So has anyone ever created a system for generating a space hulk? I have looked around in the back catalog on these forums and not had any luck. I was thinking you could do it with randomization tables if you really wanted. Something like this off the top of my head...

Size of hulk (d5)

1. Very small (3 Vessel)
2. Small (4-5 vessels)
3. Medium (6 Vessels)
4. Large (7-9 Vessels)
5. Enormous (10+ Vessels)

What is it merged with (d10)

1. Asteroids
2. Asteroids
3. Asteroids
4. Asteroids
5. Asteroids
6. Asteroids
7. Asteroids
8. Human Station
9. Xenos Void Station
10. Warp Coral

Origin of Fused Ships (D10 - Roll for each voidship, if a Xenos ship is rolled, wait to determine what kind of ship it is until you have rolled on the chart at the end for who is actually inhabiting the hulk. Then craft a narrative that explains what type of Xenos ships there are...)

1. Human - Modern - Roll for Faction
2. Human - Modern - Roll for Faction
3. Human - Modern - Roll for Faction
4. Human - Modern - Roll for Faction
5. Xenos - Modern
6. Xenos - Modern
7. Xenos - Ancient
8. Human - Ancient - Roll for Faction
9. Human - Ancient - Roll for Faction
10. GM Choice!

Human Ship Faction (d10, Includes Chaos factions)

1. Civilian
2. Civilian
3. Imperial Navy
4. Imperial Navy
5. Imperial Navy
6. Imperial Navy
7. Space Marines
8. Adeptus Mechanicus
9. Adeptus Mechanicus
10. Space Marines

Size of Voidship

1. Transport
2. Transport
3. Raider
4. Raider
5. Raider
6. Frigate
7. Frigate
8. Light Cruiser
9. Cruiser
10. Grand Cruiser or Battleship class

Condition of Voidship

1. Hulk - 1 Damaged Component
2. Hulk - 1 Damaged Component
3. Hulk - 1 Damaged Component
4. Hulk - 1 Damaged Component
5. Hulk - 1 Damaged Component
6. Badly Damaged - d5 Damaged Components - Crippled Status
7. Badly Damaged - d5 Damaged Components - Crippled Status
8. Badly Damaged - d5 Damaged Components - Crippled Status
9. Damaged - d10 Damaged Components - 20% Hull Integrity
10. Good Shape - Vessel is intact - 60% Hull integrity

Types of Components (Ancient Ships get one automatic 10 result, all other components good quality. Modern Ships - Normal Quality)

1. Supplemental Components
2. Supplemental Components
3. Supplemental Components
4. Bridge or Life Sustainers
5. Hanger Bays Or Void Shields
6. Weapon Systems
7. Plasma Reactors
8. Warp Engines
9. GM Chocie - Good Quality
10. GM Choice - Best Quality / Archeotech

Inhabited (D10, roll once for entire hulk)

1. Uninhabited
2. Orks
3. Orks
4. Tyranids
5. Tyranids
6. Daemons
7. Daemons
8. Necrons
9. Unknown Horrors (Chaos Marines or any number of terrible sadistic ideas!)
10. Multiple Factions (roll 2d10 and reroll 1's and 10's)

Degree of Inhabitation

1. Small Presence
2. Medium Presence
3. Medium Presence
4. Large Presence
5. Numberless hordes!!!

Edited to Change values of first chart to increase overall size of hulks.

Edited Again to bring d5 charts out to d10 in order to properly scale likely hood of a traditional space hulk being the normal result of this chart.

I tried it out just now. What we have is a Large central asteroid, fused with it and sticking from it at odd angles are the ruins of three voidships. I give you, "Pride's folly"

A single modern era xenos transport ship, it appears to be landed on the surface. But on closer inspection you will see that the landing struts across the bottom are in fact embedded within the rock as though a fly on flypaper. Miraculously, the ship is in relatively good shape and three components still seem to be repairable within.

• Supplemental - Shadowblind Bays
• Supplemental - Runecaster - Normal Quality
• Ghost Field - Good Quality

Second is an ancient human Mass Universal Transport vessel "Spirit of Helios." The ship appears to have been broken into thirds and is sticking out from the large central asteroid at odd angles. Scans will confirm though that despite the tortured state the ship is in...the (Best Quality) ancient life sustainers appear to still be in working order.

