SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCOMFORT RATINGS IN MEGATRAVELLER, or
Putting Some Teeth in the Accommodations Rules
The MegaTraveller design sequence rules have always been full of flaws,
holes, and inconsistencies, which GDW has regrettably not yet made right.
The level of detail of various sections is incongruous, with 'agility genera-
tors' of zero mass and volume (but using hundreds or thousands of megawatts
of power nevertheless) side by side with communicators smaller than your fist
whose volume we are supposed to track in a ship the size of an office build-
ing. Enough of that.
MegaTraveller introduced the use of seats of varying sizes (from 'no
access' to 'roomy') for the crew and passengers of small vehicles, but gave
no rules for their use. What difference can it possibly make, do I hear you
ask? Well, as someone who does not like to be stuffed into a subcompact car
('cramped' seats) for eight hours at a stretch, I have come up with the
following rules suggestion. Like most suggestions, this is not something
that I would keep track of on a regular basis, but rather something that I
would use when the players seemed to be abusing the system (or abusing their
characters!)
I would suggest that a task roll be made occasionally, with the timing
to depend on the type of accommodation, to avoid discomfort. The effect of
discomfort would be to reduce all applicable skills by one per failed discom-
fort roll, with a maximum reduction to an effective skill of zero. This
represents fatigue. Try checking for 'seats' once per hour, for 'extended
occupancy seats' once every four hours, and long term accommodations daily.
To avoid discomfort, <difficulty>, Determination, <time> (absolute)
Difficulties would be:
No Access seat, or Bunk: Formidable
Cramped or Open Seat or Small Stateroom: Difficult
Adequate seat or Double Occupancy Stateroom: Routine
Roomy seat or Single Occupancy Stateroom: Simple
Thus, a space fighter pilot on a six day patrol mission in a craft with small
craft staterooms would roll a difficult task once per day to avoid discomfort
related to the length of his patrol. The driver of a small ground car with
cramped seats would roll once per hour for a difficult task, and will proba-
bly be driving at less than his maximum efficiency as he approaches the end
of a ten hour trip.
The effects of discomfort would be ended when the affected character has time
enough to rest in a 'larger environment', let's say for at least half the
time increment of the seat type. Thus, a driver could remove the effect of
one level of discomfort by spending a half and hour at a rest stop along the
highway. I have to think about this section a bit more, but it's a start.
Judicious application of this rule should encourage players to spend the
extra money on larger vehicles with spacious accommodations, which helps to
give that realistic feel to the game.
Rob Dean