It’s great to know that the Classic Traveller Character Generator has a rich history of development and contributions from talented individuals like Paul Gorman and Frank Filz. Open-source projects like this one often benefit from the collective efforts of dedicated contributors who continuously improve and expand their functionality.

The fact that the original java script source code is available ensures that the tool remains accessible and adaptable for the Traveller community. This kind of collaboration and open sharing of resources is a testament to the strong and enduring legacy of the Traveller roleplaying game.

In the Far Future I’m looking to work on expanding the generator to include alien races.

The options are documented in the sections below:

URL Parameters Example:

history=verbose&service=navy&minscore=4&muster=split&hunt=ship&personal=always&vehicles=1977

history

  • debug – show all the rolls plus a few extra decision making steps
  • verbose – show all the rolls
  • none – don’t show the history at all
  • any other value – results in a simplified history, the default

service

Specify a preferred service instead of random.

  • navy
  • marines
  • army
  • scouts
  • merchants
  • other

minscore

Specify the minimum score for the preferred service (applies to the random service if a preferred service is not specified). The score is normally the enlistment bonus the character has for a particular service.

The selection algorithm normally takes the preferred service (random or using the service option above) and starts with the enlistment bonus for that service. It then checks each service in order, if the examined service has a higher enlistment bonus that the currently selected service, it switches. If they are the same, there is a 2D roll, 8+ switches.

  • 0 – default value, score is calculated for each service as above
  • 1-3 – these values give a preference to the chosen service
  • 4 – since 4 is higher than the maximum enlistment bonus, the selected service will be chosen for enlistment, the draft can still occur.
  • 8888 – overrides the draft with the preferred service (the character is still treated as having been drafted, but the preferred service is chosen).
  • 9999 – overrides the enlistment roll, forcing enlistment to the selected service (no draft).

muster

This option allows guiding the mustering out process. The default process is to make up to three cash rolls before rolling on the material benefits table.

  • ship – don’t roll for cash until a ship is acquired if possible
  • TAS – don’t roll for cash until Travellers’ is acquired if possible
  • special – combination of above
  • split – alternate cash and material benefits rolls (until mmaximum number of cash rolls have been taken).
  • any other value – default behavior of taking cash rolls first.

maxcash

This option allows specifying the maximum number of cash rolls to make. It may be set anywhere from 0 to 3 or even higher (setting it higher is considerd “cheating”).

hunt

This option is a real timesaver. It lets the system re-roll characters until it finds one that meets the specfied criteria.

  • ship – keep rolling characters until a ship is acquired
  • TAS – keep rolling characters until Travellers’ is acquired
  • special – keep rolling until ship or TAS is acquired
  • skill – keep rolling until skill is acquired. Note that this option is currently a bit limited. Skills that are multiple words can not be searched for.

level

When used with hunt=>skill, specifies the minimum level of skill sought.

vehicles

This option allows customization of the skill tables to meet specific versions of Classic Traveller. The changes all surround the vehicle skill. The default is The Traveller Book.

  • 1977 – Use the 1977 vehicles (ATV and Air/Raft), Merchants get Strength +1 instead of vehicle and Other gets Forgery instead of Vehicle.
  • 1981 – Use the 1981 vehicles (Vehicle cascade, except Air/Raft for Army, Merchants Strength +1 replaced with Vehicle, Other Forgery replaced with Vehicle)
  • any other value – Default as per The Traveller Book. Note this is a mish-mash between 1977 and 1981.

personal

This option controls when the Personal Development table is used. The default will not use the Personal Development table if Education is 8+.

  • always – The Personal Development table is always available.

cascade

This option allows leaving cascade skills for the player to determine after the fact. For benefits, it will distribute the benefit as a weapon and then add to the cascade skill. Verbose history can be used to unwind if the player wants to take multiple weapon benefits.

  • skip – Leave cascade skills to be determined later.

minterms

With this option, the generator will not accept a character that musters out with less than the specified number of terms. It also assures the character doesn’t voluntarily muster out before that time. The default is 1, and if left at default, will still allow deceased characters.

maxterms

With this option, the generator will limit the maximum number of terms for a character to the specified amount. Mandatory re-enlistment will not be checked for characters that hit the limit (this allows a GM to specify the maximum age of PCs or NPCs).

maxchars

This option will limit the maximum number of attempts to find a requested character. The default is 10000 and bounds the time spent attempting to generate a requested character.

Source Code

The Classic Traveller Character Generator project is hosted on github. The primary, original repo is:

#Classic-Traveller