• Archeotech Life Sustainers

The last ship is a massive Eldar Cruiser, it appears to have crashed headlong into the side of the hulk. The delicate wraithbone structure along the solar vanes have been shattered. All that remains intact is a small section of the ship with a badly damaged but salvageable section of officers quarters that once served as a diplomatic wing for a hosting alien dignitaries.

• Normal Quality Xenos Quarters

Unfortunately the Hulk has been lingering the warp far too long and has become a host to a seemingly numberless horde of daemons. Perhaps there is something in the heart of the asteroid that would explain this...

Ok, so that was a quick run through. I rolled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (3 Components - 2, 3, 9) then a 6 and a five

So the only points in this that I was confused was determining what type of Xenos ship it was (I choose eldar for fun) and determining exactly what components I wanted on the ship.

Should the type of xenos ship itself be randomized as well?

I don't feel like separate tables for the xenos components are a good idea, it feels overly restrictive. Am I insane?

Edited to reflect changes in the chart. (I added two more ships and changed it up)

Deathwatch has a Space Hulk generator in one of the campaign books.

Deathwatch has a Space Hulk generator in one of the campaign books.

Ark of Lost Souls . It has some random generator charts in the back, including things like environmental hazards. My only complaint with it is that it only includes established races; I wanted some D&D -style 'wandering monster' encounters for a series of Space Hulk missions I ran for Deathwatch , so I cooked up some minor vermin-type critters to pepper throughout the 'Hulk so that not everything encountered would be directly related to the mission. Check out the SPACE HULK VERMIN link in my signature below.

-And cool charts, RogalDorn01 .

Awesome! Thanks for the intel guys, how detailed is the generator in the DW book? On a scale of 1:10 One being a single roll of a d10 and ten being the creation of a star system (with all the planets) from the Stars of Iniquity book RAW from beginning to end?

I do like the chart, but a 1 vessel space hulk seems kind of... small. I always thought of Space Hulks of being massive by design, and usually composed of dozens of vessels that are fused together. A Hulk makes an Imperial Battlecruiser looks small, and it's supposed to have so much tempting things to explore that people are willing to ignore the 100% chance of Genestealers in order to risk exploring this section of the ship that surely won't be dangerous.

I was thinking the same thing actually. In my head I was thinking that whatever it was merged with would be riddled with all kinds of creepy places to explore such as Tunnel warrens in the asteroids, or the space stations themselves. But I do think I should up the number of ships a bit. It will take longer, but I think it will be cooler...Consider it edited!

Also: I just bought that DW Book that has the info. I love space hulks, so it would be cool to read FFG's take on them.

Definition of a space hulk from 40k Wikia:

A Space Hulk is the term given by the Imperium of Man to the wreckage of a starship or a mangled twist of various starships and artificial debris found drifting through the vacuum of the Milky Way Galaxy without apparent direction. Many times they are so huge that they have their own atmosphere and gravity. Since the Hulks often exit and re-enter the Warp seemingly at random, searching or traveling within them is dangerous in the extreme.

So you can indeed have a hulk consisting of a single ship. As to the scale of them i love this pic from the 3rd edition of Space Hulk board game (2009):

Ok, So I have been having some fun with this generator. I just rolled this one up. I think my average roll was an 8...this thing would be terrifying to run across. But the rewards would be incredible if you could figure out what to do with it. I didn't detail out all the components (as I rolled a 5 result on a d5 six out the 8 times I rolled for voidship condition, then never rolled under a six for the number of salvageable components aboard each ship. In fact, there are so many relatively intact vessels here that I would struggle to even call this a space hulk...this feels much worse. Don't forget that Ancient vessels automatically contain a component that is Best Quality or Archeotech...

The premise would be that this monstrosity drifted out of a large warp storm that has been raging for several thousands of years. It appears to be a massive Necron Tomb void-complex with a (mostly intact) tomb ship docked into the center of the complex, fitting into it like a puzzle piece. The other docks themselves are also occupied, with a variety of human ships including a mostly intact Space marine strike cruiser!

Obviously the exploration and exploitation of something like this would be one hell of an endeavor!!! There is every likely hood that the reactivation of this thing would be some serious endgame level stuff. Not to mention the mystery of WTF happened to all these human ships (and crews) that appear to be captured by Necrons at some point in the distant past.

Large Hulk – 8 Vessels – Merged with huge xenos void station (Necron.) Large numbers of Necrons aboard, but it isn't known what level of activation they are currently in.

