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:

Raise Shields!

Traveller has, from time to time, taken a little gentle ribbing over the fact that it has rules for spears and swords. This is a game of science fiction adventure in the far future. Well, so what if it does? Sci-fi classics from The Time Machine to The Dumarest Saga and King David's Spaceship had characters use swords and other melee weapons.

So there should also be rules for the use of that natural companion of the sword, the shield.

Shields are the oldest defensive technology of mankind. A shield is a portable barrier, often strapped to the arm or carried by one hand. It protects the bearer against attacks from the front.

Normally you use a shield with a one-handed weapon (blade, club, handgun). If the bearer wishes, he can fit his shield with a weapon rest so that the shield supports long arms (spears, long guns). All attacks with these weapons are at DM -2.  Very high-tech shields may incorporate stabilization and anti-grav to negate this penalty. Imagine heavy weapons carried behind a gun shield!

Unskilled Weapon Users

Can you find the Unskilled fighter in this group?

I read recently a post on anther blog about the differences in fighting capability in classic D&D. A 'normal man' has less damage resistance. His to-hit numbers are higher than the PC's, and his saving throw numbers are higher as well. The post made the case for the clear superiority of the dungeon-delving adventurer. Can the same be said for Travellers?

Well, yes!

I refer to TTB, page 37.

“Any character using a weapon in which he or she has no training is subject to a penalty of -5 when attacking and +3 when defending. All player characters automatically have an expertise of zero . . . in all weapons shown in this book. [I call this the Weapon Mastery advantage] This zero value is sufficient to avoid the no-expertise penalty, but it is not enough to provide a positive DM. Payer characters selecting their weapons should consider the potential benefits of their strength and dexterity levels and any DMs that might be available for those characteristics.”

The PC's Weapon Mastery advantage means a PC will never get caught at a loss owing to unfamiliar weapons. Any PC can take on ANY opponent on reasonably equal ground. A knife fight in an alley to a formal duel in the Duke's courtyard with laser pistols to open field battle. How many of us could say that?

Speaking of Weapon Master, here's one example of what it looks like. Note the way Shiu Lien's attacks change as she goes through a variety of weapons.

She uses:

• a sword, including dual-wielding
• a spear
• sword-breaker hooked swords
• a huge pole-arm (and an example of not meeting the Required Strength)
• a massive bronze cudgel
• a broadsword

all without breaking stride. That's Weapon Mastery.

It makes your two-term Other character seem a little more awesome, doesn't it? Fighting in a training hall, your PC could do the same.

Taking another look at Jack armor

Yeah, I know. It's not very effective as presented in CT. And it sounds dumb, as in "your armor ain't worth jack".

Recently I learned that there is a real, historical type of armor known as Jack. And it actually worked.

The CT definition of Jack (TTB, p. 43)

"A natural or synthetic leather jacket or body suit covering the torso and upper arms and legs. Jack is somewhat better than ordinary clothing or bare skin when defending against blades; it is worthless against guns."

Now read the definition of historical Jack:

Jack of Plate

"A jack of plate is a type of armour made up of small iron plates sewn between layers of felt and canvas. They were commonly referred to simply as a "jack" (although this could also refer to any outer garment). This type of armour was used by common Medieval European soldiers as well as by the rebel peasants known as Jacquerie. The present day equivalent is perhaps a bullet-proof vest.

The jack is similar to the brigandine. The main difference is in the method of construction: a brigandine is riveted whereas a jack is sewn. Jacks of plate were created by stitching as many as 1000 small overlapping squares of iron between two canvases. The garments weighed about 17 pounds (7.7 kg), which made them much more acceptable to the wearer than solid breastplates. They also offered a tactical advantage: they allowed soldiers to rest the butts of weapons firmly against their shoulders, which wasn't feasible with smooth-surfaced plate armours. Jacks were often made from recycled pieces of older plate armor, including damaged brigandines and cuirasses cut into small squares."

The real explanation of Jack sounds much more like Traveller's definition of Mesh armor. Also, the description given would put Jack of Plate at TL2, not TL1.

How to fit Jack of Plate into the TTB combat matrices?  Like this:

Jack of Plate is Mesh+1. That is, 1 worse than regular Mesh against all weapon types. Available at TL 2, cost is 300 Cr.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Clubs and Cudgels - What's the Difference?

From the beginning of my time playing Traveller (circa 1983) I found it odd that the combat rules included club and cudgel as two different weapons. I decided that I would look closer and see why that was. This is, I recognize, not a burning issue among Traveller players. My words will have little effect on how anyone plays the game. Well, this is my blog, and if I want to write about this, I will. I hope you enjoy my observations anyway.

There is not a lot in the official rules to go on.

Clubs are not purpose built weapons. They are, by TTB p. 38, found to hand in the brawl location. So a PC can ask the referee if there is anything lying about that can be used as a club. Bar stools, chairs, crowbars, briefcases, table legs, long handled flashlights, lamps, etc.

Looking at the combat tables, a club requires STR of 5 or faces a -4 DM. That's pretty severe, on par with the broadsword. STR of 8+ gives a DM of +2. My explanation is a club is a temporary expedient - it is not balanced or formed exactly to use as a weapon. If you haven't the strength to lob it in hard, the table leg will work against you.

