Because I could not stop for Death

"You play Conan, I play Gandalf. We team up to fight Dracula." —Jeff Rients, describing D&D.

Strahd’s Black Carriage.

We played through the final session of our Curse of Strahd campaign last weekend. The game was a blast from first to last, and I really wasn’t sure we would survive, even after Strahd finally went down—I kept expecting him to have one last nasty trick to play on us.

Our group was unusual in composition but well balanced. There was Akelic, ”Witness to Uriel,” an Aasimar Paladin; Fidelis Altor, a Warforged Fighter; Wilfan Liadon, a Half-Elf Wizard; and my Human Cleric, Brother Powell. By the end, we had been joined by Kasimir Velikov, a Dusk Elf Wizard who was originally an NPC in the adventure but ended up being run by two different players.

It had been a long time since I had a chance to play in a full-blown campaign and I love being on the other side of the DM screen. I had owned the original TSR module I6 Ravenloft (1983) and ran it for a couple of different groups back in the heady days of High 1e. I have many fond memories of the adventure—I believe my first TPK was in the catacombs of the castle, as the PCs were ambushed by an invisible Strahd and wiped out.

The original Ravenloft contained several important innovations. The amazing isometric map of Castle Ravenloft was maybe the first published D&D castle to actually resemble a “real” gothic castle. An interesting fortune telling mechanism shuffled up the key elements of the adventure, making each run of the module a little different. But maybe its biggest innovation was the embrace of the gothic horror genre, as filtered through popular cinema.

D&D, with its zany eclecticism, had always borrowed heavily from the classic Universal and Hammer horror movies for monsters such as mummies, vampires, and werewolves. These creatures sometimes felt a little incongruous beside the classic pulp or high Tolkien fantasy monsters. But with Ravenloft, suddenly these monsters seemed very much at home in the game. 

And Ravenloft had a great villain in the form of Strahd. By turns cruel and tragic, pathetic and villainous, Strahd incorporates many different takes on Dracula and in some ways anticipates the semi-sympathetic portrayal that Francis Ford Coppola would use in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

Ravenloft would prove so popular that it spawned a sequel, Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill (1986) and would eventually be spun off into an entire D&D “world” in 2e. I never dove too deeply into the setting lore around the Domains of Dread, but I did have a few books from the line and they seemed generally well done.

Given my history with Ravenloft, I was looking forward to exploring a new setting with (mostly) fresh eyes. Our DM had played through the Curse of Strahd a couple of times, so he brought a solid understanding of the adventure as well as a lot of enthusiasm for the material. I’ve only had a chance to look at about half of the WotC hardback adventure books, but Curse seems to be one of the strongest. I think it greatly benefits from focusing on PC levels 1–10 rather than the full 15 levels of Out of the Abyss. It tooks us about eight months of weekly Roll20 sessions to play through the adventure, which is long enough to feel substantial, but not so long as to ever feel like a grind.

The nature of Strahd’s demiplane also helps create a “circumscribed sandbox.” You can wander all around the map in any order you like, but you are limited to locations on the map. This creates an open environment with lots of choices but also some hard constraints.

Knowing that we were doing Ravenloft and that I was expected to play a cleric, I was initially stumped as to how to approach my character. I wasn’t interested in a Van Helsing type and I didn’t want to create a character who was too goody-goody, given that he would be thrust into a dark world of gothic horror. (And as it turns out, such a character would have been much too similar to our party’s paladin.)

A couple of Kris Kristofferson songs, "Why Me Lord,” and “Sunday Morning Coming Down” really helped me figure out Brother Powell, a poor, itinerant preacher who was a bit of a con man, a drunk, and a coward, but also someone who was genuinely ashamed of himself and wanted to be a better man.

I was a little inspired by Father Callahan, the priest from Salem’s Lot who doesn’t quite make it through his encounter with a vampire, and I was also thinking about the Reverend Harry Powell, the villain from Night of the Hunter. (However, after re-watching Robert Mitchum in the great 1955 adaptation I realized that the Reverend was much, much darker than I remembered and far darker than I wanted to take my character.)

I also wanted Powell’s god to be a little distant and unknowable, maybe Lawful Neutral or Neutral Good in outlook. Looking through the Forgotten Realms pantheon, I really didn’t find a god that quite fit the bill. They all seemed a little too clearly good or too clearly evil. I finally settled on Ilmater, the Broken God, though at first I was unsatisfied with the choice, as Ilmater is a pretty wholly Lawful Good deity.

But as the game evolved Ilmater turned out to be a much better pick than I realized. In the Realms, the Broken God was the god of “those who suffered, the oppressed, and the persecuted, who offered them relief and support, encouraged them to endure, and who encouraged others to help them, to take their burdens or take their places.” The poor folk of Strahd’s realm were clearly suffering, and Brother Powell gradually came to believe that he had been chosen by the Broken God to ease their burden. 

Brother Powell was loads of fun. The cleric, like all the other 5e classes I’ve played, is pretty versatile without having so many abilities as to be a chore to run. The Brother would sometimes backslide if the pressure got too great, or the group suffered a failure. But by the end, he was all done with running and ready to stand his ground against Strahd.

I won’t say too much more about the campaign to avoid spoiling anything, but it’s got some great set pieces. The Amber Temple is one of the best dungeons I’ve seen in a long time, with some very… intriguing areas. And Castle Ravenloft was every bit as creepy and cool as I remembered.

Our final session began with our band hiking down the old forest road, bound for Castle Ravenloft. Strahd was kind enough to dispatch his own Black Carriage to fetch us to his home, which is a pretty damned boss move. We decided to ride the rest of the way and save our strength.

In the end, our group played smart and we were more than a little lucky. That final battle was a true bitch and had the dice gone cold for us we might have lost a couple of characters or been wiped out by the vampire. Brother Powell survived, even though he was convinced that he was fated to fall to Strahd. All-in-all, this was a great campaign, a worthy successor to the original module, and I’m more than a little sad to have it end.

Crew Requirements and Salary

Even with AI salary negotiators, employment interviews remain tense and frustrating affairs in the Third Imperium.

Most starship requirements in the Third Imperium are imposed by commercial interests rather than governments. Mortgage holders, cargo brokers, and the insurers that cover everyone all need to ensure that their investments are secure. The Travellers’ Aid Society needs to assure its members that starships will provide safety, timely, and comfortable passage.

If you owned a private starship free and clear, and were only carrying your friends and your own possessions, you could pretty much crew a ship however you liked—though some worlds or starports might turn you away if they believed your ship represented a safety risk.

But if a lender owns any part of your ship, or if your ship is being chartered by a third party, or if you hold a mail contract, or if you are engaged in any kind of commerce—which includes carrying passengers or freight for fee—you are subject to crew requirements that are established by private ship classification societies such as the Travellers’ Aid Society or Lloyd’s Register.

