Some Random House Rules for Traveler

Okay, so our bi-weekly Castles & Crusades game was pre-empted by a massive thunder and lightning storm which took out the power in my neighborhood last night.  A couple of the dudes showed anyway and we hung out and chatted and snacked by candlelight for a bit before calling it a night. So while I waited for the power to come back on I had some time to think.

At first I was mostly thinking about how it's usually around hour six of a blackout that the roving bands of mutants appear and come after your canned goods.  But then I started mulling over how to run a sci-fi campaign.  So when the lights came back on (uncomfortable close to that six hour mark) I dragged Traveler off the shelf and hit up the character creation section.  So here are some random house rules for ya.

Enlistment: Just ditch the Enlistment roll.  This rule is sadistic and a simply waste of everyone's time.  Players get to pick whatever the hell career they want.  Optional: if they want to change careers, then they must make an enlistment roll; their reputation may have preceded them.

Survival: This rule is sadistic and a simply waste of everyone's time.  Instead of death failure here now means you've suffered some major catastrophe but aren't dead.  (But no, that which does not kill you does not make you stronger.)  Roll 1d6 and subtract 1 (permanently) from the corresponding characteristic: 1 = STR, 2 = DEX, 3 = END, 4 = INT, 5 = EDU, 6 = SOC.

Basic Service Skills: you should learn one basic skill per career, so...
Navy -- Vacc Suit 1 or Ship's Boat 1
Marines -- Vacc Suit 1 or Rifle 1
Army -- Vehicle 1 or Rifle 1
Scouts -- Vacc Suit 1 or Survival 1
Merchant -- Vacc Suit 1 or Broker 1
Other -- Streetwise 1 or Carousing 1

Reenlistment: Optional, unless you suffered a Survival failure, in which case you may not be quite the person you were before.


Also, I don't really like the set of weapons they have in Traveler for the Blade and Gun categories, mostly because they feel too dated for me for some reason (shotguns are for hillbillies, not futuristic adventurers).  Here are my revised "modern" lists.

Blades
Knife: 8+/3-/2D
Hatchet:  8+/3-/2D
Machete: 9+/5-/3D
Katana: 10+/5-/4D
Chainsword: 12+/8-/5D

Guns
Laser Pistol: 9+/7-/3D
Laser Rifle: 10+/6-/5D
Laser LMG: 8+/4-/5D
Gauss Heavy Rifle: 12+/7-/6D
Grenade Launcher: 10+/7-/7D
Missile Launcher (shoulder-launched): 10+/7-/10D