Low Berth Attendant - low status job?

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by swordtart

Does it even have to be ships crew who do the "defrosting"? You won't be waking people up mid-flight (other than in an emergency and if that is the case all bets are off).

It doesn't have to be the ship's crew doing the defrosting, and for a ship carrying a large number of low berths on a fixed route, or to a colony (for example), it probably won't be. However, for the sort of ship most PCs will have, or be crew on, or often travel on, there's no guarantee that the destination port will have defrosting facilities or trained personnel - I wouldn't expect them at a D or E class port, or a smaller C class either. Therefore, for ships like free traders having a qualified (or at least 'looks qualified') person on board to freeze down and thaw low berth passengers makes sense, especially as they'll want a medic of some sort anyway.

The fun comes when something goes wrong, and how skilled the medic is suddenly matters. That's when the GM gets to grin (and lets you see his Characters is open to the page with Neurological Disorders), and you get to worrying over whether they're a properly qualified Physican-12+, with supporting Diagnosis, etc., or just some steward with one point in First Aid for First Aid-10, and thus Physician defaulting to IQ-7, hopefully with a good manual and plenty of time for 'extra time' bonuses...

[SteveS]

Originally Posted by swordtart

. . .
If you had someone who was off on a multi jump trip, they wouldn't need to be defrosted at all between jumps they could just be stored in an off-ship warehouse... sorry... passenger facility, and reloaded onto the next ship in the chain. The routing would be handled on their behalf by reputable brokers (just like any other freight). . . .

Note that per Far Trader, low passengers legally are freight.

[cptbutton]

Long distance shipping of people in low berths is shown in the novel "Agent Of The Imperium."

[swordtart]

Originally Posted by Rupert

It doesn't have to be the ship's crew doing the defrosting, and for a ship carrying a large number of low berths on a fixed route, or to a colony (for example), it probably won't be. However, for the sort of ship most PCs will have, or be crew on, or often travel on, there's no guarantee that the destination port will have defrosting facilities or trained personnel - I wouldn't expect them at a D or E class port, or a smaller C class either. Therefore, for ships like free traders having a qualified (or at least 'looks qualified') person on board to freeze down and thaw low berth passengers makes sense, especially as they'll want a medic of some sort anyway.

Arguably the same rules that apply to ships apply to starports as well. I don't need a dedicated low-berth attendant, if I have at least 1 medic who can fulfill that function when it is needed. In general the staff of even the lowliest start port will out number the crew on a tramp freighter and so they should always have someone who is at least as good as any make-shift low-berth "technician".

I could see an argument for assuming that the roll for survival encompasses all the potential issues regardless of when they occur in the process though. For example, there is a 5% chance when putting someone into low berth that it will result in unavoidable death, but that won't become apparent until an attempt is made to revive them. Ditto there is a 5% chance that the system suffers a similarly terminal failure whilst in transit. There is also a 10% chance that defrosting itself will cause problems. A single roll at about 20% could replace the three rolls since you only find out during the defrost. It isn't what the rules say, but it would justify why someone with appropriate skill needs to be in attendance at all times.

You also have to consider the reasons why someone would risk dying to get to a destination that could only support a class E starport. I can well imagine that they would be willing to risk death to leave it.

Some versions of Traveller assume that travel is equal both ways (otherwise there would be net migration). Of course you could have zero overall migration but class specific migration. For example the majority of low-berth passengers travel to a system to make their fortune and leave it on a middle-berth that they can now afford, or patients for an anti-aging facility travel 6 jumps in low-berth as a minor gamble to preserve their life-span but when they leave return on a high-berth cruise or gamblers travel to a casino world in High-Berth, but some of them have no choice but to return low-berth or prisoners are sent to a transportation system low-berth (at imperial expense) but when they leave at the end of their term might opt for a safer method.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by swordtart

Arguably the same rules that apply to ships apply to starports as well.

Going back to that first Dumarest novel there was no starport. Just a sort of field where lots of big ships (most of which appeared to belong to bored nobles) landed because there was a festival going on. There didn't even seem to be any need for fuel.

No small ships looking to economize on crew either. Traveller came from a lot of different places and some of the borrowed parts don't always fit together perfectly.