Reviewing Classic Traveller: Characters

Generating interest

Jul 21, 2023

Characters

Traveller is a 2D6 system, with some stat values able to go higher than 12 (social status, education, etc.), so the average value of most stats is going to be seven. Incidentally, Traveller is all-in on using hexidecimal for notation of character info, planetary info, and other statistics, where:

A = 10
B = 11
C = 12
D = 13
E = 14
F = 15

The UPP or “Universal Personality Profile” is just six digits strung together so that someone who’s Strength is 8, Dexterity is 6, Endurance is seven, Intelligence is 9, Education is 12, and Social standing is 10 would have a UPP of: 8679CA.

In the rawest form, you roll 2D6 in order. This is followed by some notes on social rank.

Let’s Roll a guy up.

Bob

Bob rolls a UPP of 6A655A - so pretty good with his hands, but weak, low endurance, a bit slow, and uneducated from an upper middle class family, shy of knighthood (or its equivalent). He’s turned 18, and needs to choose a career. There are three factors to consider : how easily he can get in, how easily he can survive, and how easily he can stay in if he wishes.

Note the scouts aren’t the hardest to get into, but are the hardest to survive and the easiest to re-enlist. It gives you the impression they’re desperate for anyone lucky enough to survive.

Bob elects to give the Army a shot. With his Dex, and even with his endurance (5, getting +2), he only needs a two, and gets in with an 8. If he had failed to get in, he would have needed to roll a D6 for what service or career he was essentially drafted for, including, possibly, the army, but without a shot at promotion the first term.

He only needs a 5+ to survive, but gets no bonuses for education. He gets a seven. So now he gets to angle for a commission, and rolling a 9, gets to be an O1 despite no bonuses for crappy endurance. Since he’s now an officer, even freshly promoted, he gets to try for a promotion as well, needing a 6 with no bonuses. Rolling a three, he fails.

Before we re-enlist, we look at what skills we get.

The first term of service allows for two skills, following terms only one (scouts always get two). Commissioning and promotion also get a skill associated, so it’s actually possible to pick up four the first term. There are also skills acquired simply due to rank and service.

Since Bob is an army Lieutenant, he gets Rifle-1 for joining the army, and SMG-1 as a Lieutenant. He then checks the table on p. 25 and decides to roll once each on tables 1-3, since he does not have the 8+ education required to roll on table 4.

With a 5 on table1 he actually gains one education, so his UPP is now 6A656A. He also learns how to be a Forward Observer, and Electronics-1.

Not bad for where he started. Does he re-up? Yes, with a 7. With an education of 6, he now only needs a 3 to survive, but still needs a 6 for a promotion. He barely squeaks the promotion, now a Captain, and rolls on tables 1 and 2 to learn Brawling and “Vehicle” - for which he chooses Grav Vehicles. Now 26, he successfully re-ups for a third term. Looks like he’s a lifer angling for retirement after 5 terms.

On his third term he barely makes his survival roll, and is promoted to Major. Rolling on tables 1 and three, he improves his education (6A657A) and learns mechanical-1. Unfortunately his retirement hopes are dashed. At the age of 30 he musters out as a Major. As an aside, he hasn’t hit 34 yet, so no need to check on the aging table for debilitating effects (p19).

There are two mustering out tables. One for money, the other for non-cash benefits. With three full terms, he gets a base of three rolls. Since he’s rank three, he gets two more rolls. You choose the desired table before each roll, but you’re limited to three rolls on the cash table.

Bob elects for two cash rolls for 10,000 Cr. , and gains 2 for his education (6A659A) as well as a Rifle and one High Passage.

Bob: 6A659A
Army Major
Age: 30
Cr: 10,000

Posessions: Rifle

Skills: 
---------
Brawling-1
Electronics-1
Forward Observer-1
Grav Vehicles (Air Raft) -1

Rifle-1
SMG-1

Not the smartest guy in the world, but managed to learn a few things. Can handle a gun, call in artillery fire, and can in a pinch make a living as a chauffer or driver.

A few notes about skills here. Traveller assumes that anyone knows the basics of what they would logically know. A person growing up on a planet knows how to handle standard tracked/wheeled/grav vehicles that would be reasonably common. They’ve picked up weapons, and they’ve put on space suits. Page 21 notes “All player characters have an innate weapon expertise, in all weapons on the list, of zero.” Having a noted level of skill in Traveller is above and beyond mere common knowledge and familiarity, and at least journeyman-level training suitable for professional work relying on that skill. Getting a skill a second time means a higher level of expertise. In a 2D6 system that stacks up pretty fast.

Let’s look at some of the specific skills.

Air/Raft:

The individual has training and experience in the use and operation of the air/raft, floater, flier, and all types of grav vehicles.

The air/raft is the major transportation vehicle on most worlds with high enough tech levels. Most people are aware of the basics of operation for such vehicles. The air/raft can be dangerous to operate in high speed situations or in bad weather. A basic throw of 5+ to avoid an accident or mishap in bad weather, chases, or high speed maneuvers should be used. Apply these DMs: per level of expertise, +1 ; if weather is extremely bad, if the craft is old, or if gunfire is involved in the chase, -1. Generally, roll once for a short chase, twice or three times for longer flights.

Referee: Air/raft and grav vehicle are interchangeable and identical skills. The chapter on equipment provides descriptions of various grav vehicles including the air/raft.

Note: there is a discontinuity here between the charts and the text. The charts should likely use the text “Air/Raft”, as there is no separate grav vehicle skill, and the entry makes clear they are interchangeable.

