QUICK REFERENCE (CEPHEUS ENGINE)

Basic Task Roll

Roll 2 six sided dice + Relevant skill   =  8+ Succeed, otherwise failed

Possible adjustments for difficulty of Task           Recommended DMs

Simple           +6                                                     for Characteristics

Easy              +4                                                     C+ (12+)    +2

Routine          +2                                                     9-11           +1

Average - normal 8+ roll                                           6-8              0

Difficult           -2                                                     3-5             -1

Very Difficult   -4                                                       2               -2

Formidable      -6

A roll 6 or more above the required score is considered an 'Exceptional Success' and 6 or more below an 'Exceptional Failure'.

The difference between the score required and the score actually rolled is called the Effect.

In opposed tasks, the character with the highest Effect is successful.


NPC Reaction (Classic Traveller)

NPC Reactions may be determined by the scenario. Otherwise this may prove useful. The referee will need to interpret the nature of an attack (eg. verbal or physical).

2  Violent. Intermediate attack
3  Hostile. Attack on 5+
4  Hostile. Attack on 8+
5  Hostile. May Attack
6  Unreceptive
7  Non-committal
8  Interested
9  Intrigued
10 Responsive
11  Enthusiastic
12  Genuinely friendly

Skills relevant will depend on the situation. Liasion is normally useful, Carousing, Streetwise or other relevant skill might be useful depending on the situation.

Animal behaviour is determined by their own characteristics.

Encounter Range (Classic Traveller Rules)

If it is helpful to establish an encounter range roll on the following table.

1-    Short              Terrain DMs:                               Ranges
2     Close               Clear, Open, Road        +3            Close            0-3 metres
3     Short               Plains, Steppe, Praire   +3            Short           3-12 metres
4     Medium            Rough, Hills                +2            Medium       12-50 metres
5     Short               Broken, Highlands        +2           Long          50-250 metres
6     Medium            Mountains                   +3           Very Long 250-500 metres
7     Medium            Forest, Woods             +1
8     Long                Jungle, Rainforest         -
9     Medium            River, Stream, Creek    +1
10   Very Long         Swamp, March, Bog     -4
11   Long                Desert, Dunes             +4
12   Very Long         Maritime Surface         +2
13+ Very Long         Maritime Subsurface     -1
                               Arctic                         -4
                               Building Interior, Cave -5

Surprise

For each party roll 1D6. If one roll is 3+ greater than the others, the higher roll has surprise, otherwise neither party does.

DMs: Appropriate skills including Leader, Tactics, Recon, Stealth, Hunting, or if urban Streetwise.
If in vehicle, a group of 8 or more or 10 or more animals -1
If a Pouncer animal +1

Escape and Avoidance

Personal Combat

Initiative If have surprise 12+Dexterity DM, otherwise 2D6 +Dexerity DM. Take action is initiative order.

Each character may take One Significant Action and one Minor Action

One Significant Action

Attack

Melee Attack= 2D6 +Appropriate Melee Skill + Strength or Dexterity DM (attacker's Choice)
Ranged Attack=2D6 + Gun Combat Skill+ Dexterity DM
Thrown Arrack= 2D6 + Athletics+Dexterity DM

Two Minor Attacks
Skill Check requiring over 6 seconds

One Minor Action

Aim - +1 to next attack on unmoving target, up to +6 for 6 minor actions
Aim to Kill - No to hit bonus but +2 damage bonus per action up to +6
Change Stance - Between standing, couched and prone.
Draw or Reload
Movement - Up to 6 metres if standing, 3 metres if crounched
Miscellaneous

Base difficulties to hit with different weapon types and different ranges

Weapon/Range     Personal    Close         Short      Medium     Long         V. Long      Distant

 Metres                    0           1-3m        3-12m    12-50m     51-250m   251-500m    500+
1.5m Squares           0            2               2-8        8-         54-  

Short Weapon    Average   Difficult             -            -                   -             -           -

                             8+          10+

Long Weapon     Difficult    Average            -            -                   -             -           -

                             10+          8+

Thrown Weapon     -           Average      Difficult      Difficult          -              -          -

                                              8+             10+          10+

Pistol                 Difficult     Average      Average     Difficult     V.Difficult      -           -

                           10+          8+              8+           10+           12+

Rifle                   V.Difficult   Difficult      Average     Average     Average   Difficult   V.Diff

                            12+        10+             8+              8+            8+          10+      12+

Shotgun              Difficult    Average       Difficult     Difficult      V.Difficult     -          -

                            10+          8+             10+          10+           12+           -          -

Assault Weapon   Difficult     Average      Average     Average     Difficult    V.Difficult Form.

