Thursday, July 16, 2020

Lets Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 40

Nope, there’s still more. Actually, it’s just a discussion of modern weapons that match up with the weapons of Traveller. So, the weaponry is based on today’s tech. There’s interstellar travel, space navies and battle armor, but apparently weapons technology in the far future has atrophied. Sure, there’s laser carbines and rifles, but everything else is something you can find in the local gun shop.

The book even explains that bullets are always going to be a very efficient way of separating a person from their internal organs. Sure, that’s true, but this is science fiction, remember? Where are the ray guns, the gauss rifles, the gyrojet pistols? Come on, guys!

Anyway, some of the weapons used as examples are the Walther PPK (James Bond in space!) for the body pistol, the .44 Magnum for the automatic pistol, the S&W .357 Magnum for the revolver, a Ruger 5.56mm for the carbine, the M14 for the rifle and automatic rifle, the Remington M1100 for the shotgun, and the Uzi for the submachine gun. Well, then. There are a few other examples, but these ones are the ones I’m most familiar with, anyway.

Oh, and the rule book helpfully explains that laser weapons aren’t currently available in 1977. Well, they still aren’t in 2020, so that’s not surprising.

Ah, here we go: “Referees may feel free to create other weapons to suit the needs and desires of Traveller society.” So, there’s suggestions such as laser pistols, pneumatic guns, and silenced machine guns. That last one sounds really cool; I just imagined a space-ninja sneaking into a facility and silently machine-gunning down his targets while their friends are in the next room playing cards, never noticing a thing.

Well, that’s it for this page, too. The bottom third or so is blank. Maybe now we’ve reached the end of the rules. I recall that there are tables at the back, though. Which is good, because so far, I have no idea which weapons are actually better and more effective. We shall see when we turn the page tomorrow.


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