Preface, by Mike

Today, I’m providing the first half of a guest article by my long-time friend, Ian Mackinder. Ian’s been nuancing this article for quite some time, and that shows in its depth. Part one deals with acquiring and designing vehicles, part two with using and abusing them. I’ve also tossed in my two-cents worth here and there in asides, and in a few short extra sections that I’ve added to part 2. But we’ll get to that in due course; in the meantime, here’s Ian…

Image from FreeImages.com/Paavo Leinonen

Introduction: The rantings of an ‘old school’ gamer

In role-playing games, I lean towards being a “vehicle junkie”.

My characters tend to acquire them, blow them up, or both. As a GM, I like having vehicles around as convenient plot devices for my victi… er, players.

But if you ask many RPGers about transportation in their campaigns, one of two things happens:
 

1. Minimal awareness that vehicles (in which category I also include riding beasts, wagons, canoes, planes, etc.) exist in the game;
2. The PCs indeed have a vehicle, happily detail its “improvements”, and list achievements (read: kill scores). But ask a trick question like “What color is it?” or “What’s its name?” and the response is “Um, er….”

These situations bother me. For me, gaming is all about characters trying to be heroic, and a lot of heroes have transportation indisputably theirs – James Bond and his Aston Martin, Kirk and various ‘Enterprises’, The Doctor and the TARDIS, Mal and ‘Serenity’, Jack Sparrow and ‘The Black Pearl’, etcetera. Creating a kick-@$$ character for an action-adventure(-ish) campaign and NOT giving that worthy a suitably personalized transport seems …. well, a missed opportunity. But a character’s vehicle used only as a combination gun emplacement and storage closet is a terrible waste.

What follows are my thoughts on the use and misuse of vehicles in role-playing games, plus a few semi-related side issues. Being a long-time devotee of things Trek, (Classic) ‘Traveller’ and ‘7th Sea’, I think mainly in terms of ships and starships, but most of these ideas can also be applied to other conveyances in varying genres.

Why Do We Need A Vehicle?

The main purpose of an in-game vehicle is to move the PCs and their stuff from place to place. More specifically, to get the Party from one adventure to the next – or from one part of an adventure to the next. Sure, they could beg / borrow / hire / steal something to make each trip, but owning a vehicle suitable for the job gives feelings of being in control, rather than being subject to the whims of the GM.

The vehicle may represent the Party’s common purpose, their means of travel as a group, and even be their living space as well. From the Referee’s standpoint, it is also a great way of encouraging the Party to stay together. Where do the Characters all rest and recuperate? In the vehicle. Where do they keep all their stuff? Same answer. How do they get into / out of trouble? Same answer, again.

There are also the role-playing aspects.

The vehicle can represent a Character’s back-story. The scion of a rich’n’powerful family, sent off to “make his own fortune” with his personal yacht. The disillusioned warrior who takes (steals?) a vehicle when she has finally had enough and quits (deserts?) whatever organization she has been serving. The down-on-his-luck scavenger who finds a wrecked vehicle of uncertain origins. Many possibilities to, as always, to be hammered out by the Referee and Player(s) involved.

Being part of the vehicle crew also provides sound reason for diversified PCs right from the start – PC #1 is the Captain, PC #2 the Engineer (and employee of PC #1), PC #3 the Steward (and minority shareholder), and so on. Rather than a bunch of thugs with the only visible differences being personal choices of weaponry, each PC has a very specific role in the team. Think of the ‘Firefly’ TV series. If your Character is The Captain, she’d better have some idea how to make decisions and operate the ship. For the Engineer, knowing how to make repairs is essential. And if the Party has no one who can do either, then they better find people to fill those jobs before the trouble starts. Arguably, perhaps, it already has…

Money, Money, Money..

A vehicle can be a solid source of income, whether the Party is honest and law-abiding …. or not. A sturdy ship and crew can always find (or be found by) lucrative opportunities.

And again, there is the other side of the financial coin to consider. Vehicles are a helpful means of earning cash. But they are also an excellent means to lose money. Whatever they do, whether earning $$$ or blowing things up or sitting idle, vehicles will need upkeep (maintenance, parking / docking fees, fuel, licenses / bureaucratic ahhh “support”, ammo, and so on), which means money spent just to keep the status quo – in turn, meaning that the Party treasury can be kept at a manageable level.

