Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Worlds & Adventures, page 21

Back after a school-and-work-induced delay. We're not quite halfway through this book, so let's continue.

On this page we have some tables. Two of them: The Random Person Encounter table, and the Weapons table. The random person encounter table uses the previously-seen 'roll two dice and read them in order' routine to generate 36 different results instead of the normal twelve. The last six, however, are blank, as mentioned on a previous page.

So, who can we run into in these random encounters? Here's the list; the numbers in parentheses are the number of times the entry appears on the table.

Peasants (2), workers, rowdies, thugs (2), soldiers (3), police (2), Marines, naval troops, adventurers, noble with retinue (2), hunters, tourists, researchers, fugitives (3), vigilantes, bandits, brigands, merchants, traders, religious group (2), and guards.

So, you're more likely to run into a nobleman in the streets than you are workers. Interesting. The separate listings usually have different numbers appearing and weapons, so there's a variety in running into some of these groups. I find it very interesting, though, that there are a lot of low-tech weapons on this list. Clubs, cudgels, daggers, swords, spears...if it wasn't for the firearms on the table, this could work as a fantasy encounter table, too.

Some of them have vehicles as well, but not as many as you might think. The vehicle is left undefined; the tech and terrain will be the determining factors in that. Some of them have armor as well, although nothing extreme (no battle dress).

The Weapons table was mentioned on the last page; you roll a die, and if you get a weapon on the first column, you use that weapon. If not, move to the next column. The first column is laser rifles and auto rifles; a 3-6 on the roll means you move to column 2. That column has shotguns, carbines, and revolvers, the latter two of which can be found in the regular weapons table as well. 4-6 means go to column 3, which has broadsword, sword, halberd, cutlass, and foil. Every one of these is already on the encounter table to begin with, so they aren't exactly 'special' weapons.

The table is mostly low-tech, no more than tech-level 6. Except for the laser rifle, all the weapons are things that we have access to today; in fact, they had access to them all in 1977. Even the guards have halberds and daggers. Hell, the Marines have revolvers and cutlasses. The vigilantes are better armed than the soldiers, with rifles and carbines (the soldiers have submachine guns).

So, these tables are a bit underwhelming. Obviously, they can be modified to suit the referee's campaign, but the feel of this is very much in the pulp style, with men running around with swords and revolvers instead of lightsabers and blasters. I would expect to add more variety to the weapons, though. Get some higher-tech stuff in there, at least. 

And there is a note that weaponry may be altered to conform to law level or technology index. Oh, that's a good point; some cultures have law levels restricting weapons, some of them restricting ALL weapons. So, that will have an impact on the table. At the same time, I find the notion of a high-tech city including hunters who carry rifles and spears. For a good visual of that, watch Jesus Christ Superstar (the movie version), which has Roman soldiers doing exactly that: carrying spears and rifles.