                            10+          8+              8+             8+           10+         12+        14+

Rocket                V.Difficult   Difficult       Difficult     Average     Average   Difficult   V.Diff

                            12+        10+             8+              8+            8+          10+      12+

Common Modifiers

Aiming                      +1 per Aim action                  Intelligent Weapon                      +1 of total DM within program's tolerance
Cover                         0 to -6                                 Laser sight                                 +1 if aiming
Environmental Effects  -1 to -2                                Weapons with  Recoil in Zero-G    -2 (Gyrostabilised -1)

Movement                 -1 per 10m movement                     Target Prone   -2 at Medium range or more
Target Dodges           -1                                                                       +2 At Personal range
Target Parries            - Defender's melee Weapon skill

Common Weapons

Melee         Damage           Ranged Weapons     Type                  ROF    Damage  Recoil

Short Weapons                  Bow                       Assault Weapon    1          2D6      Yes
                                       Crossbow                Rifle                     1          2D6      Yes
Unarmed       1D6
Cudgel          3D6              Revolver                 Pistol                   1          2D6      Yes
Dagger*        1D6              Auto Pistol              Pistol                   1          2D6      Yes
Spear*          3D6              Body Pistol              Pistol                   1          2D6      Yes
Pike              4D6              Snub Pistol              Pistol                   1          2D6      Yes
Sword           3D6              Laser Pistol              Pistol                   1          4D6      No
Broadsword   4D6
Halberd         4D6              Carbine                   Assault Weapon    1          2D6     Yes
Bayonet        1D6               Rifle                       Rifle                     1          3D6     Yes
Blade            2D6              Shotgun                  Shotgun               1          4D6     Yes
Cutlass         3D6               Submachinegun       Assault Weapon   0/4        2D6     Yes
Foil               3D6              Auto Rifle                 Rifle                   1/4        3D6     Yes
                                        Assault Rifle             Assault Weapon   1/4       3D6      Yes
                                        Laser Carbine           Assault Weapon    1         4D6      No
                                        Accelerator Rifle       Rifle                    1/3       3D6      No
                                        ACR                         Rifle                    1/4      3D6      Yes
                                        Gauss Rifle               Rifle                    1/4/10 4D6      No

                                        Grenade                  Thrown                1
                                        Grenade Launcher    Shotgun               1
                                        Rocket Launcher       Rocket                 1       4D6    No
                                        RAM GL                   Assault Weapon   1/3
                                        PGMP                       Rifle                   1/4    10D6   Yes
                                        FGMP                       Rifle                   1/4    16D6    Yes

Armour
                                        TL   Armour Value   Required Skill
Jack                                   1         3                    -
Ballistic Cloth                      6         9                    -
Mesh                                  7         5                    -
Vacc Suit                            9         6                 Zero-G
Reflec                                10        0/14              -
Combat Armour                  11       11                Zero-G
Hostile Environment Suit      12       8                 Zero-G
Battle Dress                       13       18                Battle Dress

Damage Results

Damage is number of dice of damage + Effect (score above basic score to hit)

Damage is taken first against Endurance then Strength or Dexterity (Player's choice)

2 Characteristic at zero and the character is unconscious
3 Characteristic at zero and the character is dead
One characteristic reduced and the character is wounded
Two characteristics reduced and the character is seriously wounded

Successful Endurance check to recover consciousness. May be taken every 5 minutes.

Referee's Guide: Trade and Commerce

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Guide: Starship Operations

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Guide: Starship Design

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Guide: Animal Encounter Tables

When the designers of Traveller came to designing 'Animal Encounters' they could have approached it in a number of ways...because let's be clear we are talking about 'all alien life' here...apart from actual intelligent alien races, in this category falls just about any living thing you could find on a planet...

...not exactly a small subject!

