Houses & Factions

Houses are the core organisational unit in the Gyrinx content library. A list represents a user's collection of fighters (called a "gang" in Necromunda). Every list a user creates is associated with exactly one house, and that house determines which fighters can be hired, which equipment is available, and which skill categories are accessible. Houses represent the major factions from the Necromunda tabletop game -- Escher, Goliath, Orlock, Cawdor, Van Saar, Delaque, and many others.

When a user creates a new list, they choose a house. From that point on, the house acts as a filter across the entire application: the fighters shown in the "add fighter" form, the equipment lists available on weapon and gear pages, and the skill trees offered during advancement are all determined by the house. Getting house configuration right is essential because it shapes the entire user experience of building and managing a list.

The content library also supports house-level cost overrides for individual fighters through the ContentFighterHouseOverride model. This lets you set a different price for the same fighter type depending on which house is hiring them -- a common pattern in Necromunda where hired guns and hangers-on cost different amounts for different factions.

Key Concepts

House -- A faction or house type (e.g., House Escher, House Goliath, Underhive Outcasts). Each user list belongs to exactly one house.

Generic house -- A special category of house whose fighters are available to all other houses. Used for mercenaries, hired guns, hangers-on, and other faction-neutral fighter types. Generic houses cannot be selected as the primary house when creating a list.

Legacy house -- An older or deprecated faction that still appears in the list creation form but is grouped separately under "Legacy House" to distinguish it from current factions.

House override -- A per-house cost adjustment for a specific fighter type. When a fighter has a house override, the overridden cost is used instead of the fighter's base cost whenever that fighter appears in a list belonging to the specified house.

Models

ContentHouse

ContentHouse represents a faction or house that fighters can belong to. It is the central model that ties together fighters, equipment access, and skill trees.

Field	Type	Description
name	CharField	The display name of the house (e.g., "House Escher", "Underhive Outcasts"). Indexed for search.
generic	BooleanField	When checked, fighters belonging to this house are available to lists of any other house. Generic houses cannot be selected as a primary house during list creation. Defaults to false.
legacy	BooleanField	When checked, marks this house as a legacy/older faction. Legacy houses are grouped separately in the list creation form under a "Legacy House" heading. Defaults to false.
can_hire_any	BooleanField	When checked, lists belonging to this house can hire any fighter from any house (except stash fighters). Used for factions like Underhive Outcasts that have unrestricted recruitment. Defaults to false.
can_buy_any	BooleanField	When checked, lists belonging to this house can buy any equipment from any equipment list and the Trading Post. Equipment pages default to showing all available equipment rather than the fighter's own equipment list. Defaults to false.
skill_categories	ManyToManyField	Links to ContentSkillCategory records. These are the "Unique Skill Categories" available to fighters in this house. They appear as a separate section on the skill advancement page alongside the standard (non-restricted) skill categories.

Relationships:

• Each ContentFighter has a foreign key to ContentHouse, establishing which house a fighter template belongs to.

• Each user List has a foreign key to ContentHouse, establishing the house for the entire list.

• Skill categories linked via skill_categories appear on the fighter skill advancement page as house-specific skill trees.

Admin interface:

The ContentHouse admin page displays all fields for the house and includes an inline listing of all ContentFighter records belonging to that house. You can search houses by name.

ContentFighterHouseOverride

ContentFighterHouseOverride captures cases where a fighter has a different cost when being hired by a specific house. This is a common pattern for faction-neutral fighters (bounty hunters, hangers-on, dramatis personae) whose hiring cost varies by faction.

Field	Type	Description
fighter	ForeignKey	The ContentFighter whose cost is being overridden.
house	ForeignKey	The ContentHouse for which this override applies.
cost	IntegerField	The overridden cost in credits. Nullable -- if left blank, the fighter's base cost is used.

Constraints:

• The combination of fighter and house must be unique. You cannot create two overrides for the same fighter-house pair.

• Overrides are ordered by house name, then fighter type.

Admin interface:

The ContentFighterHouseOverride admin page provides autocomplete fields for both fighter and house, making it quick to find the correct records. You can search by fighter type or house name, and filter by fighter type or house.

How It Works in the Application

List Creation

When a user creates a new list, they see a dropdown of all available houses. The form filters out generic houses (since those exist only to provide shared fighters) and groups the remaining houses into two sections: "House" for current factions and "Legacy House" for older ones. The user's selection becomes the content_house for their list and cannot be changed after creation.

