What to do on a Space Ship?

[tombowings]

I'm brainstorming ideas for an RPG based on the social aspects of tight budgeted space travel and adventure. Ok, maybe I can't quite put it into words. Think firefly, though, and about how the crews social dynamics and "keeping flying" were really the focal point of the series. Well, that's kinda what I'm imagining here.

Where I'm running out of creativity is ideas for jobs aboard a small spacecraft. There's the pilot, co-pilot, captain, mechanic, cook, soldier (working on a name), but after that I'm out of ideas. If you happen to think of any more, please post them for me, that would be a big help.

[Vulpinoid]

Instant one that comes to mind...

Navigator.

Beyond that, consider your "Firefly" options, or nautical options.

Companion...or someone to deal socially with the outside world, maybe to get the crew jobs or simply smooth over things when stuff goes south.

Preacher/Chaplain...because when people are faced with the unknown, they often need faith in something if they want to persevere.

Bosun...a general person who maintains crew morale and ensures ship personnel run smoothly.

Gunner...separate from the soldier. The gunner fires the ship's weapons, the soldier boards enemy ships or repels invaders who have boarded the ship.

Medic/Surgeon...you know the ship's going to need one!

Communications Officer...because out in the black you need someone who knows how to communicate with home (or at least the nearest star-base).

Quartermaster...this role keeps a tight rein on supplies and ensures they are dealt out at the right time to the right people.

Petty Officer...I'm not sure that this is entirely the right term, but I'm thinking it's related to the concept of petty cash within a corporate group...the Petty Officer is to ship's finance what the Quartermaster is to the supplies. They make sure people get paid correctly.

Keep in mind that most small ships will have a single person covering two or three of these roles.

There's plenty more options available, these are just the first few to come to mind.

V

[tombowings]

Thanks, this is exactly what I'm looking for. The idea is that I want more than one job to be covered by each character, deciding who does what would be one of the key aspects to character creation and would have a lot to do with social cues. The captain would tell you where to go, but its the pilot who'll actually get you there and make the final decision of whether or not to obey the captain commands (depending if he thinks he's being payed enough or whatnot).

[Eero Tuovinen]

Modern military scifi is full of ideas, although mostly they are concerned with larger ships. They're also directly cribbed from the organization of modern ships and those from the Age of Sail - the smart squirrel will get forthwith into suitable resources that concern historical sailing craft, as those resources will closely reflect the great majority of archetypic space travel fiction as well. Just look at Star Trek, which has an ample supply of ship's boys, native guides, ship's chaplains and so on and so forth.

That said, your space ship is currently lacking an expert contingent: whatever it is the ship is doing in space, it'll most likely need expert crew to do it. People like colonists (miners, planetologists, engineers - depends on what the ship is going to colonize), merchants (perhaps co-owning the ship, or hired by the captain; the usefulness depends greatly on the kind of space world you're thinking up), scientists, diplomats or whatever.

What else... perhaps the most cogent point is that a small spacecraft, when you stop to get down to a realistic level, will compose most of its crew from generalists. Strong specialization is not a smart move in that sort of environment. Fiction will have its own concerns, of course.

[Arturo G.]

I was also going to recommend to have a look at ship jobs in modern and sailing age. You may think on specialized transports (only for cargo, doing a common shuttle passenger-service, etc.) But I think you want a situation mainly provided by long distance travels with a small crew and isolation. Isn't it?

What else... perhaps the most cogent point is that a small spacecraft, when you stop to get down to a realistic level, will compose most of its crew from generalists. Strong specialization is not a smart move in that sort of environment. Fiction will have its own concerns, of course.

I think that the idea of creating characters with several different occupations will make them generalists. I can imagine the players will like to have more than one character with mechanic or pilot profiles. To have a back-up in case of troubles. However, it is nice to have a character specialization that makes her the best among the crew on that kind of tasks. I suppose you may use levels of expertise on those profiles.

[Lazy Wombat]

Thinking a little outside the box, what if your ship needs some kind of native guide, translator or the like to effect passage through a region of space? Maybe FTL travel is only achieved through negotiation with "the things that live in hyperspace"? And Firefly provided an example of why it's advantageous to have a Companion on board.

