T20 Only: P/Steward

[bookwyrm]

I was kind of surprised, after I got to know T20 a little, to see that anyone without any skills or training can be a Steward. this, for a position, that is serving Passengers who are paying for, and expecting, better cuisine, entertainment, and accommodations, than the Middle Passengers are getting. and getting paid Cr3000 a month. I guess if you are flying between worlds far from the main or secondary trade routes, High Pax might have as low expectations of service as the Mid Pax do. but the closer to the Main Trade Routes you get, the higher the expectations get for better service. I'm sure that the poor service these High Pax get will result in the posting of low reviews at the next Star Port, which will be read by other potential High Pax, who might end up going on another ship or down grading to Mid Pax.

P/Steward Skill can be used to give a random crew member some experience or training in serving High Paxs. for a Steward whose only duty is to serve High Passengers, they would have better training and experience, which can translate to very happy High Paxs, who might post glowing, if not rave, reviews at the next Star Port. this could make some Mid Pax consider upgrading to High Pax to experience this incredible service on some Tramp Trader.

because of the high expectations of High Passengers, rolling -10 or -20 of the difficulty check could result in -1d6 or -2d6, respectively, of the number of High Pax interested in flying on your piece of junk. on the other hand, rolling +10 or +20 of the difficulty check, +1d3 or +1d6, respectively, added to the number of High Pax who are interested in the incredible service that your ship has to offer (the penalty and bonus rolls could be changed at GM's discretion).

the Profession Cascade Skill states that it's Skilled only. so any one trying to be a Steward with out any training, is looking at penalties when serving their High Paxs.

Merchant & Professional, and a few other Classes, have Profession Skill as a Class Skill, otherwise, it's a Cross Class Skill. other Skills could be used in place of P/Steward, with a -2 penalty, at the GM's discretion.

as an option for Steward & Chief Steward Feats, you could require 5 Skill Points in P/Steward for Steward Feat (available at Merchant 2), and 8 or 10 Skill Points in P/Steward for the Chief Steward Feat (available at Merchant 5 or 7, depending on how experienced the GM feels the Steward needs to be).

the bonus & penalties from P/Steward stack with the Steward & Chief Steward Feats.

P/Steward could have been learned at University or a Trade School, or from training when hired by a big passenger line, or maybe apprenticed under a Steward on a Tramp Trader. or learned the hard way, by getting it wrong at first, then doing some research online to find out how to improve your skills, all for having happy High Paxs spending Credits to be on your little ship.

 

[aramis]

Unskilled stewards have been allowed in all other editions. Steward skill gets more high passengers, but anyone can do laundry, serve reheated foodpacks, and make a bed. Especially since the core rules conceit of CT was mostly veterans... all of whom learned to make a bed with standard military bedding...

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on what the player, the Dungeon Master, and the game developer expected from Steward.

Cooking, cleaning, shepherding and serving, that could include customer service.

Also, I rather have Gordon Ramsay stay in the kitchen, than serve the meal, or pull my pants up.

 

[bookwyrm]

I could see that unskilled Stewards are kind of considered the norm on Tramp Traders and the smaller liners traveling off the Main Passenger Routes (not to mention the differences between CT & others, and T20, on this subject).

where a Campaigns focus is Adventure or something else, and the Trade Ship is just for getting around, then P/Steward Skill wouldn't be really important. but when the focus is Trading, making a profit with cargo and/or passengers, having P/Steward Skill or not, could make or break a ships budget, and make for some interesting scenarios, good or bad, with the passengers.

besides, Merchant has Profession Skill as a Class Skill, probably for P/Admin or P/Inter Stellar Law. since some Merchants are trained as Stewards to work with Passengers, at least in the big Liner companies, why not a P/Steward Skill?

also, considering that T20 has a few more options for making revenue on the cargo side of the ledger, as a GM, why not make it a little harder for revenue on the passenger side of things. at least for a Merchant focused campaign. even a few skill points in P/Steward could avert financial disaster. and someone with Professional Class who went the Professional Steward route, can take 10 with the Professional Specialty Feat for P/Steward. a Merchant/Professional multi class Steward with Steward & Chief Steward Feats, could make the High Passenger side of a Trade Ship very lucrative.

thanks for the feedback.

 

[Timerover51]

I have the T20 CD and have been looking through it. I have not seen that information regarding the Steward. I do not agree with it.