Every edition recognizes that smaller ships can and often do run skinny and, as such, the authorities generally afford these ships a certain flexibility in filling crew requirements. PCs should always be given choices that offer risks, costs, rewards, and consequences. If the PCs want to skip annual maintenance, ignore the malfunctioning comms, or use unqualified crew in order to eke out a little more profit, they absolutely should be given the opportunity. One misjump might be enough to scare some captains straight, but serial scofflaws might find themselves in the black books of financiers and brokers. Conversely, PCs that invest in luxury accommodations, extra crew, and better equipment should be given more opportunities to land plum contracts and wealthy clients. (And maybe attract tougher competitors!)

Ideally, each required crew position would be filled by a single, qualified crewmember. More commonly, a single crewmember fills multiple positions. And while crewmembers can theoretically try to cover as many different positions as they like, I stick to the old CT rule:

One person may fill two crew positions, providing he or she has the skills needed for both jobs. However, . . . the individual draws salary equal to 75% of each position. . . . No person may assume the duties of more than two crew positions except in the case of an emergency (The Traveller Book 61).

The note about emergencies calls to mind an important distinction between a crewmember serving in a position and one acting in a position. Anyone can act in any crew position. A maintenance hand untrained in Pilot can take the helm if the ship’s pilot is somehow incapacitated, or if the pilot is present but occupied with an Astrogation task. An astrogator with Engineer 0 can stand watch in the engine room while the engineer is asleep. But only a qualified crewmember can serve in and draw salary for a required position.

Similarly, I would not allow a robot, software program, or uncertified crewmember with a skill wafer to serve in a required position, though each could temporarily act in such a role. Each of these options could be extremely helpful in easing regular workloads or responding to an emergency, and in fact might well be better at the task than a qualified crewmember with minimal skill levels and low characteristic scores. But they couldn’t hold a certification and thus wouldn’t “count” in terms of filling crew requirements and they certainly couldn’t draw a salary. This restriction is probably driven by deep cultural prejudices as much as regulations or safety statistics: “I don't care what that blasted toaster is rated for, I only want to fly on a ship with a real human engineer!”

Crew Exams

All certifications are likely subject to regular renewals, perhaps on a 4 year basis. Renewals can be conducted at any TAS facility for a modest fee, and probably include an elementary examination. This might be interesting to play out if a PC had forged their qualifications or has recently suffered an aging crisis or other permanent characteristic loss.

Crewmembers are subject to annual physicals, normally performed by the ship’s medical officer and probably done in conjunction with annual ship maintenance. These physicals are notoriously easy to pass: ”You’re telling me that your chief engineer, who has pretty clearly got the Canopian Palsy and, what—narcolepsy?—cleared his last physical?”

In addition, anyone holding a Master’s or Mate’s license must pass an annual psychological screening. Unlike the physicals, these tests are no joke: absolutely no one wants to take any risk with a multi-megacredit vessel capable of acting as a kinetic weapon of mass destruction. If you use the Sanity characteristic, this might be a SAN 6+ check. If not, perhaps a similar INT or SOC check. The Solomani Confederation probably performs a security check as well, even for civilians—maybe especially for civilians.

Crew Salaries

MgT2 High Guard notes that the salary “values on the Crew Requirements table shows a monthly average for skill level 1 crew, with the presumption that +50% will be added for every skill level above this.” The salary increase for higher skill levels is pretty extreme; I much prefer CT’s more modest +10% increase per additional skill level (The Traveller Book 52, 55). 

A ship’s master or executive officer is paid either for that position or whatever crew positions they serve in, whichever is greater. An executive officer (base salary Cr8,000) with Pilot 1 and Astrogation 0 serving as the ship’s pilot (base salary Cr6,000) and astrogator (base salary Cr5,000) would be paid Cr8,250—75% of the sum of the pilot’s and astrogator’s pay.

A Traveller can act in a position they aren’t certified for, but they can’t be paid for that position. All ships are required to designate a master, but only someone with a Master’s License can get paid a master’s salary.

Crew Positions

So, putting all of this together, here are my house rules for the qualifications and salary ranges for common starship crew positions. I’ve also added some background information from T20 and GT for the various crew positions since surprisingly, CT, MT, and MgT don’t actually provide much detail.

Master/Captain (Cr10,000 monthly): All ships require a commanding officer, who is usually termed the master or captain of the vessel, whatever their actual rank may be. Exactly who is in charge can vary from day to day. The master is personally responsible for the safety of the ship and everyone aboard, plus everyone who might be affected by the actions of the ship and her crew. The master must hold a Master’s License in order to draw a captain’s salary.

Executive Officer/First Officer (Cr8,000 monthly): The executive officer is the next most senior crewmember in rank and is second-in-command. Ideally, a commercial ship of 200 tons or more carries three licensed mates or masters in order to stand watches on the bridge, though this can be a heavy lift for a small ship. An executive officer must hold either a Master’s or Mate’s License in order to draw an XO’s salary.

Pilot (Cr6,000 monthly): The pilot is responsible for maneuvering the starship through normal space. While computer assistance takes much of the labor out of this task, a pilot is necessary in case of emergency. Each spacecraft and small craft requires a pilot, who must have a Pilot’s License for the appropriate craft. Pilots are paid an additional 10% for every skill level above 1 in the appropriate Pilot speciality. Any ship should ideally have at least one backup pilot and this is a legal requirement for passenger ships.

Astrogator (Cr5,000 monthly): The astrogator plots the ship’s course through jumpspace and operates the ship’s controls when in jumpspace. Despite the assistance of computers, jump plotting requires a lot of “feel” and a good astrogator is a valuable asset. The astrogator will usually handle real-space course plotting as well. A ship must carry a minimum of one astrogator (Astrogation 0 or better) if a jump drive is installed. Astrogators are paid an additional 10% for every skill level above 0 in Astrogation.

Engineer (Cr4,000 monthly): The engineer is responsible for jump and maneuver drives, power plant, and all technical matters and is usually also responsible for general maintenance. Any ship must have one engineer per 35 tons of drives and power plant. Engineers must possess either an Assistant Engineer’s License or Chief Engineer’s License. If there is more than one engineer, then the most skilled (or the oldest) becomes chief engineer. A chief engineer holding a Chief Engineer’s License receives +10% more pay. Any engineer is paid an additional 10% for every skill level above 1 in their highest rated Engineer speciality, plus an additional 10% for every additional Engineer speciality with skill level 1 or more. Thus, a Chief Engineer with Engineer (J-Drive) 2, Engineer (M-Drive) 1, and Engineer (Power) 1 would be entitled to a monthly salary of Cr5,600.

Steward (Cr3,000 monthly): The steward looks after the passengers, cooks meals and prepares drinks, and sometimes provides entertainment. If any high passengers are carried a steward is required. There must be at least one steward (Steward 0 or better) per eight high passengers or 100 middle passengers on the ship. If there is more than one steward, the most skilled is designated chief steward (or purser) and draws 10% more salary. Any steward is paid +10% for every skill level of Steward above 0.

