Affording a spaceship?

[Ragabash Moon]

So, the average character in a Space campaign has no way of ever affording a ship without spending 100 points (or more) for wealth and then blowing it all on a ship...

So, how are you supposed to allow for players in a space campaign to have a ship?

[Verjigorm]

They have a wealthy Patron who lets them use a ship? They belong to an organization that allows them the use of a ship. Or perhaps they stole the ship and now have an enemy who is chasing them. OR perhaps they all pooled their resources and own the ship collectively. Perhaps their ship is heavily mortgaged or financed.

If the ship is a necessity for the story, then include one. There's lots of ways to get it.

[Proteus]

There's always Rev. PK's "Ship Owner" advantage: see http://www.mygurps.com/t_spaceships.html

[the_matrix_walker]

I like defining ship as a HEADQUARTERS (Supers p.85) and apply "Special Abilities, +100%" for a Starship (+50% for space, +50% for Mobile).

Look at the status level that gives you the size "ship" you want (on page B266. the table will say Mansion) The effective status for a headquarters is in no way connected to your actual wealth or social Status. It is only used to determine the size of headquarters, based on the table (on page B266). You do not have to pay the cost of living to maintain the status of your Headquarters (Supers p.85)

[Ragabash Moon]

Originally Posted by Proteus

There's always Rev. PK's "Ship Owner" advantage: see http://www.mygurps.com/t_spaceships.html

Hmmm... not bad, always like RPK's stuff (heck, so does SJGames, heh)

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

I like defining ship as a HEADQUARTERS (Supers p.85) and apply "Special Abilities, +100%" for a Starship (+50% for space, +50% for Mobile).

Look at the status level that gives you the size "ship" you want (on page B266. the table will say Mansion) The effective status for a headquarters is in no way connected to your actual wealth or social Status. It is only used to determine the size of headquarters, based on the table (on page B266). You do not have to pay the cost of living to maintain the status of your Headquarters (Supers p.85)

Not a bad idea either...

What I CURRENTLY did, but I was looking to see if there was a better way, is I just gave the character the ship, but she also has Wealth (Wealthy) and -20 Debt.

However, if I went with RPK's Ship Owner... then she could have a really nice ship with that 30pts... but then rightfully be greatly in debt to crime lords, kinda like Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon :)

EDIT: Wait Wealthy is 20... hmmm so that's not as good...

[Anthony]

In general, a ship is a plot device that lets the GM move the players to where he wants them to be, and is thus not worth points by itself. I'd only charge points for the other things a ship can do for you -- if it provides an income or has useful facilities you have to pay for those things.

[Stripe]

Originally Posted by Anthony

In general, a ship is a plot device that lets the GM move the players to where he wants them to be, and is thus not worth points by itself. I'd only charge points for the other things a ship can do for you -- if it provides an income or has useful facilities you have to pay for those things.

Agreed. If, as the GM, I wanted the players to have a ship and there to be a captain of that ship, then one of the players would take that role.

[Ragabash Moon]

Yeah, actually the Captain is an NPC, and she's going to be hiring the players to work for her, but I was thinking I should be somewhat fair and make her "pay" for the ship, but now that I think about it, especially as you guys say that a ship should be plot device anyway, that's actually somewhat cool, since I gave her 20 points in debt, so she'll need the PCs to help her make lots of money to keep the crime boss she knows from taking her ship... or worse, taking her.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Anthony

In general, a ship is a plot device that lets the GM move the players to where he wants them to be, and is thus not worth points by itself. I'd only charge points for the other things a ship can do for you -- if it provides an income or has useful facilities you have to pay for those things.

A big question is indeed whether this is the reason for wishing to afford a ship.

If it is indeed a 'move from A to B' purpose, with no other uses whatsoever, then yeah, just let them have it like Anthony says. Personally, if I were willing to spend points and cash on a ship, I'd very much expect to get benefits other than just having an excuse for moving from adventure to adventure (because it's perfectly fine to have all adventures of a campaign in the same city!). So, we move to . . .

. . . A useful investment. This is the sort of ship that can be used both to earn money (assuming interplanetary transportation is profitable) and derive other benefits. It's essentially 100% adventuring equipment, giving both a source of income and a way to solve some of the problems in an adventure. This usually makes sense as Wealth, which indeed provides both.

OTOH, if it's a matter of being in command of a ship, then you might want Rank. A Dominant or Unique organisation with Large Resources (×10) can be willing to temporarily (×10) hand over up to 5,000% of Starting Wealth worth of assets at Rank 4 [20], (which also provides 2 levels of free Status!). Multiply by 10 for each extra 2 ranks, or by 3 for extra 1.

Now, if it's about being The Self-Reliant Captain, and outright 100% owning the ship instead of just being able to use it, the GM should think whether this is an acceptable set-up for the whole group. It might be, or it might not. You may in fact rule that being The Self-Reliant Captain is a highly-respected social position, and allow the PC to buy sufficient Status and replace the house-and-car (or whatever) that buying Status gets you with an equivalent-Status spaceship. With non-stellar Wealth, this tends to produce struggling-but-proud captains who fight day to day to keep their ship running.

[jacobmuller]

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

I like defining ship as a HEADQUARTERS (Supers p.85) and apply "Special Abilities, +100%" for a Starship (+50% for space, +50% for Mobile).

I've always thought in terms of low-quality, used ships that are almost an adventure to keep running...
Headquarters... brilliant idea - now to play with numbers:D