General Does your ship have a pet?

[Spinward Scout]

Does your ship have a Pet?

Did you leave your cargo door open too long while unloading and now have a bat-equivalent predator flying around your ship?

Did an Opossum-like creature crawl into a hatchway while you were making repairs?

Did your ship's cat let you know that there was a 7 foot tall creature behind you?

Ship's Pets 1d6

1.) a House Cat walks up the ramp one day
2.) a Tree Kraken from Knorbes
3.) an Unidentified Alien Plant that eats bugs
4.) a Robotic Critter
5.) a Llellewyloly stowaway until you figure out it's a Sophont
6.) an Alien Iguana starting to make a chrysalis

Roll every time you open your boarding hatch... if you dare.

I'm sure there's a lot more. Use or re-write the table to use in your game.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[bookwyrm]

#4 is great! is the robotic pet so advanced that the crew doesn't know it isn't biological until later, or is it obvious?

how about the crew member always picking up some stray critter on every other planet. or a passengers pet that is lost, then found after entering the next jump. and just how big is the pet? big enough to require a crew size life support? or two?

every once in awhile, I come up with an idea for a crew/ship pet. floating, tentacles, furry with a beak, psionic, smells funny, very friendly, cute small and weak but terrorizes one star faring race (think Tribbles).

one of the most interesting pets I've come across in sci-fi is Anji, a Nexu owned by Allana/Amelia Solo.

there are lots of other pets, but Anji was the first one that came to my mind.

 

[Timerover51]

A 35 pound black and white tom cat named Tuxedo, Tux for short. He is the reason that One-Ear Jenkins has one ear.

Then there is the captain's pet Hoobat, which normally does not have the run of the ship. However, after a stop on a new planet, the Hoobat is allowed the run of the cargo hold, just in case.

The ship's medic has a pet tormal, but the tormal is normally viewed as part of the medical department. Do not leave your cup of coffee unattended.

 

[Spinward Scout]

#4 is great! is the robotic pet so advanced that the crew doesn't know it isn't biological until later, or is it obvious?

I was thinking Muffet from Battlestar Galactica, but I like your idea.

A 35 pound black and white tom cat named Tuxedo, Tux for short. He is the reason that One-Ear Jenkins has one ear.

That deserves a short story, I think.

 

[Timerover51]

That deserves a short story, I think.

Working on it.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[Gray Lensman]

Ah, Flerkens, the ultimate in ship security :rofl:

 

[Condottiere]

 

[BackworldTraveller]

Isn't this gratuitous animal cruelty (to human)?

 

[Condottiere]

 

[aramis]

Isn't this gratuitous animal cruelty (to human)?

I know I'm tired of the excessive posting of memes with no durable content.
And the quote one I find offensive. Not quite sufficiently so as to infract, but I do find it tiresome.

 

[Condottiere]

Flerken

Noted.

 

[Vile]

Nice ideas. Our ships have almost always had a cat mascot.

 

[The Pakkrat]

Who's the pet?!

In my most recent solo-play, everyone on the ship thinks all the other sophonts are the pets:

female Vilani
male Ursa
female Gvegh (Relict Clone)
'male' Cym

 

[BlackBat242]

The ship's medic has a pet tormal, but the tormal is normally viewed as part of the medical department. Do not leave your cup of coffee unattended.

Yes, Murgatroyd!
https://www.tor.com/2020/05/21/physician-as-paladin-facing-plague-and-pandemic-med-ship-by-murray-leinster/

How about an Afeahyalhtow? (Aculeoptera venator) [JTAS #20]

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Well...

I do have Ship's Cats in my ATU which are gene-modded and cyborged cats used to keep pests in check. Also, kitties are therapeutic.

 

[coliver988]

I do have Ship's Cats in my ATU which are gene-modded and cyborged cats used to keep pests in check. Also, kitties are therapeutic.

They are therapeutic: studies have shown that cat purrs do have a good affect on people. I think somewhere in the depths of the threads there is an actual thread on this very subject.

 

[whartung]

They are therapeutic: studies have shown that cat purrs do have a good affect on people. I think somewhere in the depths of the threads there is an actual thread on this very subject.

You haven't met our cats.

Hoo boy.

 

[Condottiere]

Theoretically, self healing process, maybe like a micromassage.

Might have a similar effect on humans.

Could be a part of string theory.

Which explains why cats are fascinated by them, and try and capture them.