Sensor Operator (Cr3,000 monthly): A Sensor Operator (sensop) operates sensors, communicators, and information systems. The pilot or astrogator often monitors sensors during normal-space flights. While anyone can operate these systems under normal conditions, under stress or in an unusual situation, someone with expertise is needed. Each commercial ship of 400 tons or more must have a sensop with a Sensor Operator’s Certificate. Sensops are paid an additional 10% for every skill level above 1 in their highest rated Electronics speciality, plus an additional 10% for every additional Electronics speciality with 1 or more skill levels.

Medical Officer (Cr2,000 monthly): On small ships a member of the crew may have a basic skill in first aid, but in order to obtain a license to carry passengers, a ship must have a properly trained medical officer. Many medical students take time out to earn a little cash and experience as a free trader medic before finishing their studies. Each starship of 200 tons or more must have a medical officer that must be either a CMT or M.D. In addition, there must be at least one medic per 120 crew and passengers carried. The highest skilled medical officer is designated the ship's doctor and draws 10% more pay. Medical Officers are paid +10% for every skill level of Medic above 1. A surgeon is paid an additional +10%.

Freightmaster (Cr2,000 monthly): A freightmaster is responsible for loading, securing, and offloading freight and cargo. All ships carrying cargo for pay require a freightmaster with a Cargomaster Certificate; on small ships, the freightmaster may double as one of the other officers. Hazardous or other special cargo requires a more advanced certification for safety. Freightmasters are paid +10% for every advanced cargo handler certification held.

Gunnery Officer (Cr1,000 monthly): One gunnery officer with a Turret Gunnery Certificate may be hired per turret on a ship. Ships with mail delivery contracts must be armed and must carry a gunner. Armed small craft require a gunner in addition to the pilot. If there is more than one gunner, the most skilled is designated the chief gunner and draws 10% more pay. Gunnery Officers are paid +10% for every skill level of Gunner (turrets) above 1. The gunner position may be omitted if there is no major threat to the ship.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2021 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications' copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.

Withdrawn from Circulation

Different gaming groups have their own peculiar customs around dice. I generally play with the same retinue of twelve or so people, and we have what I think is an unusual practice: although individuals buy dice, we freely mix our dice into one communal pool during every session, and then divide them up indiscriminately at the end of the night. Occasionally someone will buy new dice to replenish the stock but no one really has special, personal dice that only they use exclusively. At least not for very long: eventually all dice are merged into the One Pool.

In every other group I’ve read about, people seem to maintain their own dice. I understand that some gamers are so superstitious they would never let another player even touch their “lucky” dice.

Personally, I prefer plain old, primary color, opaque dice. My fellow players occasionally mock my ugly, opaque dice, and I’m probably guilty as charged: I think translucent gem dice look perfectly fine, and I’ve been given a couple of very nice sets of metal dice, but time and again I reach for the basic, colored dice.

Within our communal dice pool are the remnants of some of the first dice sets I ever bought. My very first polyhedrals came with my Moldvay Basic Set. I believe I also picked up a set of Dragon Dice at a Mr. Paperback in Bangor. (Grognardia had a nice retrospective on this product a few years ago.) Both sets of dice had to have the numbers colored in with crayons. And I ordered a third set out of the mail-in catalog of the Dungeon Hobby Shop from Lake Geneva. (Those were a particularly crummy set.)

I couldn’t say how many sets of dice I have bought since then. Easily dozens. Almost every time I move a piece of furniture in my house I seem to find a straggler or two. 

But the years have not been kind to my three original sets of dice. A few have gone missing over the years. And TSR dice never had a particularly good reputation for durability. But nevertheless I’ve kept my original dice in the communal pool out of nostalgia, even though they are so beat up and ugly now that not even I use them anymore. (And I can’t imagine how biased those poor dice must be.)

But as I was looking at these tired old soldiers a few weeks ago, I decided it was high time to withdraw them from circulation. I still can’t bear to throw them away, so they will enjoy a well-earned retirement in my office desk. And now their watch has ended!

Certifications for Starship Crew

HOTLOLZ EPIK PRODUCTIONS, LIC is seeking an experienced and qualified individual to serve as an onboard Engineer for the armed packet IMV Starjammer, registered out of Kline (MAGY 3012). The proposed Engineer must have, at a minimum, an Assistant Engineer’s License and be capable of performing as engineer, watch stander, and ship’s crew as required. This is a Full-Time position that may require travel to both Imperial and Solomani Confederation systems, working in space and/or portside environments with occasional multi-week assignments. —1102 posting, Stanko Downport Hiring Hall (Concourse B).

After my recent look at doctors in Traveller, I’ve been thinking about the qualifications for other characters. In Classic Traveller, the six iconic starship crew positions of pilot, navigator, engineer, medic, steward, and gunner all have minimum skill requirements. A minimum level of 1 in the associated skill is required to qualify for all positions except steward, for which Steward-0 suffices (The Traveller Book 55, 59, 60, 61).

These requirements were not carried over to MegaTraveller with the exception of the medic: “Any character with at least Medical-1 is a medic and is eligible to be hired as a medic on a starship crew” (Player’s Manual 23). I’m not sure why only the medic retained a minimum skill level, though MegaTraveller generally shifts away from the CT model of specific crew positions in favor of broader categories. Instead of specifying “one pilot and one navigator,” a MegaTraveller ship might simply call for “two bridge crew.”

Mongoose Traveller largely reverts back to the familiar CT crew designations, but does not stipulate minimum skill levels to qualify for the various crew positions. I can understand why the MgT designers might have shied away from setting minimum levels: skill acquisition using traditional Traveller career paths is fairly random, and one could easily wind up with a group of travellers that lack the requisite skills to operate their own starship.

That said, this is much less of an issue in MgT than in prior editions, given background skills, a more flexible lifepath system, connections, and skill packages. If a group has a missing skill or two, that is more likely to pose an interesting complication for the game, rather than a roadblock. The PCs might need to bring on an NPC engineer, or one PC may need to work on her Pilot skills.

Further, MgT2 High Guard notes that the salary “values on the Crew Requirements table shows a monthly average for skill level 1 crew” (20). This strongly implies that the minimum qualifying skill level for crew positions is 1, the same as CT.

Crew Certifications for Mongoose Traveller

Qualified Operator Certificate. Issued to individuals who pass a series of standardized tests concerning the operation of certain vehicles or equipment. Most worlds accept this certification in lieu of a locally obtained license, if one is required.

Although using skill levels to establish starship crew qualifications is nice and simple, GURPS Traveller: Far Trader introduces an interesting system of licenses and certificates, documents which provide assurance that a crewmember “has the right skills for the assigned job” (82). This idea may have been inspired by the blank “Qualified Operator’s Certificate” included in CT Supplement 12, Forms and Charts.

