Entertainment on board

[zero]

So in my vanilla traveller game, I built up a custom ship using the stateroom dtonnage as 2 for the stateroom, 1 for common space, 0.5 for entertainment and 0.5 for life support (I'm using the life support space for food storage and algae tanks btw).

My main question is not about the above, but more that I have a space onboard now to quell cabin fever and I'm unsure what to put in it! :lol:

So, my question is more of an opinion seeking one for everyone here;

What would you stock in your ship's entertainment space?

Books, games, exercise gear? Something else? Post your opinion here!

 

[barnest2]

lots and lots and lots of e-books and films and such... several thousand hours of music, that sort of thing....

 

[rust]

Apart from what has already been mentioned, learning materials are ra-
ther common on my universe's starships. Some spare time in hyperspa-
ce is always welcome as an opportunity to prepare for some certificate,
for example "Sensor Operator Certificate", or to gain some higher edu-
cation, for example with a distance learning course on cultural anthropo-
logy, or just to indulge in a hobby, like the do it yourself construction of
a new type of fashionable high speed aquasled.

 

[DFW]

Borrowing from past edition materials. >TL 10, "wall paper" is commonly holo projection. Lots different world/climate scenery on command in the staterooms. Total immersion VR games that crew & passengers use (multi-player also) from their cabins. We are TL 7. Can't imagine at TL 12 what would be trivial to accomplish.

 

[phavoc]

Smaller ships are going to be limited to the information retained in the onboard systems. Of course by then data storage should allow you petabytes of data, so its easy to have a bazillion songs downloaded from the itunes of the future (I'm sure Steve Jobs will still be around somehow too...).

As was mentioned before, screens will be much bigger because tech will allow you totally different display technologies. So your entire wall might become a screen to project movies, music videos, as a screen for games, or a really big e-reader!

Larger ships will most like have VR arcades, not to mention the bars, theatres and the like. Attending the Darrians on Ice Routine in person might be limited to just high passengers, but mid passengers could view it from their cabin.

I'm sure with the capabilities of entertainment tech in the future, live shows will become more of the elite status, while recordings will play to the masses - kind of like how things are shaping up today in our own entertainment.

 

[Dave Chase]

How much space is this 'I got space'?

I have several things that would fit but how much space/room are we talking about?

Dave Chase

 

[iainjcoleman]

Porn.

 

[SSWarlock]

Don't forget that Book 8: Dilettante has some fun things the very rich use on board ships for entertainment.

 

[Fovean]

The MGT Living Campaign adventure 'Spinward Fenderbender' describes a daily Chief Steward's routine on a 600-ton subsidized Liner...

5am-8am Full Lounge: Breakfast
830am-1030am Port Lounge: Gym/Athletics
Starboard Lounge: Spiritual Center
11am-12pm Full Lounge: Bar & Library
12pm-2pm Full Lounge: Lunch, Bar & Library
2pm-3pm Lounge Closed
3pm-530pm Port Lounge: Day Spa (light massage, facial, nails, etc)
Starboard Lounge: Holo-vid
6pm-9pm Full Lounge: Dinner
9pm-midnight Full Lounge: Bar & Games

So you could scale up or down from there.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

My Common Rooms typically have a couple of slot machines or other forms of electronic gambling.

 

[alex_greene]

Remember what they had in the common room on Serenity in Firefly: a dining table, a kitchen area, some lockers for food storage and personal items, stuff like that. Inara had her shuttle.

The cargo bay got turned into some bizarre version of basketball, the crew played Tall Card, they broke bread together, they had meetings, and River even started up a knife fight, which was fun for everyone except, maybe, Jayne.

You really only need the basics; a foldaway table, chairs, storage space for them and lockers for everyone to keep their personal effects. Somebody always has a deck of cards, and Hells, for fun you could have them all with little e-readers, dice, some hex charts and miniatures all gathered together in the common room of their ship, rolling up characters and playing Traveller.

And wondering what their characters would have in their ship's common space for entertainment ...

 

[zero]

Thanks for all the ideas! :wink:

I should now mention that the area is not very big at all, but the TL of the ship is 13, Jump-2 capable, two staterooms, which means the entertainment area is a mere 1dton, basically its half a stateroom in size. Plus it would kind of double as the ship's dining area. Not very big I know, so a few things wont be happening there;

No Arcades (though games could be played via a computer terminal tucked away using the holo-walls as a monitor), no bar (though booze could still remain in the life support/food store area).

