Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, Page 6

Well, I see some people are reading this series; I guess I'm doing something right. That's incentive to keep going, anyway. On to page 6 of Characters & Combat.

Okay, so to be commissioned, another die roll is made, and there’s a target number for each service. I’m guessing that means that some services will be more prone to commissioning than others. As mentioned before, draftees can’t be commissioned in their first term (but they can in subsequent ones), and there’s one chance for commission per term.

Promotion works the same; target number for each service, roll the dice, and if you make it, you’re promoted. Apparently, you can only be promoted if you’re commissioned, though; I guess the army is all privates and officers, then. Doesn’t make much sense, but it’s still early in the book. I can always handwave enlisted promotions if I need to. And scouts don’t get commissioned or promoted; neither do people in the Other service. The scouts appear to be quite egalitarian, and I suppose that ‘Other’ doesn’t really have any sort of rank structure.

Next up, we’re talking about skills! Everyone is guaranteed to gain at least one skill per term (two in the first term). There are four skill tables, one of which is only available to the college grads (Education 8+). One die per table, four tables…so there are 24 skills, six of which are advanced education skills (Engineering? Medical? Thermonuclear Physics? We’ll see). Okay, then. I look forward to seeing what they are. You pick the table to roll on, but not the skill, so there could be some interesting combinations. A character with medical skill and laser weapons training would be interesting. There are also some automatic skills given for certain services or ranks achieved. More details to follow. Being commissioned and/or promoted also gives extra skills.

Reenlistment is next, and it’s a mandatory roll as well with no modifiers. So, if you want to stay for another term, you have to roll a certain number, because the service might not need you. On the other hand, they might not let you leave, either; if you roll exactly 12, you’re in whether you want to be or not. That could mean, for a military branch, that there’s a war or something going on, and your skills are required for something specific. For the scouts, it might mean that they’re just too short-handed…or, it could possibly mean that the character isn’t allowed to leave; maybe they’re criminals serving out a sentence in the suicide scout squad. I’m guessing that the target numbers are different for each service, too.