Below are some common certifications that might be held by Travellers. Most have an Automatic Certification line: any Traveller meeting this minimum skill level can be assumed to automatically hold that certification, if desired. If the Traveller did not have the appropriate skill at the qualifying level, there are also Qualifying Exams that allow that Traveller the opportunity to undergo skill checks to “test into” certification.

The Travellers’ Aid Society issues most of these certifications in the Third Imperium, and Lloyd’s Register presumably issues comparable documents within the Solomani Confederation.

Certifications add a modest amount of complexity to the game but also provide interesting details that help bind the characters to the setting and maybe even produce potential adventure hooks. Perhaps more importantly, certifications offer far greater flexibility in filling out a starship crew.

Edit: Reddit poster arctellionweston pointed out that Traveller⁵ has a similar certificate system that assesses skill competency as Qualified, Competent, Experienced, and Master based on the results of a skill check (Characters and Combat 100–101). This could be pretty easily combined with the following system.

Qualified Operator’s Certificates

Computer Operator’s Certificate

Automatic Certification: Electronics (computers) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Electronics (computers) check (1D hours, EDU or INT).

Drive Tech’s Certificate

Automatic Certification: Engineer 0.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Engineer (M-drive or J-drive) check (1D hours, INT or EDU).

The holder is certified to perform maintenance and repair activities on J-drives and M-drives, but is not qualified to serve as a ship’s engineer. A potential prerequisite for obtaining an Assistant Engineer’s License.

Life Support Tech’s Certificate

Automatic Certification: Engineer 0.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Engineer (life support) check (1D hours, INT or EDU).

The holder is certified to perform maintenance and repair activities on life support systems, but is not qualified to serve as a ship’s engineer. A potential prerequisite for obtaining an Assistant Engineer’s License.

Low Berth Technician’s Certificate

Automatic Certification: Medic 0.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Medic check (1D hours, INT or EDU).

Mechanic’s Certificate

Automatic Certification: Mechanic 0.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Mechanic check (1D hours, INT or EDU).

Separate certificates are available for every vehicle specialty associated with the Drive, Flyer, and Pilot skills, as well as robots. The holder is certified to perform maintenance and repair activities on the relevant equipment. An individual can hold a total number of Mechanic certificates equal to three plus their INT modifier, with a minimum of one certificate.

Rad Tech’s Certificate

Automatic Certification: Engineer 0.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Engineer (power plant) check (1D hours, INT or EDU).

The holder is certified to perform maintenance and repair activities on a ship’s power plant, but is not qualified to serve as a ship’s engineer. A potential prerequisite for obtaining an Assistant Engineer’s License.

Sensor Operator’s Certificate

Automatic Certification: Electronics (sensors) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Electronics (comms) check (1D hours, EDU) and Average (8+) Electronics (sensors) check (1D hours, EDU or INT).

Entitles the holder to serve as a ship’s sensop. A prerequisite for obtaining a Limited or Unlimited Mate’s License.

Turret Gunnery Certificate

Automatic Certification: Gunner (turret) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Gunner (turret) check (1D hours, DEX).

Entitles the holder to serve as a ship’s gunnery officer.

Wheeled Vehicle Driver’s Certificate

Automatic Certification: Drive (wheel) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Drive (wheel) check (1D hours, DEX).

Pilot’s Licenses

Grav Vehicle Pilot’s License

Automatic Certification: Flyer (grav) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Flyer (grav) check (1D hours, DEX).

Winged Craft Pilot’s License

Automatic Certification: Flyer (wing) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Flyer (wing) check (1D hours, DEX).

Small Craft Pilot’s License

Automatic Certification: Pilot (small craft) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Pilot (small craft) check (1D hours, DEX).

Spacecraft Pilot’s License

Automatic Certification: Pilot (spacecraft) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Pilot (spacecraft) check (1D hours, DEX).

Entitles the holder to serve as a ship’s pilot.

Bridge Officer Licenses

Limited Mate’s License

Prerequisites: Sensor Operator’s Certificate.

Automatic Certification: Astrogation 0, Pilot (any) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Astrogation check (1D hours, EDU), Average (8+) Pilot (any) check (1D hours, DEX).

Entitles the holder to serve as the executive officer for a ship of less than 1,000 tons. A licensed mate can fulfill the crew requirements of an astrogator, pilot, or sensop. A prerequisite for obtaining a Limited Master’s License.

Unlimited Mate’s License

Prerequisites: Sensor Operator’s Certificate.

Automatic Certification: Astrogation 1, Pilot (spacecraft or capital ships) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Difficult (10+) Astrogation check (1D hours, EDU), Difficult (10+) Pilot (spacecraft or capital ships) check (1D hours, DEX).

Entitles the holder to serve as the executive officer for a ship of any size. A licensed mate can fulfill the crew requirements of an astrogator, pilot, or sensop. A prerequisite for obtaining an Unlimited Master’s License.

Limited Master’s License

Prerequisites: Limited Mate’s License.

Automatic Certification: Admin 0, Leadership 0 or Tactics 0.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Admin check (1D days, EDU) and Routine (6+) Leadership check (1D days, SOC) or Routine (6+) Tactics (naval) check (1D days, INT).

Entitles the holder to serve as the master of a ship of less than 1,000 tons. A licensed master can fulfill the crew requirements of an astrogator, pilot, sensop, or executive officer.

Unlimited Master’s License

Prerequisites: Unlimited Mate’s License.

Automatic Certification: Admin 1, Leadership 1 or Tactics (naval) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Admin check (1D days, EDU) and Average (8+) Leadership check (1D days, SOC) or Average (8+) Tactics (naval) check (1D days, INT).

Entitles the holder to serve as the master of a ship of any size. A licensed master can fulfill the crew requirements of an astrogator, pilot, sensop, or executive officer.

Engineering Licenses

Assistant Engineer’s License

Prerequisites: Drive Tech’s Certificate or Life Support Tech’s Certificate or Rad Tech’s Certificate.

Automatic Certification: Engineer (any) 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Engineer (any) check (1D hours, EDU).

Entitles the holder to serve as a ship’s engineer.

Chief Engineer’s License

Prerequisites: Assistant Engineer’s License.

Automatic Certification: Engineer (any) 2 or 1 skill level in any 2 Engineer specialties.

Qualifying Exam: Difficult (10+) Engineer (any) check (1D days, EDU).

Entitles the holder to serve as a ship’s chief engineer.

Medical Officer Licenses

Certified Medical Technician (CMT)

Automatic Certification: Medic 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Medic check (1D hours, INT or EDU).

Entitles the holder to serve as ship’s medical officer.

Medical Doctor (M.D.)

Automatic Certification: Medic 3.

