The recent DMCA takedown notice from Games Workshop to Necro-vox has taken the Necromunda community by surprise. Heartfelt appreciation extends to servo_scribe and Necrodamus (pdf version) for their steadfast dedication to Necrodamus / Necro-vox over the years. Their very hard work (over hundreds of hours) has been instrumental in shaping the Necromunda community and attracting new players to the game, and their contributions are highly valued.
This DMCA takedown has prompted servo_scribe to reassess their verbatim approach of providing the books' content. servo_scribe has announced that Necro-vox will now comply with GW requirements, meaning rules will no longer be verbatim; lore and pictures will also be removed. While the importance of protecting intellectual property rights is understood, maintaining an online platform with verbatim rules is crucial for both new players, who often struggle with the scattered rule distribution across various books, and for regular players during games who need quick access to rule details.
Very generously, servo_scribe published the markdown files of Necro-vox before its rewriting on their discord.
servo_scribe: "The docs are markdown, with Necrovox being run on a platform called Docusaurus. These files won't be plug-n-play, as there's a chunk of custom MDX/react bits missing, but they're all plain text, so should be enough to do with it what you want"
This led to NecroRAW, the recreation of a Docusaurus platform hosting those files to keep them available.
Moving forward, NecroRAW will uphold the mission of providing access to Necromunda rules verbatim (built upon the incredible work of servo_scribe and Necrodamus). However, the aim is not to dissuade potential Games Workshop customers from purchasing their products. Therefore, only the rules will be replicated verbatim from the books, while lore or artworks will be omitted. It's worth noting the ongoing issue with the release of rules, where the same rules are repeatedly issued across publications, leading to inflated book sizes and a daunting barrier to entry for new players in an already niche game compared to more established licences.
The aim of NecroRAW is not to replace Necro-vox either. It can exist alongside it as yet another compilation of rules. Additionally, the beloved tool for Tactics Cards isn't in the works at the moment.
It's important to acknowledge the risks involved in challenging copyright holders and the costs associated with maintaining privacy in such ventures. Your participation in covering these costs would be greatly appreciated to ensure the website's sustainability and continued accessibility for the Necromunda community.
As a final note, NecroRAW will also refrain from including house rules. The goal is to serve every Necromunda player by providing the official Necromunda rules for free. Presenting and maintaining house rules compatibility with official rules appears to conflict with this approach, and as a result, they have been removed. Past books not yet transcribed verbatim by servo_scribe will also be added in the near future.