(Ideally, the Referee avoids having PCs throw around ridiculous amounts of cash to blow up his meticulously planned, deep and meaningful scenario. The endgame is the epic confrontation the Ref aimed for, instead of the PCs bribing all and sundry to have the Complex Villain put away on trumped-up charges of sheep-worrying.

In Act #1.

Never happened in any game I was in, but surely this has happened SOMEwhere, to SOMEone.) – Ian

Caveat Princeps (“(Game) Master Beware”)

It is easy for Referees to overdo measures thought sensible, such as siphoning off the Party’s excess money. But Players get frustrated if their efforts are blocked too often, and react poorly if their Characters’ hoard is “arbitrarily” messed with – either of which will lead to trouble. The best move is to keep the in-game cash-flow highly variable and mobile in both directions.

(E.G.:

GM (in the guise of an NPC, addressing a PC: ”Yo, Harry. Good news. The client paid up, and he even added the full bonus! But the Port dues have just risen another 10%, they say because of the war.”

“AGAIN with the Port costs?!? Dangit!!!! Oh well, could be much worse. We now have the cash to finish repairs AND refuel, right?”

“Errrrr. Refuel, you say?.”).

Acquisition – The ‘Traveller’ Way™

In most versions of the ‘Traveller’ RPG, certain career paths provide starships as part of a Character’s mustering out / pre-adventuring benefits. Strings are often attached – such as bank loans to be paid off, or the ship is a ‘loaner’ with the Character having certain obligations to the rightful owner.

Within the system’s constraints, this usually works well, but there are things the Referee should watch out for.

1. “Let’s Be Bad Guys”

The PCs want the ship, but not the obligations. So they dodge the latter, either actively (eg. “skip out” on making payments, and basically go on the run) or passively (e.g. they “somehow” never seem to be any place where the ship’s rightful owner can contact them).

But – any interstellar empire in which organizations routinely loan out starships and/or large sums of money, should have scary ways of dealing with abusers of this trust. That means not only law enforcement (bad enough), but professional skip tracers and bounty hunters – stubborn, mean-spirited, inventive people who do not play nice OR fair (in short, act just like Player-Characters). Besides which, once word gets out, Character benefits such as Pensions or TAS Memberships or valuable properties or even average-plus Social stats are all going to vanish or at least be frozen. Point out all this to the Party before they get started. Odds are they will reconsider.

Not to mention the potential for built-in technological solutions, the starship equivalent of the immobilizers built into modern autos – Mike

2. Multiple Ship Benefits

I’ve had this happen to me a few times in my Traveller refereeing days. Different PCs ALL roll up ship benefits (very easy to do, there being several career paths with this). Instead of a bunch of adventurers on one ship, you get a bunch of adventurers with their own frackin’ navy.

A fun game can still be had. But it tends to be an administrative horror as everybody struggles to keep track of where everybody else is and what their own ships are up to, etc., etc.. But there are ways:

• Amalgamation. – IF those involved are OK with the idea, have one large starship jointly-owned by the PCs (with suitable adjustments to their respective backstories) instead of a bunch of lesser craft. To this end, one of exactly 2.3 things I liked about ‘Traveller: The New Era’ was the table in it specifically for amalgamating ship benefits. Like most things TNE, it left much unstated, but it is a basis from which to start.
• Conversion. – Allow “excess” starship benefits to be turned into either other benefits on the Mustering Out tables, or into improving skills or stats. One-for-one works well in both cases, I have found. Warning: Converting excess ship benefits directly into their cash equivalent might SEEM fair, but the PCs will then be awash in money, so be warned (see above).
• Separation. – Most of the PC “fleet” is kept out-of-game elsewhere (rented / loaned / leased to NPCs), and busily generating a steady income for the owner. Many PCs aren’t keen on this, NPCs being an inherently untrustworthy bunch after all. But the idea is worth consideration and, if the Referee is seen as trustworthy enough, is a possibility.

