Copyright © 1998 Andy Slack. All Rights Reserved.
Character generation, combat, equipment, skills and task resolution are as per 2300 AD. Treat a Traveller Credit as being worth one 2300 AD Livre.
Where careers give a character languages, English or French become Anglic (unless a character receives both, in which case the second one is treated as Vilani). Other languages commonly known are Darrian, Gurvin (the lingua franca of the Hive Federation), Gvaegh (Vargr), Trokh (Aslan), and Zhodani.
If using the full character generation rules, human characters must have Normal body types. Human states normally use Anglic as the language of government and trade; human PCs know Anglic as their native language.
Human characters are commonly of mixed Solomani/Vilani descent, but may be pure-blooded Solomani or Vilani, Darrians, Sword Worlders, Zhodani, or members of minor human races. When drawing motivation cards for Zhodani, note that most face cards are considered mental illness in the Zhodani Consulate, and will result in re-education by the Tavr'chedle (Thought Police) - at least, if they catch you...
Aslan are lionlike aliens with a samurai culture. If using the full character generation rules, Aslan characters must be Mesomorphs; if using the fast generation house rules, Aslan add 4 to Strength and 2 to Endurance, but deduct 2 from Dexterity, and mass 35 kg more than a human of the same attributes. Aslan have dewclaws which do Normal damage in melee, rather than Stun or Blunt Trauma. Male Aslan may only enter Military careers. Aslan know Trokh as their native language.
When drawing motivation cards for Aslan NPCs, note that any Aslan with a 'dishonourable' motivation is either an outcast from his clan, or will be as soon as they discover his motivation. Dishonourable cards are the king of spades (deceit) and any diamond except the Ace (generosity).
Droyne are small aliens, resembling bird-like lizards with vestigial wings. They are not suitable for use as player characters.
Gurvin are six-limbed, bearlike aliens who serve the Hive Federation as merchants and businessmen. Their language has become the Federation's language of rule. Gurvin characters are generated in the same way as humans, except that after all dice are rolled or points allocated, Gurvin males halve their Intelligence attribute. This also reduces their Education.
When drawing motivation cards for Gurvin, treat the highest card drawn as a Diamond, whatever its actual suit. Gurvin are therefore very concerned with money, and tend to put most of their skill points into Appraisal, Bargaining or Trader skills; this in turn predisposes them to the Core Worlder and Independent Trader careers, where these are Primary skills.
Hivers are starfish-like aliens driven by curiosity and a strong parental instinct; they have a reputation for cowardice and meddling. If using the full character generation rules, Hivers must be Ectomorphs. If using the fast generation house rules, Hivers add 3 to Dexterity but deduct 2 from Strength. In either case, Hivers weigh 50 kg more than a human with the same attributes. Hivers have no spoken language, and communicate by touch, scent and gesture; however, the Hive Federation uses Gurvin as a lingua franca. Hivers may not pursue Military careers.
When drawing motivation cards for Hivers, ignore all face cards and diamonds. Clubs indicate the Hiver's ability to overcome its dislike of physical violence, with higher values meaning it is more used to the idea. Spades measure curiosity rather than ambition. Hearts measure the parental instinct.
Ithklur are reptilian aliens with a culture vaguely resembling Zen Buddhism as interpreted by Monty Python; they are the Hive Federation's elite ground troops. If using the full character generation rules, Ithklur characters must be Mesomorphs; if using the fast generation house rules, Ithklur add 4 to Strength and 2 to Endurance, but deduct 2 from Dexterity, and mass 35 kg more than a human of the same attributes. Ithklur may only enter Military careers; when drawing motivation cards, ignore face cards. Ithklur have two native languages; Ithklur, and Gurvin (the lingua franca of the Hive Federation). They make a point of speaking Gurvin badly.
K'Kree are centaur-like aliens; they are herd animals and militant vegetarians. They are not suitable for use as player characters.
Vargr are wolflike aliens with a reputation for piracy and impulsiveness. If using the full character generation rules, Vargr must be Ectomorphs. If using the fast generation house rules, Vargr add 3 to Dexterity but deduct 2 from Strength, and mass 20 kg less than a human of the same attributes. Vargr know Gvaegh as their native language.
In general, characteristic names are the same in both systems.
Social Standing and Eloquence are treated as equivalent as their basic game function - persuading NPCs to do what you want - is the same.
2300 AD Size is derived from body type and Strength, so can be worked out normally.
2300 AD Determination can be treated as equal to Intelligence, Endurance or the average of the two, depending on how you see it. My personal preference is to rate it at the same level as Endurance, which is the closest match to the original (1977) Traveller rules.
To convert characteristics, you can work out the exact probabilities of each value under each system, but frankly just adding three to the Traveller value gets you pretty close to the 2300 AD value, and that's the method I normally use.
Skill names are much the same in both systems. Based on the % chance of success at a Routine task, Classic Traveller and 2300 AD skill levels are roughly equal; if converting characters from MegaTraveller, Traveller: The New Era, or Traveller 4th Edition, deduct one from the Traveller skill level to reflect the fact that tasks are easier in those systems.