Qualifying Exam: Difficult (10+) Medic check (1D days, EDU).

An M.D. can practice medicine, including writing prescriptions, handling most ailments, and dealing with other doctors on a professional level. These licenses are issued by accredited medical schools.

Surgeon’s License

Prerequisites: Medical Doctor.

Automatic Certification: DEX 8.

Qualifying Exam: Difficult (10+) Medic check (1D days, DEX).

A surgeon draws +10% salary. A Surgeon’s License is issued by an accredited medical school.

Cargo Handler Licenses

Cargomaster’s Certificate

Automatic Certification: Profession (spacer) 1 or Admin 1.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Profession (spacer) check (1D hours, INT) or Routine (6+) Admin check (1D hours, INT).

Entitles the holder to serve as a ship’s freightmaster.

Basic Hazardous Material Handler’s Endorsement

Prerequisites: Cargomaster’s Certificate.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Profession (spacer) check (1D hours, INT or EDU) or Average (8+) Admin check (1D hours, INT or EDU).

Advanced Hazardous Material Handler’s Certificate

Prerequisites: Basic Hazardous Material Handler’s Endorsement.

Qualifying Exam: Difficult (10+) Profession (spacer) check (1D hours, EDU) or Difficult (10+) Admin check (1D hours, EDU).

Other Licenses

Local Broker’s License

Automatic Certification: Broker 0.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Broker check (1D hours, INT or EDU).

A local broker’s license is specific to a single world. An individual may hold a maximum number of Local Broker’s Licenses equal to one plus their INT modifier, with a minimum of one license.

Broker’s License

Automatic Certification: Broker 1.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Broker check (1D hours, EDU).

A broker’s license is specific to a single subsector.

Subsector Doctor of Law

Automatic Certification: Advocate 1.

Qualifying Exam: Routine (6+) Advocate check (1D hours, EDU).

A member of a Subsector Bar Association and licensed to practice law within a single subsector.

Sector Doctor of Law

Automatic Certification: Advocate 2.

Qualifying Exam: Average (8+) Advocate check (1D hours, EDU).

A member of a Sector Bar Association and licensed to practice law within a single sector.

Imperial Doctor of Law

Automatic Certification: Advocate 3.

Qualifying Exam: Difficult (10+) Advocate check (1D hours, EDU).

A member of the Imperial Bar Association and licensed to practice law throughout the Imperium.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2021 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications' copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.

One Year of COVID Gaming

The last year has been incredibly challenging for so many people in so many ways, and while my small little world hasn't been completely untouched by COVID-19, I’ve also been incredibly fortunate that things have mostly been OK. And I feel extremely thankful for that.

A strange silver lining of the pandemic has been that I have probably played more Dungeons and Dragons in the last year than I’ve ever played in my entire life. And I’ve played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons. It looks like I’ve logged about 240 hours in the last year, which represents two different weekly games that normally run about 2 to 2-½ hours per session.

Evidently, I’m not alone based on a spate of recent media pieces like “Dungeons & Dragons had its biggest year ever as Covid forced the game off tables and onto the web.” It’s been a very sweet outlet, allowing me to see good friends and family a couple of times a week, and I hope we can continue playing well past the epidemic. Although a weekly game requires a decent amount of effort, I find the experience much more rewarding than a less frequent game. You establish a rhythm and momentum that just can’t be sustained even playing every other week.

I have certainly gained a much greater appreciation for 5th Edition, which is probably the strongest version of the game yet. I am still learning some surprisingly basic things: because the game is so streamlined and so similar to past editions, I have missed many important changes. I don’t know how long we played before I realized I didn’t understand how critical hits worked in 5e: you roll damage dice twice and add modifiers once, which is the opposite of how it’s done in 3e. Just a couple of weeks ago I realized that shield is now a reaction to cast. Shield! As basic a spell as you can get. (I think this is a great change, and makes the spell distinct from mage armor.)

I’ve also increased my proficiency with Roll20, which we use in conjunction with Zoom. Although I have some occasional frustrations with the platform, it has the benefit of being incredibly flexible and reasonably easy to use. My biggest wish would be for Roll20 to develop an integrated chat client that actually works for all of my players.

So here’s a roundup of my year of COVID gaming:

Out of the Abyss: This was the game that started it all. We played two face-to-face sessions in December of 2019 followed by single sessions in January and February. Our last in-person game concluded in dramatic fashion, with Demogorgon rising out of the Darklake. But on March 29, 2020 we pivoted to Roll20 for our ninth session—and at that point the characters were mostly 5th level. We’ve been playing ever since and the campaign is still going strong. There was a fairly steep learning curve and probably took us until September before the campaign really kicked into gear. We just completed our 46th session, with most characters at 11th level and the game is clearly moving into the final stages. At the current pace we should be wrapping up some time in June or July, and my great hope is that we’ll be able to finish this campaign out with an in-person game.

Age of Worms: We were able to pick up and complete an abandoned adventure path. Well worth the effort and one of the more satisfying parts of the year.

Into the Interface: My Roll20 Traveller game never did quite reach escape velocity and got crowded out by too much D&D goodness. I haven’t given up on it, and in fact was able to run a pretty strong session back in February. It’s on my 2021 to-do list.

Lost Mine of Phandelver: Probably 95% of my D&D experience has been on the DM side of the screen. One of the great pleasures of the last year has been the chance to participate as a player. One of my friends ran us through this excellent adventure, and I played a bard—which is a lot of fun in 5th edition. Although we completed the main story line, we went back to finish out a couple of side quests and got ourselves way, way over our heads. I’d never really lost a character I liked so much before. 

Curse of Strahd: The same friend offered to run us through this adventure, and I lept at the chance to play again. I’m not sure why, but everyone committed to playing character classes they hadn’t played before (or at least not in a while). My cleric of the Broken God, Brother Powell, has been a blast to run and so far the adventure has very much lived up to its reputation. I really find myself looking forward to this game each week. The PCs are all 8th level and we are preparing for our journey to dread Castle Ravenloft.

Blogging: My summers are usually pretty busy and so most of my blogging gets done in the winter months. I’ve been able to maintain a pretty good pace for posting, mostly focused on Traveller, and seem to be attracting readers. While I expect the pace to slacken with warm weather, I’m hoping to post more regularly this year than in summers past. 

Miniatures: I had genuinely thought that the pandemic would give me an opportunity to catch back up on my painting backlog, but I really haven’t made much progress. In part, I’ve just been too darned busy running and playing D&D and blogging about Traveller. But in part, without face-to-face games, I’ve got far less imperative to get these models painted.

Here’s hoping the COVID situation improves over the next year, and we all have many more opportunities to play face-to-face. While Roll20 has been great, there is just something about sitting down around the same table with good friends that I miss dearly!

Doctor, Doctor

Illustration from “Introducing: The Diagnosticator Medikit!” Ling-Standard Products promotional holobrochure (1043). Courtsey of LSP Sector Archives, Dexter (MAGY 2416).

