Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 39

Page 39’s stuff actually starts on page 38, and we’re discussing ‘special considerations.’ These are some miscellaneous issues with weapons combat. Let’s take a look at them in order.

First, it’s ‘Drawing,’ which has nothing to do with paint or pencils. Drawing a weapon and firing it in the same combat round gives a -3 penalty to the roll. I guess that takes away some of the gunfighter scenarios. And the very next sentence says otherwise, as two people drawing on each other gets described. No surprise that Dexterity is the key factor in beating your opponent on the draw. This is an unusual mechanic that I haven’t seen in these rules yet. Roll two dice and add your Dex score; the higher number wins the first shot. Alright, then.

Then there’s minor accessories: holsters, belts, scabbards, etc. They’re basically weightless, being included as clothing. And they’re pretty cheap, as well, depending on what they are accessorizing. There are shoulder holsters for concealment, as well.

Throwing blades are next; daggers and blades can be hurled at people with deadly accuracy like forks, and again you’re adding your Dex score to the roll, and subtracting the target’s evasion modifier. Oh, and you have to roll 18+ to hit, so you’d better roll well, because an average roll is 7, which means you need a Dex of B or better to hit. Good luck with that. If you do hit, it’s doing 2D-3 damage, so it could be pretty lethal, but on average it’s going to do four or less damage. Stick with the guns instead.

Speaking of which, there’s full automatic fire next, which is just four shots at once instead of one per trigger-pull. There’s a better chance to hit on the tables, and there’s a group-hit rule coming up as well. Of course, you’ll go through ammo quicker. Oh, and you can shoot twice in a single round if you’re doing full-auto, so that’s going to be handy.

Group hits mean that you might hit the people on either side of the target you’re shooting at with the automatic fire. It’s -3 to hit, but you could hit up to two other targets with one burst. Sweet! Except, of course, that you don’t actually have a choice to do this; it’s automatic when you do full auto fire. So, don’t fire your fully-automatic machine gun into a melee fight when your best friend is in there, because you’ve got a good chance of taking him out too.

Shotguns also have a group hits rule. You can hit up to four targets at once if they are in a group, herd, or pack, and if they’re no bigger than a human. If they’re flying, you’re at +2 to hit them for some reason. Hey, I’ll take it. Dinner’s on me, folks!

And that’s it for this page; there’s almost half a page of blank space here. Are we out of rules for this book? Tune in nest time to learn the exciting answer!