Now they could have gone the route of 'Starseeker' its competitor at the time being developed by TSR, creators of Dungeon & Dragons, and gone for 'pulp sci-fi' monsters...four eyes...six limbs sort of thing...

But instead they decided to go a whole different route. A sort of 'pseudo-science' route where they did not in fact tell you anything about what the animal looked like, whether it was like a starfish, insect, reptile or mammal. Rather they would stick to how big the animal was, whether it flew, swam or walked and what its position was in the eco-system, which would dictate its behaviour when encountered.

So the Traveller Animal Encounter table let it up to you whether it looked like a centipede, six-legged lizard, bear-dog or some sort of dinosaur analogue and just worried about whether it was a Hijacker Scavenger or a Grazer.

Now before we get too heavily drawn into a heavy biology/ecology class it is worth asking the question what do we actually need Animal Encounters for in a role-playing game.

There is a variety of answers to that....

Referee's Guide: Encounter Tables....Part 4

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Guide: Encounter Tables....Part 3

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Guide: Encounter Tables....Part 2

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Guide: Encounter Tables....Part 1

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Guide: World Generation...some practical advice for referees

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Guide: World Generation....using the rules

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Guide: Worlds...Understanding the stats

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Referee's Resources: Subsector Generation System - Building your Space Map

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Starship Combat in Traveller

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Equipment in Traveller....an overview

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Personal Combat

Personal Combat is obviously a big feature of Traveller. This is a game that features hijackings, kidnaps and rescues, bar fights and shoot out of every kind.

It is also on of the areas that has seen the most revision over the years in different versions of the rules, with many variants.

And although I am normally a defender of Classic Traveller over other versions, I am afraid to say in my opinion the Classic Traveller Personal Combat rules just don't work very well. If any part of the original rules were bust it is these.

Having said that some of the latest editions have come back and salvaged something out of the wreckage of the Classic Traveller Personal Combat system, and what I will concentrate on here is what the rule systems have in common, rather than just describing each type. Because there are a lot of elements that have been preserved and work.

Like all of the Traveller rules systems, there is a 'big ask; here. Personal combat is supposed to cover everything from fist fights and sword fight through to combat with hi-tech weaponry.


Before looking at the mechanics of actual combat it is worth looking at the other rules around combat, which include establishing Encounter Distance, Surprise and....


...Throughout all the very varied Personal Combat systems for Traveller there are a few commong elements:

1. The conduct of Personal Combat is 'Task Based' even if there is a lot more variables involved.
2. A hallmark of the Traveller combat system is that it is deadly. Do not expect to sit around like D&D absorbing hit points. One shot can kill you outright, or at least send you straight to the trauma ward.
3. 'Hit Points' are based on the Personal Characteristcs (Strength, Dexterity, Endurance). In total these are rolled on 2D6 each, so a character has 6d6 hit points, so an average total 'hit points' is 21 on average, ranging up to 36 and down to 6, In addition characters can get knocked unconscious or be seriously wounded when losing only a part of that total.

Brief Overview of Classic Traveller System (and how to save it!)


Cepheus Engine Adapation of Personal Combat

TO BE CONTINUED

Traveller Campaigns

How to play Traveller: Adventures

Quick 'n dirty and alternative methods of Character Generation

The Character Generation system is basically designed around players generating their own characters to use in the game. It can also be used by referees to create interesting NPCs for their games.

But there are short cut methods for Referees to create NPC stats and skills, or pre-generated characters for players especially crafted for the referee's specific adventures, with the skills that they are going to need. They can also help players create characters that fit a specific idea they have for a character they want to play.

It terms of characteristics, referees can roll these randomly or assign the values that they want instead. If you want a character that is a muscle-bound monster start by giving them Strength C and take it from there. If you want a genius professor character give them at least Intelligence A and Education C+ and roll or assign other characteristics. Want some sort of slave, give them a Social Status of 2. Want a noble, give them Social Status of C+.

Next off there is skills. As a rule of thumb in full character generation a character will get a skill roll for every Term of service plus one for their first term, a number of skills corresponding to their rank, and any appropriate default skills. So if a character had a career in the Army, served 3 Terms and achieved the Rank of Captain (Rank 2) they will have 6 Skill Rolls (3+2 plus 1 for first term) plus default skills. From there on in either just choose the skills that you want or roll for them as you prefer.

