The Party With a Ship List

[selenite0]

From a discussion on the Crimson Dark board, here's my list of all the things a group of PCs with a ship can be. Posted here for reference, and as a brainstorming aid for anyone cooking up a new campaign. The assumption is that the PCs are all or most of the crew of a spaceship.

Moving boxes:

• scheduled freight (work regular run for big company)
  
• courier (high speed delivery)
  
• passengers (probably combined with another role)
  
• tramp freight (odd jobs)
  
• smuggler (illegal odd jobs)
  
• pirate (preying on freighters)
  
• privateer (legal version of pirate)

Final frontier:

• explorers (going into unknown space)
  
• prospectors (follow explorers, look for valuable stuff)
  
• miners (extract resources)
  
• colonists (build new home)

Tinkers (travelling provider of services):

• repairman
  
• doctor
  
• general store
  
• entertainers (theatre troupe, band)
  
• whorehouse
  
• preacher
  
• crooks (Mal Reynolds & company)

Government jobs:

• census team (taking surveys)
  
• intelligence agents (spying)
  
• local law enforcement
  
• special investigator
  
• bounty hunter (freelance version of special investigator)

Combat missions (mercenary or gov't):

• gunboat (combat ship)
  
• commandos (ship is transport for ground fighters)
  
• fighters (ship is mini-carrier)
  
• Q-ship (one of the above, disguised as a freighter)

Comments

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Interesting seeds. Did you mean "prospectors" where you typed "propectors"?

The only other things I'm thinking of right now are courier, and passenger transport - which could be anything from luxury liner to slave smuggling (either for sale or Underground Railroad style) to charter boat.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Oops. Fixed. Thanks.

Yep, those are different roles. Added them to list.

[faxpaladin.livejournal.com]

"Theatre troupe" could be more generally stated "entertainers" (the 'Verse stories I occasionally noodle with (and never finish) involve a touring folk band).

[artcat81.livejournal.com]

Comically I am about to play an NPC "entertainer" in a Firefly based LARP set to play out at OwlCon in Houston. I am a semi-retired trapeze/ tightrope artist and wife of the ring master, in a small gypsy run traveling circus on the rim. We own a transport ship that doubles as our "tent". The crew of course also takes odd jobs, and engages in some piracy.

the other 4 ships that are docked at the space station the game is set at are not nearly as off the wall.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that sounds fun. [Looks up Owlcon] Um. Tempting. Argh. Probably can't do it. Sigh.

Have fun!

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

I like how "preacher", "whorehouse" leads to "Mal Reynolds & company" but is separate.