No live Darrians on Ice, though you could see it on holo-screen via live feed. A 5ft high, 10ft long wall to watch anything is pretty awesome and with chairs in the room, you dont have to worry about neck strain. I can see the holo-wall used for films, books, games and even ambient backgrounds ala PS3 screensaver for music being played. I always picture that bit in Alien when Dallas was chilling in the shuttle to classical music when I think about it (but with added holoscreen saver to zone out too!)

Yeah, chairs will be important in a 1dton room that takes up 2 squares on a deckplan. There'll also be no more than 3 people on the ship, so space isnt much of an issue either.

the crew played Tall Card, they broke bread together, they had meetings, and River even started up a knife fight, which was fun for everyone except, maybe, Jayne.

You really only need the basics; a foldaway table, chairs, storage space for them and lockers for everyone to keep their personal effects. Somebody always has a deck of cards, and Hells, for fun you could have them all with little e-readers, dice, some hex charts and miniatures all gathered together in the common room of their ship, rolling up characters and playing Traveller.

^ It'll probably end up as this, whilst chairs can be folded away ala staterooms to make room for sessions of more physical exercise to pass time if desired.

 

[phavoc]

With such a small space that is to be utilized for so many functions, you'll need to keep in mind that you want to use all of your space - so some things may retract into the ceiling, or floor, or walls or whatever. A single large screen will serve for all your audio-visual functions. There may be some VR playing of games or training, but that would be more of a helmet/headset that would be stowed away in its own compartment.

You may have a couch against one wall, and a table that comes out of the floor for use during meals or other sessions. And when not in use it is stowed away (you could also have it come off the wall as well, depending on your setup.

Exercise gear will probably be more resistance-based, which would allow for you to stow it away very easily and take up very little room stowed.

 

[zero]

^ Correct.

I had most things in the room kinda bubbling round my head, but I really wanted to hear some more experienced opinions before setting that room in stone when described mid-adventure.

Seeing as we start this Saturday on our quest for adventures in the Planets of Hats, I got a few days to cement the deckplan down.

I plan to have a table that folds away into a wall panel and is on a gimbal for when gravity doesnt want to play ball.

Four fold away la-z-boy style chairs on gyrostabilised gimbals act as seating and also are set up to act as Grav Couches too (just in case).

Lastly, the walls can double as holo-screens to showcase films, books, music and games as discussed earlier.

 

[locarno24]

Exercise gear will probably be more resistance-based, which would allow for you to stow it away very easily and take up very little room stowed.

For that matter you can play some very neat tricks with the equipment. With internally generated gravity, it wouldn't surprise me if the gym could step itself up to 1.5/2g for a real workout.....

 

[Matian]

Something that makes a nice one-off break is doing an in-character one-shot of a different RPG. I try to pull this out every couple of months (real-time), and it's fun to see the gruff, scarred mercenary roll up a pretty female bard, or the unprepossessing medic create a monster best friend from beyond time and space.

You can also run a decent simulation of calvinball where the teams needs to reach X effect to score, and let the players fill in the rest of the rules.

(I know this is more a GM toolbox comment than a specific answer of what I'd put in the space, but I think it fits.)

 

[AndrewW]

(I know this is more a GM toolbox comment than a specific answer of what I'd put in the space, but I think it fits.)

For entertainment on board the characters could be playing an RPG...

 

[DFW]

(I know this is more a GM toolbox comment than a specific answer of what I'd put in the space, but I think it fits.)

For entertainment on board the characters could be playing an RPG...

Hmm, Papers & Paychecks wouldn't fit. Maybe, D&D?

 

[RichardP]

You could easily add a gym. With holo-surround images it would be like running in a real environment. localised grav generators could simulate walking up hill etc.

A long corridor type area could be used either as a target range (with simulated laser weapons) or as a running area.

Swimming pools are always nice but you need grav plates, inertial dampers and an airlock to ensure the water does not escape the room if you loose power.

Cheers
Richard

 

[alex_greene]

(I know this is more a GM toolbox comment than a specific answer of what I'd put in the space, but I think it fits.)

For entertainment on board the characters could be playing an RPG...

If I may refer you to the recursive comment about the characters playing Traveller I made not one page hence ...