Remember a character can only get a Rank level in at the quickest one Term less than the Rank Level itself. So a Merchant Captain (Rank 6) will have at a minimum of 5 terms.

If you want a specific type of character, such as a Ship's Navigator or Ship's Engineer, start by assigning them that skill and taking it from there.

Skill Rolls = Terms served+ Rank number+1 (+Default Skills)

The exception to this are Careers with no Ranks. They under most rules get 2 Skills per term instead.

Note that normally a skill roll will translate into a skill, but the Personal Advancement Tables also include enhanced characteristics instead (eg. Strength +1) so not every skill roll will always give a skill.

If you are creating a character cooperatively with a player you obviously have to balance the player's natural desire to get the best characteristics and as many skills as they can. One method is to let them make 6 rolls and assign them to whatever characteristic they want. If they want to increase one characteristic further make them reduce another. The career path taken, the number of terms that they have served and ranks agreed can be agreed or rolled for in the normal way, and similarly for skills.

If a player really has a strong desire to be a Computer Hacker type character and the referee is ok with that you can work cooperatively on that. They maybe want high Intelligence and Education stats but are willing to sacrifice physical skills and Social Status to get it. They will have to choose a career that offers Computer skill, but after that let them chose a few levels of Computer skill, and agree to roll for the rest.

At the end of the day the Character Generation system is just one part of the Traveller toolbox, and Traveller is a game to be enjoyed. Use it where it is useful, but as a referee adapt it how you like to give you the game that you want.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Example (Classic Traveller)

I have decided I want a quick NPC who is a young Naval Officer who is a Navigator.

Getting commissioned and promoted in the Navy is hard, and usually takes a good Social Status and Navigation is an Advanced Skill needing Education 8+, so I am going to set Education at 8 and Social Status at 9.

Otherwise the dice can just determine the rest of the stats. So I roll, and with my pre-determined stats get this:

586789

I've decided that they will be a Navy Ensign (Rank 1). I have decided he has 3 Terms (12 years) of experience in the Navy. So they will be 30 years old (18+4+4+4),

So for Skill Rolls I add 3 (Terms) + (Rank) 1 + 1 (for two skills in first term) = 5 Skill Rolls.

I want Navigation -1 to be one skill. The other 4 I roll or decide. I choose Vacc Suit, Blade Combat, Electronic and a roll on the Personal Development table that got them Endurance +1.

There are no default skills for a Navy Ensign (only Navy Captains and Admirals).

I am not interested in their money or benefits for this NPC so ignore it. Ageing rolls only start at 34 so don't have to be considered.

So my NPC looks like this:

Navy Ensign     587789     Age 30

Navigation-1, Vacc Suit-1, Blade Combat-1, Electronic-1

Character Generation

Under Construction

Task Rolls

A game of Traveller is played by a referee describing a situation, the players listen and respond and say what they what to do. A lot of the time there is no problem with what the players want to do. The game moves on, the referee describes a new situation and the players respond with new actions. But some times there is a chance that the players' actions will not succeed.

The original rules made a very simple suggestion on how to handle this, have the players roll two six sided dice, add bonuses for any relevant skills that they have and if the total is 8 or more they have succeeded, otherwise they have failed.

So:

     Roll 2 six sided dice + Relevant skill   =  8+ Succeed, otherwise failed

This is a very simple and 'rules lite' way of keeping the game moving and means the whole game can be played without barely having to consult the rules books and played in a way that is also very flexible.

You can literally try to do anything in Traveller. Want to fly a starship, making a daring leap, try and hack a computer? You have a simple way of handling it.

Built in probabilities of 2D6 System

Unlike a D20 system used in games like Dungeons and Dragons, that uses a twenty sided dice, Traveller's 2D6 (ie. Two six sided dice) system has a 'probability curve' built into it. Where as there is a completely regular distribution of results between 1 and 20 with a twenty sided dice, that is not the case with the addition of two six sided dice. Rolling two six sided dice and adding the results will produce a result between 2 and 12. But there is not a 1 in 12 chance of rolling two 6s to get 12. The chances are actually 1 in 36. On the other hand there are two ways you could roll an 11 (a 5 on one die and a 6 on the other, or 6 on one and 5 on the other) meaning there is a 2 in 36 or 1 in 18 chance of rolling an 11. The most common result when rolling two six sided dice is to roll a 7. There are six different ways you can roll a 7 (1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4, 4 and 3, 5 and 2, and 6 and 1). That means a 1 in 6 chance that any roll will producing a 7. So there is a built in bias to getting an average result.