1. Ancient Xenos – Necron – Tomb Ship – Ok condition – 10 Components

2. Ancient Human – Space Marine – Strike Cruiser – Ok condition – 8 Components

3. Ancient Human – Adeptus Mechanicus – Transport – Ok Condition – 9 Components

4. Modern Human – Space Marine – Raider Sized – Hulked – 1 Component

5. Ancient Human – Adeptus Mechanicus – Frigate – Ok Condition – 6 Components

6. Modern Human – Civilian Transport – Mass Conveyer – Ok Condition – 8 Components

7. Modern Xenos – Necron – Frigate sized – Hulked – 1 Component

8. Modern Human – Adeptus Mechanicus – Transport – Ok Condition – 7 Components

Since you have both 'ancient' and 'modern' Necrons on this thing, I would interpret that as the ancient tomb ship being dormant, and the modern frigate being active (-and probably trying to reach/activate the larger ship...).

Since you have both 'ancient' and 'modern' Necrons on this thing, I would interpret that as the ancient tomb ship being dormant, and the modern frigate being active (-and probably trying to reach/activate the larger ship...).

That is a great idea! I could see the story being that the smaller ship was hulked in the process of getting to the complex. Now the surviving Necron crew are attempting to reactivate the thing.

I designed this chart system to merely provide seeds for a GW to use to craft some sort of narrative with. That's why it's a bit vague on the specifics of most things. Even if perhaps there is only a Cryptek and a small retinue that made it aboard, they could also have the usual robotic minions such as Tomb Spyders or Wraiths around.

Another seed could be that this place fell to the Flayer Virus and all the humans on the ships were used up (made into hats) by the insane necrons aboard. Everyone in the complex is so mad from the virus that there is no one left who knows how to even run the thing, hence it just drifting around...filled with Flayers just waiting for some poor assholes to come give them something to do! Hell you could even have the Robotic guardians aboard the tomb ship trying to hold back the tides of their insane brethren to keep the tomb from falling apart. Then the rogue trader shows up as a third party and has to deal with that mess.

Obviously the exploration and exploitation of something like this would be one hell of an endeavor!!! There is every likely hood that the reactivation of this thing would be some serious endgame level stuff. Not to mention the mystery of WTF happened to all these human ships (and crews) that appear to be captured by Necrons at some point in the distant past.

Large Hulk – 8 Vessels – Merged with huge xenos void station (Necron.) Large numbers of Necrons aboard, but it isn't known what level of activation they are currently in.

1. Ancient Xenos – Necron – Tomb Ship – Ok condition – 10 Components

2. Ancient Human – Space Marine – Strike Cruiser – Ok condition – 8 Components

3. Ancient Human – Adeptus Mechanicus – Transport – Ok Condition – 9 Components

4. Modern Human – Space Marine – Raider Sized – Hulked – 1 Component

5. Ancient Human – Adeptus Mechanicus – Frigate – Ok Condition – 6 Components

6. Modern Human – Civilian Transport – Mass Conveyer – Ok Condition – 8 Components

7. Modern Xenos – Necron – Frigate sized – Hulked – 1 Component

8. Modern Human – Adeptus Mechanicus – Transport – Ok Condition – 7 Components

This is a monster

If my RT group would find this, I think they might try to make bargain with AdMech and Space Marines for Assistance and Recovery. They have already good relationship with both Factions. This would propably boost them through the roof.

They are Profit hording maniacs but not suicidal. And even their Dynasty is not big enough to tackle this alone.

Would propably fill this thing with Xenos, Mutants, Daemons. Oh my

Let the GM fun begin

Total agreement, I was in shock as I rolled it up...I can't believe how high my average rolls were. I can see many a mad Rogue Trader completely breaking the backs of their Dynasties armed forces figuring out what the heck they should do with this place. Perhaps I'll roll up another one today and see what shakes out. Sometimes I get a half hour to kill in the middle of my work day

I re-balanced a few items on the chart to make these things feel more Space Hulky. Since this has been done I rolled up another Space Hulk...I dub this hulk the "Sin of Understanding"

The Sin of Understanding is horrifying to behold. When it was first spotted in the system, the scouting ships augery crew had to be executed after reading the reports generating by their active augery attempt.

The vast majority of the structure appears to be some sort of Crystalline Iridescent Warp Coral. The Crystal itself appears to have grown out of the hanger bays on a massive cruiser of unknown xenos manufacture. Scans of this ship will confirm that the cruiser appears to be at least partially functional still, though it is unknown how or why this is possible.