“In the course of my medical career I have, on occasion, been asked to name the single most important tool for a good Navy doctor. Is it a high tech mediscanner or laser scalpel? Maybe the diagnostic databases or gene editing techniques? Perhaps years of intensive training and experience? The answer, of course, is far more elementary, and has been the same very answer for the last thirty-six-hundred years or so: antibiotics. The best tools for your harried ship’s doctor are high dosage, wide-spectrum antibiotics. And lots and lots of them.” —Dr. Urban Zabulon Konstantinov.

In Traveller, skill levels reflect both experience and expertise. And a few skills, such as Medic, map directly to professions with specific hierarchies of licensure or titles. So how do skill levels relate to these associated professions? Both Classic Traveller and MegaTraveller have an interesting note on the Medical skill:

Medical-1 qualifies an individual as a medic on a starship crew. Medical-3 qualifies an individual as a doctor and assumes a license to practice medicine, including writing prescriptions, handling most ailments, and dealing with other doctors on a professional level. Dexterity 8+ qualifies a doctor to be a surgeon. (MT Player’s Manual 36).

While this approach wouldn’t work with all skills, Advocate 3, for example, might qualify an individual to practice law and represent clients before planetary and Imperial courts.

CT has a companion rule for starship crew: the “Highest skilled [Medic] is ship’s doctor and draws 10% more pay” (Traveller Book 59, 60). But note that this is purely a shipboard honorific and not a license to practice medicine off the ship.

Although Mongoose Traveller did not carry the CT and MT language over verbatim, the Core Rulebook specifically uses Medic as an example of what skill levels might mean within the setting:

A Traveller with Medic 1 may be a paramedic or nurse, while another Traveller with Medic 2 might be a doctor. If a Traveller had Medic 3, they would likely be a very well-regarded doctor with many years of practice under their belt. A Traveller with Medic 4 or 5 would be at least world-renowned, and may well be known across several star systems for his expertise (Core Rules 56).

Further, the MgT2 Central Supply Catalog notes that an autodoc “is capable of diagnosing and treating … medical conditions as efficiently as a qualified doctor (treat as Medic 3)” (81).

Automatically giving MgT characters with Medic 3 a Doctor’s license feels a little gamist, but I really like the simplicity of this approach: a specific level in certain skills generally corresponds to an in-setting accreditation.

Adopting such a rule would create an interesting situation for my own campaign. Consider the Starjammer’s resident medical officer, Howard. With Medic 3, Howard not only qualifies as a Doctor but with DEX 10, a surgeon to boot. This notion has never come up in play and the player has never introduced Howard as anything but a humble ship’s medic. But his career history might explain why he isn’t called Dr. Howard . . . and sets up some interesting game hooks.

The Making of a Doctor

In CT and MT, there are three potential paths to getting Medical-3 and the coveted title of doctor.

1. Happenstance

This is pretty much the only viable path using just the LBBs or The Traveller Book, and it’s not all that easy. Medical is not available on the Personal Development or Service Skills tables for any career: it only appears on the general Advanced Education tables for the Merchant and Scouts careers. While Medical does appear on every career’s second set of Advanced Education tables, those can only be used by characters with EDU 8+.

In Mongoose Traveller, Medic 3 might be a little easier to pick up by happenstance. Medic is a background skill and can be gained through a University education. It’s on the Advanced Education tables for the Agent, Citizen, Rogue (?), and Scout careers and on the Personal Development table for the Army.

2. Career

The CT Citizens of the Imperium supplement and the MT Player’s Handbook both feature Doctor careers. Either version is hard to qualify for, requiring a 9+ entrance roll with bonuses for high INT and EDU. In MegaTraveller, the character must also come from a homeworld with a tech level of 1+, which is a modest bar.

In Mongoose Traveller, the equivalent career is Scholar with the Physician assignment. Further, both the Army and Marines careers have Support assignments for combat medics, which also gives access to the Medic skill.

3. Medical School

In CT, medical school is an option only available in High Guard as part of the pre-enlistment system. This basic mechanic is also used in MegaTraveller. In either edition, getting in is tough but the basic procedure and benefits are similar: any honors graduate of college or a service academy may apply for medical school, which requires a 9+ admission roll. A graduate of medical school can gain an automatic commission at rank O3 in the Army, Navy, Merchant, or Scout services.

Mongoose Traveller has no medical school option, though maybe it should, since without it there’s no easy way to create the archetypal “Navy Doctor.” And what’s a navy starship without its own Dr. Leonard McCoy? Putting together some simple MgT rules for medical school based on MegaTraveller is pretty straightforward.

Medical School for Mongoose Traveller

In Magyar, accredited medical schools are located on any world with a Class A or B starport and Population 7+. Elite medical schools are associated with the Imperial University of Seloo, the Solomani University of Pacific, and Walpurgis University on Kline.

Any Traveller who graduates with honors from University or a Service Academy may apply for admission to Medical School.

Admission: EDU 7+.

Skills: Gain Admin and Medic.

Graduation: EDU 8+. If 11+ is rolled, graduate with honors.

Graduation Benefits

• Gain Medic and Science. Honors graduates receive Electronics and Medic.
• Increase EDU by an additional +1.
• Graduation allows the Traveller to apply for a direct commission (which is granted automatically) before the first term of an Army or Navy career. Marines have no medical officers; they are treated by Navy doctors. The Traveller enters the career at officer rank (O2).

Graduates of medical school are doctors, licensed to practice medicine, regardless of their total levels in Medic.

A Doctor’s License without Medical School

Both CT and MT assume that Travellers can become licensed doctors without graduating from medical school. In contrast, both T20 and GURPS Traveller require a medical degree. The T20 Traveller’s Guidebook states that “To be legally considered a doctor (MD), one must have a Doctorate in Medicine from the University and a Medical skill rank of 5 or greater” (124). And GT: Far Trader has “An M.D. degree requires attending an accredited medical school, regardless of skill” (85).

Even the MT Player’s Manual notes that “Formal training produces documentation that a skill has been learned. This fact is usually unimportant but can make a difference. A character with medical skill learned during combat might not qualify as a ‘genuine’ doctor” (42).

With this in mind I considered using the EDU score as a mechanical proxy for formal medical training. In Traveller⁵, the “Education” table on page 60 of Characters and Combat suggests that a graduate of medical school has an EDU score of 10 (or higher, presumably).

I toyed with amending the CT/MT rule for MgT to read something like “A Traveller with EDU 10+ and Medic 3+ is qualified to practice medicine as a medical doctor.” But in looking at the 40 sample doctors in CT Citizens of the Imperium (1979), I count 29 doctors with a EDU of 9 or less—not quite 75%, but a clear majority.

