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