Let's Read: Traveller 1977 Edition, Page 3

And now, dice. The Traveller standard is 2d6, rather than D&D’s 3d6, so that will take a bit of getting used to. Die modifiers will be much more significant, too; a +1 on 2d6 is a lot more valuable than on 3d6 or 1d20.

We’re also talking about saving throws right off the bat, but the mechanic reminds me of 3E’s ‘target numbers’ and ‘DCs.’ Roll the exact number required, more, or less, depending on the circumstances. Simple enough. Die modifiers are pretty straightforward, with an example of how they work.

Next up, the section on the referee. His job is simple: Play God, and everyone else. Create the universe, and populate it. The creation of the star map is the ref’s first job, but we get to that much later in the book. And of course, the ref doesn’t just hand the players his notes; instead, he gives cryptic clues and hints, and lets them figure the rest out through exploring and play. Which is how it should be; unless you’ve got the computer from the Starship Enterprise on board, you’re not going to know everything there is to know about everything. Otherwise, what’s the point of exploring?

The referee should also indicate ‘possible’ quests for the characters. So this is definitely a sandbox-style system, in which the PCs get lots of options as to where to go, with as little railroading as possible (which is good, because it’s really hard to build a railroad across light-years of empty space). And it’s only going to be as good as the referee’s imagination makes it, so no pressure.

The referee is also, literally, a referee; he adjudicates rules questions and disputes, but has a lot of freedom in doing so. The rules, after all, are not set in stone; they are a toolbox, and can be modified to suit the needs of the campaign and the setting. And, as I said before, he’s basically playing God, except that Einstein was wrong; this version of God DOES play dice with the universe.

The mention of ‘creatures and societies’ suggests that there will be aliens somewhere to be found, whether they be intelligent species or dumb animals. And of course, ‘societies’ can mean a whole bunch of different things, so it’s going to be really open-ended.

So that’s the introductory material. Interesting note: Not one syllable about ‘what an RPG is’ anywhere to be found. I guess that back then, it was just assumed that if you were buying this in the early days of the hobby, you already had the RPG part figured out (through D&D, most likely, since it was already the dominant force in the hobby).

So next up, we start with character generation…