In the 21st century, the only reliable way to become a medical doctor is to graduate from medical school and complete a residency program, which represents years of intensive, hands-on learning. The thinking is that a resident needs to be exposed to the widest variety of clinical experiences under high stress conditions in order to prepare for becoming a doctor.

This regimen might not be so important in the far, far future. Computer databases, AIs, genetic testing, and advanced scanners should all greatly aid doctors in diagnosing and treating ailments. Reality simulations and maybe (gulp) clones will afford future residents vastly more opportunities to test their skills on a much wider range of patients. Today, a doctor in training might spend years in residency and never see a single patient with tonsillitis. But one week in a reality simulation program could allow a resident to examine hundreds of virtual tonsillitis cases.

So with all of this in mind, I think I will stick with simplicity: in my MgT games, any Traveller with Medic 3 can be qualified to practice as a medical doctor. They just need to secure appropriate certification, which is generally issued by accredited medical schools. A school issues medical degrees to graduates of its four-year programs, but could also issue certifications based on proof of equivalent coursework and appropriate test results.

Paging Dr. Howard?

So let’s bring this back around to the Starjammer’s medical technician, Howard, and his Medic 3 rating. Howard joined the Unified Army of Fugue and after basic combat training was assigned to combat medic training, where he showed great aptitude for the speciality. From there he went on to serve four terms with the Army, steadily increasing his medical skills through a series of deployments. Imperial worlds wracked by fierce urban fighting gave Howard all-too-many opportunities to practice his speciality. During his service Howard continued to study medicine on his own with the dream of becoming an Army doctor.

By the time he reached his fourth term, Howard was a skilled and experienced trauma nurse in line for both a commission and a doctor’s license. But while deployed on Iatur (Magyar 2628 C510A9E-B), a high-population border world, Howard discovered that Major Erk Raines, the chief emergency doctor for his Army hospital, was diverting HerkVees (SuSAG Herakles-V combat drugs) from the regimental supply to the local black market.

Howard cooperated with the military police, who rolled up the scheme and arrested all involved. But Major Raines did not go down without exacting revenge on Howard, trashing the medic’s exemplary service record and effectively blocking any future advancement in the Army.

Howard received an honorable discharge, but his dreams of becoming an Army doctor had been destroyed. Bitter, he joined the merchant interface line Celestine Transfers and served as a ship’s medic for four years before his shipmate Wayne hooked him up with the crew of the Starjammer.

Given his experience as an Army medic, Howard could easily get his ship’s surgeon certification. He would just have choke back any lingering resentment, complete his paperwork, pay a (probably hefty) fee to a medical school, and pass the appropriate certification exam.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2021 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications' copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.

Who is Essential? Starship Crew and Traveller

“Sure it’s your ship. Sure you can crew it however you want. But those Shululsish Model/7s sitting in your hold are still the express property of New Walpurgis Factors. And if you don’t fly with a TAS-certified complement, our insurer will cancel our policy, and then FirstSectorTrust will call in their loan. And that, Captain, would render our contract with you null and void. So I suggest you either find that second engineer in the next three hours, or you start unloading those computers before our liquidated damages begin to kick in.” —Nashu Lushuka, NWF Principal Broker.

Beginning with the Little Black Books in 1977, the six iconic crew positions for Traveller starships are Pilot, Navigator, Engineer, Steward, Medic, and Gunner. Each position in turn corresponds to a matching starship skill. The same positions and skills remain largely intact in the 2016 edition of Mongoose Traveller, though navigator is now called astrogator.

The iconic six crew positions cover a lot of ship needs, but do they cover everything? In thinking about the crew positions for my PC’s armed packet Starjammer I decided to check other editions of Traveller to see what they require. And after my review, I think there’s at least one missing crew position that might be worth adding to the MgT system.

Crew for the Beowulf

Although CT and MgT use similar calculations to compute the required crew for a starship, other editions vary greatly in how they determine the necessary positions. Traveller⁵, for example, appears to have completely abandoned hard requirements for crew—though some of the example ships apparently follow an (unfortunately unpublished) rule-of-thumb.

To illustrate the differences, let’s consider the crew requirements for a classic Type A, 200-ton Beowulf-class free trader from the following sources: 

• Classic Traveller (CT) - The Traveller Book (1982)
• MegaTraveller (MT) - The Imperial Encyclopedia (1987)
• Traveller: The New Era (TNE) - Traveller: The New Era (1993)
• Traveller Fourth Edition (T4) - Marc Miller’s Traveller (1996)
• GURPS Traveller (GT) - GURPS Traveller (2002)
• Traveller T20 (T20) - The Traveller’s Handbook (2006)
• Traveller Hero (TH) - Adventurers In Charted Space (2007)
• Mongoose Traveller 2e (MgT) - High Guard (2016)
• Traveller⁵ version 5.10 (T5) - Starships (2019) 

TNE is evidently the only edition without a direct Beowulf conversion: the TNE free trader is a 200 ton, TL10 ship.

Although the crew requirements for a free trader are similar across editions, there are some interesting differences. CT, MT, T4, TH, and T20 have four required crew positions. GT, MgT, and T5 have five required crew positions, and TNE has six required positions. It's unclear to me if this larger TNE crew requirement reflects a lower tech level or some peculiarity of the TNE design system. In any case, here are the required crew positions for a Beowulf across editions:

• Pilot: Required in all editions, though MT specifies only one Bridge crewmember while TNE specifies two Maneuver crewmembers. In T4 this position is combined with Astrogator.
• Astrogator: Required in GT, T20, TH, MgT, and T5. In CT, Navigators are only required on ships "above 200 tons [emphasis added]." In MT the solitary Bridge crewmember presumably doubles as Astrogator, as in T4. In TNE the Astrogator is presumably the second member of the Maneuver Crew.
• Engineer: Required in all editions, and both TNE and GT require two Engineers.
• Medic: Required in CT, MT, T4, and MgT. In T20, TH, and T5 this position is combined with the Steward position. Not required in GT or TNE.
• Steward: Required in all editions, though in T20, TH, and T5 this position is combined with the Medic position.
• Gunner: Required only in MgT and optional in CT, TH, and T5. Not specified in MT, TNE, T4, GT, or T20. Although a free trader has two hard points in all editions, ships working relatively peaceful, well-patrolled regions probably don’t use those hard points on weapons and thus would not need gunners.
• Freightmaster: Required only in T5, but probably worth considering further in a future post.
• Sensors/Comms Officer: Required only in GT, though TNE requires two Electronics crewmembers who presumably cover this position. Not required in CT, MT, TH, or MgT. While not required for a free trader in T4, T20, and T5, these editions all acknowledge the importance of this position.

Sensors and Communications Operators

A sensor readout of an incoming missile barrage.

As noted above, each of the six iconic crew positions correspond to one of six key starship skills. Traveller⁵, though, asserts that there are actually seven key starships skills: Astrogator, Engineer, Gunner, Medic, Pilot, Steward . . . so far, so good . . . and Sensors (Characters and Combat 160–161).