First, you are not heating up food packs for High Passengers, or any other passengers, nor for the crew. The High Passengers are paying 10,000 Credits for a trip of one week, the Middle Passengers are paying 8000 Credits for a trip of one week. They are not going to tolerate eating food packs for that kind of money. Would you? Will an Aslan passenger eat a food pack, aside from the fact that an Aslan is going to require more food than a human, and basically all meat?

Laundry, making beds, and general cleaning is something that can be done by a dedicated deck or crew hand. Keeping High Passengers happy is a different skill, and aside from some reasonably good cooking skills, some idea of entertainment should be a must. Making up a foursome for a game of Bridge would be one example.

Having been on Real World cruise ships the following just does not cut it.

Almost anyone can be hired as a steward, so long as they are patient and friendly with strangers.

 

[kilemall]

I have the T20 CD and have been looking through it. I have not seen that information regarding the Steward. I do not agree with it.

First, you are not heating up food packs for High Passengers, or any other passengers, nor for the crew. The High Passengers are paying 10,000 Credits for a trip of one week, the Middle Passengers are paying 8000 Credits for a trip of one week. They are not going to tolerate eating food packs for that kind of money. Would you? Will an Aslan passenger eat a food pack, aside from the fact that an Aslan is going to require more food than a human, and basically all meat?

Laundry, making beds, and general cleaning is something that can be done by a dedicated deck or crew hand. Keeping High Passengers happy is a different skill, and aside from some reasonably good cooking skills, some idea of entertainment should be a must. Making up a foursome for a game of Bridge would be one example.

Having been on Real World cruise ships the following just does not cut it.

I don't think this is 20th century liners, more like 19th century steamships at best and 18th century sailing. Expectations would reasonably be lower in most frontier areas.

 

[bookwyrm]

watching the movie 'Titanic', you get a good idea of the kinds of service the different classes of passengers got for what which passage they paid for.

even today, there is First Class, Executive (Business) Class, Economy Class, and others, depending on the airline, for travel by Airplane. and I'm sure that the Stewards are trained to give each travel class the service that is paid for.

that's why I felt that any crew who are unskilled Stewards, might have the skills to serve Middle Passengers (which is what they are paying for and expecting anyways) wouldn't make the cut for High Passengers, who are paying and expecting a lot more and different from what the Mid Passengers are getting.

which is why I even thought of a P/Steward Skill at all.

 

[Grav_Moped]

The existence of amateur Stewards is an opening for PCs without other space-relevant skills to get "working passage" as the plot requires.

 

[bookwyrm]

in a situation like that, the fastest way to learn is as an apprentice under another Steward, or use study cubes/tapes with some practical tests for a few Jumps, pass the test, show to the Captain or Steward, and longest way is 'this is your job now, do your best' method.

time would be determined by GM and gives P/Steward-0. when the Character next levels up, points can be put into P/Steward as a Class or Cross Class Skill, depending on next Class chosen.

that's how I see it in a roll playing context.

 

[bookwyrm]

Steward-0

'Who needs stewards anyway?' I came across this Thread while Searching for more Steward info. one of the things that came up for discussion was the need for at least Steward-0 to carry High Passengers. I am still working my way through the Thread, and it's starting to get pretty deep, but I sure am learning a lot about the importance of Stewards in Traveller, either as just a crew position on a Trader in a non Trade Game Setting, or an important part of the crew in a Trading Game Setting.

I also am getting a lot of ideas on Passengers, other Crew positions, the Laws in the Imperium and other large Polities, and am considering what the laws might be in smaller Polities and single unaligned systems with a star port. if there are any laws to begin with. or at least some regulations.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Agreed. Steward is a position that seems so utterly pointless and unnecessary on the surface, when it's really a Support Staff position that helps make everything work smoothly.

A classic case of "it's so hard to find good help these days..."

 

[bookwyrm]

depending on the GM & Players, you never really know when some problem will raise it's ugly head on a ship on the way to, during, or right after Jump, among the High/Middle Passengers. an experienced Steward might be able to nip the problem in the bud, or give the Captain a heads up that a problem is brewing amongst the passengers, whether the Steward is a Player or NPC. a new Steward with little experience might not notice as much, and the Crew might end up with a surprise at a bad time.