Crewing

Fourth Place involves a story about the world and its environment, and how it affects individuals within it. It will not be surprising for the theme park to be filled with a myriad of different peoples of different beliefs, dispositions, and preferences. Maybe some won't be accessible at all times, keeping to their own odd schedules despite what most of the common riffraff do.

In order to get as many people involved as possible while respecting the health of our GM team, we have chosen to have a smaller player cap (20), but allow for a much higher crew cap. Unlike players, crew members will not submit turnsheets or receive writeups for these, although may be asked about what their character would do if involved in a player's action, and be informed of what happens as a result of that action.

Crew in Society Games sometimes take on the role of assistant gamerunners, but in Fourth Place it will be possible to crew like you are a player, but without turnsheets. Crew members will work with the GMs to create a character based on their interests or be given one pre-created to engage with the game in a somewhat important narrative role. This might be a character unknown at the start of the game, or it might be a particularly important figure within the Fourth Place. There will also be some room for crew to choose and plot out their own direction for the character, giving them more active agency in the plot.

If you were unable to gain a player spot in Fourth Place, crewing is an excellent way to still engage with the game and all of its going ons. Alternatively, you can play a crew NPC fully remotely, which might be desirable for people who would like to stay involved with the Society, but cannot easily attend uptimes in Oxford.

Crew will be limited to only one NPC unless in exceptional circumstances.

While we do not have a strict limit on the number of crew we can accommodate, we may need to revise this policy if we are massively oversubscribed. The limiting factor will be on GM capacity, however, so please reach out to us as soon as possible if interested.

As a member of the crew, you will be responsible for taking on an important aspect of the world. Your NPC will be important in some way to the events happening in the Fourth Place. While there will be some degree of a “brief” given to you, you will still have freedom to add to that character's personality and behaviours, as well as shape their experiences through the play of the game. You may also have input over certain turnsheet actions for the benefit or detriment of the people involved, although ultimately adjudication and writeup is a GM task, not a crew one.

Unless you intend on playing a remote crew, there will be an expectation for you to come to most uptimes. Please let the GM team know if you cannot come to some sessions beforehand.

Not coming to every session can work into the fiction of your character. Maybe they are a scavenger around the outskirts who come to socialise and trade every so often. Perhaps they were outcast once by a rival, and refuse to attend meetings unless dire.

As a remote crew, you are expressing an interest in not attending the majority of uptimes in Oxford (although if you are able to attend any, please let us know in advance). However, you will still be able to interact fully with people during the email period, and can make an appearance in turnsheets.

This might work into the fiction for your character. Perhaps they are antisocial and do not attend the meetings at the Fourth Place, but still loiter around. It's possible they could be a stationary character, unable to move much at all in the Fourth Place, but take joy in talking to the inhabitants.

If you wish to apply to be a crew member, then please reach out to the GM team by email or on Discord. While technically crew can join the team at any point in time, you must contact us at latest on the Thursday before an uptime/downtime where you may debut. Those who wish to crew from the beginning of the game will have the same deadline as for character creation.