A pirate ship is still a ship, I am assuming a small one, so most of these people have jobs keeping the ship going, with maybe six supernumeraries. Everybody is cross-trained; half can fight.
Marines - Fighting, boarding actions. EVA. cleaning, light maintenance. Probably 6-9 of them
Gunner/Gunners - Also would have some navigation and engineering abilities. But these folks maintain the weapons systems and possibly defensive systems on board.
Teamster - Responsible for cargo, hold, engineering, transportation. Probably has some small craft piloting skills.
Engineer - One head engineer, ultimately in charge of all of the systems. Probably has 2-3 people who report directly to them on power/motive, weapons, defensive systems
Co-Pilot/Pilot : You know, I am a leaf on the wind.
Navigators: I don't know the mechanics well enough to know if this would be a thing or not, but usually some drive engineers who are also good at math that gives most people nosebleeds.
Somebody plays an instrument. They may not be trained to do so. They may not enjoy it, but the crew demands entertainment during the slow times and it falls on that person.
Is it a ship that pirates other ships or is it a pirate that raids orbital stations and small colonies? Does the ship have atmosphere landing capability or does it use small landing craft for that? Or does it carry small fighter craft?
The needs change based on those questions usually. If its a raider that lands or hull breaches stations you need more marine like folks. If it uses fighter craft then you need a lot of fighter pilots. If it primarily scuttles other ships it needs different tech to achieve that or a lot of fire power.
(ex: In a Star trek verse a ship to ship raider that has extra strong tractor beams or engine disabling weapons or uses a computer override hacker is more likely. In a B5 verse its a C&C for a bunch of small raider fighters using a swarm technique. In a Heinlein or Ben Bova based verse you just need a ball bearing scatter gun to hull pierce the ship and kill the crew as the atmosphere breach from the swarm of holes in the sections. In a Firefly game you just need a magnetic pulse gun that knocks out the ships power so it can be boarded. Different approaches, different crews needed).
This is all more or less in line with what I was thinking; Sailors: 6 Boarders: 5 Traders: 4 Seers: 3
I'll want to point out somewhere that everyone is cross trained; I was thinking it, but hadn't quite said it. Much as on an Aircraft carrier, everyone is a fire fighter. On a pirate ship, everyone is a _______.
What's the blank? Is there one? Or, are there a few things that go there?
A lot depends on your space fantasy trappings. In mine technical jobs are too rarified for everybody to be able to fix a reaction engine or plot a course, but maybe not in yours. I like the idea of specialists, like pilots (people taken on for their extreme local knowledge to guide a ship to its terminal destination) and esoteric navigators and wonky hyperdrive techs who are highly skilled and highly in demand, and have no reason to crew with pirates, so they are either virtual slaves or actual slaves or have really compelling backstories. When you plunder a ship the first question is "where's the astrogator?" because that person is worth their weight in space gold.
This has reminded me that I badly wanted competency to be in limited supply; that's why only half the playbooks can be in play.
As such, while the crew can all do salvage, they aren't going to be cross skilled. If a crew member can't do their job, then the entire department is busted. Other than the PCs, there's no one on board who is competent at more than one of: sailing, seeing, boarding, trading.
Because rigging the sailing is hard, as is serving decent coffee, as is shooting accurately, as is making good trades.
William Nichols I understand that as a design constraint but it feels very arbitrary as a player. I think I'd prefer it if all the jobs were very difficult, so that competency naturally suffered across the board. If you tell me I am, for no discernible reason other than "because" that I can't have a competent trader on board, that is going to bug me.
Of course it would be ideal for the blindfolder to be a separate job but in a pinch you can have the food server do it before serving the meal.
And naturally you would really want to have crew dedicated to scrubbing off the altar, picking the teeth out of the seat cushions, etc. but if you need to you can just have everyone chip in to do that.
Lemme lay out the design, as I think there's a miscom. the PCs decide on the quality of the crew, but by saying they aren't cross-trained, I'm saying a competent trader is not also a competent gunner. The player characters can be, for sure.
