Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 10

I was right! Prior Service is next, so this is what the character has been up to since turning 18. Let’s see what we’ve got, and what assumptions can be made about the various services.

First of all, getting into the Army is pretty easy; only Other has a lower enlistment number (3). Man, that’s only a 1-in-36 chance of not getting into that career. But there are no modifiers for the Other roll. The Marines and Navy are the toughest to get into, and both value Intelligence (as do the Scouts and Merchants). Surprisingly, Strength is important for getting into the Merchant service; I guess someone has to do the heavy lifting on board those ships. The Navy is big on education (again, it’s the most technical service), while the Army is the only one that cares about Dexterity. Strength is also good for Scouts.

So, Jamie Rollinson is a shoo-in for the Army, with a cumulative +3 to his enlistment roll, meaning he needs to roll 2 or better on 2D to get in (automatic success, since there’s been no mention of an automatic miss on a 2). He would get no modifiers for the Navy or Marines, which are an 8+ and 9+ respectively, and the Scouts and Merchants would both be easier to get into (6+ and 5+ respectively, thanks to his average Intel). So, I guess it will be the Army for Jamie.

Since it’s an automatic success, there’s no need for a draft roll. The Draft roll would be a straight, unmodified 1D roll; Social Standing doesn’t help you avoid the Army or Scouts.

Survival rolls are straightforward, with a single characteristic modifier. Scouts are the toughest to survive, as mentioned before, but with a high Endurance, it’s not that bad. For Jamie, the Survival roll in the Army depends on Education, for some reason. Tactical training? Marines have to be tough, Navy have to be smart, Scouts have to be even tougher than Marines to get the bonus, Merchants have to be smart (accounting?), and to get the bonus in the Other category requires a high Intelligence of 9 or more. Since that’s a catch-all category, I’m not sure why Intelligence was chosen.

Commissioning as an officer is very difficult in the Navy; and, as I suspected, it’s definitely the aristocrat’s service, as you get a bonus for having a high Social Standing. But it’s still tough to get a commission; maybe the Navy is the most popular service, and they can afford to pick the very best for officer material. The Marines are almost as tough on potential officers, but it’s education that makes it easier to get promoted. So, getting promoted in the Marines requires a lot of studying, while in the Navy it’s who you are and who you know.

The Army, by contrast, appears to have a lot of openings for officers, commissioning on a mere 5+, with a bonus for high endurance. So, either the Army is overstaffed to begin with, and they need a lot of leaders, or they just go through officers like poop through a goose. Heavy ground fighting somewhere, perhaps? Merchants are ridiculously quick to get commissioned, on a mere 4+ (and an average Intelligence gives a bonus). So, there are lots of officers in the merchant marine. Scouts and Other, as mentioned previously, are more egalitarian, and don’t have officers and promotions to worry about. So, who’s in charge of the scout ship, then? Are the scouts communists?

Promotion is next, and it’s interesting to see the difference between the Navy and Marines; just becoming an officer is tough in the Navy unless you know the right people…but getting promoted is a matter of higher education, while the Marines want their officers trained from the beginning…and then, it’s who you know that counts. The Marines get the Social Standing benefit for promotion, and it’s tougher to get promoted in the Marines as well. The Army also wants its officers trained, and it’s easier to get promoted there, too. But moving up in the Merchants is not at all easy, requiring a 10+, with a bonus for high Intelligence (quite high, in fact). Sounds like the Merchants have a glut of 4^th Officers, and not a lot of Captains.

            There’s no indication that you can switch services mid-career, so what you join is what you’re stuck with. DMs are noted to be cumulative for Enlistment rolls, too. Other than that, the table is pretty straightforward. Oh, I forgot about the reenlistment roll. The Army is actually the toughest service to stay in, requiring a 7+ on the reenlistment roll (and there are no modifiers indicated). The Scouts will keep just about anyone on, requiring anything higher than a 2 to reenlist; you have to be pretty bad for the Scouts to say, ‘thanks but no thanks.’ The Navy and Marines are not as tough for the character to stay in, while ‘Other’ requires a 5 or more. Not sure how that works; I guess it’s just a way to give your Other character a reason to be adventuring instead of doing whatever they were doing before.

Then it’s the Table of Ranks, which is pretty straightforward and draws on real-world ranks. Navy ranks run from Ensign to Admiral, Marines from Lieutenant to Brigadier, Army from Lieutenant to General, and Merchants from 4^th Officer to Captain. There is no rank 6 for Merchants; Captain is as high as it goes. So, it sounds like the Merchant service is more informal, with no real structure above the level of the individual ship. Maybe that’s why they can get one when they quit.

Well, that’s a full page right there. Let’s see what happens to Jamie in his first term, then. As mentioned, his UPP is 59A769, so the Army is a safe bet (2+ to enlist). His survival roll for term 1 is 5+, modified by +2 for his Education, so 3+. I rolled an 8; he’s alive! Next up, Commissioning: again, a 5+ roll, modified by +1 for his high Endurance. Rolling a 4, he just makes it to Lieutenant. He can also get a promotion in this term, but his Education isn’t high enough to get a bonus, so it’s a 6+. Rolled a 5, so it doesn’t happen. Too bad. A little more education, and he would have been a Captain at the age of 22. Lastly, he rolls to see if he gets to stay in the Army. It’s a 7+, with no modifiers, and the roll is an 11. So, he’ll re-enlist for another term.

So far, so good. let’s see what happens next.