Chances of success with 8+ dice roll (rounded to nearest 10%)

No skill                                               40%

Level 1 Skill  (Skilled/Trained)         60%

Level 2 Skill   (Highly Skilled)           70%
Level 3 Skill   (Expert level)              80%
Level 4 Skill   (Top Expert)                90%
Level 5 Skill   (Leading Expert)         97%

(Note if you apply a -3 unskilled penalty used in later editions chance of success for No Skill drops from 40% to 10%)

So the very simple Traveller 8+ task resolution system is cleverer than it looks.

The chances of rolling 8+ on two dice is around 40% (it is 42% to be exact). In simple terms the chances of success is a little under 50:50 and most likely to fail. 

But remember skill bonuses. With just a +1 bonus the chance of success moves up close to 60% (58% to be exact). Or in simple terms a bit better than 50:50, and most likely to succeed.

So simply having one level of skill tips the balance from being most likely to fail at a task to being most likely to succeed.

Having higher skill levels and therefore bonuses, moves the probability curve sharply in the characters favour. A +2 bonus makes the chance of success 72%, +3 increases it to 83%, and +4 to 92% virtually a certainty with just a very small chance of failure.

Remember the whole idea is there is no need to make a task roll for an action if it will in all probability succeed. The idea behind the original 8+ task roll system was that you only need to check for success or failure if it is uncertain and likely to be 'around 50:50'. So this system very subtly tips the odds slightly against characters without a relevant skill, and slightly in favour of those with a basic level 1 skill. It also sharply rewards those with skill levels above level one.

As a simple 'rule of thumb' the 8+ system using two die six is easy to remember, flexible and keeps the game moving. It means most players can try and do something, but characters with skills are most likely to succeed. You can very quickly define almost any task and come up with a way of resolving it. Need to open a lock with an electronic lock? Roll two dice, but your odds are a little higher than 50:50 that you'll fail. But if you have Electronics-1 skill you'll most likely succeed. A whole world of possibilities opens up. Having different skills will stimulate the players to ask to try imaginative things that there characters are already good at. Say you are in a grav car chase, you want to catch the car ahead. Roll for 8+ and the add grav vehicle skill, to succeed in catching it. Similarly  if it is you being chased roll for 8+ add grav vehicle skill and if succeed you have escaped, if you fail it is still on your tail.

Although later versions of Traveller added more complexity to the Task Resolution system, if you as a referee understand it, it is a quick and easy way of resolving something and keeping the game moving. There is no reason to use a more complicated method if you don't need it.

Roll equal to or under checks for Strength, Dexterity etc...

Before going on to describing those more complicated task resolution systems in later rule systems, there are a couple of other points to address.

First it maybe worth mentioning character's characteristics, Strength, Dexterity, Endurance and so forth. The original Traveller rules didn't really explain what to do with them. Traveller's creator Marc Miller did though suggest a simple way to use them in task resolution. Again the assumption is the basic chances of success are around 50:50. And again remember the characters characteristics were all generated also with two six sided dice and are all measured around a baseline average of a score of 7. So if a task is clearly basically about using strength, dexterity, intelligence or one of the other characteristic rolls just roll two six sided dice, and if the result is equally to or BELOW their characteristic score in this characteristic you have succeeded, otherwise you have failed.

So need to shift a big heavy rock to get through a mine passage? Make a strength test, roll two six sided dice and if the roll if equal or less than the character's strength they have moved it, otherwise they have failed. Running around in a rooftop chase and want to make a daring leap between two buildings? Roll two six sided dice and try to roll the character's dexterity or less. Need to resolve some tricky problem that requires intelligence or general knowledge? Check against a character's intelligence or education. Want to get into some exclusive night club? Check against Social Status.

This was mentioned in later editions of the rules, but you have to look hard to find it. But it is a quick and easy way of resolving tasks and as a referee it is worth bearing it in mind before looking for a more complicated task resolution system.

