Crewing

Crewing is the act of coming to an event to help the event organisers run the game. Crew make up the bad guys the players shoot at, the friendly NPC’s they might make deals with, The Refs who keep the gaming ticking, and the organisers themselves (who mostly run around trying to find where that stray pack of Reavers actually went).

Why not monstering?
In Serenity we like to make this distinction early on. The People you are given to play (unless they are literal monsters like the flesh tearing creatures of legend) are just that, people. People with motivations, histories and families who want them to come back just as much as the players’. Crewing involves playing these roles, with the goal to entertain and bring life to all the characters you get to play over the weekend, whether it’s that poor lumberyard owner who has been held up by bandits, or the sergeant major of the Alliance patrol sweeping through the area.

The Crew Room
Welcome to your home for the weekend.

The crew room is the gathering point for all the crew, a place where we can rest and recharge before the next encounter goes out. Typically, there will be a couple of features of the crew room.

The Plot desk – The desk will be staffed by one or more people and is the central nexus of plot comings and goings. Encounters will be run from here, Cards will be given out for engineering, cortexing or medicine, Money will be provided and rules queries can be answered.

The Makeup station – dependent on the roles which are being used at the event, makeup may be required for certain characters. We also occasionally use it to make the players look roughed up too, for example in cases of spontaneous multiple engine failure, or a run in with the law.

The Weapon and Kit boxes – These boxes are used for characters that need specific kit, and to provide weapons to crew who need them. Please return all kit to the right boxes when you have returned from your encounter.

Problems While Crewing
If you have problems for any reason while crewing an event, talk to one of the event organisers, a ref or one of the people manning the Plot desk.

Do I have to pay?
Tickets for Crew are free, but in the case of a catered event you will still have to pay for that as per normal.

Accommodation
This will differ on a case by case basis dependent on site.

In cases where bunk space is offered, spaces are prioritised for people with medical needs first, then crew and after that given out on a first come first served basis to everyone.

After Crewing your first event - if you want to make a player character.
So you crewed your first event, congratulations!

Your next step will depend on two things - whether you have made a character and whether you have paid to play that character at an event. Follow the rules posted here for making your character and submit it to the admin department. When your Downtime form arrives by email, fill it in as normal but ignore the “Down time action” of the form. Nice! Fill in your downtime as normal.
 * I haven’t made a character
 * I have made my character, but have never paid to play them at an event.
 * I have made my character AND I’ve played them at an event before.

The final difference of note - a character who has not been played may be trained in skills by characters on their personal crew, and by the characters of other people who crewed the event, providing they are spending time together in downtime as usual for player characters.

An example:
 * Timur Petrov of the Kuznetsov is Pav’s new character.


 * Pav has never played Timur, and has just crewed an event.


 * For his downtime Pav wants Timur to learn Martial Arts, but none of the Crew of the Kuznetsov have this skill.


 * Pav asks the rest of the people who crewed the event with him, and Paul says his character Locke can teach Timur.

A Character using downtime like this may learn in any of the ways a normal character does, and is subject to the same rules for qualifying for Virtuoso training, relevant justification for specialisms and so forth.
 * Pav notes down that Locke is teaching Timur Martial Arts in his downtime, and Paul notes this in his downtime also. They arrange a means to do so as usual.

If a character begins to learn a Virtuoso while crewing, this is treated exactly the same as if they had played the event.