Crew Duties

[Supplement Four]

I'm interested in all types of jobs crewers on Traveller vessels have. I'm not talking about the obvious jobs. I understand that the pilot is in charge of getting the ship to where it needs to go and that the engineer is responsible for ship's maintenance--I'm not looking for that type of thing.

I'm looking for the less obvious.

For example, IMTU, the steward, having the most contact with the ship's passengers, is typically also in charge of ship's security. The steward is also the ship's administrator, handling ship's records and cargo manifests, and the steward often acts as liaison between the ship and starport officals (although these types of duites can get blurry and grey real quick with an owner/operator aboard). IMTU, the steward is also in charge of the cargo deck. He'll make sure cargo is loaded and unloaded properly.

I remember, back in the day, that no player wanted to be steward. The "waiter" job. But, as I got older, and my players got older, we all realized that ship's steward could be a fantasic character to play. He can always be played as the "Supply Officer"...you know, the con man who ventures forth onto the planet, works with the grey and black market, and finds "deals" for the ship--credits to keep her out of bankruptcy.

The ship's steward, in the hands of the right player, can be the star of the show.

I'm just reading some of the Port Authority Handbook articles in Far Traveller and High Passage, and the first thing that struck me was a comment about the ship's doctor.

It says, "...upon arrival at any starport facility, all civilian vessels shall furnish to appropriate authorities such records, registries and relevant documents deemed necessary to establish said vessel's condition and past history; said vessel shall be required to furnish health statements, issued and sighned by the ship's medical officer, for each passenger and crewman aboard...."

I already understand (given DGP's take on how long it takes to put a passenger into Low Berth) that the ship's Doc doesn't have a lot of time on his hands early on in the jump. Putting one person into low berth can take an hour and a half to two hours or more. If the Doc is on a Type A Free Trader, with 20 Low Berths, the Doc is indeed a busy man before and during the early leg of jump.

But, what about this statement above? Are the duties the Doc faces spent giving all passengers complete physicals as well? So that the customs and medical papers can be signed? And, if the physical requires a test, does the Doc take blood and do the lab work too?

Working a free trader must be very hard work, indeed. I bet there's so much to it that we Traveller players take it for granted.

GM: "OK, you picked up passengers on Aramis, and unloaded them on Natoko. Everything went smooth. What do you want to do now?"

That's probably not the most interesting way a GM could handle this sort of thing.

And, think of the game possibilities!

GM: "The Doc is doing the mandatory physicals on the passengers, and even though the steward checked them out and gave them a release declaring that they're all disease free and fit for space travel, the Doctor got a warning light on his diagnostic. He took blood, and right now he's waiting for the test results, and while he's waiting, the ship's steward has shown up complaining about this tickle in his throat..."

What kind of jobs do you think the gunners do. I've got to think that, hardly ever, they are sitting by the controls for their weapons, defending the ship. Most rides must be pretty peaceful.

So, what do ship's gunners do? Just sit around?

Doubtful. There's too much to do on a tramp freighter.

Maybe they're used as deckhands on the cargo deck, supervised by the Steward.

Maybe they've got to sign off on ship's weaponry and missile stores--a document that must be turned in to each starport they visit.

What are you thoughts on this, with any of the various crew positions?

 

[Supplement Four]

I'm interested in all types of jobs crewers on Traveller vessels have. I'm not talking about the obvious jobs. I understand that the pilot is in charge of getting the ship to where it needs to go and that the engineer is responsible for ship's maintenance--I'm not looking for that type of thing.

I'm looking for the less obvious.

For example, IMTU, the steward, having the most contact with the ship's passengers, is typically also in charge of ship's security. The steward is also the ship's administrator, handling ship's records and cargo manifests, and the steward often acts as liaison between the ship and starport officals (although these types of duites can get blurry and grey real quick with an owner/operator aboard). IMTU, the steward is also in charge of the cargo deck. He'll make sure cargo is loaded and unloaded properly.

I remember, back in the day, that no player wanted to be steward. The "waiter" job. But, as I got older, and my players got older, we all realized that ship's steward could be a fantasic character to play. He can always be played as the "Supply Officer"...you know, the con man who ventures forth onto the planet, works with the grey and black market, and finds "deals" for the ship--credits to keep her out of bankruptcy.

