Now for the really unusual aspect of character creation:
retirement and aging. Most games see the PCs at the beginning of the game as
beginners, just starting out in their lives. Traveller characters are veterans,
and according to the paragraph on retirement, you can serve up to seven terms
voluntarily, and even an eighth if they don’t let you retire (throwing a 12 on
reenlistment). So, a beginning character in Traveller could possibly start out
at the age of 50, having served 32 years in whatever branch they’re in. Yikes. I could be a starting Traveller character. Not that I've got any relevant skills, but still...
If you want, you can retire after the fifth term (twenty
years of service), assuming you don’t roll the reenlistment 12. You can leave
any time, really, but after five terms and up, you get retirement benefits on
top of the normal ‘mustering out’ benefits, which I’ll look at in a moment.
Retirement is mandatory after seven terms (again, excepting the 12 on
reenlistment), so age 46 as a ‘beginning’ character. I guess those skills are
going to come in handy. Reaching retirement age just gives you a pension, which
sounds nice. Hopefully it’s better than the pensions we can expect in our day.
Okay, so next is mustering out, which basically means you’ve
left active duty in whatever service you were in, and you’re on your own, with
a few ‘going-away’ presents. There are two tables, providing ‘travel, education
and material benefits’ on the first, and cash severance pay on the second. Each
service has its own mustering out table, so characters will get different stuff
depending on what they did prior to mustering out. Good; variety is, after all,
the spice of PC life. So, these tables will provide money and/or…extra skills?
I’m not sure what ‘travel and material benefits’ are just yet, so I’ll see when
I get to the tables.
Characters can roll once per term served, plus extra rolls
if they reached certain ranks. And those who acquired gambling skill in their
service get a bonus to the cash table roll. But you can’t get more than 3 cash
payouts, so no raking in the cash after you’re done; you’re only worth so much
to the service. Oh, and that mention of ‘gambling’ skill is the first skill
named so far.
The example given is of a non-commissioned character who
gets four rolls (four terms). You have to pick the mustering out table before
rolling to see what you get, so there’s a good chance you won’t know what your
benefit is if you’re rolling on Table 1.
Alright, since your character can start out at the ripe old
age of 50, age can affect your character’s ability scores. I can attest to
that, since I’m 49 now, and I’m definitely not the spry athlete I was before.
So, aging rules kick in after four terms (age 34), so I guess Traveller
medicine hasn’t progressed to ‘fountain of youth’ territory yet. Sounds like
they’ve lost the anti-aging stuff we have today, too.
When the aging roll is made, there’s a chance there will be
no effect, which is good; I’ve seen some pretty fit sixty-year-olds, so aging
won’t hit everyone. We also get notes on things that can affect natural aging,
including a mention of suspended animation for low-cost travel. So, you can get
around cheaply by going into a fridge? Well, if you’re on a budget, why not?
Aging can drop your ability scores to 0, which means you’re
either sick or wounded, and you might actually die from old age right then and
there, depending on if you make a saving throw (and if there are some good
doctors in the vicinity). Even if you survive, the ordeal ages you a few
months, but you can still play the character normally, fully recovered. Every
time you get a characteristic down to zero, though, this happens. So, don’t
stay in the service too long if you’ve got a Strength or Endurance of 2; you
probably won’t make it to retirement.
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