There is also a quick and easy way of adjusting the difficulty on one of these 'roll under' checks against characteristics. If you want to make the task easier have the players roll only one six-sided die not two. Want to make it more difficult roll three dice not two. This in fact is the basis of task resolution in Marc Miller's favourite development of the Traveller, the T5 edition.

Zero level skills introduced in later editions, a good idea?

The next point to make is about whether skills are necessary to do certain tasks. It is worth remembering as a referee that you should think of the default position as being that players should be able to try to do anything, it is just if you lack a necessary skill you are more likely to fail than succeed, but if they have a relevant skill the odds are in their favour. In an advanced technological society a player doesn't need computer skill to use a computer, but Computer skill will help with a difficult task like hacking. So don't automatically assume that a player can't do something just because they lack a skill in it. You can still try to offer a bribe without Bribery skill, it is just if you have Bribery skill it is more likely to succeed. On the other hand certain skills are 'qualifications'. Most people probably won't try and fly a plane without a lot of training. The 'Pilot' skill qualifies a character to pilot a starship or spacecraft. So fairly obviously a character without at least Pilot-1 skill is not going to be able to do it. You might as a referee want to let an unskilled character try, but with the 8+ task resolution system the odds are they will fail any Pilot task, and end up crashing.

But the original rules did leave it a little bit ambiguous in some areas, whether if you lacked the skills you could do the task. It didn't help that in some versions of the Classic Traveller rules it was suggested you apply a -4 penalty if a character lacked the necessary skill. So which was it, roll for 8+ with no bonus, or roll with a -4?

In later versions of the rules the idea of zero level skills was introduced. The idea of zero level skills was to clear up ambiguity about whether or not you suffered a penalty. Zero level skills were generally given as background skills, often based on the character's home world. So if a character came from a mid-tech world they might get Wheeled Vehicle-0, if they came from a high-tech world Grav Vehicle-0 and Computer-0, if they were from an Asteroid Belt or Vacuum World they might get Vacc Suit-0. Players always like getting more skills. But if they cleared up a certain amount of ambiguity, they can also introduce the idea into referees and players' heads that without a relevant skill your character cannot do something. That was not the intention of the original rules, and the 8+ task system already builds in a higher chance of failure for lacking skills.

From roll 8+ to variable difficulty level introduced in later editions...

Ultimately, eventually an edition of the rules came along that questioned whether the 8+ system was varied enough. The MegaTraveller rule set actually invented the idea of a whole Task System rather than just a Task Roll. A referee didn't just have to go with the 8+ system. They could decide if a particular task was Easy, Routine, Difficult, Very Difficult or near Impossible. It encouraged giving bonuses for characteristics as well skills, considered Exceptional Success and Exceptional Failure, Mishaps, the effect of failing at Hazardous Tasks, and opposed Tasks. If you like a complex Task System this system was for you. But it lost the basic simplicity of the roll 8+ system.

The net result was later systems such as Mongoose Traveller and Cepheus Engine reverted to the 8+ system, but contained guidance for adjusting it.

For example in Cepheus Engine there is a whole table with suggestions for adjustments to make a Task 'Easy', 'Routine', 'Difficult', 'Very Difficult' and so on. The rules also introduce the idea of Effect, using the difference between the score needed and actually rolled to make other adjustments. For example, on a combat roll the Effect on the 'To Hit' roll can be used to score additional damage.

Imports from D&D5e. A good idea or just screwing with a system that worked better without them?

The final thing that has happened with modern versions of the rules is standard bonuses and penalties for different characteristic levels have been introduced. The idea has come from the more recent editions of Dungeons & Dragons, that introduced the idea of a Strength Check, Dexterity Check, Intelligence Check and so forth, rolled with standard bonuses based on those characteristics. It fact Traveller already had its own system for Strength Checks, Dexterity Checks and so forth long before it was ever thought of in D&D, the roll under system described above. But players coming into the game from D&D wanted something familar and Mongoose Traveller gave them what they wanted in the form of standard bonuses and penalties based of characteristics. It encouraged referees to define tasks as being Strength-based, Dexterity-based, Intelligence-based and so forth, and as well as adding skill bonuses add these characteristic bonuses and penalties too. In my view a system like this can produce some odd results. Consider a situation where there are two characters one with no medical skill the other with Medic-2. Now let's say they each need to treat a dying patient in an effort to keep them alive. In the basic roll 8+ adding skills system, the character with no medical skill would have a 42% chance of success, the one with Medic-2 a 72% chance. But if you put characteristic bonuses or penalties into the mix this could turn it all around. The characteristic you choose could be Dexterity or Intelligence or Education. But what if the character with no medical skill has a +2 characteristic bonus and the one with Medic-2 a -1 penalty? Suddenly the character with no medical skill has a higher chance of success than a highly experienced medic. That makes no sense to me. So my advice is to use this system with care. It is a 'foreign import' to the core roll 8+ system that Traveller was designed around and can produce some strange results.

