Black and white
I recently took a business trip and, as I often do, brought along my “White Facsimile” edition or “The Classic SF RPG Rules” for Traveller. I deeply appreciate the simplicity elegance of the original Traveller rules. During my last trip, I created a new character, Ogit Tonday, the subject of a post in late September. That evening when I created Ogit I also looked into the Skills chapter and rediscovered—again—why I love Traveller so much.
Skilled
One aspect of the original Traveller rules that I like—but all to often ignore—is how different skills are applied in unique ways. A skill level of 1 does not always equate to a +1 die roll modifier (DM) on a skill test. Here is a short “cheat list” of what Ogit’s skills are good for:
- Engineering – On a Repair check DM+2 per Skill Level.
- Forward Observer – To properly adjust fire roll 11+; DM+4 per Skill Level.
- Gun Combat (Auto Pistol) – Given Ogit’s Dexterity of 5 he suffers a DM-1 when firing but this is cancelled out by his level of expertise which is DM+1 per Skill Level.
- Jack of All Trades – Considered to have Level-0 in all skills thus avoiding the “unskilled” DM penalty.
- Ship’s Boat – DM+1 per Skill Level for small craft operations.
- Vacc Suit – To avoid danger roll 10+ with DM+4 per Skill Level; to remedy an issue roll 7+ with a DM+1 per Skill Level.
The description for the Ship’s Boat skill actually has an alternate combat resolution system that includes the following prescribed rolls when facing a hostile attack:
- To Avoid Contact – Roll 10+ with DM+1 per Skill Level.
- To Avoid Hit – Roll 8+ with DM+1 per Skill Level.
- If Hit – Roll 5+ to be crippled and boarded, roll 4- and be destroyed.
There is also a prescribed skill check for a bad weather landing in a Ship’s Boat (roll 9+ with DM+1 per Skill Level greater than 1).
On the topic of default or Level-0 skills, how easy it is to forget that this was addressed in the original Traveller rules in Book 1 Characters and Combat under, “OTHER SKILLS – Default Skills” (p. 23):
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 the individual 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-1. Skills appropriate for level-0 are: air/raft, ATV, forward observer, steward, vacc suit, and weapons.
Later versions of Traveller would further codify the Default Skills listing to the point that in Traveller5 the list includes 12 entries (Actor, Artist, Athlete, Author, Comms, Computer, Driver, Fighter, Turrets, Mechanic, Steward, and Vacc Suit) (T5, p. 142). For now, however, I will stick with the short list in the original Traveller…
Feature image courtesy YouTube
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