We go around and build the ship, which includes dials for the NPC crew. The players -- including the MC -- can choose to upgrade or bust a ship's system. Meaning they could choose to have terrible traders, or really good traders. Busted ship's systems are at -2, default is 0, and it could go up to 4. If a crew type is busted, then the MC gets rid of some of the NPCs and makes the others terrible; like Jayne, the Boarder who has a hat and muscles, craves money, and has no loyalty at all.
There are four trader NPCs onboard, plus a PC who is ultimately in charge of keeping the ship in the black. I've got descriptors for each non-player crewmember, and the associated number is based on what the players upgraded.
But, I hadn't layed anything like this all out in the thread!
Levi Kornelsen Yeah, having the ship be actually in charge isn't the aesthetic I want for this game. I want it to feel like sailing. The default propulsion system is even a solar sail!
Aaron Griffin I'm trying to stay away from gendered names and look, so whoever runs it (probably only ever me, but let's be optimistic) can choose genders and crap.
That way, the crew can be as queer as the table wants it to be, which, admittedly, has certain problems that I'm not pushing anyone but I'm not positive that I am the right person to push epople along that axis on game design, or that this is the game to do it.
Gah. That was too many words. Point is, avoiding obviously gendered names.
They form voting Blocs!
ReplyDeleteSee, spaceships are so complicated that they run the ship, but they do so by majority consensus... Of whoever's on board, for complicated reasons.
Most ships have crews of seven or less, so. Board half the crew, declare residency, vote the captured ship go to whever we're scrapping it.
(Useless to you, I'm sure, but funny)
Captain
ReplyDeleteFirst Mate/Officer
Bosun/Master at Arms (XO, probably)
Navigator - probably 2, depending on the mechanics
Pilot - (possibly X/O)
Co-Pilot
Engineer
Teamster
Gunner/Gunners
Marines/Landing/Boarding crew
A pirate ship is still a ship, I am assuming a small one, so most of these people have jobs keeping the ship going, with maybe six supernumeraries. Everybody is cross-trained; half can fight.
ReplyDeleteMarines - Fighting, boarding actions. EVA. cleaning, light maintenance. Probably 6-9 of them
ReplyDeleteGunner/Gunners - Also would have some navigation and engineering abilities. But these folks maintain the weapons systems and possibly defensive systems on board.
Teamster - Responsible for cargo, hold, engineering, transportation. Probably has some small craft piloting skills.
Engineer - One head engineer, ultimately in charge of all of the systems. Probably has 2-3 people who report directly to them on power/motive, weapons, defensive systems
Co-Pilot/Pilot : You know, I am a leaf on the wind.
Navigators: I don't know the mechanics well enough to know if this would be a thing or not, but usually some drive engineers who are also good at math that gives most people nosebleeds.
Somebody plays an instrument. They may not be trained to do so. They may not enjoy it, but the crew demands entertainment during the slow times and it falls on that person.
ReplyDeleteIs it a ship that pirates other ships or is it a pirate that raids orbital stations and small colonies? Does the ship have atmosphere landing capability or does it use small landing craft for that? Or does it carry small fighter craft?
ReplyDeleteThe needs change based on those questions usually. If its a raider that lands or hull breaches stations you need more marine like folks. If it uses fighter craft then you need a lot of fighter pilots. If it primarily scuttles other ships it needs different tech to achieve that or a lot of fire power.
(ex: In a Star trek verse a ship to ship raider that has extra strong tractor beams or engine disabling weapons or uses a computer override hacker is more likely. In a B5 verse its a C&C for a bunch of small raider fighters using a swarm technique. In a Heinlein or Ben Bova based verse you just need a ball bearing scatter gun to hull pierce the ship and kill the crew as the atmosphere breach from the swarm of holes in the sections. In a Firefly game you just need a magnetic pulse gun that knocks out the ships power so it can be boarded. Different approaches, different crews needed).
This is all more or less in line with what I was thinking;
ReplyDeleteSailors: 6
Boarders: 5
Traders: 4
Seers: 3
I'll want to point out somewhere that everyone is cross trained; I was thinking it, but hadn't quite said it. Much as on an Aircraft carrier, everyone is a fire fighter. On a pirate ship, everyone is a _______.
