Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 9

We now come to the first tables of the book, and surprisingly, they’re the mustering-out tables. So, this is what you get when you quit/retire/are discharged from the service you chose (or were drafted to) at the beginning. Okay, let’s see what we have. High-rank characters get a bonus to the die roll for this, giving a range of 1-7 for the tables.

For the Navy, mustering out can provide low passage (which is described earlier as suspended animation) or high passage (not yet defined), bonuses to Intelligence, Education, and (for the high-ranking characters) Social Standing, ‘Blade,’ and ‘Travellers’. I’m not sure if the ‘Blade’ is referring to a skill, or if you actually get a blade. I like the idea of getting the weapon itself; you served in the Navy, and you’re getting a sword. Or a Bowie knife, but that’s more of a Marine thing than a Navy thing.

Marines have basically the exact same benefits, except that the Intelligence bonus is higher, and the Education bonus is only +1 (the Navy ones are reversed). So, the Marines place less value than the Navy on education, while Intelligence can get quite the boost. Maybe it’s because of tactical training, which isn’t really an ‘education’ thing; you can’t learn that in a classroom.

The Army’s benefits include low and high passage, but also ‘Mid passage,’ which is also undefined at this point. Instead of a Blade, they get a Gun, and their benefit for Social at high ranks is only +1; the Army just isn’t as prestigious as the Marines or the Navy. Another callback to the Honor Harrington series, as the Army barely gets a mention in the entire series except as ‘the guys who occupy planets we’ve conquered.’ The Navy and the Marines get all the glory.

Scouts don’t get ranks, as mentioned earlier, so it’s only a 1-6 bonus. They only get low passage as an option, but they could get either a Blade or a Gun, and ‘Scout’ as the highest prize. Is that an actual scout ship? So, when you leave the Scout service, you might actually walk away with your very own ship? Cool. That makes up for the lack of officer ranks, doesn’t it? Sure, the Navy guy gets invited to all the best parties, but he doesn’t have his own starship, does he? Scouts also get a chance at +2 to Int or Education; the school of Hard Knocks is a tough teacher.

Merchants do get ranks, so they’ve got the seven options. Low passage is mentioned twice, so they must really be into suspended animation (or they’re just too cheap to spring for better). On the other hand, they could get a ‘Merchant’, which might be a ship, too. That would be so very, very cool; Scouts and Merchants can start the game with their own ship. I like that. So, the Navy, Army, and Marine guys are just the hired help.

The ‘Other’ category only has five options; do they get a penalty on their mustering-out rolls? There’s no indication as of yet, so I wonder if that’s a typo. There’s nothing in the errata file, so maybe a roll of ‘6’ on the Other mustering-out table just means you get diddly-squat. Other than that, there’s low and high passage, a chance at a gun, and potential bonuses to Intelligence and Education.

There’s also a note saying that weapon benefits must be declared as to type, while additional benefits are declared as skill. So, if you roll ‘Blade’ twice, you get a sword or knife, and then you learn how to use it. Okay, then. And again, higher-ranked characters get a bonus to their roll, which means they don’t get Low passage (except for merchants, who have it twice on the table).

The next table is for Cash Allowances, and again, the tables go from 1-7, as gamblers get a bonus on this roll. Only three rolls are allowed, maximum. Scouts get a lot of money regardless; hazard pay, I’m guessing. After all, it is the suicide scout squad. The Army gets the short shaft, topping out at 30,000 (credits? bucks?), while Other has the widest range, going from a mere 1,000 to 100,000. So that would cover a wide range of career options.

Finally, the Aging Table gives the requirements to avoid losing ability scores after reaching the measly age of 34. The saves get tougher, too, as you get older; If you somehow get to 70, you’re going to almost certainly lose points every four years. Strength, Dex, and Endurance start going down right away, but Intelligence is safe until you’re at our nominal retirement age (66). Education and Social Standing aren’t affected by age, obviously.

So, the first things we learn about our characters is what happens after they quit their jobs and get old. At this point, we don’t even know what the character’s job even is. I assume we’ll get to that next.