Bunks in ships?

[markus_d]

I started reading books about traveller 2 weeks ago and have my first question.

In the ship descriptions I read that in every cabin there are 2 person bunks.
So I would like to know if this is meant to be played like every crew member travels with his husband/wife?
Or is this meant that I can easily transport twice as many characters as the number of crew members a ship states?

Cheers,
Markus

 

[rust2]

Or is this meant that I can easily transport twice as many characters as the number of crew members a ship states?

Only if the ship's architect really created one cabin per crew member, it is usually more likely that two crew members will have to share a cabin.

 

[markus_d]

I decided to use the Moon Toad "Type A Free Trader" for my players.
It says it has 4 Crew. And it has one room for the captain and 3 for the crew.
So more beds than needed.
Guess we have to figure out in our first session how the remaining beds will be used.

 

[rust2]

Guess we have to figure out in our first session how the remaining beds will be used.

Passengers providing income would be an option. :wink:

 

[Condottiere]

Close examination of staterooms and life support tends to make it subject to how players and the dungeon master want to interpret it.

 

[AndrewW]

Each standard stateroom can support either 1 or 2 entities (be they Aslan, Human, Vargr, whatever). How these are used is generally up to the owners and/or captain and crew. Most crew usually share a stateroom others may be used for passenger service or just spread the crew out without having to share. Officers are the more likely ones to get their own stateroom this generally goes by rank then seniority.

 

[Condottiere]

Broom closets and the area under the stairs.

 

[Reynard]

Stateroom descriptions and images have gone all over the map but most more detailed deck plans show a single bed. Since the Mongoose descriptor also states simply there is room for up two people, I suspect a foldaway upper bed but a little more stylish than the image from a bunk on a 20th century submarine. A stateroom is a stateroom is a stateroom. With that feature in mind, it's up to the owner and/or operator to determine the configuration to be used. Most times crew and passenger staterooms are separate and crew accommodations will be set by need and economy. Crew with single occupancy is a bit of status. Ship's with crew rotations can bunk two to three times as many. Passengers, especially Middle (coach) class, could be bunked in pairs to maximized profit. High passage double bunking is by permission of the passenger(s) but seldom if ever between strangers.

 

[nats]

I've always envisaged the crew staterooms to have bunks with two crew each, with the captain in his own, and any high passengers in their own, medium passengers may have to share. Any remainder area is not used for staterooms but is utilised for other rooms like common rooms, kitchens/dining areas, ships store, observation decks, trophy rooms, workshops, gyms and the like, not to mention general circulation space.

 

[fusor]

Close examination of staterooms and life support tends to make it subject to how players and the dungeon master want to interpret it.

I think Inara's shuttle would probably be more like a Luxury Stateroom.

Mal's quarters would probably be a larger normal (or double-sized?) stateroom:

River's (and the other passengers') quarters would probably be on the smaller side of what a normal stateroom would be. You can go double occupancy with those by putting in bunk beds:

 

[phavoc]

You'd be better off looking at images from naval ships to get a better equivalent.

Her is one from the HMS Daring (a UK frigate)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-business-buoyed-by-5-million-royal-navy-refit

And here's an interesting tour of the US DD Barry, with images of mess, crew quarters, etc. http://www.businessinsider.com/a-tour-of-the-guided-missile-destroyer-uss-barry-and-its-crew-2012-8#

The general rule of thumb is that a stateroom has two bunks in it, typically vertical to save on floor space. On some deck plans you'll see where they are specifically calling out single crew quarters, so you can assume that it's only built for a single occupant (easily enough refit, but not intended as such). Generally senior officers onboard have their own quarters.

If you have ever been on a cruise ship you'll see cabins that are more spacious than Traveller cabins. Though if you dig deep enough you may find some inside cabins that are dirt cheap which are more suited to being akin to a Traveller stateroom. The actual crew quarters are really what you are looking for, but cruise lines don't like to take pictures of them and have paying customers see how cramped they really are. Just use a search engine to see more.

 

[Epicenter]

I started reading books about traveller 2 weeks ago and have my first question.

In the ship descriptions I read that in every cabin there are 2 person bunks.
So I would like to know if this is meant to be played like every crew member travels with his husband/wife?
Or is this meant that I can easily transport twice as many characters as the number of crew members a ship states?

Traveller's starships are modelled after naval vessels. It's two crew per room. It's like universities or something whose dorms are double occupancy. You move in. You're assigned a room-mate, likely someone you've never met. You do your best to get along with the person from then on.

Aboard naval vessels (civilian or military), space is at a premium. Hulls and fittings require materials to make them. Hulls are heavy and require powerful engines to move them. These engines are very expensive. And so on. So generally, ships try and cram as much stuff into as little space as possible.

The crew and staterooms are correct as listed. You don't get your own room (unless you're an officer and maybe not even then). You share a room with another crewmember. It's important to remember that a two-person room is actually considered something of a decadent luxury in naval terms. Four or six person rooms were once common. In fact, since naval services are ridiculously conservative on the norm, "it wasn't so long ago" that all the ratings would simply sleep in large bunkrooms consisting of ten (or more) men in a single room, sleeping in hammocks (eg; the Age of Sail and for quite a bit after).

 

[fusor]

Aboard naval vessels (civilian or military), space is at a premium. Hulls and fittings require materials to make them. Hulls are heavy and require powerful engines to move them. These engines are very expensive. And so on. So generally, ships try and cram as much stuff into as little space as possible.

I'd imagine in Traveller the limiting factor is cargo space rather than engines (since mass doesn't really seem to be a factor in the current design system): smaller staterooms = more room for cargo = more profit. But the end result is similar I guess.

 

[Condottiere]

The mariners are revolting, they want more comfortable quarters. And shorter and more predictable deployments.

It's no secret I've messed around with capsule hotel rooms, and the ship owner could hire the equivalent of South/South East Asian sailors at cutrate salaries and stuff them into stuffy staff quarters.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Don't treat the stateroom like a straitjacket. Normally you need 4 dT per person aboard ship, but that can be cut down to 2 dT per person for e.g. military ships. You can draw the actual rooms any way you like, within those general guidelines.

When allocating space within the ship for deck plans, assume that only a portion of stateroom tonnage must actually be in staterooms; the remainder should be used for common areas and other accomodations for the crew.

Many deck-plans use standard 3 dT staterooms that can be used by one or two persons, but that just one way of doing it. You can make smaller staterooms to make place for bigger common areas, or vice versa.