• Inconvenience. – Arrange circumstances that make being separated across multiple shops inconvenient for the PCs. Economies of scale invert with inconvenience – so a berthing fee for one, larger, ship might be considerably lower than the berthing fees for many smaller ships in aggregate. Ditto loading fees, double ditto admin fees, etc. And when three of the ships need the same replacement part and there are only two available because supply is governed by demand, let the PCs fight it out. Skilled Manpower is another limited resource – there’s only one “best maintenance crew at the starbase” and if they are already busy on the first PC’s ship, the others either wait, or accept second best – and then third best, and fourth best. Then there are the problems with secure communications between multiple ships at the same time, which makes coordination of plans, and changes in plan, logistically difficult – unless the PCs are willing to have their discussion very publicly. – Mike

Acquisition – The Usual Ways

There are several more generic means of acquiring a vehicle.

1. Purchase

The mechanics of Purchase depends on the circumstances. Think of buying a used car today. If buying from or through an organization with a solid reputation, expect hard bargaining (they know their item’s worth) but the buyer will (usually) get exactly what s/he paid for (just be sure to read the fine print before signing). If buying super-cheap and/or in a hurry from a stranger in a bar, then the buyers deserve everything they get – and I do mean that. Really.

2. Theft

Theft is exactly what it sounds like – the Party taking a ship away from its prior owners without their consent. Maybe the previous users had it coming (eg. pirates or other hostiles), or maybe they didn’t (in brief: “Nice ship. We’ll take it.”). Other than the likelihood of running afoul of law-enforcement and bureaucracy as a result, a big problem is that you are never certain of the vehicle’s true condition until it’s too late.

Not to mention that any enemies the previous owner had will think they are still operating it. This can be anybody from organized crime to debt collectors to law enforcement. The PCs may well find themselves on wanted posters for being stooges of the person they boosted the vessel from! Always ask yourself, when transport is being stolen, how and from where did the previous “owner” acquire it, and what did they do with it before the PCs took possession? And maybe it was just a little too easy to steal….. – Mike

3. Salvage

There is Salvage, the recovery and restoration of a wrecked or otherwise lost ship. The key word here should be “fixer upper”, since whatever befell the ship and its previous owner / crew was almost certainly dire. Noting also that the line between “Salvage” and “Theft” can blur – especially if the ‘previous’ owner is still somewhere in the picture.

4. Gift

A Gift may seem the least likely way to get a ship but, from a Refereeing point of view, might be the most direct way to get the game started. No obfuscating – the ship is flat-out given to the PCs, “inherited” from a relative, or handed over as payment for something (refer PC back-stories) – or in expectation of services yet to be provided (Heh, heh, heh).

based on “tie fighter” from FreeImages.com/aksoy, background by Mike Bourke

Vehicle Back-stories

However acquired, a second-hand vehicle will have back-story, with varying repercussions for the PCs.

Consider where, why and for whom the vehicle was built; what previous users did with (or to) it; where it has been; how well it has been looked after; what enemies, rivals and allies may have been made along the way; and the circumstances under which the PCs acquire the ship.

Any of these may be a factor at some point.

Take the time to create a few minor details as part of the backstory, as complete or as cryptic as the Referee wants. Note that working out all details to the last percentile place beforehand is not the best move. Let Players speculate about the “clues” and decide for themselves which will be followed up on, and how. Odds are at least a few good ideas will come from this, and the Ref’s Grand Plan can be amended accordingly.

So, maybe…

• the Ship’s Log has a hidden list of mysterious coordinates.
• the Galley has the complete set of ‘Souvenir Of Altair VI’ coffee mugs.
• there are ‘odd’ fittings in the Hold, suggesting haulage of ‘unusual’ cargo at some stage.
• the Captain’s Cabin is decorated entirely in mauve and puce stripes.
• the PCs happen to meet an “interesting” NPC with a story (accuracy indeterminate) to tell about the ship.

Some of these things will be lead-ins to adventures involving the ship’s past, others will be just .. there for possible use in the future, or to simply mess with the PCs’ minds. Very few should actually affect the ship’s stats or functions (more on that later).

Custom-Builds

There are times when PCs have the resources and inclination to build their own vehicle from scratch. Or to revamp an existing vehicle beyond all recognition.

In either case, consider this project a Custom-Build. Oddly, not being up on construction techniques of the far future, the best we can do is relate it to vehicle building in the present.

