Actions in starship combat for those with no useful skills

[discosoc]

I also encourage any RPG group that is running with their own ship to seriously consider the crew dynamics that would be taken into consideration by the captain. Simply put, everyone on a ship (sci-fi or otherwise) has a role to play, or else they are cargo or paying for transport. You don't go to sea with a bunch of random friends because they are friends. You take them because you need certain roles filled and they will pull their weight.

If you have a group where starship combat breaks out and you're wondering what do to with the people who aren't pilots and gunners, just identify their role on the ship and include an encounter that challenges one of those roles and let the rest of the crew deal with it while the pilot does his thing. Maybe an engine breaks down and needs an emergency repair, and suddenly Jayne and River have to help deal with that encounter while while Wash is trying to walk Book through through some co-piloting process...

 

[Jhaelen]

Woah, wait! Just because a character isn't good at space *combat* it doesn't mean said character isn't useful in the campaign or even in the spaceship crew. Unless the only purpose of your ship is fighting in space.

I didn't mean to imply that. I already addressed characters that have _some_ useful skills in my first post.

This second post was to address Morrus's postulated 'knitting specialist'.

Actually, after thinking a bit more about escape pods, I've come up with the perfect task for unskilled characters: Head for and prepare launching the escape pods.
(Of course this assumes there actually are any. But hey, if not, I'd totally allow the 'knitting' skill to be used to craft an improvised escape 'balloon' )

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This second post was to address Morrus's postulated 'knitting specialist'.

Remember, this guy was "just a cook"...


As was this guy...

 

[Mallus]

I'm having a hard time picturing a SF game character with no useful skills in the sort of broadly-constructed "starship combat" encounters found in the genre.

Social characters bluff the opponents/pull the "Corbomite Maneuver".
Technical/science characters fix & jerry-rig things during space combat.
Tacticians devise variations on the Picard Maneuver and various trench-runs.
Melee characters good at knitting beat up boarding parties (in adorable cat-ear caps).
Baristas brew great coffee for the rest the crew that grant them bonuses (I may be reaching here, but this would totally happen in one my games).
Marine biologists... well, there's always one player who does this, right?... okay, so this is problem best addressed through setting & encounter design. You want to play a marine biologist in SPAAAAACE? Fine. The major antagonists are pods of space-going whale aliens who are also pirates.

 

[Eltab]

I just need to come up with the things which I can throw at them. You can only have so many tribble outbreaks. These are basically "minor random encounters on board a ship which aren't just repairing stuff". Nothing that will take too long.

You might find the book Collision Course helpful. The passenger liner Andrea Doria was involved in a collision just off Long Island NY, back in 1956. Despite suffering a Critical Hit, the ship took until the next day to sink. Meanwhile there were 1500 passengers and crew to evacuate to safety. About 30 of them were in the part of the ship that was all smashed up - their stories might make a good sub-plot like what you have in mind.
The problem isn't just "repairing stuff", it's the sequence of things you have to do to get at the broken _X_ (or get to the stranded / endangered person) so you can repair it.

Variant question: What WOULD a Classic Traveler Steward on a ship with High Passage passengers DO when the lasers start flaring?

 

[Bluenose]

Variant question: What WOULD a Classic Traveler Steward on a ship with High Passage passengers DO when the lasers start flaring?

Last time I played that situation they spent the time reassuring passengers and getting the sick bay ready just in case (as the backup medic to my surgeon/astrogator). And being on hand when two of the passengers tried to break into the ships locker to get at their guns, which led to a small altercation that the person in question was quite capable of dealing with.

In my experience with Traveller it is common that the Steward is also either a Medic or Gunner or Security, at least on small ships that PC groups operate. Any of those three skills could be useful.

 

[Eltab]

Remember, this guy was "just a cook"...

IIRC, so was the KGB-embedded crewman in Hunt for Red October.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

IIRC, so was the KGB-embedded crewman in Hunt for Red October.

Might have been. So the lesson is: cooks are dangerous. VERY dangerous.

Total tangent, I made this:

 

[MarkB]

So there's some great stuff in this thread. It's got me thinking about it from a different angle.

Instead of worrying how the character can contribute to this specific activity, I'm now thinking along the lines of introducing separate elements directed at such characters. It's harder for those particular characters to instigate stuff, but the GM can instigate stuff right at them. Some of the great ideas in this thread - cooking meals for the crew, etc. - while sometimes a little silly certain have me thinking in that direction.

Essentially, for those characters, they're in a different encounter. But it's blended in well, so it doesn't feel like one.

I just need to come up with the things which I can throw at them. You can only have so many tribble outbreaks. These are basically "minor random encounters on board a ship which aren't just repairing stuff". Nothing that will take too long.

- stowaway
- saboteur
- uncooperative AI (social encounter)
- ammo shortage
- cargo crate breaks open; something in it

It's an option, but the trick is making it fit in organically with the encounter in general without having it either excessively impact the main crew's tasks or feel too obviously like make-work for the extraneous characters.

Easy enough to do, the first couple of times, but it risks wearing thin in a longer campaign. "Oh look, a space battle. I wonder what problem is going to suddenly pop up on the lower decks THIS time?"

 

[Eltab]

"Oh look, a space battle. I wonder what problem is going to suddenly pop up on the lower decks THIS time?"

Better go check that crate the owner marked "DO NOT TOUCH" now, before anything else can happen.
'Cause you know it'll pop open for no reason and some nasty monster alien will climb out.