The ship's steward, in the hands of the right player, can be the star of the show.

I'm just reading some of the Port Authority Handbook articles in Far Traveller and High Passage, and the first thing that struck me was a comment about the ship's doctor.

It says, "...upon arrival at any starport facility, all civilian vessels shall furnish to appropriate authorities such records, registries and relevant documents deemed necessary to establish said vessel's condition and past history; said vessel shall be required to furnish health statements, issued and sighned by the ship's medical officer, for each passenger and crewman aboard...."

I already understand (given DGP's take on how long it takes to put a passenger into Low Berth) that the ship's Doc doesn't have a lot of time on his hands early on in the jump. Putting one person into low berth can take an hour and a half to two hours or more. If the Doc is on a Type A Free Trader, with 20 Low Berths, the Doc is indeed a busy man before and during the early leg of jump.

But, what about this statement above? Are the duties the Doc faces spent giving all passengers complete physicals as well? So that the customs and medical papers can be signed? And, if the physical requires a test, does the Doc take blood and do the lab work too?

Working a free trader must be very hard work, indeed. I bet there's so much to it that we Traveller players take it for granted.

GM: "OK, you picked up passengers on Aramis, and unloaded them on Natoko. Everything went smooth. What do you want to do now?"

That's probably not the most interesting way a GM could handle this sort of thing.

And, think of the game possibilities!

GM: "The Doc is doing the mandatory physicals on the passengers, and even though the steward checked them out and gave them a release declaring that they're all disease free and fit for space travel, the Doctor got a warning light on his diagnostic. He took blood, and right now he's waiting for the test results, and while he's waiting, the ship's steward has shown up complaining about this tickle in his throat..."

What kind of jobs do you think the gunners do. I've got to think that, hardly ever, they are sitting by the controls for their weapons, defending the ship. Most rides must be pretty peaceful.

So, what do ship's gunners do? Just sit around?

Doubtful. There's too much to do on a tramp freighter.

Maybe they're used as deckhands on the cargo deck, supervised by the Steward.

Maybe they've got to sign off on ship's weaponry and missile stores--a document that must be turned in to each starport they visit.

What are you thoughts on this, with any of the various crew positions?

 

[Supplement Four]

More roleplaying opportunties that a Traveller GM might not think of...

In reading the Inward Clearance article of the Port Authority Handbook, it's stated that many times an offical from the starport will visit the PC's ship before inward clearance is given. Depending on govt type, pop level, Starport Class, and the like, this can many times be the Port Captain himself (with smaller ports), or a minor functionary (with larger ports). Their official mission is to check ship's papers and clear cargo and passengers for entry on their world. Many times in reality, these functionaries are looking for a bribe or to lay a new inport tax on the ship's captain.

Either way, these are excellent roleplaying opportunties. Especially if you're at a smaller port and the Port Captain makes a call. A drink in the Captain's cabin is mandatory. These port officials might need a little schmoozing. Maybe they'll become recurring NPCs for a campaign. They can be leads to the rumor mill or even jobs and patrons. The possibilities are vast.

And, if a good player is running the ship's steward, this type of thing can be a blast.

This is a tool for a good GM to make the different worlds the characters venture to different.

Instead of saying, "OK, you spent a day unloading cargo and looking for passengers and freight for your next destination," you can role play memorable encounters with port officials, coming aboard the ship, inspecting and interacting with the crew.

Players may even avoid or gravitate to specific worlds based on their previous encounters there.

I know I did this in my campaign with Pysadi, in the Aramis subsector. The infamous character there was Councilor Momi. I've got a player who actually hates that NPC. The entire crew avoids Pysadi now. It's a backwater world with backwater customs, and my players steer clear of it--they haven't gone back since and even jumped out of their way in order not to have to deal with the Pysadians.

Just for laughs, the crew was on Aramis, and I roleplayed an encounter with an NPC. The player asked where the NPC was from--he thought he recognized the accent. "Pysadi," I said. And, that was the end of the role play. The player booted him--left him right there in the middle of a sentence.