The club can be abandoned at the end of the combat. It may not be, if it was originally a tool. The club base weight is 1 kg, as heavy as a sword. The referee can decide that the object the PC is using is not heavy enough and assign a -DM to the club. A pencil is not an effective club.

Nice try, bub. No DM for you.

Or it might be too heavy, and it can't really be used at all, except to drop down on someone. Clubs have the lightest penalty for weakened blows. This means a club wielder can keep going past his END score without too much worry. But I've never seen or heard of a Traveller combat that lasted that long.

Referees, have you ever had a mass brawl with enough combatants that a PC might have to fight to and beyond his END limit?

House Rules on Hand to Hand

First I had an idea. A question, rather. Why can't a trained fighter (Brawling-1) knock out an 'average' NPC [UPP 777777] in one round? Hands do 1D damage per hit, so the maximum is 6. This is one short of reducing a stat to zero via the First Blood rule and getting a knockout. For Rule of Cool reasons, I want my PCs to be able to do this.

Then I shared the idea on the Citizens of the Imperium forum, and Classic TravellerFacebook group.

Then I sat back and listened.

I came away with this, which will now be the Way We Do It in my games.

Any skilled character engaging in hand-to-hand combat, either armed or unarmed, has two possible DMs. The first is the Advantageous Strength DM, found in the combat charts, and the second is the character's skill level with the weapon chosen.

In the past I have taken both of these and applied them to the throw To Hit. The New Rule is this: the player (or referee) can choose to apply these DMs to either the To Hit throw, or the Damage throw on a successful hit. So now my trained fighter can roll 1D+1 for damage, and has at least a chance of getting a knockout blow. If the fighter has STR 9+, there is an additional +1 that can be added to the damage throw. If the fighter has STR 13+, it is +2.

This represents a sacrifice of accuracy to put more power behind the blow.

+1 Damage. Sparkle optional.

This new rule does not change the existing rule that a skilled fighter can apply his skill level as a Defensive DM, to make it harder for his opponent to hit.

Laser weapons are coming

Beam Lasers are designated at TL-9 technology in Classic Traveller, as heavy weapons. TL 9 is noted on the Technological Levels chart as being approximately 1990-2000. Okay, so they were off the mark with that one. We were supposed to have fusion and contra-gravity by now. (Don't I wish) However, the tech of the Far Future is getting closer. Take a look:

What else could they call it except Dragonfire?

Behold the UK Dragonfire laser weapon system, currently on display at the 2017 DSEI exposition (Defense and Security Equipment International). According to the Janes' 360 website:

"The system aims to offer highly accurate targeting, allowing it to hit specific parts of an aircraft, for example. Such accuracy gives greater flexibility in target engagement, potentially allowing an LDEW [laser directed energy weapon] system to disrupt or dazzle the target, as well as to destroy it."

The Dragonfire is mounted aboard naval vessels and serves as an anti-aircraft and anti-missile platform. Sounds like the fore-runner of starship turret weaponry to me.

If your PCs are operating as mercenaries or involved in Striker battles on TL 8-10 worlds, the Janes' site offers information on real-world tech that can be upgraded and imported into your Traveller games. Check it out and find some inspiration. 

Expanded Rules for Military Skills from CT Book 4 Mercenary

You're in the Army now!

Your players want to run a military or mercenary campaign. Great, What do you do? The abstract battle system in book 4 works, but it is little more than rolling dice and consulting tables. This does not keep players engaged for long. And it's, well, abstract. A commando mission plays out exactly the same as a security contract.

The rules state that the Abstract system is “particularly valuable in resolving a mercenary mission involving large numbers of troops . . .in which player characters are not primary participants.” Even if the PCs are platoon or company leaders, there's not a lot for them to do that will affect the outcome of a battle.

Book 4, Mercenary, was a very popular rules expansion for Traveller. More guns! All those new weapons, though, were just more ways for the PCs to die. Large scale battles run very slowly when done at the PC level (no, Striker does not play quickly) and the chances are good the PCs will be taken out very quickly. This is not good roleplaying fun. What to do?

I recommend that you keep the PCs front and center of the action by diverting action from mass formation slug-outs to actions at the PC's level. Use the standard Traveller combat system while the PCs are performing their part, then resolve the rest with the abstract system.

What part do the PCs play? They're the mission specialists. In addition to all the fancy new guns introduced in book 4, there are several new skills that are directly applied to combat situations.

Specialist PCs can do lots of things to turn the tide of victory besides fight. To do so they must employ these new military skills. Let us consider the following skills:

• Combat Engineering (CE)
• Demolitions (DO)
• Field Artillery (FA)
• Reconnaissance (RA)
• Forward Observer (FO) [from book 1]

which do not have much definition in the Bk4 rules. I thought about them for a while, and here are some expansions to the rules as stated, that can make this group of skills more valuable.

When you don't want lethal force - stunning weapons

There are lots of reasons to not kill NPCs in Traveller, chief among them PC's or player's convictions on the issue of deadly force. So there should be some options available. However, non-lethal weapons are a tricky proposition – how does one inflict enough force to disable a target without doing too much and killing the target instead?

OW!

The Classic Traveller Adventure Divine Intervention (Double Adventure # 6) calls for non-lethal force serving the purpose of the mission, and so the patron introduces the stun carbine, utilizing some kind of high-frequency or high intensity sound waves.