General What do crews do all day (in jump)?

[alveric]

Stupid, I know, but Traveller is a small ship universe and a 200 ton free trader is really small.

What do your crew actually do to keep themselves busy and/or sane during that week in Jump?

There are only so many future-deckplates that you can swab, and you don't want to do anything that would interrupt power.

 

[mike wightman]

Clean - bodies make dust and dust is not good.
General maintenance - everything that can be routinely checked and maintained is.
Stand watch and update log - note the computer probably records everything that happens, but filling in a log book or journal makes you feel useful.
Cook
Study - at least until your Edu matches your Int
Socialise with other crew members.
Socialise with passengers.

Play World of Warcraft - Tuskars of the Black Empire expansion.

 

[Gray Lensman]

Hopefully Elvenar still exists :rofl:

 

[jappel]

Exercise! If space is tight, there's still options like tai chi, jumping rope, or a multifunction weight machine.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[atpollard]

I had a character that made Firearms for a hobby. (He had skill in Mechanical and Art) On each world he visited he would seek out something to inspire him with an idea (so any adventure, location or experience might do) and stock up on the parts to build a simple revolver or shotgun. During the week in space, he would engrave and carve the wood and metal parts to make a gun that was also a unique work of art. He finished about one per month and sold them.

 

[RandyB]

Stare into the Abyss of jumpspace... OK, that's just X-Boat pilots...

 

[The Pakkrat]

Red Wizard

From BITS 101 Plots

I have two solo-played crews that play Red Wizard a fantasy genre, heavily-instanced, online game that updates when the ship breaks out to a TL-8 or higher world and is allowed to access the ship Comms.

Long hours of play, grinding, soloing, Apotheosis Quests (to resurrect dead wizards), drops, epic drops, leveling up, and becoming the next Red Wizard; all make for plenty of time in jump transit taken up by fun.

 

[grondak]

The artist route is good:
Carve Whelkies
Compose for the bassoon
Learn to paint
Poetry

Write critiques of 200 year old sports games (hey, it's new to ME!)
Write for TNS

 

[gchuck]

Play cards.
The player rescued a clone, who was fascinated by baking, and she spent the whole week in jump making cakes and bread.
Teach the newbies new skills.
Try and beat up the Marines on board, and maybe learn a new trick or two.

 

[whartung]

Stupid, I know, but Traveller is a small ship universe and a 200 ton free trader is really small.

It's not that small. A 200T Free Trader has about 2000 sq ft of living area/work area, NOT including the cargo bays (which are even larger).

That's a reasonably sized house.

 

[Cryton]

Watch old/new entertainment reels, catch up on sector/sub-sector news downloaded at the last lay-over. Get to know the passengers. Read a book.

If your of a criminal bent, high-jack the ship and spend a week cracking the computer access and captains safe, so you're not busted when you drop from jump.

Really, there's a LOT you can do......

 

[chipla]

What did people do in the age-of-sail. I spent a week on a tall ship many moons ago I spent my duty shifts doing sail work, general maintenance and cleaning (lots of cleaning) and spent my off hours learning stuff like engine maintenance, navigation, lots and lots of reading and doing the ship’s social activities (eating, games, quizzes, drinking, etc)

 

[Condottiere]

Going by the first episode of The Expanse, consen(s/t)ual contact, recreational drug use, gardening, and collections.

 

[BlackBat242]

In a game I ran, the PCs (who had 2 ships) bought a 2-ton holographic simulator chamber for each ship (picture VR goggles the size of a bathroom ), with various training programs - martial arts, tracking, jump engine repair, etc.

They also bought entertainment programs - why read a novel when you can be inside the story?

The chamber fitted inside a standard stateroom without removing the fresher - just the bed, desk, storage, etc needed to go. It was assembled in the stateroom from a kit.

 

[mike wightman]

Here's a little bit from Signal GK:

Leisure activities are a necessary part of stateroom life. They relieve the boredom
of the long jump voyage by providing entertainment, research facilities, and computer
access. The wide range of entertainment activities includes holographic
theatrical productions, video shows, interactive drama, and audio programming.
There are also games (played against the main computer, or against other
passengers). The computer terminal also allows access (on a restricted basis) to
the main computer for data processing, word processing, and library data inquiries.

 

[Spenser TR]

If you're looking to include occurrences in-game, I humbly submit these these tables here.

(link leads to my Traveller blog)

 

[kilemall]

One of my tools is to have players define exes and pets, pets to include alien plants, animals, or robots.


The intent is to have side storylines, kind of like the emo subplots in TNG episodes, where two players not involved in current shenanigans can play out some shipboard activity. One player plays their character, the other plays the 'pet', and the pet is getting in some kind of trouble, is trying to outsmart the person it owns to get what it wants, etc.


So pet handling bits would be a thing.