(For all we know, 24th century vehicle builders will all be gigantic replicators / 3-D printers, with financial details and individual preferences entered at one end. The buyer then relaxes and waits for the new conveyance to emerge from the other end. Efficient but, from an RPG point of view, perhaps not very exciting.) – Ian

There are ways around that problem if you really want to go down the 3-D printer route. Intelligence/Police Forces surreptitiously incorporating tracking/monitoring devices in the designs, organized crime monkeying with the specs to create hidden compartments on all ships of a given model for use in smuggling, turning the PCs into “mules” without knowledge or profit-participation, heck even a ship-maintenance union who employs hackers to add interesting “new ship issues” (design/manufacturing flaws) that have to be fixed with a very expensive service before the vehicle will work – until the next built-in fault manifests, of course. It doesn’t even have to be malicious – think of this as the equivalent of constructing a PC from the basic components and circuit boards; sometimes, it’s as easy as inserting tab “a” into slot “b”, but sometimes it isn’t – and the problems can be a nightmare to solve.

A friend was telling me the story of a relative who bought a new laptop a little while back, and who attempted to upgrade the device to a later version of Windows. Unexpected, inexplicable, error. Contact Microsoft, who advise returning it to the vendor for assistance. Vendor advises a complete reset and reinstall of the Operating System. Install fails – new unexpected, inexplicable, error, a variation on the original problem. Telephone the vendor, who suggests contacting the manufacturer. Manufacturer says to take it back to the vendor, the process may not have been completed properly. So, back to the vendor, coincidentally at a time when a manufacturer’s representative just happens to be in-store. Attempted fix produces the same result, ending in a conference call between the manufacturer’s head office, the vendor, and Microsoft, at the conclusion of which it emerges that there is a design incompatibility between the hardware and the new operating system, a known issue for which there is no known solution. I’ve encountered similar problems in the past and know that sometimes, you can’t even reinstall the old operating system successfully without completely scrubbing hard discs to remove files overwritten by “newer” versions. In this case, the problem was eventually solved by choosing a different Operating System – with the attendant hassles of learning to use that new system.

So, get creative, but don’t hit the PCs with both barrels at once – wait until you can reload the first before firing the second shot…. – Mike

”Design”

The first thing the Party will do is trawl through the game’s design system, and produce a wish-list or “plan” of what they want. In-game, the PCs take these requirements to a designer (naval architect for ships and starships). After perusing the PCs’ list of demands (and probably laughing hysterically), the designer converts this into a format that the prospective builder can use. The PCs make payment, sign things (with or without lawyers present), and arrange to pick up their new toy on a specific date. At which time the PCs climb aboard, run a quick systems check and sail off into the sunset. Cue music.

It should be more complicated than that. Watch TV shows like ‘American Chopper’ and it is clear that custom builds are NEVER as simple as they first seem. Start with the designer and builder. We‘ll take an obvious shortcut by assuming the people selected for these jobs are both competent and honest. Even so, individual designers and builders will have their own methods, specialties and preferences.

For example:

• Shipyard Capability: Specific shipyards may specialize in certain designs or types. If PCs expect a shipyard known for its freighters to build what amounts to a major warship (or vice versa), then hesitation on their part might be understandable. Not to mention that various groups will take an interest in anyone building such warships outside of the normal manufacturers!
• Component Specialization: Both designers and shipyards may specialize in the use of specific components and not necessarily the SAME components at that. If specifications are outside comfort zones (eg. The designer likes LSP hulls, the yard ‘always’ uses General Products hulls, and the Party wants a Yoyodyne frame), then adjusting to this change in routine may take extra time, introduce failure modes, and will inevitably cost more.
• Skills: If going with a designer / builder team renowned as the absolute BEST at what they do, expect higher prices and, very probably, being on a long waiting list. At the bottom. And, being expensive and well-paid, thoroughly immune to bribes to change this status – except in the negative.
• DIY: Maybe a Party member invested in the necessary skills to do the design work themselves. Well and good – chance for role-play there maybe. A possible downside is that said designer will have to severely curtail other activities for a while, if s/he wants to make a proper job of it. Another downside is if the designer makes any serious errors – the rest of the party may be faced with the choice of suing their teammate OR ponying up extra cash themselves to put things right.