The other D&D 5e import that Mongoose Traveller 2nd edition introduced was 'boons' and 'banes'. The basic idea is that you can make tasks easier or harder by allowing them to roll 3 dice rather than 2 and choosing the highest two, or make tasks harder by allowing players to roll 3 dice and making them discard the highest one.

The system has the advantage of being simple and easy. The question is whether it is really necessary. Isn't it easier just to add or deduct a bonus like the difficulty system?

Basically it is up to the referee. A statistician would probably tell you it is basically just a different way of doing the same thing, but this is a tabletop game and rolling dice is fun, so it is up to you.

Advice to referees - Only add later complications if you need them. Roll 8+ works 90% of the time!

So in conclusion Traveller came with a very simple and effective Task Roll system of roll two six sided dice, add bonuses for skills and try and roll 8+. The system was based on only rolling where the outcome is uncertain, and around 50:50. It is a system that is cleverer than it looks and works well, is easy to remember, highly flexible and keeps the game moving without the need to keep looking in rule-books.

There is also a simple 'roll equal to or under' system for checks against the basic characteristics like Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence etc..

Later editions have introduced options for adjusting difficulty levels of tasks, taking into account Effect and adding standardised bonuses for characteristics like Strength etc..

But bear in mind the basic system works and works well with the whole skill system and you don't need to introduce more complexity than you need.

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For those interested in adjusting the difficulty level of tasks these are the recommendations of the Cepheus Engine rules:

Simple           +6

Easy              +4

Routine          +2

Average - normal 8+ roll

Difficult           -2

Very Difficult   -4

Formidable      -6

A roll 6 or more above the required score is considered an 'Exceptional Success' and 6 or more below an 'Exceptional Failure'.

The difference between the score required and the score actually rolled is called the Effect.

In Cepheus Engine the standard characteristic (eg. Strength, Dexterity, etc.) bonuses and penalties are as follows:

C+ (12+)  +2

9-11         +1

6-8             0

3-5           -1

2              -2


Cepheus Engine also zero level skills (eg. Vacc Suit-0). There is a -3 penalty for being unskilled.

Characters in Traveller

Characters

The character generation system helps create characters who essentially consist of a series of characteristics and a set of skills, plus a few other details such as age, and how much money and other things they might start out with.

A typical Traveller character created with the generation system might be written up something like this:

Army Lieutenant Colonel   877C84  Age 34

4 Terms                                    Cr 20,000

SMG-4, Auto Pistol-1, Rifle-1, Gambling-1, Tactics-1, Grav Vehicle-2

2 High Passages, Submachine gun

OK, so what does all that mean?

Well first off this character has served in the Army and reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The series of numbers 877C84 are their characteristics and finally their age. First off, why is there a letter in there? Well it is a convention in Traveller to translate two digit numbers into letters, known as the 'hexadecimal' notation. The number 10 becomes A, 11 becomes B, 12 is C...and so on.

They have served 4 terms in the army. Each term is 4 years. They have 20,000 credits in their bank account, which the character can use to buy things.

The characteristics are listed in order and are Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education and Social Status. The average value for any characteristic is 7. So this character is a bit stronger than average (strength 8), average in terms of dexterity and endurance. The C value, which is hexadecimal code for the number 12, is their Intelligence and is well above average in fact the highest level that can be generated in initial character generation, this character is very intelligent. The next characteristic is education, for this character it is 8, slightly above average. Finally is Social Status, for this character it is 4, well below average, this character obviously came from a poor family.