Encased almost entirely within the Crystalline structure are two ships.

• The hulked ruins of a Space Marine Nova class frigate, the barely recognizable markings on this ship mark it as "The Orrey of Thusius" a ship registered to the Thousand Sons Legion, there are no records of this ship since the Horus Heresy.
• The hulked remains of a transport ship that no one has ever heard of before, it must be very old to have no records of it at all.

It appears as though the Crystal grew out of the unknown Xenos cruiser and captured the other two ships in it's maw. Should the crew board this nightmare, there are many treasures and many secrets to discover, but some things are better left buried...

Here are the hard stats for what I rolled up. The above is just my take on it.

Sin of Understanding

Very Small Hulk – 3 Ships

Merged with Crystalline iridescent warp coral

Ancient Human – Space Marine – Frigate Sized – Hulked – 1 Component

• Archeotech Supplemental Component

Ancient Xenos – Cruiser Size – Badly Damaged – 2 Components

• One Best Quality Xenos Component - Any
• One Good Quality Xenos Component – Bridge or Life Sustainers

Ancient Human – Civilian Transport – Hulked – 1 Component

• Archeotech Void Shields

There is (OF COURSE!!!) a medium presence of Daemons infesting this place.

A Hulk makes an Imperial Battlecruiser looks small, and it's supposed to have so much tempting things to explore that people are willing to ignore the 100% chance of Genestealers in order to risk exploring this section of the ship that surely won't be dangerous.

"Are there any genestealers?"

Of course there are genestealers you fffff...ffacK"

Flash gitz rulez.

Obviously the exploration and exploitation of something like this would be one hell of an endeavor!!! There is every likely hood that the reactivation of this thing would be some serious endgame level stuff. Not to mention the mystery of WTF happened to all these human ships (and crews) that appear to be captured by Necrons at some point in the distant past.

Large Hulk – 8 Vessels – Merged with huge xenos void station (Necron.) Large numbers of Necrons aboard, but it isn't known what level of activation they are currently in.

1. Ancient Xenos – Necron – Tomb Ship – Ok condition – 10 Components

2. Ancient Human – Space Marine – Strike Cruiser – Ok condition – 8 Components

3. Ancient Human – Adeptus Mechanicus – Transport – Ok Condition – 9 Components

4. Modern Human – Space Marine – Raider Sized – Hulked – 1 Component

5. Ancient Human – Adeptus Mechanicus – Frigate – Ok Condition – 6 Components

6. Modern Human – Civilian Transport – Mass Conveyer – Ok Condition – 8 Components

7. Modern Xenos – Necron – Frigate sized – Hulked – 1 Component

8. Modern Human – Adeptus Mechanicus – Transport – Ok Condition – 7 Components

This is a monster

If my RT group would find this, I think they might try to make bargain with AdMech and Space Marines for Assistance and Recovery. They have already good relationship with both Factions. This would propably boost them through the roof.

They are Profit hording maniacs but not suicidal. And even their Dynasty is not big enough to tackle this alone.

Would propably fill this thing with Xenos, Mutants, Daemons. Oh my

Let the GM fun begin

Hi the Jianwei Dynasty would like to assist you in dismantling that Hulk Megaship. Also oh my, I would love to run across that. And then cry once I realize I don't have the resources to handle it alone.

A Hulk makes an Imperial Battlecruiser looks small, and it's supposed to have so much tempting things to explore that people are willing to ignore the 100% chance of Genestealers in order to risk exploring this section of the ship that surely won't be dangerous.

"Are there any genestealers?"

"No"

"Then why haven't we boarded the thing already?"

"Because there clearly USED to be Genestealers, and we're not sure what killed them."

I gave the table a go and came up with the following. For xenos, I rolled randomly based off lists on wikis. e.g. 1-7 for types of xenos battleships

Small (4 ships)

Asteroids

1. Human - Modern - Imperial Navy - Transport - Hulk - 1 Damaged component

Weapon system


2. Xenos - Modern - Transport - Damaged - 2 damaged components, 20% hull integrity

Warp Engines
GM Choice - Good Quality


3. Xenos - Modern - Grand Cruiser/Battleship - Hulk - 1 Damaged component

Hanger Bays or Void Shields



4. GM Choice! - Transport - Hulk - 1 Damaged component

Bridge or Life Sustainers


Inhabited by Tyranids, Small Presence




The Child of Loathing

This relatively small hulk appears to be formed of vessels lost in recent decades, perhaps in wars on the eastern fringe. Much of the mass of the four vessels has been crushed by the asteroids that comprise the rest of the hulk. Tyranid organisms have been sighted on board, though few. Auspex scans indicate a massive organic presence within.


