So i just wrapped up my final dark heresy session that concluded the campaign. My acolytes fought off the worst that chaos had to throw at them, conquered an obliterator, toppled a Terminator lord with the help of their inquisitor, and through a bad die roll on my part also lost their inquisitor at the same time. So after finally bringing down a great evil, they find out how cruel the universe is watching bureacracy erase their deeds and shepard them back into the fold under his sister's cold calculating gaze.

My players then said, they wanted to do something a little different. They wanted to take a break from all the power and intrigue, and focus on something a little edgier, a little more freedom from the tight constrains of an acolyte, and without the rogue trader book to focus me on an interstellar path. I've decided to throw them into a hive gang war Necromunda style.

It would give them the freedom to do as they please whilst also allowing me to keep some control so I'm not doomed to the greatest threat to Game Masterdom, the story skipping party. I want them to direct themselves, but I don't want them to go about it mindlessly. Surviving in the underhive, and growing to power is a bloody route, with some downtime and plenty of time to develop gritty, troubled characters, who will probably find more solutions at the end of an Obscura pipe, than an Ecclesiarchy member's pulpit.

Gameplay wise i don't plan on just throwing them together as long time hivers, I understand that hive world crime attracts plenty of degenerates who plie from world to world, the deserting guardsman, the heretek that seeks solace deep in the hives surrounded by his favorite thing of all, free time and plenty of parts. Even adepts and church members, attempting to educate the lesser men, can find themselves the victim of drug abuse and work off their debts in more ways than one. The only thing i plan on altercating is the way drugs work, I want players to use them, a lot. I want addiction and abuse to walk hand in hand. I want sussed up player characters to focus more on their next fix than money. I want a world that's so dark, that even the cops don't care who's head they have to bash in to get answers. i want a hive world to feel as real as any imaginary thing can be. Any hints on changes or any suggestions for new drugs/ weapons/storylines?

This is a brilliant idea!

I'm toying with doing the same thing, as my group is particularly flaky, and I want something for the lone reliable player to do when noone else is around.

I don't plan on changing any of the rules or gear, but I would make uncommon items a lot more expensive.

I would possibly add more tables to character generation along the lines of the 'Quirks' table! And possibly make the starting gear a little crappier, along the lines of WHFRP, i.e. "a staff with 1d6 dead rats hanging from it".

Good luck, I'd love to hear how it goes!

Do up a flow chart for each drug in your game (pleasure, medical, military; note each group can have legal and illegal drugs). What this is a how the drugs get made and where they go. Such as:

• Part A comes from Farmer Bob ----> who sells it to Tom ----> Tom sells it to Markets 1, 2, & 3 ---> Corp A buys from Market 1 & 3 Mixes it with B to produce Drug X which is then sold to Military.

This provides you with a lot of information to think about:

• Who is Farmer Bob and where does he live?
• Who is Tom and who are his contacts at markets 1, 2, & 3?
• Corp A - just what business are they in? How well connected are they?
• Military - Nuff said

So, now you have a lot of stuff to think about, lets add some details and plot. Corp B wants to make a new drug called Z that requires part A, the good news is that it is available at Market 2. The bad news, Market 2 is not enough to meet demands, so they go to Market 1 too, now you have a price war between Corp A & B. Markets 1, 2, & 3 are happy but Corp A & B find their cost going up, both Drug X & Z cost more. Tom is sort of happy but only as long as he can meet demands of the markets.

Corp B to lower cost, they decide they want control the markets. How? They send some guys out to see Tom and offer him a deal, sell to them and not markets 1, 2, & 3! Whis would get a couple of people angry at Tom. Even worse would be that Corp A now goes to farmer Bob and buys him out and makes a Corp farm, jumping over Tom & Markets 1, 2, & 3! Now you have the need of a blackmarket!

Read the Ravenor series of novels by Dan Abnett, anything by Black Library set in Necromunda and consider that it's only the underhives (or equivalent) that tend to be so nasty. The low-to-mid hives are heavily regulated and while they're miserable places to live, you're as likely to be turned into a servitor as you are to get hold of a seriously prohibited drug there. You certainly aren't likely to get Obscura in an uderhive unless you're a guilder and you're there on business, as it's very, very expensive.