules form a living document that will continue to grow as more terrifying situations are explored and play-testing continues.
The Basics
Measuring Distances
Distance for movement and ranged combat in Necropolis is measured using colours, each colour corresponding to a different distance, as shown on the table below. Characters have bases painted the colour distance they can move.
Blue | 6 Inches |
Yellow | 8 Inches |
Green | 12 Inches |
White | 18 Inches |
For example, Duke, a hero, can run Yellow (8”) while a zombie can only shamble Blue (6”).
A machinegun can hit targets up to Green distance away (12”) while a rifle can target opponents at White (18”).
Each range ruler is marked by coloured bands to denote the distance. You will notice that there are two bands for each colour: single and double. The double band denotes the full distance (8 inches in the case of Yellow) while the single band shows half distance (4 inches for Yellow).
This becomes important during movement where running moves the character the full distance (to the double band) and walking moves half distance (to the single band).
Here, we can see that the nurse has walked Blue (3") as she has a blue base edge. Her friend in the green shirt has run Yellow (8").
This measuring stick was made from a piece of balsa wood sprayed black with the coloured bands painted on.
Here, we can see that the nurse has walked Blue (3") as she has a blue base edge. Her friend in the green shirt has run Yellow (8").
In game, the colour system gives a very smooth way of remembering and acting on different movement rates and ranges.
This measuring stick was made from a piece of balsa wood sprayed black with the coloured bands painted on.
Dice
Necropolis uses two kinds of dice: 10-sided and 6-sided.
Batches
Dice are frequently thrown in batches. For example, when firing a shotgun, 3 10-sided dice are thrown. Dice thrown together in this way are called a Batch.
Rerolls
At various points you may be called upon to reroll dice. Dice may only be rerolled once.
Successes
When throwing d10’s, a roll of 1-5 is always a Failure. 6-10 counts as a Success.
Grouping Models
On the board, models are either grouped together as Clusters or operate alone as Individuals. Both of these are referred to as Units. Some character types, such as zombies, must always operate in clusters of three if possible.
Clusters are groups of models who remain within 2 inches of one another at all times.
Individual models may form a cluster if they wish by moving to within 2 inches of one another.
All members of a Cluster can be targeted in a single ranged combat attack.
The Turn
Structure of the Turn
A game of Necropolis is made up of a sequence of turns in which each player gets to take actions with their characters. Unlike many other miniatures game this does not always take the form of alternating goes for each of the players.
In every great horror story it is never clear whether the protagonists will succeed in escaping from or defeating their opponents before they are torn apart. A young woman might be pulling ahead of the pursuing werewolf only to have it suddenly catch up to her. Or perhaps she finds herself running out of energy or ammunition at the wrong moment. To represent this sudden startling change of circumstance, each turn players must roll for Initiative and Momentum before making any moves.
A turn is structured as follows:
INITIATIVE & MOMENTUM PHASE |
1st PLAYER ACTION PHASE |
2nd PLAYER ACTION PHASE |
Initiative & Momentum Phase
Each player rolls a 10-sided Initiative die and the hero player rolls a 20-sided Momentum die. The player who scores highest on the Initiative die is called the First Player and moves their models first. If there are more than two participants then players move their models in order of Initiative. These players are referred to as the Second and Third Players, etc.
If players roll the same number then all players must reroll.
If players roll the same number then all players must reroll.
The score rolled on the Momentum die is checked on the table below and the effect applied to all the heroes or their opponents.
1-10 | No Effect | |||
Good | Evil | |||
11 | 16 | Jaded | May not run. -1 Action dice | |
12 | 17 | Bewildered | 1 less Action | |
13 | 18 | Suddenly Calm | May Reroll lowest die in each Batch | |
14 | 19 | Ready for Anything | Models heal 2 Damage. Downed Zombies stand up | |
15 | 20 | Swift | Models may make double the normal number of actions | |
Action Phase
The First Player may move any and all of their models but may choose to leave any in place if they wish to unless Compelled to move by some other rule.
Each normal model has two actions each turn. The following table gives details of all basic available actions.
| ACTIONS | ||||||||||||||||||
| Description | Actions | Move | Attacks | Notes | ||||||||||||||
| Movement | Walk | 1 | Half | |||||||||||||||
| Run | 2 | Full | ||||||||||||||||
| Creep | 2 | Half | Unaware models within 12" can't turn the way they want on a Target | |||||||||||||||
| Hide | 2 | Unaware models within 18" can't turn the way they want on a Target | ||||||||||||||||
| Climb | 2 | Climb Half | Includes other precarious maneouvres | |||||||||||||||
| Jump Down | 1 | Take 1 Bash Dice for 1 storey + 2 lethal dice per extra storey | ||||||||||||||||
| Evade | 2 | Half | -1 Dice to be shot at | |||||||||||||||
| Charge | 2 | Full | One | |||||||||||||||
| Combat | Close Assault | 1 | One | Must be in base contact | ||||||||||||||
| Shoot | 1 | One | ||||||||||||||||
| Aim & Shoot | 2 | One | Increase range by 6" | -1 Dice (Not shotguns) | |||||||||||||||
| Barge | 2 | Half if succeed | Roll 2 dice. Any successes result in pushbacks | |||||||||||||||
| Finish Off | 1 | Automatically kill one character in base contact who is KO'd or at Devil's Door | ||||||||||||||||
| Other | Reload | 1 | Reload 1 weapon | |||||||||||||||
| Unjam Gun | 2+ | Must roll 2 successes to complete | ||||||||||||||||
| Pass Equipment | 1 | Both characters must spend a Pass action | ||||||||||||||||
| Hotwire Car | 2+ | Must roll 2 successes to complete | ||||||||||||||||
| Take Off Aircraft | 4+ | Must roll 4 successes to complete | ||||||||||||||||
| Medical Assist | 2 | Healing character in base contact gets +1 to Heal roll | ||||||||||||||||
| Barricades | Barricade | 4 | To barricade or strengthen the barricade on one window or door. Actions can be divided between characters | |||||||||||||||
| Knock Down Barricade | 1 | Must roll a 10 to WEAKEN the barricade and another 10 to knock it down. | ||||||||||||||||
MORE TO FOLLOW...
