skyrider crew: wages, recruiting, etc

[Anonymous]

the crew of banedon's skyrider were all dwarves...the majority were dwarven gunners in fact, if I am not mistaken. Now, was this a special case, and an exception to the general rule? And anyone have any idea how many there were on board?

As it is, its not just your average sailor that can be a crewman aboard a skyrider; and a crew made of all dwarven gunners would probably be increadibly expensive. (dwarven gunners are, after all, a heroic class, and thus while not as rare as say kai lords or dessi, they are still relatively rare. An entire crew would require a lot of paychecks to stay no?) Not to mention having an entire crew of gunners at the players beck and call, even level 1-3, would be really overpowering even for a level 10 brother of the star. A single volley from a crew of 20-30 gunners level 1-3 could take out a darkord outside of the darklands.

So, my question is does anyone have any idea what kind of a crew a player might be eligible for? I was thinking around experts level 3-5 inclusive, hired and trained exclusively by the brotherhood guilds across magnamund. I am really stuck on how many there should be on a ship, (the rulebook says the crew is around 35 or so, if I recall correctly) and what sort of wages they have to be paid. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Ghost Bear]

The Skyrider was an exceptional case. The crew was originally the crew of a regular merchant vessel that sailed the Tentarias. The captain, Quan had a gambling problem. He lost his ship, cargo and crew to Banedon in a game of cards. Later, Banedon got given the Skyrider by the Elder Magi for defeating the Gagadoth - a creature that terrorised Dessi, and was immune to the magic of the Elder Magi. So the dwarven crew became the crew of the Skyrider.

The Cloud-dancer, which was given to Lone Wolf by the Mayor of Casiorn was crewed by engineers from that city, and Acraban's ship in the New Order series (I've forgotten the name) was crewed by Brotherhood guildsmen I believe.

I'd imagine that anyone can be a crewman on board, with the proper training, although perhaps you do need some training in the magical arts to be able to pilot a Skyrider. We do see Nolrim flying it in Shadows on the Sand, but he may well have gotten some form of magical tuition from Banedon.

As for crew size, I'd imagine it to be reasonably small. At least that's the impression that I got from Shadows on the Sand, but it would of course vary, depending on the size of each individual vessel.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks gb, that helps! I suppose experts are the majority of crew.

 

[Ghost Bear]

I just reread my book, and it states that Skyriders are treated as sailing ships, except that they can fly.

So I took a look at the Sailing Ship. It says there's a crew of 20, with room for 150 tons of cargo.

-GB