Fighter Selection

When a user adds a fighter to their list, the available fighters are determined by the list's house:

• Standard houses (can_hire_any is false): The form shows fighters belonging to the list's own house plus fighters from all generic houses. Exotic beasts, vehicles, and stash fighters are excluded from the dropdown (exotic beasts and vehicles are added through equipment assignments instead).

• Unrestricted houses (can_hire_any is true): The form shows all fighters from every house, except stash fighters. This allows factions like Underhive Outcasts to recruit from any house.

Fighter costs in the dropdown reflect house-specific pricing. If a ContentFighterHouseOverride exists for the fighter-house combination, that override cost is displayed. Otherwise, the fighter's standard base_cost is shown.

Equipment Access

The can_buy_any flag controls how equipment pages behave:

• Standard houses (can_buy_any is false): Equipment pages default to showing only items from the fighter's own equipment list.

• Unrestricted houses (can_buy_any is true): Equipment pages automatically redirect to show all equipment from every equipment list and the Trading Post. Users can still switch back to the equipment list view manually.

Skill Advancement

Each house can have unique skill categories linked via the skill_categories field. When a user advances a fighter's skills, the skill page shows:

1. Standard (non-restricted) skill categories available to all fighters.

2. House-specific skill categories from the fighter's house, displayed in a separate section.

This allows houses like Escher to have access to faction-specific skill trees alongside the universal ones.

Lists Browsing and Filtering

On the public lists page, users can filter lists by house. The house filter shows all houses (not just non-generic ones), and the search also matches against house names.

Cost Recalculation

When a ContentFighterHouseOverride cost changes, the system automatically marks all affected ListFighter records as "dirty" -- meaning their cached cost data needs recalculation. This ensures that user-facing list totals stay accurate after content changes. The dirty fighters are recalculated the next time their list is viewed.

Common Admin Tasks

Adding a New House

1. Open the Houses admin page and click "Add House".

2. Enter the house name (e.g., "House Escher").

3. Set the flags as appropriate:

   • Leave generic unchecked for a standard selectable house.

   • Leave legacy unchecked unless this is an older faction you want to separate visually in the list creation form.

   • Leave can_hire_any unchecked unless this faction can recruit from any other house.

   • Leave can_buy_any unchecked unless this faction has unrestricted equipment access.

4. Optionally link skill categories in the skill_categories field if the house has unique skill trees.

5. Save the house. It will now appear in the list creation form.

Adding a Generic House for Shared Fighters

Generic houses hold fighters that should be available across all factions (e.g., hired guns, hangers-on, dramatis personae).

1. Create a new house and check the generic flag.

2. Add fighters to this house as you normally would.

3. These fighters will automatically appear in the "add fighter" dropdown for lists belonging to any house.

Users will not see generic houses in the list creation form -- they exist only as containers for shared content.

Setting a House-Specific Fighter Cost

Some fighters cost different amounts depending on which house hires them. To configure this:

1. Open the Fighter-House Overrides admin page and click "Add Fighter-House Override".

2. Use the autocomplete fields to select the fighter and the house.

3. Enter the override cost in credits.

4. Save. The next time a user views a list belonging to that house, the fighter's cost will reflect the override.

You can also search for existing overrides by fighter type or house name and filter by house to see all overrides for a particular faction.

Marking a House as Legacy

If a house is being retired or replaced but existing lists still reference it:

1. Open the house in the admin.

2. Check the legacy flag.

3. Save. The house will continue to work for existing lists but will appear in the "Legacy House" group in the list creation form, visually separated from current factions.

Configuring Unrestricted Recruitment

For factions that can hire from any house (e.g., Underhive Outcasts):

1. Open the house in the admin.

2. Check the can_hire_any flag.

3. Save. Lists belonging to this house will now show all fighters from every house in the "add fighter" form (excluding stash fighters).

Configuring Unrestricted Equipment Access

For factions that can buy from any equipment list (e.g., Venators):

1. Open the house in the admin.

2. Check the can_buy_any flag.

3. Save. Equipment pages for fighters in this house will default to showing all available equipment rather than just the fighter's equipment list.

Linking Unique Skill Categories to a House

If a house has faction-specific skill trees:

1. Open the house in the admin.

2. In the skill_categories (labelled "Unique Skill Categories") field, select the relevant ContentSkillCategory entries.

3. Save. These skill categories will now appear in a dedicated section on the skill advancement page for fighters belonging to this house.