Characteristics are basically just descriptive. They help players get a feel for their character to help them role-play. The original rules did not have a lot of use for characteristics after the character generation system was completed. They left it up to the referee to work out how to use these characteristics in actual gameplay, including just to ignore them. Certainly there is no need for players to get too worked up about having the 'best' characteristics. Skills are more important.

The next line in the character description shows their skills. These are shown as a word or words followed by a number. This character was in the Army and their first three skills are weapon skills. The first is SMG-4, SMG means submachine gun and the skill level is 4 which is very high, so this character is very deadly with a submachine gun. The next two skills are Auto Pistol-1 and Rifle-1, meaning the character is proficient with an automatic pistol and a rifle. The next two skills are gambling and tactics which give them bonuses when gambling or in situations where military tactics are a consideration. Finally they have the skill Grav Vehicle-2. This means that they are trained and qualified to operate a grav vehicle, a class of futuristic vehicles in Traveller. They have skill level two, which means they are very highly trained and experienced, which will come in handy in very tricky situations.

Finally they have two 'High Passages' and a submachine gun. High Passages are tickets for interstellar travel, and they also own an actual submachine gun.

So how is all this information and in particular skills used in the game? Well for this we need to look at the Task System.

If you are interested in how you actually create characters there is a section on Character Generation, but it might help you to understand the Task Roll System first.

What is Traveller?

What is Traveller?

Back in 1977, Dungeon and Dragons was a big hit and role-playing games suddenly were a big mainstream phenomenon. The race was on to produce other role-playing games and alongside Fantasy fiction, Science Fiction was a huge area people were keen to game. Around at a company called Games Designers Workshop (GDW) a board game designer called Marc Miller produced the first published Science Fiction role-playing game and he called it Traveller.

Dungeon and Dragons based its game around the Dungeon. Dungeons were maps of rooms and corridors that players could explore. But science fiction adventures are much more wide open than that. There is space to travel, whole worlds to explore, a thousand different things players might want to try and do from flying spaceships to discovering the cure to a deadly alien disease. How do you handle all of that in a role-playing game?

Unlike Dungeons and Dragons that basically said here is how to build a dungeon and this is what to put into it, Traveller basically provided a whole toolkit. It did not dictate how you set up and ran the game, it just provided you with some core rules such as the skill system and the task system that goes with it, and a whole bunch of other things to help the referee set up and run science fiction adventures and campaigns.

Traveller is still around today and been through numerous editions, but the scope of the rules remains essentially the same. I bought the very first edition of Traveller, a boxed set of three little black books, and have been fascinated by the game ever since. The game I bought and learnt was simple, fast, completely wide-open, let you free to create your own setting, and was fun.

Over the years there has been a mountain of material created for Traveller. Talking to some people trying to get into the game I have discovered some of the latest editions of the rules can be very off putting and give the misleading impression of a 'rules heavy' game. That was never the intention of the original rules, so I thought I'd write this guide to help new players understand what Traveller is all about, understand the game from the basics up, and help them get started quickly whatever version of the rules they want to play with. The 'Classic' Traveller rules still provide a pretty good game and the Starter Set is available for free. They provide an excellent basis for understanding later editions of the rules, and there is huge 'backward compatibility' in the various versions. You can usually take Classic Traveller material and plug it straight into later versions.

So what do you get in the Traveller RPG rules?

This essentially still applies to any of the editions available.

For all players you get:

1. A Character Generation System

2. A Task System - Very simple system. Roll two die 6, add skills score 8+ to succeed 

3. An Equipment List. Items players can buy with their money. Descriptions, prices other details. Everything from weapons to vehicles.

4. A Personal Combat system - Simple system. Task based.

5. Starship Combat system - Again a simple, task-based system

For Referees you get:

6. Sector generation system - Create a 'Space Map' for your game setting

7. World generation system - Generate details for the worlds in your universe

8. Encounter tables - A selection of tables to help referee run their game

9. Animal Encounter Table generation system

10. Starship Design system

11. Starship operations guide - Running costs, getting freight, cargo and passengers

12. Trade and Commerce System for buying and selling cargos for profit

....plus other things to help the referee run their game including lots of pre-written adventures, supplements, and expansions...

We are going to take a more in-depth look at all those components, starting looking at Characters.