Construction

Following that is the build process itself. Components are built, or shipped in from other sources, then fitted together. Simple, in theory. Except that there are always complications – shipments delayed or gone astray or even stolen outright; errors such as wrong items being sent (“These are Mark 4A Wossnames, we NEED Mark 5Vs.”); surprise compatibility issues between components (necessitating extra work); accidental(?) breakages and ‘incidents’ on-site, shenanigans within the business itself (“… Ehhh. Haint seen Bob OR the comp’nee payroll since Wensdee.”), and so on.

Even local or national politics can have a part.

Quick Historical Example: Just prior to WW1, the Ottoman Empire paid for two large cruisers to be built in British shipyards for their navy. When war broke out, the Royal Navy promptly took over both near-complete vessels for its own use, leaving the at-that-time-neutral Ottomans nothing except promises of compensation “after the war”. Needless to say, the Ottomans were ticked off about it. – Ian

So, how are the politics wherever the PCs’ new ship is being built? If local authorities get in a jam, then “borrowing” the tricked-out and semi-complete ship in their jurisdiction (or even just certain of its equipment) may seem like a solution to their problem(s). The nature, amount and timing of any compensation promised the owners (not to mention actual return of the borrowed items) will largely depend on the final outcome, the honesty of the borrowers and their ability to make amends.

Shakedown

The next phase in the build is the test drive / shakedown cruise. In the movies or on TV, there is a tendency for heroes to grab an untried vehicle literally straight out of construction and go directly into action. The reality is that going this path should equate with shooting oneself in the foot. The entire reason for shakedowns is to make sure that everything works properly in a safe and controlled manner. “In combat” or during “The Big Race” are NOT the times to discover defective components, design flaws, sabotage, or manufacturer errors. At least not from the PC’s point of view, heh!

And then comes the real shakedown, as the people who can fix it tot up the bill for parts and manpower – and try and fix the problems that have been spotted this time.

Caveat Princeps again:

Unless the Party fully deserve it, then dropping most of the above on them just for trying to custom-build their own ship is a dick move. If, as Referee, you don’t want them doing that stuff, then just say so up front and offer other outlets for their time and their cash. But, to shake up PCs and stop them from being complacent, the threat of a few of the things mentioned here (plus maybe some “minor”(?) incidents) provides plenty of scope for interesting scenarios.

Creating Your Own

Build Your Own Vehicle is not a common choice for PCs, but is doable if they have access to all that is needed. Note, when I say “Build Your Own”, I am not referring to having a bunch of NPCs do the job, with the PCs looking in now and again. I’m thinking of a couple of ‘MacGyver’ episodes, many episodes of the ‘A Team’, and the movie ‘Flight Of The Phoenix’ (the original is well worth watching). The PCs are stuck someplace, and their survival depends on building a means of escape using items immediately at hand (a junkyard’s contents, remnants of a crashed aircraft, local raw materials, etc.).

Unless the PCs get overly ambitious (read: silly) about whatever they build, it is fair to give them some breaks on this particular idea. Whatever the PCs build should be a one (or limited) use item and, as long as they treat it as such (Ie. carefully), they deserve special consideration for their ingenuity.

Quirks And Tweaks

Both Quirks and Tweaks are ways of giving a vehicle extra “character”. When working out details, the Referee should consider assigning a few of these.

Quirks

Quirks are something that owners of any complex device / system should understand fully. The production run for a specific vehicle design could run anywhere from “several” to hundreds of thousands, but there can still be little oddities making each of said vehicles more of an ‘individual’. Maybe the PC vehicle only starts after the third try on cold mornings. Maybe opening or closing a specific door requires jiggling the lever “just so”. Maybe the left-side reading light is the only one that ever breaks, or there is that faint rattle under one seat whenever the brakes are hit TOO hard, or the Lighter sometimes gets stuck in its mount.

All of these things may technically be malfunctions, but are so trivial that effects on vehicle operation are almost always non-existent. There may be rare exceptions – difficulties getting started or in using a specific function can be entertaining complications in-game. But usually, the removal / eradication of individual Quirks are very probably much more trouble (and expense) than it is worth.

