Shore Leave (and crew salaries) and Cabin Fever

[tolcreator]

I've been playing a few "solo games" of just wandering around district 268 with a free trader, trading, just to get familiar with the trading rules.

One thing I'm not doing... is playing out crew salaries. Because... this is supposedly a ship full of PCs, who have ship shares, who are using their own mustering out funds as seed money to make trades. Surely their "pay" is seeing the profits roll in... right?

But this assumes the PCs live like monks... sure room and board is paid for, but not the luxuries. So I'm thinking of adding in a "shore leave roll". This roll avoids the character becoming Disgruntled or Disillusioned. Disgruntled is like a mild form of fatigue: -1 to all tasks. Disillusioned is like fatigue: -2 to all tasks. All characters must make a Shore Leave roll once a fortnight (i.e. when the ship is in port).

The character is assumed to automatically pass this roll, UNLESS there is at least one negative modifier. If there is a negative modifier, even if greatly offset by positive modifiers, the character must roll.

Avoid becoming Disgruntled or Disillusioned: 8+

Did not get shore leave last fortnight: -2
Disgruntled: -1
Disillusioned: -2
Had at least one passenger last jump: +1
Had 4+ passengers last jump: +2
Had a Minor Win in last fortnight: +1
Had a Major Win in last fortnight: +2
Had a Minor Loss in last fortnight: -1
Had a Major Loss in last fortnight: -2
Spend 250Cr: -1
Spend 500Cr: +0
Spend 1KCr: +1
Spend 2KCr: +2
Spend 4KCr: +3
Spend 8KCr: +4
No Shore Leave (that's 0 days OR 0 Cr): -2
Take 1 Day: +0
Take 2 Days: +1
Take 4 Days: +2
Take 8 Days: +3
Take 16 Days: +4

Passengers here are Middle or High passengers, Low passengers don't count. I give a bonus because they help break up the tedium of jump, adding a bit of variety to the ship.
A Minor Win means more than the ship just scraping by: A good profit from cargo, completing a minor job, etc.
A Major Win means succeeding in a big undertaking: A huge profit from cargo, or succeeding in a good solid adventure.
A Minor Loss means a noticeable loss in profit, or an adventure that went FUBAR.
A Major Loss is a true disaster, like the death of a character.
If a character takes 0 days shore leave, they can't spend any money.
If a character spends no money, that's not much of a shore leave.

Once Disgruntled, a successful shore leave will restore the character to normal, but a failed shore leave will make them Disillusioned.
Once Disillusioned, a successful shore leave will make them Disgruntled. Further failed shore leaves have no additional effect (other than leaving the character miserable).

Days of shore leave are days on which the character isn't doing anything else: Not looking for cargo or passengers, not adventuring, etc. Money spent on shore leave doesn't have to be all on hookers and blackjack: it can be retail therapy, going to the movies (expensive movie!), browsing the local market, etc. But the money is gone: no tangible assets are gained. So say, Kaylee's fluffy dress counts as money spent on shore leave, but not an ACR and stun grenades.

 

[tolcreator]

Hmm might add something like:
Ok we totally understand how shore leave is impossible this fortnight: +4

This however is in *addition* to the -2 for no shore leave, and so forces a roll.
This is for things like... jumping to an empty hex in order to jump again to cross a J2 rift, or jumping into an uninhabited system just to do wilderness refuelling. The crew understands that there can be no shore leave this jump... but they might not be happy about it...

 

[tolcreator]

Disgruntled passengers!
In the case of the ship not stopping for shore leave (empty hex, wilderness refuelling), the passengers may also become disgruntled.

Stop passengers becoming disgruntled: 8+
Add Steward, INT or SOC

A disgruntled passenger does not count towards the bonus for passengers in jump.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

It could be very tedious to make all the rolls, but passengers being Disguntled might also be affected by their Reaction Roll to the crew/steward when they board. After all, you never know what the passenger's history is before they board...

For a small ship, you could roll for each passenger, but for larger ships, maybe you roll once per Steward or once per Class (High Passengers and Mid Passengers) to keep things simple.

This roll could also be used to decide if an adventure needs to be run during that particular passage... Disasterous Reaction Roll = PIRATES or Smugglers or whatever.

 

[Condottiere]

SS Norovirus.

In hyperspace, there is no escape.

 

[PsiTraveller]

If the ship has Luxuries on board these facilities might be better then any available on lower tech planets. It may pay to install the latest holo suite and buy the specialty vid discs to add to the library.

 

[Askold]

In our Pirates of Drinax campaign one of the problems we face is that after successful raids some of the NPC crew members might not return to the ship(s) after we have docked. They get their shares and it might be enough money to retire or at least to start out a new life...

This is less of a problem for the crew of a trader ship but on the other hand, unsuccessful ship has the risk of losing their employees. If you haven't been able to pay their wages, if the ship was in a battle and barely survived, many crew members might decide to look for another ship in the port.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I have always used that as a Plot Point should an NPC crewmember decide to leave. But, having a structured way to track their level of dissatisfaction might be a good thing, as long as it was a GUIDE and not a RULE (ala T5).

 

[Epicenter]

I think a system like that could also be very useful for tracking the happiness of NPC crew, assuming there are any, aboard a ship.

There is one concern though - I think that the bonuses are too high and the penalties are generally too low. People tend to fixate on bad things more than good.

 

[Condottiere]

The crew could all carry mood rings that change colour.

 

[-Daniel-]

"Mr. Oshgood, please return to your cabin and retrieve your mood ring so I will know how you feel today." LOL

Love the mental picture of the crew in '60s hippy garb with mood rings on.

 

[Askold]

"Mr. Oshgood, please return to your cabin and retrieve your mood ring so I will know how you feel today." LOL

Love the mental picture of the crew in '60s hippy garb with mood rings on.

Mood rings? Nah, what you need is a Zhodani first officer (like in the Traveller group I am playing in.)
"Mr. Oshgood, please remove your null sheath and submit to the mandatory-voluntary crew happiness confirmation test. Remember: The innocent have nothing to fear."

 

[Condottiere]

That would be First Officer Feelgood, MD.

 

[hdan]

But this assumes the PCs live like monks... sure room and board is paid for, but not the luxuries. So I'm thinking of adding in a "shore leave roll". This roll avoids the character becoming Disgruntled or Disillusioned. Disgruntled is like a mild form of fatigue: -1 to all tasks. Disillusioned is like fatigue: -2 to all tasks. All characters must make a Shore Leave roll once a fortnight (i.e. when the ship is in port).

This is a brilliant idea. I'm sure some players will balk at having the GM assign attitudes to them like this, but in my opinion, it's no different from getting "Charmed" or similar in a fantasy RPG, and players will actively game their shore leave to try to avoid the perils of burnout.

It also gives players on non-merchant ships a reason to not just make a "maximum speed jump run" through, pausing only long enough to refuel and resupply. They can try it, but now it's a calculated risk. Players are forced to plan for the boredom and stress of such a trip.

I'm going to steal this idea, and if I come up with any decent elaborations, I'll re-post them.

Thanks!