This little question popped up on our last game. Are voidsmen paid or are they lord captains serfs, or how they are paid.'

Few semi-historical of top of mi'hat.

-Voidmen are not paid but given room and board for themselves and their family, exceptional service is rewarded with thrones and other (better) amenities. Voidmen are allowed to make little extra by providing services via some trade skills.

- Voidmen are paid with some sort of salary (from abysmal to exorbitant depending on your position). I think this fits more civilised chartered merchant than rogue trader vessel.

- Voidsmen gets shares of allover succes of the ships endeavours or loot. More privateer/pirate/mercenary like apporoach.

- Voidsmen arent paid but are given a shore leave purse, to blow offf some steam when in port.

Your take, please?

./At0miclich

IMHO any but the first option are fine. I think people want a little jingle.

working like a serf, chained to a job may be fine when you're a peon on a planet

back in the core systems of the empire, but out in the fringe

the job should have some prestige and perks with it.

and to be clear, we are talking about the average crew-dude down belowdecks,

not the PC voidsman, right?

IMHO any but the first option are fine. I think people want a little jingle.

working like a serf, chained to a job may be fine when you're a peon on a planet

back in the core systems of the empire, but out in the fringe

the job should have some prestige and perks with it.

and to be clear, we are talking about the average crew-dude down belowdecks,

not the PC voidsman, right?

Yes, I was thinking about the non-officer or specialist 99% of the crew. The unwashed masses that tend to mark most.

./At0miclich

There are likely historic examples of every possible manner in which crews can be paid but 40k naval matters are largely based on the age of sail. In those days, crews were a combination of volunteers, criminals sent to sea and press-ganged citizens. Much like 40k crews.

And they were paid by their government on a sliding scale depending on their skills and responsibilities. The pay was often decent enough (compared to other jobs) but obviously being a sailor was much harder than most jobs. Even if a bit in arrays (e.g. late in being actually paid), a smart captain would ensure it wasn't too late and that the crew was paid at least something because an angry crew is not a good thing to have. And sailors who can't buy rum and women are usually angry...

The real money was made in prizes. Any goods taken from the enemy was considered the property of the captain/crew and would be sold by a prize court or acquired by the government. The money was then divided amongst the crew, with the captain getting the largest share, all the way down to the powder monkies etc. (there were very detailed breakdowns of the prize money). Which made for good morale in battle as a single prize could make a man's fortune if he was lucky.

So that would make a good template for your RT crew unless you prefer a more exotic/sci fi solution.

In which case, the crew is paid in lashes and corpse starch and is given a turn at a three-breasted mutant prostitute once a month to keep morale up.....

I tend to agree with Ranoncles. Crew pay for a Privateer (A rough analogy for what a RT is) was based on the profit of the venture. After the ship's expenses were deducted, Roughly half the ship's profits went to the Ship's master (It's owner.) 25% was divided amongst the ship's officers and the remaining 25% was allocated to the crew according their specific contract.

This would also fit with the Rt's ability to raise money by "Spending" AP to give the crew bonuses on their next shore leave.

Our particular Rogue Trader also mints his own currency for on ship use, which is what everyone on the vessel is payed in. Of course, it's backed by the Dynasty with a "throne" exchange rate for spending at shore, but it spends so much better at the company store...