The table below shows 2300 AD skills and their equivalents in Traveller. As I didn't play MegaTraveller or Traveller: The New Era for very long, there were no characters worth converting, so I never developed specific skills conversion lists for them.
| Traveller Book 1 Only | Full Classic Traveller | 2300 AD | ||
| Administration | Administration | Bureaucracy (and Trader, for Book 1 PCs only). | ||
| Air/Raft | Grav Vehicle | Aircraft Pilot | ||
| ATV | Vehicle (Tracked / Wheeled) | Ground Vehicle | ||
| - | Battle Dress | Combat Walker and P-Suit | ||
| Blade Combat (all) | Blade Combat (all) | Melee | ||
| Brawling | Brawling | Melee | ||
| Bribery | Bribery | Subsumed in Eloquence | ||
| - | Broker | Trader | ||
| - | Carousing | Subsumed in Eloquence | ||
| - | Combat Engineering | Engineering, if learned in Ground Military career | ||
| - | Communications | Communications | ||
| Computer | Computer | Computer | ||
| - | Demolitions | Demolitions | ||
| Electronic | Electronic | Electronic | ||
| Engineering | Engineering | Ship Drive Engineering | ||
| - | FA Gunnery | - | ||
| - | Fleet Tactics | Tactics, if PC's career was Ship Crew or Space Military | ||
| - | Equestrian | Riding | ||
| Forgery | Forgery | Forgery | ||
| Forward Observer | Forward Observer | Forward Observer | ||
| Gambling | Gambling | Gambling | ||
| - | Gravitics | - | ||
| Gun Combat (Auto Pistol, Body Pistol, Revolver) | Gun Combat (Handgun, Pistol) | Sidearm | ||
| Gun Combat (Auto Rifle, Carbine, Laser Rifle, Laser Carbine, SMG, Shotgun) | Gun Combat (Combat Rifle, Laser Weapons, SMG) | Combat Rifle | ||
| Gunnery | Gunnery (Meson Weapons, Ship's Energy Weapons, Ship's Lasers, Ship's Particle Accelerators) | Gunner | ||
| Gunnery | Gunnery (Ship's Missiles) | Remote Pilot | ||
| - | Gunnery (Screens) | - | ||
| - | Heavy Weapons (All) | Heavy Weapons | ||
| - | Hunting | Hunting and Tracking | ||
| - | Instruction | - | ||
| - | Interrogation | Interviewing | ||
| Jack Of Trades | Jack Of Trades | - | ||
| Leader | Leader | Leader | ||
| - | Legal | - | ||
| - | Liaison | Subsumed in Eloquence | ||
| Mechanical | Mechanical | Mechanical | ||
| Medical | Medical | Medical or First Aid | ||
| - | Melee Combat | Melee | ||
| - | Naval Architect | - | ||
| Navigation | Navigation | Sensors | ||
| Pilot | Pilot | Pilot, and Aircraft Pilot at one level lower | ||
| - | Prospecting | Prospecting | ||
| - | Recon | Reconnaissance | ||
| - | Recruiting | Subsumed in Eloquence | ||
| Ship's Boat | Ship's Boat | Aircraft Pilot | ||
| - | Ship Tactics | Tactics, if PC's career was Ship Crew or Space Military | ||
| Steward | Steward | - | ||
| Streetwise | Streetwise | Streetwise | ||
| - | Survey | - | ||
| - | Survival | Survival | ||
| Tactics | Tactics | Tactics | ||
| Vacc Suit | Vacc Suit | P-Suit | ||
| Vehicle (Grav Belt) | - | - | ||
| Vehicle (Ground Car) | Vehicle (Wheeled) | Ground Vehicle | ||
| Vehicle (Hovercraft) | Vehicle (Hovercraft) or Water Craft (Hover) | Hover Vehicle | ||
| - | Vehicle (LTA Craft) | LTA Vehicle | ||
| Vehicle (Watercraft) | Vehicle (Small Water Craft) or Water Craft (Any) | Sea Vehicle | ||
| Vehicle (Winged Craft) | Aircraft or Vehicle (Any Aircraft) | Aircraft Pilot | ||
| - | Zero-G Combat | - |
Notes
Book 1 Vehicle skills are not listed in the 1977 edition, but do appear in the 1981 edition. 'Full Classic Traveller' means the character generation systems presented in Books 1, 4, 5, and 6, Supplement 4, and Special Supplement 1.
Converted characters should be given Combat Rifle-0, Melee-0 and Sidearm-0 to represent the 'skill level 1/2 in all weapons' enjoyed by Traveller PCs. They should also be given the initial skills for the appropriate career.
While Traveller characters must specialise in a specific Heavy Weapon, 2300 AD characters are equally skilled with all.
There are no 2300 AD equivalents to the Traveller skills of Bribery, Carousing, Instruction, Liaison, Recruiting or Steward. These skills are similar in their effects to the Eloquence characteristic in 2300 AD. There is also no 2300 AD equivalent to Jack of All Trades skill, although since MegaTraveller uses it to make it easier to retry a failed task, you could argue that it is similar to the Determination characteristic.
