Traveller Cheatsheets
In my How to Learn a New System post, I said that I like to make cheatsheets before embarking on a full campaign, and I gave a cheatsheet I’d made for Traveller as an example.
This post has an updated version of that sheet, and all my other Traveller sheets. I’ve been using these for a few months now (except for the space piracy one, which is fairly new), and these are the first things I get out when sitting down to run a session.
These sheets are for Mongoose Traveller 2e, using the pre-2022-update rulebook. I don’t think the 2022 core rulebook update significantly changed anything, but if you have that you should double-check before using these.
The Sheets
Basics, covering:
- Checks (with the optional luck rule from the Traveller Companion)
- Combat
- Damage
- Healing
- Common weapon traits
- My house rules for healing and rumour gathering
I know this more or less off by heart now, I don’t need to look at it much. But it’s handy to have open just in case.
And here is a version without the house rules.
Spacecraft, covering:
- Common skill checks
- Skimming fuel from gas giants
- Running costs
- Jump travel and misjumps
- Damage and repairs
- Common travel times
- The challenges of being in space: zero-G, life support, and exposure to vacuum and radiation
- Space combat (including the critical hits table and examples)
This one is three pages. Not ideal, but I refer to it all frequently.
Universal World Profile (UWP), covering:
- How to read a UWP
- Starport qualities, berthing and fuel costs, and facilities
- Trade codes
- Travel zones
I mostly use this for the list of berthing costs. I’m using the official Traveller setting in my campaign, so I can use the excellent travellermap.com, rather than needing to decode UWPs myself.
Piracy, a recent addition based on the Pirates of Drinax books, covering:
- Common skill checks
- Lists of random ships by type
- Attacking other ships: distress signals, morale, and looting times
- Piracy response from local world governments
- Piracy response from the Third Imperium and Aslan Hierate
- Refuelling times
- Stealing ships
- Transferring cargo in zero-G
- NPC crew: salaries, morale, and dividing the spoils
Also a three-pager, but the third page just covers NPC crew, and which I don’t expect to need to refer to very frequently.