What's the blank? Is there one? Or, are there a few things that go there?
Everyone is either an engineer or a marine.
ReplyDeleteSalvager - if you had to fuck up a ship to take it, you need some skill to unfuck it enough to extract saleable things.
ReplyDeleteA lot depends on your space fantasy trappings. In mine technical jobs are too rarified for everybody to be able to fix a reaction engine or plot a course, but maybe not in yours. I like the idea of specialists, like pilots (people taken on for their extreme local knowledge to guide a ship to its terminal destination) and esoteric navigators and wonky hyperdrive techs who are highly skilled and highly in demand, and have no reason to crew with pirates, so they are either virtual slaves or actual slaves or have really compelling backstories. When you plunder a ship the first question is "where's the astrogator?" because that person is worth their weight in space gold.
ReplyDeleteSomeone who salvages stuff is a salvor.
ReplyDeleteThis has reminded me that I badly wanted competency to be in limited supply; that's why only half the playbooks can be in play.
ReplyDeleteAs such, while the crew can all do salvage, they aren't going to be cross skilled. If a crew member can't do their job, then the entire department is busted. Other than the PCs, there's no one on board who is competent at more than one of: sailing, seeing, boarding, trading.
Because rigging the sailing is hard, as is serving decent coffee, as is shooting accurately, as is making good trades.
William Nichols I understand that as a design constraint but it feels very arbitrary as a player. I think I'd prefer it if all the jobs were very difficult, so that competency naturally suffered across the board. If you tell me I am, for no discernible reason other than "because" that I can't have a competent trader on board, that is going to bug me.
ReplyDelete18 crew is barely enough, but will suffice:
ReplyDelete1 Parson
2 Ushers
1 Soloist
3 Choir Members
1 Soothsayer
2 Sacrificial Animal Wranglers
1 Knife Sharpener and Sanctifier
1 Veterinarian
2 Sacred Dancers
1 Smoke Pot Operator
2 Cooks
1 Waitstaff/Blindfolder
Of course it would be ideal for the blindfolder to be a separate job but in a pinch you can have the food server do it before serving the meal.
And naturally you would really want to have crew dedicated to scrubbing off the altar, picking the teeth out of the seat cushions, etc. but if you need to you can just have everyone chip in to do that.
Jason Morningstar Huh.
ReplyDeleteLemme lay out the design, as I think there's a miscom. the PCs decide on the quality of the crew, but by saying they aren't cross-trained, I'm saying a competent trader is not also a competent gunner. The player characters can be, for sure.
We go around and build the ship, which includes dials for the NPC crew. The players -- including the MC -- can choose to upgrade or bust a ship's system. Meaning they could choose to have terrible traders, or really good traders. Busted ship's systems are at -2, default is 0, and it could go up to 4. If a crew type is busted, then the MC gets rid of some of the NPCs and makes the others terrible; like Jayne, the Boarder who has a hat and muscles, craves money, and has no loyalty at all.
There are four trader NPCs onboard, plus a PC who is ultimately in charge of keeping the ship in the black. I've got descriptors for each non-player crewmember, and the associated number is based on what the players upgraded.
But, I hadn't layed anything like this all out in the thread!
Jason Corley You are a delight.
ReplyDeleteLevi Kornelsen Yeah, having the ship be actually in charge isn't the aesthetic I want for this game. I want it to feel like sailing. The default propulsion system is even a solar sail!
ReplyDeleteAs long as one of them is named Pigfuck Dan, it will make a fun pirate game
ReplyDeleteAaron Griffin I'm trying to stay away from gendered names and look, so whoever runs it (probably only ever me, but let's be optimistic) can choose genders and crap.
ReplyDeleteThat way, the crew can be as queer as the table wants it to be, which, admittedly, has certain problems that I'm not pushing anyone but I'm not positive that I am the right person to push epople along that axis on game design, or that this is the game to do it.
Gah. That was too many words. Point is, avoiding obviously gendered names.
Bit of a joke. Pigfuck Dan is to Poison'd as Rolfball is to AW
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many times Rolfball has died.
ReplyDelete