The whole table laughed.

 

[Supplement Four]

More roleplaying opportunties that a Traveller GM might not think of...

In reading the Inward Clearance article of the Port Authority Handbook, it's stated that many times an offical from the starport will visit the PC's ship before inward clearance is given. Depending on govt type, pop level, Starport Class, and the like, this can many times be the Port Captain himself (with smaller ports), or a minor functionary (with larger ports). Their official mission is to check ship's papers and clear cargo and passengers for entry on their world. Many times in reality, these functionaries are looking for a bribe or to lay a new inport tax on the ship's captain.

Either way, these are excellent roleplaying opportunties. Especially if you're at a smaller port and the Port Captain makes a call. A drink in the Captain's cabin is mandatory. These port officials might need a little schmoozing. Maybe they'll become recurring NPCs for a campaign. They can be leads to the rumor mill or even jobs and patrons. The possibilities are vast.

And, if a good player is running the ship's steward, this type of thing can be a blast.

This is a tool for a good GM to make the different worlds the characters venture to different.

Instead of saying, "OK, you spent a day unloading cargo and looking for passengers and freight for your next destination," you can role play memorable encounters with port officials, coming aboard the ship, inspecting and interacting with the crew.

Players may even avoid or gravitate to specific worlds based on their previous encounters there.

I know I did this in my campaign with Pysadi, in the Aramis subsector. The infamous character there was Councilor Momi. I've got a player who actually hates that NPC. The entire crew avoids Pysadi now. It's a backwater world with backwater customs, and my players steer clear of it--they haven't gone back since and even jumped out of their way in order not to have to deal with the Pysadians.

Just for laughs, the crew was on Aramis, and I roleplayed an encounter with an NPC. The player asked where the NPC was from--he thought he recognized the accent. "Pysadi," I said. And, that was the end of the role play. The player booted him--left him right there in the middle of a sentence.

The whole table laughed.

 

[Supplement Four]

Some papers that may be necessary, depending on the port-o-call:

Ship's registry
Ship's log
Medical log

Cargo manifest
Passenger manifest
Crew manifest

A throw on the planetary Law code could be used as a quickie roll for an official checking these docs.

A failed roll could mean the papers are out of order. Maybe there's a ban on some common thing the ship is bringing to the world. There's tarriffs and import taxes. Maybe a recent stop at a world the current planet is not friendly with will lead to red tape. Heck, maybe they'll think the crew of the ships are spies.

Confiscation, fines, quarentine issues, and other "punishments" are all possible at the whim of the GM.

This is a great opportunity for PCs to use their Admin, Liaison, Carousing, Streewise, Forgery, and Bribery skills.

Port costs can vary. The costs listed in Book 2 are suggestions. Use that as a base and run with it.

 

[Supplement Four]

Some papers that may be necessary, depending on the port-o-call:

Ship's registry
Ship's log
Medical log

Cargo manifest
Passenger manifest
Crew manifest

A throw on the planetary Law code could be used as a quickie roll for an official checking these docs.

A failed roll could mean the papers are out of order. Maybe there's a ban on some common thing the ship is bringing to the world. There's tarriffs and import taxes. Maybe a recent stop at a world the current planet is not friendly with will lead to red tape. Heck, maybe they'll think the crew of the ships are spies.

Confiscation, fines, quarentine issues, and other "punishments" are all possible at the whim of the GM.

This is a great opportunity for PCs to use their Admin, Liaison, Carousing, Streewise, Forgery, and Bribery skills.

Port costs can vary. The costs listed in Book 2 are suggestions. Use that as a base and run with it.

 

[BlackBat242]

Gunners are often also internal (and external) security on and off-planet. In fact, I would rather one of them be Chief of Security unless someone else is more qualified.


To me, Cargomaster (or SuperCargo) and Steward, while both falling under the Purser's department, are usually only combined on small ships... while on larger ships the handling of live cargo is assigned to separate personnel from those who work other cargos.


For a formal title, why not "SuperCargo"?

Webster's definition is: "an officer or person in a merchant ship whose duty is to manage the commercial concerns of the voyage".