This strongly implies a seventh iconic crew position: Sensor Operator. And on reflection, that makes a lot of sense. As Traveller⁵ puts it, “Sensors are the eyes and ears” of a starship (Starships 136). Further, Sensors here include not just scanners and detectors but also the communication systems for the ship (Starships 90).

CT does not have a similar requirement, though High Guard requires, as part of the command section of ships 1,000 tons or larger, one “computer officer” and two “communication officers” (32). No real details are provided about either position, but HG does introduce the Communications skill.

While neither CT nor MT require sensor operators, TNE does—at least in some fashion. All required crew positions in TNE are grouped into broad sections such as maneuver, engineering, and electronics. The latter presumably handles on-board sensors and communications. An Electronics crewmember is required on even the smallest of ships: the scout/courier description, for example, notes that “Standard practice is for one maneuver crewmember to double as the ship's electronics operator” (TNE 366). And every sample ship in the core book, including small craft—but with the strange exception of the yacht—has at least one electronics crew position.

Most subsequent editions, with the notable exception of MgT, include a similar requirement. T4 includes provisions for an electronics crew operating on-board sensors, communicators, and computers, noting that “Small vehicles may dispense with dedicated electronics operators, allowing the pilot to monitor sensors and communications, but this results in the possibility of overload during high-stress situations such as combat or in-flight emergencies” (T4 Fire, Fusion, Steel 75, 77).

GURPS Traveller fully embraces the need for sensors and communications operators as seen in the Beowulf crew requirements. In GT, “Standard crew [for a bridge] includes a captain, pilot, navigator, sensors officer/operator, and commo officer/operator” (149). So any GT ship with a bridge should have both a sensor and a communications operator. But GT also stipulates that “Bridge crews are often smaller, with one person handling multiple tasks” (GURPS Traveller 149). The Beowulf bridge crew, for example, combines four different positions into two, resulting in one captain/pilot, one navigator, and one sensor/comms operator (GURPS Traveller 132).

While T20 does not require sensor or communications operators for the Beowulf, both positions are required for starships of 1,000 tons or greater:

Comms can be handled from any bridge position, so only large ships carry a dedicated comms officer. Anyone can operate the communications system under normal conditions, but under stress or in an unusual situation, someone with Communications skill is needed. . . . Sensor operations are often doubled up with the Pilot’s job, but in tricky conditions someone (who has Sensors skill) should be monitoring sensor data. The Astrogator often does this during normal-space flights (The Traveller’s Handbook 346).

Traveller⁵ also emphasizes the importance of the sensor and communications operator positions, while acknowledging that these functions can be combined with other positions. In T5, sensors are co-located with the Bridge and are operated by specific crew members under the general job title of Sensor Operator, or Sensop. Comms is simply a Sensop specializing in communications. The Sensop may be a dedicated, full-time crew member or may operate the Sensors as part of a greater job responsibility (Starships 90, 136).

Adding Sensops to Mongoose Traveller

Given all of this, it seems natural to add a Sensop crew position to MgT. In fact, given the importance of sensors and comms to regular starship operations, it seems a little weird not to have one already.

The MgT High Guard book has a few scattered references to sensor operators, but the position is not listed under Crew Requirements on page 21, and none of the example ships have one. The “Sensor Station” entry notes that we can find “typical numbers of sensor operators on page 41,” but there’s nothing there. The answer is actually buried in the “Multiple Warheads Incoming!” sidebar on page 28: “assume that a ship will have one sensor operator for every full 1,000 tons.” This is consistent with the T20 guidelines. The sidebar further notes that “At his discretion, a referee may specify a particular ship has more or less sensor operators.”

So what would be the case against adding a sensops crew requirement to MgT? One might argue that within the Third Imperium setting, almost any traveller should be able to use computers, communicators, or even sensor equipment—making a dedicated crew position unnecessary.

But space is big and given how utterly dependent starships are on their sensors and comms, I’m not sure that argument really flies. In nearly any kind of shipboard emergency, the most important initial activities would include a sensors sweep to assess what help might be available, and a distress signal to summon that help. Wouldn’t you want to have someone on board who not only knew which flashing button to push, but could actually repair your damaged sensor array or retune the comms system to boost a tight beam signal? I mean, if the guy who knows how to prepare a proper Vilani aperitif has a dedicated crew position, shouldn’t you have one for all those vital shipboard electronics systems?

Another argument against adding a new crew position would be that it really puts the squeeze on smaller ships—both in terms of economics and stateroom accommodations. I think this is a legitimate concern, but one we should be able address through existing game mechanics.

First, all editions with a sensors/comms operator requirement note that it can be combined with other positions. Second, both comms and sensors are just specialties of a single Electronics skill (along with computers and remote ops, for that matter), so we don’t need to create multiple positions—a single sensop position should suffice. And third, Electronics is relatively common: it’s a background skill and available through every career except Drifter. Although Electronics is not a Service Skill for the Navy career, it shows up on all three Assignment tables as well as the Advanced Education table. For the Starjammer, 7 out of the 9 crewmembers have at least one Electronics speciality of level 1 or more.

We can also avoid squeezing small ships by limiting the crew requirement to a ships of a certain size or larger. T20’s 1,000 tons seems too high for such an important position. In Traveller⁵ Starships, the 200 ton Beowulf has no Sensop crewmember requirement (44), while the 400 ton Daring-class patrol frigate has one (46).

Setting the breakpoint somewhere in between would grandfather several classic ships out of the requirement—such as the free trader or safari ship—but make it common enough to be an essential crew position for many other Traveller starships.

Putting all of this together, here’s a Sensop crew requirement for MgT:

• Position Sensop
• Skills Electronics
• Monthly Salary Cr3000
• Commercial Requirements 1 if ship is 400 tons or more
• Military Requirements 1 if ship is more than 200 tons plus 1 per 1,000 tons

While commercial starships of 200 tons or less may not require a dedicated sensops, good practice calls for at least one crewmember to possess a minimum of Electronics 0.

Copyright Information

The Traveller game in all forms is owned by Far Future Enterprises. Copyright © 1977 – 2021 Far Future Enterprises. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Far Future permits web sites and fanzines for this game, provided it contains this notice, that Far Future is notified, and subject to a withdrawal of permission on 90 days notice. The contents of this site are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any use of Far Future Enterprises’s copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. In addition, any program/articles/file on this site cannot be republished or distributed without the consent of the author who contributed it.

Materials produced by Digest Group Publications (DGP) are copyright © Roger Sanger. Any use of Digest Group Publications' copyrighted material or trademarks anywhere on this Web site and its files should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights. Usage is intended to follow the guidelines announced by Roger Sanger on the Traveller Mailing List for preserving the overall Traveller milieu.