Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Characters & Combat, page 33

Alright, we’re on page 33 of our read-through of Classic Traveller, Book 1. We’re in the middle of a discussion on weight, and we have just learned that someone who is part of a military force gets to carry three times their Strength score in kg, at a cost of -2 to their Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity. Well, that sucks. I was hoping to lug around a Punisher-style set of equipment, but that ain’t happening now. I just realized that my character might not be able to carry his own weapon without penalty. I hope rifles don’t weigh much.

Oh, and there are rules for the effects of gravity on weight capacity; every difference in gravity is worth 1/8 of difference in your carrying capacity. Worlds with a gravity score of 7 are like Earth (we will learn more about this in Book 3, apparently). So, a world like Mars would probably have a gravity of, say, 5, so weight capacity would be 25% higher than it is on Earth. Okay, I can work with that; it makes sense, since gravity is stronger on large worlds. The example they give manages to be mathematically wrong; their example is a world with a gravity of 3, which is 4 less than 7, so it should be a 50% improvement in carrying capacity, not the 40% they put in here. Oops. Is it too late for a Classic Traveller errata?

Alright, so much for weight. Now, on to a brief section on Morale. The rules actually state that all adventurers (including PCs!) are subject to morale failure when sustaining casualties. Um…I’m not sure I like the idea that the dice will decide what my character does instead of me. And it’s a 7+ to not break and run, which is the same as survival in the Scout career. There are mods to the roll, but still. If things get hairy, there is still a 1-in-12 chance of breaking, and that’s for a military unit with a leader with tactical expertise. That seems pretty high, frankly. And if things get really bad, where the leader is killed and more than half the party is out of combat, then there’s only a 1-in-12 chance of NOT breaking. Man, this game is rough.

Combat equipment! Yay! We now get descriptions of the various tools used in the game to bludgeon, slash, skewer, or shoot opponents with. Nice! We are also promised descriptions of armor, as well; other equipment shows up in the later books. Well, this is the important part, anyway.

Pretty much anything that isn’t sharp can be used to bash someone over the head, and they’re all classified as clubs (except bottles, which are clubs first, then daggers). Animals have their own weapons, which will be described in Book 3.

Next, we start on bladed weapons. We only get the dagger, blade, and foil for this page. Oh, we get weight states and prices here; hopefully, they’re on the tables at the back, as well. And yes, these weapons are pretty lightweight; daggers are ¼ kg, or roughly ½ a pound. They’re cheap, at 10 Credits, and most people carry them openly. Blades aren’t much bigger; they’re basically daggers on steroids. Something Crocodile Dundee might brandish in a back alley, for example. They’re bigger, and cost 50 Credits. Foils are half a kilo, and pricey at 100 Credits.