Imperial Navy transport, one thunderstrike macrobattery remaining. Nothing of the crew or cargo survived.

Tau transport, still partially intact. Its gravitic drive could still drive it through the void, and its main cargo bay remains secure. Including the experimental wargear sealed within.

The Rotting remains of a Tyranid hive ship, its spore cysts still active. The few surviving lesser organisms infest the hulk. Its drifting carcass may have been sucked into the warp by an imploding vessel during some battle in recent years.

An Officio Assassinatorum "transport" with functioning bridge. Who knows what terrible secrets lie hidden in the navigation logs?

Yea, don't open any pods of any sort in the Assassinoatorium transport... Trust me on this one.

Some quick notes/thoughts about your chart.

Size of Hulk: 3 ships isn't really much of a space hulk. Every depiction I've seen of a "space hulk" is absolutely massive. This being WH 40k I suppose that's almost a given.. I'd up the minimum and average size.

Composition: Does it have to be merged with anything? You could add "Nothing, it's all ships of varous types."

Human ship faction: I'd probably take out the 2nd Space Marine ship option and toss in another Adeptus Mechanicus. I'd think they'd be far more likely.

Condition of voidship: I'd actually make at least 1 or 2 of those "Nothing major salvageable." In fact the whole thing seems to be awfully generous on what might be available to salvage (20% chance of a ship with an archaeotech/best quality and all other components good quality.

Ran out of time, more later.

.....

Awesome work! Copied and added to me Google doc too. (with a slight modification)

Say someone decides to make a tidy profit raiding space hulks for archeotech, or some such; how do you actually go about doing it? Space Hulks do weird things (drift, occasionally real/warp translate), are often infested with worse things (Orks, Genestealers, Chaos), and are often massive. If you can even find one, and then ascertain that it contains parts you might want, what do you do to board, not die, get past the "natives", not die, and not have them somehow jump to your ship, depending on what they are, and not die? I don't really imagine you can just send guys over, and clear it out, with genestealers being pricks, and Orks being Orks, just to name a few, and I'm not sure how you'd transport a component, and also make sure it isn't "contaminated" with wherever it's been, and whomever it has met. has anyone worked this all out in a game? I know Space Marines can do this, as the first game was Terminators boarding, and fighting Stealers, and I suppose RTs can pour money into any problem, but how is this usually done? I ALMOST think I favor the odds of raiding the Processional of the Damned for parts.

Rogue traders have canonically boarded space hulks. Talk of technology that could make a dynasty's fortune and reputation will do that.

I've notions about how I would handle a space hulk in game. Two scenarios off the top of my head:

Smash and Grab

The rogue trader party, and perhaps a few hand picked minions, board the space hulk to have a quick poke around. Much more likely to try this if they know there's a specific item in one of the hulls, but blind exploration in a space hulk can be valuable anyway. The idea is to get in, and out, as quickly as possible. "The Ark of Lost Souls" mentions that Deathwatch navigators and astropaths pay close attention to local warp conditions while kill-teams are on board, to give as much warning as possible before the hulk jumps back. A rogue trader crew should be able to do something similar. As for the critters, hopefully there won't be too many encounters in the short time the party is on board, and that's a risk they take for the potential rewards (STC fragments anyone?).

Purge and Seize

Ambitious but potentially a goldmine. Heavily armed strike teams with tech-adepts march into the hulk and push towards each and every identifiable functioning warp engine. Perhaps a few more teams to give them cover and distract enemies. Rogue trader party may or may not want to be on board for this one, because the idea is to spend as long as it takes to prevent the hulk from sliding back into the warp. Before, during, or after the warp engines are stabilised/sabotaged/shut down, the inhabitants of the hulk need to be purged with extreme prejudice. A well-equipped rogue trader personal army could do this, albeit with losses. Made much easier with Astartes support of course but not every dynasty can rely on that. If successful, the dynasty now has the full contents of a space hulk to themselves (and allies who assisted). Working hulls can be pulled out, tunnels dug to components in otherwise ruined wrecks, archaotech and data salvaged en masse. Ark of Lost Souls points out that many hulks don't have huge numbers of inhabitants since warp exposure is very hazardous. Others will be foul with orks, tyranids, or worse. Worth it to some.