I am planning my Sci-Fantasy campaign of DW for my local group and had an idea to give everyone a ship role move at the start to signify their role aboard the party’s ship. Here are the ones I have so far (Ignore the mentions of custom moves). I was wondering if you all had any other suggestions on roles that would be on a space ship.
Captain
Take Command – When your ship comes under attack, Roll+CHA; 10+ crew gets +1 forward, 7-9 the same, but you hesitate and the enemy makes a move before you get your commands out.
Pilot
Leaf on the Wind – When you Defy Danger while piloting a ship, on a 12+ you completely transcend the danger in some way, GM tells you how.
Mechanic
Mr. Fix-It – When you Jury Rig something, on a 12+ the repair will hold as if it had been repaired, but take -1 ongoing to Jury Rig until your can perform Maintenance.
Gunner
Bullseye – When you Fire At Will on a 12+ the target loses something. One of their systems shuts down, they lose an engine, a weapon, control, etc.
Medic
Angel of Mercy – Your allies treat you as a skilled healer for the purposes of the Recover move when they rest in your Medbay.
Cook
Best Food in the Galaxy – When you Make Camp and are in charge of the food, your allies gain an additional 1d6 hit points.
Navigator
Steady the Course – When you Set a Course, you always succeed on the Starblazer role as if you rolled 10+.
Security
Not On My Ship – When you Defend an area of your ship, on a 12+ you gain an advantage over your enemies. The GM will tell you what.
Scientist
When you study something closely in your lab, take +1 to Spout Lore about it.
Communications Expert
When your ship is docked at a spaceport or some other bastion of civilization, you can tell the GM about a useful NPC that can be found there.
These are cool! My suggestions for tweaks:
Mechanic seems like it should be 10+ not 12+. 12+ should be “like new.” I mean, a 12+ move that gives you a -1 forward? That’s kind of a rip off. 🙂
Helmsman. Hmmm. I might make this one a bit weaker and say, When you Set a Course, treat all results of 6 or less as a a 7-9 result.
These are cool! My suggestions for tweaks:
Mechanic seems like it should be 10+ not 12+. 12+ should be “like new.” I mean, a 12+ move that gives you a -1 forward? That’s kind of a rip off. 🙂
Helmsman. Hmmm. I might make this one a bit weaker and say, When you Set a Course, treat all results of 6 or less as a a 7-9 result.
What about Red Shirt?
What about Red Shirt?
Janitor: when you find evidence of a problem developing in the ship (alien secretions, melted paneling or glowing footprints) roll + WIS. On a 7+, you follow the trail until there’s a significant change in its direction or mode of travel. On a 10+, you also choose 1:
• Gain a useful bit of information about your quarry, the GM will tell you what
• Determine what caused the trail to end
Janitor: when you find evidence of a problem developing in the ship (alien secretions, melted paneling or glowing footprints) roll + WIS. On a 7+, you follow the trail until there’s a significant change in its direction or mode of travel. On a 10+, you also choose 1:
• Gain a useful bit of information about your quarry, the GM will tell you what
• Determine what caused the trail to end
Ray Otus the move refers to Jury Rig, a custom basic move that will have a 10+ make the part of the ship you Jury Rig work as long as you need it to, so like if it were the engine then it would work long enough to outrun the enemy ships before it broke down again. 7-9 it only works for the next move made using that part of the ship. So the Mechanic’s move is good because it makes it last. Maintenance is where you try to fix the ship in your spare time, so the -1 is to reflect that the part is still just jury rigged and needs more attention lol
Ray Otus the move refers to Jury Rig, a custom basic move that will have a 10+ make the part of the ship you Jury Rig work as long as you need it to, so like if it were the engine then it would work long enough to outrun the enemy ships before it broke down again. 7-9 it only works for the next move made using that part of the ship. So the Mechanic’s move is good because it makes it last. Maintenance is where you try to fix the ship in your spare time, so the -1 is to reflect that the part is still just jury rigged and needs more attention lol
Daniel Fowler I like that. I was going to just have the janitor be an alien hireling that says the same words all the time, no matter what people are talking about. It’s an inside joke of our group lol
Daniel Fowler I like that. I was going to just have the janitor be an alien hireling that says the same words all the time, no matter what people are talking about. It’s an inside joke of our group lol
The old space quest game and movies like Alien lead me to believe that being a janitor on a space ship would be the most heroic job ever. I could easily see some DW style items or even Janitor Gear. each would have a cleaning and a security roll. gets out stains and kills Silicon based monsters!
The old space quest game and movies like Alien lead me to believe that being a janitor on a space ship would be the most heroic job ever. I could easily see some DW style items or even Janitor Gear. each would have a cleaning and a security roll. gets out stains and kills Silicon based monsters!
Chaplain (think Book from Firefly)
Chaplain (think Book from Firefly)
I think Navigator is a better term for what you have described for Helmsman. In typical naval parlance, a Helmsman steers, and a Pilot guides you through a waterway or to port. In a sci-fi setting, I think Pilot works great as the person who flys the ship, but Helmsman is then redundant.
Engineer – responsible for ship’s propulsion, tweaking parameters, optimizing performance, repairs, etc.
Communications – ensuring comms are coordinated, frequencies, scans messages, monitors the local contacts – for Sci-fi, this would be a combination of roles like radio, sonar, etc. Might even be tied into the local comms networks and “knows the right people.”
I think Navigator is a better term for what you have described for Helmsman. In typical naval parlance, a Helmsman steers, and a Pilot guides you through a waterway or to port. In a sci-fi setting, I think Pilot works great as the person who flys the ship, but Helmsman is then redundant.
Engineer – responsible for ship’s propulsion, tweaking parameters, optimizing performance, repairs, etc.
Communications – ensuring comms are coordinated, frequencies, scans messages, monitors the local contacts – for Sci-fi, this would be a combination of roles like radio, sonar, etc. Might even be tied into the local comms networks and “knows the right people.”
Scott Heyden I had that same thought on Navigator. I could rename it, but then I had the “trailblazer” role of Chart a Course called that. I guess I could rename it “Starblazer” lol. I was also on the fence of Mechanic or Engineer for the name of the Mechanic role. Communications is a good one also! Thanks for the tips.
Scott Heyden I had that same thought on Navigator. I could rename it, but then I had the “trailblazer” role of Chart a Course called that. I guess I could rename it “Starblazer” lol. I was also on the fence of Mechanic or Engineer for the name of the Mechanic role. Communications is a good one also! Thanks for the tips.