[David Artman]

List looks good--I've little to add except that "soldiers" are ground-pounders; MARINES are boarders. In general, fighting troops on ships are marines, not solders (excepting troop transports).

You did forget "the oddity"--something for comic relief or to humanize an otherwise uniform world. The sass-talking midget robot; the spunky dog; the brilliant but awkward son of the doctor; the wise bartender on a ship with no currency and replicated drinks... that sort of role.

And FYI, a petty officer is a naval "sergeant". Just one of the organizational command ranks, probably in charge of a group with a duty station (maintenance, starboard gunnery, shipboard security, whatever). (Wikipedia is POWERFUL voodoo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petty_Officer )

Finally, don't forget what is most plausible that 99% of ship-board people do, without "magic tech": sleep in cryostasis. Space is BIG and DULL, and any starship safe enough for the task is VERY automated and redundant. More often, the duties and roles that are needed when you get somewhere are going to populate ship, not knob-twiddlers and stick-jockeys. One AI, some servos, and occasional robotic waldos and servitors are gonna be the daily "roles".

But, no, that's not Firefly, FTL, ship-to-hip blasting fun. (ANother point: "realistic" combat between ships would be over in seconds, as automated weapons and countermeasures pop off faster than a human can register an incoming attack. Relativistic weapons just exacerbate this issue--the fight's "over" minutes before you know you're dead.)

[Will]

In the Bill the Galactic Hero books a warship post was described that has stuck with me far longer than the actual plot of the book. The hero served as a "Fusetender" who had to stand by and wait for the massive fuses that kept the shields from overloading to blow. Once they did he had to wrench them out of their housings and replace them. It was hot, nasty, dangerous work and it tickled my imagination.

[opsneakie]

I ran a fairly long sci-fi game with a Firefly-style premise, although it was more fighty and military players vs government directly. I had... six players, and they fell out like this:

1. brilliant doctor dedicated to well-being and charitable work

2. companion-type with rogue psychic talents

3. genius inventor/mechanic

4. ex-government pilot on the run (the captain, also had plenty of combat skills)

5. cyborg built into the core of the ship, served as computer expert and sniper

6. knife-wielding assassin type

Those are all generalizations, but it worked out very well. 4, 5, and 6 were all very capable fighters, the inventor to a lesser degree because he had nifty gadgets. The companion and the doctor weren't much use in a fight, but both had some medical ability that helped patch people up, and the companion was an obvious boon in social situations. The thing that made it work for me was to stress to my players that a diverse skill set was desirable, and that life on the Fringe was difficult, so a few rough-and-tough skills wouldn't go amiss. Depending on how you run, fighty-type skills may be more or less important, but I found that having the character specializations overlap a good amount proved to be their best survival strategy. I hope that was helpful.

-Sneakie

[Vulpinoid]

List looks good--I've little to add except that "soldiers" are ground-pounders; MARINES are boarders. In general, fighting troops on ships are marines, not solders (excepting troop transports).

Both this and the Wikipedia note are good points David...I must remember to actually check some references when I post ideas...

V

[NN]

If you want juicy conflict, knock the focus upwards. Im thinking 'jobs' like

Owner
Broker
Manager
Charterer
Sub-charterer
Cargo interest
Insurer

[chance.thirteen]

I might recommend some CJ Cherryh books: Downbelow Station, Rimrunners, Heavytime and Hellburner. These are unpleasently economical startship living settings. I also like to call them head trauma/starvation sci-fi, but that's another story.

[tombowings]

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. This was really helpful everyone. I'm going through everyone's input now and will have a job's list soon. Thanks everyone!

[tombowings]

Additional ideas still welcome and appreciated.

[NN]

One thought - in your universe, what is the relationship between the speed of communication and the speed of travel?

If communication is much faster than travel, a space ship can be controlled from an office on a planet somewhere.
A bit like a commercial seagoing ship today.

But If the gap between travel and communication is much smaller, then the ship is going to have to be independent and self reliant. And the pool of skills and responsibilities onboard will be bigger.