Also note the explicit “this is a common vehicle” note. This will be up to GM’s call, and depending on what would arguably be the player’s homeworld, but most land, grav, and small water surface vehicle types are likely usable at level zero. Submersibles, aircraft, and spaceships (the latter having their own skillsets) are generally or explicitly not.

Brawling

The individual is skilled in basic hand-to-hand combat and can engage in simple fighting without weapons or with typical improvised weapons such as clubs. Brawling by individual characters is governed by the chapter on personal combat.

Electronics

The individual has skill in the use, operation, and repair of electronic devices. The person is considered handy in this field, with the equivalent of a green thumb; this skill includes the repair of energy weapons.

An advanced technological civilization depends heavily on the use of electronic devices. The need to use, repair, and replace electronic devices is ubiquitous.

Electronic expertise allows a character to use and operate electronic items; generally the skill is a DM applied to the throw to understand, repair, assemble, or operate.

Complex items would also require a certain level of education or a very high intelligence; many devices may also require some degree of dexterity to disassemble, repair, and reassemble.

Referee: Specific throws for specific situations must be generated. Obviously, some throws will be harder than others, and many will be impossible without an accumulation of DMs based on expertise, education, dexterity, intelligence, and the availability of parts and tools. To generate a specific throw, the referee analyzes the specific circumstances and selects a number to be thrown (usually throw that number or greater to succeed). DMs allowed should be the level of electronics skill, +1 for intelligence above some level (say, 10) , +1 for education above some level (say, 9), and appropriate values for lack of tools (perhaps -5) or poor conditions (maybe -3). The throw is then made, and success is determined by the result.

Such throws are restricted to one per specific time period, an hour, four hours, a day, or a week, as appropriate.

Note: There’s a pattern emerging in the rules here of explaining how to use these skills that aren’t tied to entire other systems like space navigation and piloting. The rules try to give you a framework to adjudicate unknowns.

Forward Observer

Forward Observer: The individual has been trained (in military service) to call on and adjust artillery (projectile, missile, and laser) fire from distant batteries and from ships in orbit.

Modern fire support can be a tremendously effective weapon, when available, but is virtually useless unless the technique of its application and adjustment is known. If artillery of any form (including communication with the firing battery) is available, the first shots fired will invariably miss the target. On each subsequent turn in which such fire is delivered, a basic throw of 11+ to hit is required.

Apply these DMs: +4 per level of expertise; per adjustment (two minutes per adjustment), + 1 ; if adjusting person has no expertise: -4.

Other notable skills

While Bob didn’t get it, I want to visit the infamous “Jack of All Trades”, aka the MacGyver skill.

The individual is proven capable of handling a wide variety of situations, and is resourceful in finding solutions and remedies.
The well-rounded individual (the renaissance man, so to speak) is uncommon in all societies, but is naturally proficient when he or she occurs.
This skill is a general ability which may be applied to nearly any endeavor at the discretion of the referee. The jack of all trades can attempt activity which is not normally possible due to the absence of skills or expertise. Unskilled people have no idea how to even start many projects; jack of all trades can apply this skill to such a project as if he or she has the skill. Jack of all trades can be considered to confer skill level-0 in every other skill (but never level-1 ).
For example, one of a group of adventurers arrives at an aging crisis while on an expedition into the wilds of an unsettled planet. No one has medical expertise. Jack of all trades can be applied as a substitute for medical skill in this situation; the referee should assume that the person has studied independently at some time or has seen such a crisis previously and knows something of what to do. When using jack of all trades skill, the referee should also consider appropriate personal characteristics (intelligence, education), availability of equipment (drugs, medical instruments), and other factors (weather, shelter, or the specific situation).

There is a fair degree of GM fiat involved here. I’d personally be hesitant to arbitrarily grant Engineering-0 or the ability to plot a Jump based on JoT, and certainly more esoteric skillsets can be watered down with further negatives, especially, for example, if training is normally required to even try to start up a power plant without trained supervision.

Battle dress and combat armor are special forms of armored vacc suit and require at least vacc suit-1 to wear at all.

The above note is from the vacc suit skill. Another explicitly implicit case of “PCs effectively have vacc suit-0” within the skill description, but there’s more.

But that’s not the only reference.

Default Skills: Often, some characters will have no skills appropriate to a given situation. A journey across a vacuum plain may be called for, and no one has vacc suit skill. In such cases, the referee may indicate that all individuals not otherwise skilled have vacc suit-0. A level of 0 for a skill indicates that the individual can undertake ordinary activities, but is not experienced enough to try dangerous activities or fancy actions. Level-0 indicates an orientation to the skill by an experienced person; it should not be taken as a stepping stone to level-I. Skills appropriate for level-0 are: air/raft, ATV, forward observer, steward, vacc suit, and weapons.

Finally, and interestingly, zero-g-combat doesn’t show up as a skill here. For that, you’d need to use Book 4: Mercenary or Book 5: High Guard. But then you’re also buying into a more complicated character generation as well, specific to that career path - and we’re sticking to the basic Traveller for now.

Benefits

Some space is spent explaining the implications of the various passage tickets, Traveller’s Aid Society membership, how to deal with receiving a weapon (which for follow-on cases can be used to get a separate weapon or to increase skill), and so on. This also includes the possibility for scouts and merchants to gain access to a ship, either partially or fully paid off.

Examples

To close off the chapter, some examples of how to write out stat blocks to the needed level of detail from the most basic to full characters are provided, along with a walkthrough of character creation, and a character sheet.

Closing thoughts

Traveller went to a lot of effort to provide guidance on how to play the game, how to create characters, and how to assemble the bits and pieces into a cohesive whole.