Of course, some PCs get downright obsessive about their vehicle being in perfect running order, and will go to extreme lengths to ‘cure’ anything that threatens this belief. My advice to GMs in this instance is “Let them” – let the PCs spend time, money and effort to put the ‘problem’ exactly right, then allow them a little time of apparent perfection before another Quirk eventually surfaces in another part of the vehicle. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

One last bit of advice regarding Vehicular Quirks is this. NEVER allow the PCs to make up their own. That way lies abuse of the system, as the vehicle’s Quirks almost certainly become an el cheapo anti-theft system (do such-and-such to open the door, do such-and-such to turn on the ignition, and do such-and-such to put the vehicle in gear),

Image from FreeImages.com/Steve Knight

Tweaks

Tweaks are quite distinct from Quirks. They are alterations intentionally made to the vehicle in order to improve specific capabilities. For a sufficiently-skilled technician, it should be possible to make minor improvements to any of a vehicles’ stats. However, there should always be trade-offs, a price to be paid, which may be direct or indirect.

The direct trade-offs are obvious. For example, trick out the engine so the vehicle can go faster, and this probably means fuel efficiency changes for the worse and/or the engine reliability suffers. How big the trade-off should depend on how major the change is.

The indirect trade-offs, are, strangely, inobvious. For example, one might tweak a vehicular weapon so that it has a higher Rate Of Fire. Due care is taken beforehand, so the weapon mount is up to the job and the weapon itself can withstand the additional stress. However, when fired for long enough, side-effects crop up in unexpected places. Maybe the extra vibration from firing damages adjacent components, or the additional heat keeps triggering the fire alarm. They may not be noticed immediately, and dealing with them may call for further tweaks. Noting that there is a slight possibility of additional problems being spawned.

The GM and Quirks & Tweaks

In either case, the administering of Quirks and Tweaks should be at the discretion of the Referee. The complexity of the vehicle, the extent of any changes made to it, the skill of the person(s) making the changes and the quality of the tools / equipment used for the work should all be factors. Allow for chances that the work being done will go wrong – and remember that most of it will probably void the warranty.

Naming

“The naming of cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games…
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?”
— From ‘The Naming Of Cats’ by T S Eliot.

Mr Eliot has the sense of it, and not only for cats. The name of a Party’s vehicle (indeed, of any vehicle encountered) deserves proper attention from both GM and Players. If pre-used, the vehicle should already have some kind of designation as part of its back-story.

Otherwise, the name can be a unifying symbol or badge of honor for the Party. “I’m the (Insert Rank / Job Description Here) of the (Insert Ship Name Here)” always sounds more impressive than “I’m the (Insert Rank / etc.), but I dunno what our ship is called”. I have witnessed games where Players said the latter. Ack!!!

Commonly, the ship name simply isn’t something that the Referee or the Players consider at all. Which, as you might reasonably guess, bothers me,

There are Players who think that, if their Character can’t be ‘The-Man-With-No-Name’, then being Captain / Crew of ‘The-Ship-With-No-Name’ is comparably Bad-@$$. Commonly, these are also the ones who put their Characters in Darth-Vader-with-chrome-trim outfits, and cosmetically alter their ship to resemble a Stealth Bomber (which is a terrible look if said ship is a 16th-century Galleon).

In a technological genre, vehicles will have an ID number at absolute minimum. Maybe several, including the one(s) allocated when it was built. A lack of even this should attract unwanted attention from people well-known for not having a sense of humor – law enforcers and bureaucrats and anyone who might hear about it and have a use for such a ship.

In a not-so-technological genre, there may be no ID number, but naming of vehicles could be a deadly serious matter of tradition and/or superstition. A lack of name may be commonly regarded as extremely unlucky (and, in certain genres, may actually BE unlucky).

There is also the chance that other people eventually give said ship a name, but this is unlikely to be anything any PC will like (“That @#$%^ Psycho’s Ship” being one likely favorite).

A few guidelines:

• Most important, Be able to say the name out loud in polite / mixed company. It might seem hilarious to have the name be an obscenity or unpronounceable, but the novelty wears out quickly.
• Set Cuteness On Low. In one ‘Stargate SG-1’ episode, Colonel Jack O’Neill wanted to name the SGC’s new starship ‘Enterprise’ because “he liked that show”. That’s fine, on the face of it – we all smiled, and it was very much in character for Jack. But overdoing cross-genre references (Trek in an SG-1 game, Star Wars in WH40K, etc.), can break immersion and even get annoying. If you must, then keep it at one or two, tops, and move on.
  