Pilot and Ship's Boat skills are related in Traveller, but Pilot and Aircraft Pilot are not in 2300 AD. Traveller characters can use Pilot as Ship's Boat of one skill level lower, hence converted characters also have Aircraft Pilot.
If a character gets the same skill as an initial skill from the appropriate career, and also from a converted Traveller skill, use the higher of the two skill levels (e.g. a character with Rifle-3 converted to a Ground Military career would get Combat Rifle-2 from the career, and Combat Rifle-3 from his skill; he has Combat Rifle-3 when converted). If several Traveller skills all convert to the same 2300 AD skill, use the highest Traveller skill level (e.g. Brawling-2 and Cutlass-3 convert to Melee-3.)
Mercenary and High Guard generate characters with medals. The SEH is worth 3 Renown Points, the MCG is worth 2, and the MCUF is worth 1. Purple hearts and CSRs are too common to give a character Renown.
If the character has a Morale rating (explained in Mercenary), it becomes his Coolness Under Fire. Otherwise, Coolness Under Fire is generated in the normal way, i.e. roll 1D6 and add +1 per turning point in a military, law enforcement, field agent or extralegal career.
Before conversion: 797AC8; Scout 3 terms. Electronic-1, Jack Of Trades-1, Pilot-2, Vac Suit-1.
By the 'add 3 points' rule, this gives him Size 10, Strength 10, Dexterity 12, Endurance 10, Determination 10, Intelligence 13, Eloquence 11, Education 15.
Ship Crew, Scout or Contact careers would be suitable; the best fit to Shel's established past as a courier pilot is Ship Crew. This gives skills of Computer-0, Melee-1, Pilot-0, P-Suit-1, Ship Drive Engineering-0, and Survival-0.
The Traveller skills convert to Aircraft Pilot-1 (from Pilot), Combat Rifle-0, Electronic-1, Melee-0 (superceded by the Melee-1 from Initial skills), Pilot-2 (superceding the Pilot-0 from Initial skills), P-Suit-1 (superceding the P-Suit-1 from Initial skills), and Sidearm-0. Jack Of Trades is dropped as it has no equivalent - an alternative would be to increase Shel's Determination by this amount, but it would have no game effect as it would not take the attribute over a break point.
Shel's complete converted skill list is therefore Aircraft Pilot-1, Combat Rifle-0, Computer-0, Electronic-1, Melee-1, Pilot-2, P-Suit-1, Ship Drive Engineering-0, Sidearm-0, Survival-0.
Shel has no medals (you don't get them in the Scouts), and so no Renown. Under Mercenary his Morale (and thus his Cool) would be generated by rolling 1D6.
Ah, now that would be telling!
Normally I convert these by function rather than specifically looking at statistics. For example, the Skyhopper Jetpack and Grav Belt serve the same game function, although the technology and statistics are wildly different.
Antigravity versions of any 2300 AD hover vehicle can be bought at ten times the hovercraft's list price; the antigrav versions are operated using Aircraft Pilot skill.
2300 AD Core worlds have A class starports. Frontier worlds have class B-D starports - B if heavy colonisation, C if medium colonisation, D if light colonisation. Outposts have class E starports. Class X starports are not on the normal trade routes.
This is used as it stands to describe world diameter.
This determines the gravity, world type, and protective gear required. For purposes of this table, 'Garden' includes Pre-Garden, Garden, Glacier and Post-Glacier worlds. The costs of filter masks are subsumed in upkeep.
| # | Description | Gravity | World Type | Protection Required | ||||
| 0 | None | Zero | Iceball or Rockball | P-Suit | ||||
| 1 | Trace | Zero | Failed Core | P-Suit | ||||
| 2 | Very Thin, Tainted | Zero | Desert | Respirator | ||||
| 3 | Very Thin | Zero | Desert | Respirator | ||||
| 4 | Thin, Tainted | Low | Garden | Filter Mask | ||||
| 5 | Thin | Low | Garden | None | ||||
| 6 | Standard | Normal | Garden | None | ||||
| 7 | Standard, Tainted | Normal | Garden | Filter Mask | ||||
| 8 | Dense | High | Garden | None | ||||
| 9 | Dense, Tainted | High | Garden | Filter Mask | ||||
| A | Exotic | Not Zero | Garden | Respirator | ||||
| B | Corrosive | Not Zero | Hothouse | Hostile Environment Suit | ||||
| C | Insidious | Not Zero | Hothouse | Hostile Environment Suit |
Where the atmosphere type alone is not enough to determine gravity, assume that worlds of size 0-3 have Zero gravity, 4-7 have Low gravity, 8-9 have Normal gravity, and A have High gravity.
These are the same in both systems.
Population 0-3 worlds are Outposts. Population 4-8 worlds are Frontier worlds. Population 9-A worlds are Core worlds.
This is used as it stands to describe the local government. In 2300 AD, most human worlds are government type 6 (colony) or 7 (balkanised); Kafer worlds are always government type B (non-charismatic dictator).
This is used as it stands to describe the local laws.
Humanity in 2300 AD is on the cusp between Traveller tech levels 11 and 12. The majority of technology is TL 11, with occasional TL 12 items, especially in the field of personal weapons.