StarShip: Disaster

[Super Squirrel]

A friend and I are putting together a short campaign that is going to take place completely on a starship in the middle of space. The premise is simple. The ship has suddenly stopped working including the fussion drive and communications. There is no contact with the bridge crew.

Neither of us have ever built a starship before. What kind of rooms do starships have? Engine room, bridge, and crew quarters are the only things I can think of off the top of my head.

Also what kind of systems to ships have? Weapons, Shields, Life Support, and Communications are on my list. Any other things missing from this list?

[BobGreenwade]

For the first question, think of everything you'd want to have in a self-enclosed city. You'll need a quartermaster (for clothing and personal supplies), sickbay, galley, infrastructure support (for plumbing, power, and such), entertainment facilities, brig, armory, and storage bays, plus science labs, machine shops, docking areas, airlocks, and anything else needed for the mission.

For the second question... pick up TUV (or maybe TE).

[Mark Taylor]

Depending on the technology and size and the function(s) the ship was designed for a starship might have some or all of these things. Obviously there is overlap between rooms and systems in some areas but I'll stick these in categories anyway:

Rooms: Bridge, Crew quarters, Passenger quarters, Cryogenic / Freezer tubes for 'long term passenger storage', Conference rooms, Galleys, Dining halls, Recreation rooms, Sick bays / Hospital, Brigs, Plant rooms (power plant), Fuel tankage, Vehicle bays, Docking bays (different from vehicle bays in that docking vehicles remain outside the ship), Airlocks, Missile / other ammo loading bays / storage, Possibly more than one engine room (FTL drives plus maneuvering drives), Damage control centers, Science labs, Workshops (or factory facilities if the ship is really large), Cargo bays, Hydroponics (for food production)...

Systems: Power, Communications (internal and external), Sensors (internal and external, passive and active), Navigation, Life Support, Weapons, Sheilds, Stealth (Cloaking, Emissions masking) Artificial Gravity (or rotating sections for that centrifugal gravity effect), FTL drives, Maneuvering drives, Decompression control (airtight hatches to isolate breached sections, possibly autorepairing hull systems), Internal transportation (if the ship is really big)...

That's all I can think of for now... plus if a ship is really big you can go overboard on the recreation facilities... cinemas, discos, skating rinks, sports arenas, anything else you can imagine...

[Mutant for Hire]

What sort of starship is this? That makes a very big difference as to what you'll find on board.

[Aroooo]

To add my own 2 cents here... Everyone's on track with what's in a ship, so I won't repeat that good info. But I will just add this: from the sounds of your game (and your post) , don't worry about 'building' the ship. More specifically, don't worry about building them like I'm building my B5 ships. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't worry about creating vehicle stats for it. Think of it like a regular game setting - you would not 'build' a shopping mall, would you?

Its late, and its been a long day, so if any of that doesn't make a bit of sense, feel free to ask me to clarify

Aroooo

[Super Squirrel]

Thanks everyone for the input. It should help us greatly. I'll reveal more details as I know more details. Everything else is a secret until we know what the heck we are doing (i.e. we don't know what we are doing and thus can say anymore than what we have).