  How many people have ever tried to get cute when assigning a user-name for some website or another? How many people have found that the name is already gone? Websites solve the problem of needing a unique user-name by forcing people to attach numbers to the end of their chosen name – or make a new choice. GMs should use this as a way to “censor” excessively cute names by appending twelve-digit numbers to ensure “uniqueness”. When a reasonable name is chosen, miracle of miracles, the name is available. – Mike

• Make Up Your Mind. Depending on the genre and the campaign, there may be times when it is appropriate and even necessary to change the ship’s ID / name. That time will not be every session and/or at the whim of the PCs. If nothing else, overdoing this should attract the wrong sort of attention from others. Also, if superstition is at all a thing in the game, changing a ship’s name is traditionally regarded as unlucky.
  

  Of course, if changing a name is bad luck, there will usually be a difficult, expensive, inconvenient, and/or time-consuming ritual to prevent the bad luck. Use NPC behavior to enforce the ritual, escalating to a new Quirk if necessary. – Mike

• Respect The Background, (or DON’T Be An Obnoxious @$$). Look at what other ships in the game background are called, and get ideas there. Deliberately obnoxious names (eg. someone in a WH40K game who insists on naming their ship ‘The God-Emperor Is An @#$%^&*s’) should be smacked down hard.

But, Seriously, What Do I Name It?

After considering the above, anything you want. Originality is not required – eg. feel free to check how many ‘Enterprises’ there have been in the world. Check the game background for ideas. Otherwise, inspiration can be had from the names of people, animals, places, things, events, tactics, colors, mental traits, famous quotes, catch-phrases, puns, word-plays, literary references, jargon from specific sub-groups / sub-cultures, and combinations thereof.

More suggestions can be found in the “Ships and starships” section of With The Right Seasoning: Beyond Simple Names, part of the “A good name is hard to find” series. – Mike

We Can’t Agree On A Name…

Make a short list, eliminate any choices that some people really don’t like, then determine randomly from whatever is left. Whatever comes up is irrevocably final. Or just invoke your Ghod-given powers as Referee. Honestly, do I have to tell you EVERYTHING?

I agree with Ian’s first two steps.

There are two approaches to use: #1, In-game – in which case NPCs should not get to vote except to break a deadlock, and then in favor of the GM’s choice from the player-provided shortlist (see below); and #2, Metagame, in which case the GM may exercise veto authority but should not vote except to break a tie.

So which shortlisted name should the GM choose? After excluding any names that he really doesn’t like, I would choose the most evocative name – evocative being measured by the predicted fun factor of the adventure idea that the name inspires. After all, a ship with no name may be bad, a ship with a name may be better, but the best of all is a ship with a name and a story to go along with that name! – Mike

The second part of this article will appear next week. This article will be ever-so-minutely revised to replace this text with a link to it when that happens.

About The Author

Ian Mackinder is a long-time friend of Mike’s, and is almost as keen a gamer in his own twisted way. Over the years, he has been in several of Mike’s campaigns, and vice versa, but both seem none the worse for it.

In the past, Ian has refereed ‘Star Trek’ (FASA) and Classic Traveller. Currently, he is running a ‘7th Sea’ game, and resigned to apparently being the only Referee of that system in the entire Greater Sydney region – he would love to PLAY in a campaign himself some day. Ian regularly plays in various systems – including D&D4, Rogue Trader and Pulp HERO. He likes a lot of other systems but, after one bad experience, will NOT play ‘Runequest’ again – and if you aren’t careful enough, he will tell you why.

Ian’s other hobbies include history (Australian, military, weird, hidden, maritime, and combinations thereof), TV & Movies, Forteana, browsing the Internet, and SF in general (with occasional excursions into Fantasy). He is also a keen player of the ‘Fallout 3’ computer game, and currently writes a sort-of series about that called ‘The Walker Files,’ which can be found on the ‘Fallout 3 Nexus’. Happily, his amazing wife and brilliant daughter both manage to put up with all this.