What can you do with 10,000 Credits?

Why ten thousand credits? No profound reason. It is a common amount of Retirement Pay. It shows up in a few places in TTB as a cost of things (see below). Looking at the Mustering Out Tables, 10,000 is not hard to come by. But it can go again quickly if a PC is not careful. I also figured this would be useful to Referees in determining how much to pay the Travellers for their current job. Don't be a cheapskate, but don't Monty Haul them either.

In terms of Long-term Subsistence, 10,000 Credits will pay for almost an entire year, at the High Living level, to give you a sense of scale. But remember this game was written in the 1970’s when a decent starter house might only cost $10-20,000. Oh, how times have changed.

Is it really an adventure if there's no treasure involved?

I combed through the Traveller Book and my blog for any reference to paying for things. Here's what I found: 10,000 Credits will buy a Traveller:

More on Skills: Carousing and Streetwise

In this series of posts on skills, I have assumed that the given skill descriptions were suggestive, not restrictive. ‘Generally, the skill works for this, but other uses may occur to players’.

 In Traveller, a PC’s skills are the primary tools for interacting with the universe. They are the first measure of a character’s power. The skill list in CT is not large, so it is only sensible for skills to have broad, not narrow, application. You don’t need a big list of skills to be a worthwhile character.

Sometimes, though, skills seem to overlap. This is one of those cases.

Streetwise and Carousing: Close but not Quite the Same

Streetwise: The individual is acquainted with the ways of local subcultures (which tend to be the same everywhere in human society), and thus is capable of dealing with strangers without alienating them. This skill is not the same as alien contact experience. Close-knit subcultures (such as some portions of the lower classes, trade groups such as workers, and the underworld) generally reject contact with strangers or unknown elements. Streetwise expertise allows contact for the purposes of obtaining information, hiring persons, purchasing or selling contraband or stolen goods, and other shady or borderline activities.

Referee: After establishing throws for various activities desired by the characters, allow streetwise as a DM. If streetwise is not used, impose a DM of -5.

I realize this picture has nothing to do with the topic. Rule of Cool, people.

I have often looked at this skill as “how to crime”. Note the underlined phrase above. Now I think of it as also being “I know a guy” and “figure out who's who”. Streetwise is the more familiar skill, coming from Book 1. Carousing was introduced in Book 5. For the most part, I’m talking today about Carousing.