 

[BlackBat242]

Gunners are often also internal (and external) security on and off-planet. In fact, I would rather one of them be Chief of Security unless someone else is more qualified.


To me, Cargomaster (or SuperCargo) and Steward, while both falling under the Purser's department, are usually only combined on small ships... while on larger ships the handling of live cargo is assigned to separate personnel from those who work other cargos.


For a formal title, why not "SuperCargo"?

Webster's definition is: "an officer or person in a merchant ship whose duty is to manage the commercial concerns of the voyage".

 

[Icosahedron]

On a small ship, gunner will probably be a skill held by another crewmember - the medic or steward, perhaps. If the ship has a dedicated gunner or two, they will probably double as security or general lackeys - cargo hands, kitchen skivvys, grease monkeys for the engineer, etc. They would probably be the ones to suit-up and scrape the grime off the outside of the viewport...

 

[Icosahedron]

On a small ship, gunner will probably be a skill held by another crewmember - the medic or steward, perhaps. If the ship has a dedicated gunner or two, they will probably double as security or general lackeys - cargo hands, kitchen skivvys, grease monkeys for the engineer, etc. They would probably be the ones to suit-up and scrape the grime off the outside of the viewport...

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Icosahedron:
On a small ship, gunner will probably be a skill held by another crewmember - the medic or steward, perhaps.

Would you enforce the Double Duty rule then? That the character who holds both the Gunner and Medic position do so at one level less?

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Icosahedron:
On a small ship, gunner will probably be a skill held by another crewmember - the medic or steward, perhaps.

Would you enforce the Double Duty rule then? That the character who holds both the Gunner and Medic position do so at one level less?

 

[aramis]

One thing I use from TNE in CT is the calculations of maintenance hours...

This gives a good baseline for how much time is actually being spent on tasks.

For example, the Electronics guy on a donosev is spending some 10 hours a month maintaining the sensors, and another 10 on the comms... So he can only serve another 20 hours a week on helping the engineer.

So each HP takes a steward 5 hours a week. Each MP takes some 2 hours a week.

I found this methodology far more useful for small ships than the stock methodology.

 

[aramis]

One thing I use from TNE in CT is the calculations of maintenance hours...

This gives a good baseline for how much time is actually being spent on tasks.

For example, the Electronics guy on a donosev is spending some 10 hours a month maintaining the sensors, and another 10 on the comms... So he can only serve another 20 hours a week on helping the engineer.

So each HP takes a steward 5 hours a week. Each MP takes some 2 hours a week.

I found this methodology far more useful for small ships than the stock methodology.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Aramis:
One thing I use from TNE in CT is the calculations of maintenance hours...

I'm going to have to pull out my TNE books and take a look at that. That sounds like a useful rule. I seem to never crack TNE for anything.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Aramis:
One thing I use from TNE in CT is the calculations of maintenance hours...

I'm going to have to pull out my TNE books and take a look at that. That sounds like a useful rule. I seem to never crack TNE for anything.

 

[aramis]

It is actually in FF&S.

But yeah, the process can even be faked nicely: just apply the formulae for crew and multiply the fractional crew by 40 hours...

 

[aramis]

It is actually in FF&S.

But yeah, the process can even be faked nicely: just apply the formulae for crew and multiply the fractional crew by 40 hours...

 

[Icosahedron]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
Would you enforce the Double Duty rule then?

Depends. In typically CT referee style, I'd figure out the current situation. If everyone aboard is healthy, and this is the first airing the guns have had, why shouldn't he work at full capacity? OTOH, if this is the third consecutive day of gunfire and the sickbay is crammed with casualties...

Or what Aramis said. TNE does have some good rules, they are just utterly over-complex. One day I'll get around to paring them down to CT size so I can use them.

 

[Icosahedron]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
Would you enforce the Double Duty rule then?

Depends. In typically CT referee style, I'd figure out the current situation. If everyone aboard is healthy, and this is the first airing the guns have had, why shouldn't he work at full capacity? OTOH, if this is the third consecutive day of gunfire and the sickbay is crammed with casualties...

Or what Aramis said. TNE does have some good rules, they are just utterly over-complex. One day I'll get around to paring them down to CT size so I can use them.